Home Blog Page 1415

2002-03 Wayne State Season Preview

By Craig Roberts
-

Competition is the name of the game for Wayne State this year.

When few women’s teams carry more than 23 players, the Warriors will start the season with 28 players on the roster, a move head coach Tom O’Malley hopes will improve his team.

“It’s created some interesting competition in training camp,” he said. “When we only had 18 or 19 players, everyone knew they were going to play. Now there’s competition to get in the lineup and stay there.

“Some kids sat in our exhibition game that dressed every game last year. It’s tough to do but people are working harder and it will make the team better.”

In goal, junior Anna VanderMarliere and sophomore Tina Thibideau both saw playing time last year. Thibideau got the bulk of the action, starting 17 games, posting a 3.63 goals against average and an .893 save percentage. In 12 starts, VanderMarliere had a 3.78 GAA and an .886 save percentage as well as the team’s lone shutout.

Freshmen Kristina Putek and Katrina Hodgeson give WSU four goalies and will force O’Malley to make decisions at the position every week.

“We return our top two goalies,” O’Malley said. “Right now we’ll split them, but the freshmen are creating competition.”

zamora

zamora

On defense, O’Malley said he has a solid group of six defensemen, including 5-10 junior Joanie Denby and 5-7 sophomore Krissy Langley. Denby brings size to the blue line while Langley was the team’s top scoring defenseman with 10 points last season. Three freshmen, Kristi Thome, Rachael Benninger and Peyton Patterson, are expected to step into the lineup.

“We’ve got good balance back there,” O’Malley said of his defensive unit. “I’m happy with our combination of size, speed and skill.”

Sophomore Kelly Zamora led the team with 11 goals and 23 points as a rookie last season and leads a group of 10 returning forwards, all underclassmen a year ago. O’Malley has added a pair of British Columbia natives in Jessica Haydahl and Emily McGrath-Agg up front and said they add something his team needs.

“They bring and instant influx of scoring,” he said. “Both kids move the puck well and can put it in the net.”

The duo has already shown that ability, combining for three goals in three exhibition games and tallying five points in a 6-1 win Oct. 11 over Guelph.

The Warriors will need their scoring as well as an upgrade in production from returning players to improve on their 49-goal output last season.

With three exhibition games under its belt, in which it has posted a 2-0-1 record, Wayne State opens its regular season at home Oct. 18-19 by hosting Colgate. The Warriors’ first CHA game is an Oct. 26 matchup with Niagara.

2002-03 Niagara Season Preview

By Craig Roberts
-

After reaching the NCAA Frozen Four last season, Niagara returns 15 players and brings plenty of optimism for success to the 2002-03 season.

First off, however, they have to find a way to replace a couple of big holes.

The Purple Eagles lose just six letterwinners but four are significant. Gone are all-time leading scorer Brooke Bradburn, goalie Tania Pinelli, who had earned all but four of the team’s 71 wins in four seasons, and team captains Barbara Prall and Stephanie Romain.

“You can’t replace some of the players we lost,” head coach Margot Page said. “You can look to have everyone contribute more. You want to make the most of the positives from the past and, over the last four years, we’ve worked hard and gotten a good effort as a team. Chemistry and team dynamics are important.”

It is those qualities which Page hopes will carry her team back to the Frozen Four this year. Despite those losses, Niagara has key people returning as well.

Senior Valerie Hall led the team with 24 goals and 44 points last season, as well as topping the nation with 13 power-play goals. Sophomore Teresa Marchese-Del Monte was sixth nationally among rookies with 39 points and tied for the team lead with five game-winning goals. Four of the team’s top five scoring forwards return this season.

“Right now, I look at us being able to play four forward lines,” Page said. “We’ll have three balanced lines and at least two that can do our scoring, so I think we’ll be tough to defend.”

hill

hill

Five defensemen return from a group which helped Niagara rank fourth nationally with just 1.61 goals against per game. Senior Linda Groff and junior Bradi Cochrane led the team’s blue-line corps with 15 points each. Moving the puck has been a strength of the Purple Eagle defense in the past so Page brought in some solid, stay-at-home types, to balance the unit, including 5-8 freshman Kate Sweeney.

The most apparent loss from last season is in goal, where Tania Pinelli backstopped the team for four seasons. She ranked sixth nationally in both goals against average (1.52) and save percentage (.933) last season.

However, Page feels junior Jennifer Mascaro, who boats a 1.87 career goals against average, will be able to do the job this season. Behind her are sophomore Lindsey Taylor and freshman Breanne Doyle. Page likes the competition and depth that the three netminders provide.

“Doyle is talented and will push Mascaro for the number-one job,” Page said. “Taylor is also in the mix and I think the competition is healthy. With the three of them competing I think we’ll get the best out of each of them.”

Although they return three-quarters of last year’s Frozen Four squad, the Purple Eagles begin the season out of the top 10 in the preseason rankings, a fact which doesn’t bother Page. The loss of two of her top players and the uncertainty others have about Niagara’s move to the new College Hockey America conference play a role in the team being unranked early.

Page’s returning players have proven themselves with last season’s success and she is confident in the abilities of her freshman class. She also feels the new league will push people to perform better.

“There is definitely motivation when playing each game,” she said. “Each team will be solid and looking to establish themselves in the new league.”

The Purple Eagles will find that out early as three of their first four games are against CHA foes, including their season opener, Oct. 18-19, when they host Findlay.

Between the Lines: Oops! We Did it Again

By Adam Wodon
-

You ever had something you thought was resolved, only to find it rear its ugly head again just when you least expected it?

This past weekend, there were a number of glorious “preseason” games, and tournaments like the Maverick Stampede and Ice Breaker have become great early-season events. Add in the Punch Imlach Showcase in Buffalo, where North Dakota and Michigan staged a great game in the final, giving us a glimpse of what it will be like in HSBC Arena in April.

But in Omaha, at the Maverick Stampede, this silly little issue reappeared after we all thought it was dead. After about four years in the closet, the monster came roaring back out.

Somehow, many years ago, tournament organizers got it in their heads that, if a game was tied, the teams would play five minutes for the sake of NCAA records, and then proceed with more overtime in order to determine advancement in the tournament. So, if the game remained tied after five minutes, both teams, they figured, would get a tie, and then go on to decide who advanced in the tournament.

No matter how many times the NCAA told them otherwise, this issue would repeatedly come up, until finally, one year, the NCAA said, “Whoa, this is ridiculous. Where in the world are you getting this idea? A win is a win, and a loss is a loss.”

So the men’s ice hockey rules committee finally put language in the rulebook that helped clarify this issue. The bottom line was, to decide advancement in a tournament, you could either play five minutes followed by a shootout, or just play straight overtimes. If you play the shootout, that doesn’t count in the record, but regular overtimes do. Therefore, there was no reason to play the first five minutes and then a 20, because either way, the result was going to count.

Unfortunately, Nebraska-Omaha people never got the memo. This weekend, when Colgate and UNO were tied after regulation, they played a five-minute overtime in their first-round game. When the score remained tied, the game went to a 20-minute overtime before the Mavericks prevailed.

This was, apparently, following the Maverick Stampede tournament handbook, which UNO coach Mike Kemp says was approved by the Hockey Coaches Association and the NCAA three years ago when the tournament started.

“We had set a protocol up,” Kemp said. “We had gone to the league and the NCAA, and the hockey coaches association three years ago, and that was the protocol they gave us to use. We continued to use it not being aware that they had changed the protocol.”

But, really, there was a memo. And the protocol never changed.

“We’ve had meetings, we’ve sent memos out, we’ve talked to them at the convention. … But they don’t understand it. Just look in the book,” said Joe Bertagna, who was chair of the Rules Committee for four years until his term recently expired, and still leads the American Hockey Coaches Association (AHCA).

“The coaches association has no jurisdiction over this, it’s the Rules Committee. I think what happens is, promoters take over the event management. I don’t know in this case, but whether it’s the marketing guy, the assistant AD, running all this stuff, and the coach is just preparing his team. And now it comes to tournament time and the promoter says, this is what you’re doing, and they don’t stop to think whether this is allowed.”

Colgate coach Don Vaughan was under the impression at the time that his team would get the tie. He is apparently not going to protest the fact that his team won’t, but it’s still amazing that the impression exists.

“These guys, they’ll say, ‘We agreed as coaches to do it this way,'” said Bertagna. “Well, it’s not your prerogative to agree as coaches, the rulebook is the rulebook. If you don’t like it, change it, but once it’s there you go by the rule.”

The rule book is relatively clear on the matter. Section 6-52 deals with “Tie Games” and gives the procedure for the normal five-minute overtime. But it says there’s an exception, which is Section 6-54, which addresses “Tournament Competition.” There, the rulebook gives two options for dealing with overtimes during tournaments: either play 20-minute overtimes to conclusion, or (for regular-season tournament or consolation games only) play five minutes followed by a shootout (with both teams credited with a tie).

Nowhere in the rule book is there an allowance for “mixing and matching” a 5-minute overtime with a 20-minute overtime.

You wonder why the referees didn’t say anything.

Somehow, this all started in the early ’90s. According to one story, Minnesota newspaper writers helped perpetuate the impression after the Gophers lost a tournament game to Lake Superior at the Mariucci Classic. After a few more of these issues arose over the years, the issue was clarified.

Then, it suddenly happened again, at the 1998 Ice Breaker, in a game between Ohio State and Boston College. The teams remained tied after a five-minute overtime, and BC won in the 20-minute session.

Again, clarifications and memos were sent out.

“A year ago, we revisited all the overtimes [again], because some of the [Division III] minigame procedures were illegal,” Bertagna said. “With a lot of fanfare last year we went through the whole thing on overtimes, and people just don’t read the book, or they’re giving the decision to a games committee or something and it doesn’t include the coaches.”

Hey, you know, worse things have happened. UNO is a fledgling program, it wasn’t around for most of these discussions about clarifying the rules. They want to start a great new tournament, they get a little bad information, and there you go. It’s not the end of the world.

But this does rank up there with other annoying perpetual myths that won’t go away — the tournament selection process is subjective; the Eastern bias; the Western bias; lack of fighting causes more stick fouls; frogs cause warts; and so on.

All that said, even though the rule is pretty clear on what to do, it could be more explicit about what not to do. There is a section in the back on rules clarifications, and it would be a perfect place for this to go.

In other words, the rule book does not say that a “count-the-result-after-5-minutes, play-another-20 scenario” is allowed, but I’d like to suggest it add language explicitly stating it’s not allowed. There also seems to be a misconception that Section 6-54 regarding “Tournament Competition” only deals with postseason tournaments, but that’s not true.

How about this: “This rule covers in-season as well as postseason tournaments when overtime is necessary to decide advancement.”

And: “Shootouts are an alternative option to decide advancement for in-season tournaments only.”

And finally: “No other alternatives are allowed. All overtime results will be counted in the team’s official record.”

That would make it pretty clear, no?

“It couldn’t be any clearer,” said Bertagna. “They don’t even look.”

RIT, Elmira Top Picks in ECAC West

USCHO Staff Report
-

Defending ECAC West tournament champion, RIT, is the coaches’ preseason choice to claim the regular-season men’s title based upon results of the 2002-03 preseason poll. Meanwhile, Elmira, the 2002 NCAA Division III National Champion, was picked as the preseason favorite in the ECAC West women’s conference.

Coaches could not vote for their own team.

RIT, which posted a 23-2-2 overall and a 9-1 conference record a year ago, amassed 25 points to top the six-team men’s poll. A 2002 NCAA Division III championship participant, coach Wayne Wilson’s squad garnered five first-place votes.

Manhattanville, which returns 22 varsity players, took the No. 2 slot in the poll. The Valiants went 16-7-3 overall, 5-4-1 within the conference last season, and earned one first-place vote.

Elmira, last year’s ECAC West Championship tournament runner-up, was voted third. Tim Ceglarski’s team went 18-9 overall, 8-2 in the conference last season.

Utica (10-12-3, 2-7-1) was fourth, Hobart (10-16-0, 5-5-0) was fifth and Neumann was picked last.

On the women’s side, Elmira, which posted a 26-1-1 overall and 17-1-1 conference record in 2001-02, received 29 points, including four first-place votes to top the seven-team poll. Coach Jamie Wood’s Soaring Eagles enter the season as the defending regular-season champion as well as the champion of the first ECAC West Championship.

Plattsburgh State was picked second, followed by Utica, Buffalo State, Neumann, Cortland State and Chatham.

Plattsburgh (21-4-2, 16-2-2 last season), which finished second to Elmira in double overtime in the conference tournament a year ago, earned two first-place votes in earning the No. 2 spot.

Chatham, in seventh place, is under guidance of head coach Mike Joseph, beginning its first season in the ECAC.

Indiana’s Brand Takes Over NCAA

USCHO Staff Report
-

Indiana University president Myles Brand has been the named the fourth president of the NCAA. The appointment is effective Jan. 1, 2003.

Brand, who received a five-year contract, replaces Cedric Dempsey, who announced his retirement last January after right years at the helm. Brand was a unanimous selection of the NCAA executive committee, which includes other college presidents.

“President-elect Brand in every way continues the high standards of leadership
and integrity that have charachterized the first three executive directors of
presidents of the NCAA,” said committee chairman Robert Lawless.

Brand, 60, has been Indiana president since 1994, and is CEO of the Big Ten Conference. He was also president at Oregon from 1989-94.

Brand earned a doctorate in philosphy at the University of Rochester in 1967. He has held administrative positions at Pittsburgh, Illinois-Chicago, Arizona and Ohio State.

There were originally 118 candidates to replace Dempsey, before the list was whittled to 11 interviewees.

2002-03 Ohio State Season Preview

By Craig Roberts
-

Last year, Ohio State won games against all six of their WCHA opponents. However, they also lost to five conference foes. They took at least one point and lost at least one point against all six league opponents in 2000-01.

The Buckeyes have also finished fourth in the WCHA in each of the last three seasons. Head coach Jackie Barto knows one way in which her team can improve on that finish.

“We have to be more consistent,” she said. “Day-to-day, practice-to-practice, Friday-to-Saturday, we have to play a better team game.”

To do that, hard work will have to be the team’s trademark.

“We want to be the hardest working team on the ice every game we play,” Barto said. “We play a lot of pressure, defensively, on our forecheck and penalty kill. We need to work hard and capitalize on turnovers.”

Goaltending should be one of the team’s strengths, despite having lost Melissa Glaser to a knee injury suffered while playing with the U.S. National U-22 Team. The injury means the Buckeyes will be without Glaser’s services for the second time in three seasons but senior April Stojak and red-shirt freshman Natalie Lamme are expected to pick up the slack.

Stojak, who filled in as the team’s number-one goalie two seasons ago, sports a career goals against average of 2.82. Lamme brings size to the position and Barto feels her presence and puck-control made her a quality goalie. The two will battle for the number-one job.

“I think the competition will be healthy for them and the team,” Barto said. “We’re confident they can both do the job and they’ll push each other to be better.”

In front of those two will be a defense that features seven returning players, including four seniors. Emily Hudak, the WCHA’s second-leading scorer on defense with 28 points, Christine Patno, Lindsey Steblen and Katie Frohreich, the latter of whom will also log time at forward, have anchored OSU’s blue line the last three seasons. Junior Emma Laaksonen, a second-team All-WCHA pick last season, gives the Buckeyes five experienced and reliable defensemen.

Sophomore Jeni Creary stepped into the Ohio State lineup as a rookie last season and promptly earned first-team All-WCHA honors after finishing third in the league with 44 points. Classmate Jennifer Desson added 24 points as a rookie, including a team-high six game-winning goals. Junior Heather Farrell has 23 points, giving the Buckeyes three underclassmen as their top-scoring forwards.

That doesn’t mean OSU is without experience up front. Senior co-captain Lindsey Ogren is the team leader in career games. Fellow senior Shana Frost scored 23 points last season and was second on the team with six power-play goals.

“I think we’re deeper this year,” Barto said of her group of forwards. “We relied on only a couple of people in the past. This year we’ll play four lines more and, hopefully, we can spread our scoring out among two or three lines.”

With the depth of their returning players, the Buckeyes have a small but solid freshman class, featuring Lamme, along with forwards Crystal Sather, Jana Harrigan and defenseman Katie Sershen.

“I’m very pleased with our freshman class,” Barto said. “They have a great work ethic and will to learn.

“The key for us will be to keep things simple and move the puck well. We expect that we have to work hard and minimize the number of mistakes we make to be successful.”

Ohio State’s regular season gets underway Oct. 11-12 when the Buckeyes kickoff the WCHA’s schedule with a pair of games at Minnesota State.

This Week in the CCHA: Oct. 10, 2002

By
-

It’s the first week of regular-season play, and more than a few things will look different to CCHA fans. Walt Kyle’s behind the bench for Northern Michigan, Scott Paluch has replaced Buddy Powers at Bowling Green, and that’s not Ron Mason with the Spartans at the Maverick Stampede.

Another change is the fast-faceoff rule, something that Miami head coach Enrico Blasi claims to like.

“I think it’s going to work out very well. It really speeds up the game, and you’ve got to be on your toes,” Blasi says.

Other changes are in the CCHA wind at the start of the 2002-03 campaign, including a tweaking of the Super Six tourney. It is, however, comforting to know that some things will remain the same — at least for a while. Miami did beat Air Force 12-1 in the opening round of the Lefty McFadden Invitational.

Preseason Champs

Congratulations to the Miami RedHawks, who took home the laurels from the Lefty McFadden Invitational in Dayton Oct. 4-5.

It was a triumph of the CCHA over the CHA, and apparently that one repeated consonant still makes a difference. Not only did Miami down Air Force, but Bowling Green defeated Niagara, 4-1, setting up an all-CCHA title game, which the RedHawks won 2-1 over the Falcons.

“It was a typical first weekend,” said Blasi, who thinks that Miami’s last-place preseason ranking by this girl reporter is a bit harsh. “There were good things and bad things. The important thing was that we played as a team.”

Blasi got the early look at the Paluch-led BGSU squad, and he liked what he saw.

“I thought they were pretty good. I thought Tyler Masters played well. Scott’s got his team believing they can compete.”

Believing in themselves would be a big step for the Falcons.

Games Of The Week

There is one league series this weekend, making it the week’s best bet by far.

Bowling Green vs. Western Michigan
Friday, 7:05 p.m., BGSU Ice Arena, Bowling Green, Ohio
Saturday, 8:05 p.m., Lawson Arena, Kalamazoo, Mich.

As recently as February of this year, the Broncos spanked the Falcons 8-1 (Feb. 1) before completing the weekend sweep with a 5-4 overtime win the following night.

If rules of coaching changes hold true, though, this could be a very different Falcon club from the one WMU faced eight months ago. Another issue for the Broncos this weekend, says head coach Jim Culhane, is the number of games Bowling Green has played already, though the season is young.

“Honestly, we’d like to have a couple more games under our belt before we jump in,” says Culhane. “Scott [Paluch] was fortunate in that he has … three games under his belt. The one thing for us with the lopsided win on Saturday was not getting a really good read on what we need to improve.”

The Falcons beat the University of Windsor in exhibition at home, Tuesday, Oct. 1, before heading to Dayton to compete in the exempt, preseason Lefty McFadden Invitational, where they downed Niagara 4-1 before losing to Miami in the title game, 2-1. That’s two D-I games to WMU’s none.

The Broncos did beat up on visiting Canadian school Waterloo in exhibition, blanking the Warriors 12-0. Still, says Culhane, it’s difficult to measure a team’s strengths and weaknesses in such games.

“We knew we could get up and down the ice pretty well, and we felt comfortable that we were able to score returning top scorers from last year,” Culhane says. “You’re not going to be 100 percent perfect with only four days of practice.

“We told our guys to work hard for 60 minutes, regardless of the score. We needed to get a good quality work ethic mentality in that game. That was what I was pleased about. When the game gets away from the opposition, you can get cute with the puck … but we worked hard for 60 minutes.”

Rookie forward Vince Bellissimo had a hat trick in the contest, Dana Lattery registered a couple of goals, and a herd of Broncos had multi-point games. In net for WMU, Scott Foster got the win but faced only five shots; Mike Mantua faced four in “relief” of Foster.

Junior Mark Wires had two goals and an assist for the Falcons in Dayton. Senior Goaltender Tyler Masters stopped 23 in the win and 38 of 40 he faced in the title game against the RedHawks (.953 SV%).

Bowling Green leads this all-time series 66-41-3, 38-15-0 at home. The Broncos have won six of the last eight meetings between the teams, and the last three WMU wins have been in the BGSU Ice Arena.

Picks: It would be tempting to give the Falcons the benefit of the doubt at home, but given how overwhelmed the BGSU defense was by Miami’s attack in Dayton, the Broncos have a good chance to sweep. WMU 4-1, 5-2

Voros Watch

Alaska-Fairbanks sophomore forward Aaron Voros made a spectacular debut last season, notching 18 goals and 13 assists for 31 points while finishing the season plus-17.

This feat is even more impressive given how much time Voros spent off the ice; Voros led all CCHA players in PIMs for the 2001-02 season with 101.

Will Voros repeat as King of the Sin Bin this season? He certainly has the potential.

So far this year, Voros has perfect penalty stats. Of course, the Nanooks begin D-I play this weekend against their in-state rival, Alaska-Anchorage.

Stay tuned, sports fans!

Loose Ends

Michigan head coach Red Berenson will fly to Saskatchewan on Saturday for his father’s 90th birthday, missing the Wolverines’ game against either Canisius or North Dakota in the second round of the Xerox College Hockey Showcase in Buffalo. Associate head coach Mel Pearson will act as head coach for that game. Berenson will, however, be behind the bench Friday night, as Michigan takes on Niagara.

From the LSSU weekly release: “The freshmen have competed with each other,” said Laker head coach Frank Anzalone. “Some are in better shape than others, but the upperclassmen have noticed that we have some good freshmen, and they are working hard.”

Anzalone added, “They are capable of playing. It bodes well for our future. We see good things every day. We’re just better than we were last year.”

This Week in the ECAC: Oct. 10, 2002

By Jayson Moy and Becky Blaeser
-

The Battle Begins In Earnest

Four teams get under way for the first time this season, while one gets ready for its second battle. The ECAC season is underway, meaning that it’s time to get back to the rinks and get those engines roaring.

Giving It Another Shot

Vermont took a 3-0 lead on Northeastern, then saw it disappear as the Huskies came back to tie the game. The collapse was something that Mike Gilligan wasn’t pleased with, and the Cats are now winless in 13 straight games.

Still, there was optimism.

Said Gilligan, “I was disappointed that it was a come-from-behind tie, but I think they feel pretty good that they can play.”

That feeling-pretty-good was something that he saw as well.

“I was really happy with a lot of things,” said Gilligan. “I thought our second period was our best period, and then we got a little bit away from our forecheck. We gave up that goal on the power play from the middle point on a tough bounce, and that hurt. But not as much as in the third period when we turned the puck over at their blue line and we couldn’t get it deep into the zone. I think we ran out of a little bit of steam.

“The second-period defense was the best team defense we have played in two years. We felt comfortable in our own zone and we didn’t chase. We played solid team defense and that’s what we’ve got to do.”

The Cats saw four freshmen in the lineup against Northeastern. Expect more versus New Hampshire on Saturday.

“I liked a lot of young guys,” said Gilligan. “I’m excited about the freshmen. I liked the way all four played [against NU] and next week you’ll see [Phil] Youngclaus. He and [Jamie] Sifers are two exciting young defensemen. I didn’t dress Youngclaus because I wanted to see some of the older guys out there as well. We’ll be rotating a bunch of kids in and out of the lineup for the first six games. You’ll also be seeing Travis Russell in the net next Saturday.”

Tourney Time

The Ice Breaker and the Maverick Stampede are upon us. This year, Rensselaer heads to the Ice Breaker to take on host Wisconsin, along with Boston University and Northern Michigan, while Colgate takes on Stampede host Nebraska-Omaha along with Denver and Northern Michigan.

The Engineers will play minus two All-Americans and with an undefined scoring punch. Suffice to say, it should be quite a challenge.

“To be honest, our whole schedule will be a challenge,” coach Dan Fridgen said. “Every game will be a challenge and I’m hoping that those challenges will make us a better team in the long run because that means you’re going to face some adversity. How you handle adversity really determines what kind of team you’re going to be.”

Meanwhile, the Raiders head to Omaha, where they know they will take on Denver, picked by many to win the NCAA championship, or Michigan State, another national power.

“With a young team, we may be a little ambitious with our schedule in terms of opening up in Omaha with Michigan State and Denver,” said head coach Don Vaughan. “I still think that’s how we get better. Our guys have to realize that they can be alongside these guys. We deserve to be there and belong there.”

The Saints Head West. Again.

The St. Lawrence Saints travel to Ohio to start the season, but going West is no new experience for SLU. Last season the Saints started in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan for two straight weekends. This time, it’s CCHA foe Miami.

The Saints were close last year to a totally different season, thanks to 20 one-goal games. With new faces coming in, and some familiar ones returning, the trips are beneficial for Joe Marsh and his team.

“We’ll undoubtedly try some different combinations in the early nonleague games,” said Marsh. “We want to win them, but we also want to see as many guys as we can in game conditions and prepare ourselves for the start of league competition.”

Union Starts

The Dutchmen had a heartbreaker as the season ended last year, missing the playoffs by the slightest of hairs. Thanks to the ECAC’s all-inclusive playoff format this season, they won’t have to worry about that.

Regardless, with a young team, head coach Kevin Sneddon is expecting that this will be a different year. The Dutchmen head off to Providence and Merrimack to open up the season, where Sneddon knows that it will be tough to start.

“We wanted to challenge ourselves,” he said. “With a young team we wanted to see where we are made of and going up against Providence, you know [coach] Paul [Pooley] is going to have his team ready, and then go right back and play Merrimack the next day, those two games will provide us with valuable experience, prepare us for more nonconference games and then ultimately, league play.”

Hey, Wait A Minute!

The Olympic-style 15-second faceoff rule is new to the ECAC — and there was no doubt about it for those at the Northeastern-Vermont game. Referee Scott Hansen’s officiating crew, which included Robert Melanson and Glen Cooke, was under the directive to drop the puck no matter what, and they sure did.

In some instances, one or both of the faceoff men were not set, or ready at all. The puck still dropped. It was something to get used to for the players.

“We showed the video to the guys; we tried to put everything in with just one week of practice, and the rules emphasize it,” said Gilligan. “So they’re putting the puck down even if the kids aren’t there. Both teams got caught.”

With another week under their belts, we’ll see how teams fare with the new faceoff rule — as well as how some long-winded color commentators might feel.

Coming Soon!

The Iron Columnists return …

This Week in the MAAC: Oct. 10, 2002

By
-

New Name, Same Results

Just because Quinnipiac changed its school mascot to the Bobcats (and sorry in advance to Rand Pecknold and Jack McDonald, but that’s just not one of my favorites), doesn’t mean the QU express has derailed at all since the close of last season.

Having the privilege of opening the 2002-02 MAAC season this past Tuesday at Holy Cross, the Bobcats manhandled the Crusaders, taking a 6-1 victory on enemy ice and proving that even a Bobcat can be one tough little creature.

The victory was a great start to a potentially strong year for QU. The club will have to be led by youth with freshmen and sophomores making up almost two-thirds of Pecknold’s roster. But a season ago, rookie-heavy QU squeaked through the MAAC tournament to earn the school’s first-ever NCAA bid.

Possibly the highlight of the night for Quinnipiac was the play of sophomore goaltender Jamie Holden. After an outstanding rookie campaign, Holden ended the 2001-02 season with a whimper, looking nervous and tentative in the NCAA Regional against Cornell that led to his removal just three minutes, 30 seconds into that game.

Tuesday night Holden came through in the clutch by making a total of 47 saves, including 19 in the second period. The lone tally against was Brandon Doria’s power-play goal with 21 seconds left in the second.

“Holden was huge for us in the second,” said Pecknold after the victory. “He made saves in tight for us and allowed us to keep the lead and eventually pull away. We need some work on defense, but Jamie hid those problems for us tonight.”

As mentioned, youth will be the deciding factor in Quinnipiac’s success this season. Keeping the second-year players from a sophomore slump and integrating rookies will key the Bobcat attack.

And with that in mind, it was an extreme positive for Pecknold to see sophomore Craig Falite double last season’s entire output with a two-goal night on Tuesday. It’s an obvious hope that players like Chris White and Matt Craig will have strong offensive output this year, but to add players such as Falite to the scoring roster strengthens this already-strong club.

On the other side of the fence, the 6-1 outcome for Holy Cross was anything but the way Crusaders’ coach Paul Pearl wanted to start the season. After a strong showing last season and an impressive third-place finish, Holy Cross had hopes to get off on the right foot for the 2002-03 campaign.

Still, Pearl is adamant that right now, there’s nothing to worry about.

“The scary thing [about Tuesday game] is we played well for the majority of the game,” said Pearl. “We didn’t finish our chances and they did.

“We have things we have to improve on, but you can’t worry about scoring goals, you have to worry about getting chances. And we got plenty of chances.”

Pearl further simplified the equation by suggesting that it was all a matter of timing. “We just made major mistakes at bad times, and they’re a good team and they capitalized.”

The one place Pearl won’t place blame is goaltending. Despite the fact that starter Anthony Quesada was pulled after surrendering five goals in two periods, Pearl said it had nothing to do with performance.

“I just wanted to get Norty [rookie Matt Norton] some time,” Pearl said. “When you’re down five-love after two there’s no better time to throw him in there. Neither guy has a lick of college experience under his belt so it was a good chance to get them both that experience.”

Pictures At An Exhibition

Despite the fact that Quinnipiac and Holy Cross were quick out of the gate on the league schedule, most of the MAAC was playing exhibition games last weekend, with mixed results.

Sacred Heart, Connnecticut and Canisius found themselves on winning ends against Canadian opponents. Sacred Heart provided St. Nick’s College with an 8-2 thumping Friday night, while the same night Canisius sneaked past St. Clair’s College, 4-3. UConn knocked off the Ottawa Gee-Gee’s by an identical 4-3 score on Saturday, but not until the Gee-Gee’s had beaten Holy Cross, scoring the game-winner in the final 90 seconds.

Mercyhurst waited until Tuesday night to face off against Toronto-based Brock, but surrendered a late goal to force a 2-2 tie. Head coach Rick Gotkin got looks at both of his goaltenders — returner Matt Cifelli, the odds-on favorite for number one this year, and rookie Andy Franck.

“We limited Brock to a low number of shots,” said Gotkin. “But Cifelli played well and made a few flurries of saves.

“Andy Franck played well for how nervous he was. He looked pretty poised and made 12 saves. So all in all from a goaltending standpoint we were very pleased. We know we’re going to need great goaltending to be successful this year.”

Tuesday’s game was likely a tame prep for what the Lakers will face next weekend when they travel to face their namesakes — the Lake Superior State Lakers — for a two game set.

Exhibition hockey continues throughout the league this week, as Fairfield will travel to face the US Under-18 team for a pair, and St. Nick’s will return to New England to face Bentley on Saturday and American International on Sunday.

Early Tournament Season

It’s not March, but the college hockey slate fills this weekend with tournaments galore. On the MAAC side, highlighting will be the Black Bear Classic in Orono, Maine, featuring Quinnipiac, and the Xerox Hockey Showcase at HSBC Arena in Buffalo — home of this year’s Frozen Four — with Canisius participating and co-hosting with Niagara.

Quinnipiac will face off against Lake Superior State in Orono on Friday afternoon. Lake State expanded its nonleague schedule to include a host of MAAC schools including Quinnipiac, Mercyhurst and Canisius. Depending on Friday’s outcome, QU will take on either host Maine or New Brunswick on Saturday.

Canisius has the daunting task of facing 2000 national champion North Dakota in the opening game of the Xerox Hockey Showcase. It will be Canisius’ first-ever game against a WCHA opponent. Last season the Griffs posted a 1-8-0 record in nonleague play, with their only win coming the first week of the season in Buffalo against Alabama-Huntsville.

The Griffs’ Saturday night opponent will be either co-host Niagara or Michigan, based on the results of Friday’s semifinal games.

Mea Culpa

Every writer tries not to make mistakes, but somehow, I’ve fallen victim to poor fact-checking from my 2002-03 MAAC Season Preview.

Under the Holy Cross team preview, I incorrectly listed that last year was the Crusaders’ first playoff appearance since winning the title in 1999. But I failed to remember that the Crusaders actually finished seventh in the then 10-team league back in 2000, qualifying the Crusaders for the playoffs that year and earning them a first-round date with Mercyhurst. The defending champs fell, 10-3, to the Lakers that year.

So it is with extreme embarrassment that I give the ol’ “Mea Culpa” to Paul Pearl and the folks over at Holy Cross.

Off the Record

Though my column almost always focuses on solely MAAC-related stories, I wanted to take a quick second to offer kudos to a media colleague over on the Hockey East side. Long-time voice of Boston University, Bernie Corbett, recently published Images of Sports: Boston University Hockey. The 128-page pictorial features photos from every era of BU hockey dating back to 1918, and, in this writer’s opinion, makes one great coffee table book.

Thanks to Brad Holzwert for his contributions.

2002-03 WCHA Women’s League Season Preview

By Craig Roberts
-

In a conference which boasts the last three national champions, there’s not a lot of room at the top, especially when the teams that have claimed those titles have — at least on paper — gotten better.

Such is the case with the WCHA Women’s League as the conference heads into its fourth season.

Two-time defending NCAA champion Minnesota-Duluth and two-time defending WCHA regular-season champion Minnesota are expected, as they have the last three seasons, to battle for the top spot this year. Both have added significant recruits while returning much of their roster.

However, they’re not the only teams that look to be improved. In fact, league coaches agree that everyone will be.

“We’ll be better than we were last year,” said Shannon Miller, head coach of Minnesota-Duluth. “But we’re not going to be the only team. Everyone is going to be better this year and it’s going to be hard for anyone to really move up in the standings.”

Despite winning the NCAA title last year, the Bulldogs were seeded third, and finished third at the WCHA Final Five. UMD, which ranked third nationally in scoring offense, adds Team Canada Olympian Caroline Ouellette and returns U.S. Olympic Team member Jenny Potter after a two-year absence. She led the Bulldogs in scoring with 93 points during the 1999-2000 campaign.

Minnesota, which won both the regular-season and playoff titles before finishing third at the Frozen Four, has high expectations for the coming season.

The Gophers return All-America defenseman and Patty Kazmaier Award finalist Ronda Curtin, along with 2000 WCHA Defensive Player of the Year Winny Brodt, who has missed the last two seasons due to U.S. National Team commitments. Highly-touted recruits Natalie Darwitz and Krissy Wendell, both of whom played on the U.S. Olympic Team last season, are expected to pace the offense.

Wisconsin, which finished second in the WCHA during last year’s regular season and playoffs, returns goalie Jackie MacMillan, who led the nation in goals against average, along with the entire corps of defensemen who helped the Badgers finish second nationally in scoring defense. To that blue line the Badgers also return Nicole Uliasz, who missed last season while with the U.S. National Team.

Defense and goaltending will once again be the strength of Ohio State, which has finished fourth in the WCHA standings each of the last three seasons. April Stojak returns for her senior season in goal, with classmate Emily Hudak leading a veteran group of defensemen. Up front, Jeni Creary led the team with 44 points as a freshman and was fourth among rookies nationally.

Bemidji State, the league’s most improved team a year ago, will look to continue to climb in the standings under new head coach Bruce Olson. The Beavers return more letterwinners (20) than any team in the WCHA, led by senior center Amber Fryklund, who topped the team with 16 goals and 36 points last season.

St. Cloud State, which won 17 games two seasons ago, will look to rebound from a seven-win campaign last year. New head coach Jason Lesteberg led Bemidji State’s improvement last season and will look to turn around the Huskies in 2002-03. He has a good foundation in juniors Roxanne Stang, who has 49 goals in two seasons, and Kobi Kawamoto, a two-time second-team All-WCHA pick.

Minnesota State will look to move out of the cellar with a squad that has relied on junior goalie Shari Vogt the last two seasons. Despite a 4-19-1 record last year, Vogt had a 3.79 goals against average and a .916 save percentage. Head coach Jeff Vizenor emphasized scoring in his recruiting class this year and it started to pay off with a 6-1 exhibition win over the Toronto Jr. Aeros. Sophomore transfer Melanie Salatino, who was third in goals and fourth in scoring nationally last year at Wisconsin-Superior, notched a pair of goals in the win while freshmen Devon Nichols and Amber Sharratt also scored.

First-year Wisconsin head coach Mark Johnson summed up the league’s depth, saying, “It’s good for the league and good for women’s hockey. The younger players coming in are stronger players, which makes the product better and the sport grow.”

In just three years of existence, the WCHA has made a big splash in women’s college hockey, with league members winning national titles all three seasons. This year, everyone looks to have improved themselves, meaning that the battle for the WCHA championship promises to be bigger and better than ever.

Capsule profiles of each team follow. Click on any team’s name for its individual season preview.

Bemidji State
Coach: Bruce Olson
2001-02 overall record: 12-13-8
2001-02 WCHA record: 7-11-6, 20 points, fifth place
Notes: The Beavers return 20 of 22 players from last year’s squad, which finished with 12 wins and an NCAA-leading eight ties.
He said it: “Our seniors have been through three coaches in the last three years,” Olson said. “They want to make the best of their last season. They’ve got a good attitude and know they have to work hard to improve upon what they did last season.”

Minnesota
Coach: Laura Halldorson
2001-02 overall record: 28-4-6
2001-02 WCHA record: 19-2-3, 41 points, first place
Notes: 2000 WCHA Defensive Player of the Year Winny Brodt returns after a two-year absence to join Ronda Curtin, who won the award last season. The duo will anchor a defense which ranked third nationally in fewest goals allowed per game.
She said it: “In 2002-03, we hope to build on last season’s success,” Halldorson said. “Our returning players will be a year older and more experienced and will be joined by an awesome class of first-year student-athletes. If we can combine the new talent with the attitude and work ethic of last year, we’re going to have a lot of fun this season.”

Minnesota-Duluth
Coach: Shannon Miller
2001-02 overall record: 24-6-4
2001-02 WCHA record: 16-5-3, 35 points, tie-second place
Notes: The Bulldogs’ roster features five players who competed in the 2002 Winter Olympics, including newcomer Caroline Ouellette, a member of gold-medal winning Team Canada, and U.S. Olympian Jenny Potter, who returns to the UMD lineup after a two-year absence.
She said it: “Jenny is going to be a key player for us this year,” Miller said. “She has a great work ethic and a lot of energy. What she doesn’t have is a national title and that’s what I’m going to rely on her for, is to make other people hungry and to bring a spark to the team.”

Minnesota State
Coach: Jeff Vizenor
2001-02 overall record: 4-26-2
2001-02 WCHA record: 1-22-1, three points, seventh place
Notes: The Mavericks have finished last in the WCHA in each of the league’s first three seasons, accumulating just four wins and 12 points in those three seasons.
He said it: “To move up in the standings we have to put the puck the in the net,” Vizenor said. “We have to be better offensively and on our power play.”

Ohio State
Coach: Jackie Barto
2001-02 overall record: 18-15-4
2001-02 WCHA record: 9-12-3, 21 points, fourth place
Notes: The Buckeyes have finished fourth in each of their three seasons in the WCHA.
She said it: “We need to be more consistent,” Barto said. “We need a more consistent effort in all three zones. We need to continue to work hard and give a good effort every night.”

St. Cloud State
Coach: Jason Lesteberg
2001-02 overall record: 7-26-1
2001-02 WCHA record: 6-17-1, 13 points, sixth place
Notes: The Huskies fell from 17 wins overall and 26 points in 2001 to seven wins, 13 points in 2002.
He said it: “I feel the main thing the players will have to do is get that winning edge back,” Lesteberg said. “Two years ago, many of these same players were on that team that won 17 games, so they know they can succeed. We have to get that attitude back where we expect to win every game we play.”

Wisconsin
Coach: Mark Johnson
2001-02 overall record: 22-11-2
2001-02 WCHA record: 17-6-1, 35 points, tie-second place
Notes: The Badgers were 15-3-0 after Jan. 1 last season, including three wins over national champion Minnesota-Duluth.
He said it: “I hope the confidence the team gained during the second half carries over,” Johnson said. “We want to start where we left off.”

2002-03 Minnesota-Duluth Season Preview

By Craig Roberts
-

With back-to-back NCAA championships already under their belt, much of the talk surrounding the Bulldogs this year is about a three-peat.

Head coach Shannon Miller, however, talks about a single championship.

“Sure, we’ve got two championships,” she said. “But every year you have new players and a new team. We lost five players from last season and added five new ones, so this team hasn’t won a championship.”

However, winning the title this year would hold a special significance. Since 1998, the first year of the American Women’s College Hockey Alliance championship, no team has won a national title on home ice. This year, UMD will be hosting the Women’s Frozen Four at the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center.

“Do we talk about it,” Miller said. “Sure we do. Is it a goal for us? Yes, it is. But we don’t put any pressure on ourselves to win it this year.”

They may not put pressure on themselves, but others will be quick to point out that they have the inside track to winning their third consecutive title. UMD returns the bulk of its offense in senior forwards Erica Holst, Maria Rooth and Hanne Sikio.

Despite missing significant playing time last year due to commitments to their respective national teams, the trio combined for 54 goals and 109 points.

The Bulldogs also showed they had depth up front at crunch time last season. Of the six goals they scored in a pair of 3-2 wins at the Frozen Four, only one, by Holst, came from their top three forwards. Tricia Guest and Joanne Eustace scored the game-winners while Kristina Petrovskaia and Jenny Hempel also provided offense up front and return this season.

UMD gets even stronger up front this season with the return of Jenny Potter and the addition of Caroline Ouellette.

Potter (nee Schmidgall) missed the 2000-01 season after giving birth and then spent last year with the U.S. National Team. After transferring from Minnesota in 1999-2000, she scored 41 goals and 93 points to lead the Bulldogs to WCHA regular season and playoff championships.

Ouellette won a gold medal last season as a member of Team Canada.

“We’ve got enough talent now to spread throughout three lines,” Miller said. “We’ve got a lot of depth.”

If the team’s scoring prowess isn’t enough, UMD also returns junior Patricia Sautter in goal. The team’s number-two netminder most of the year, she posted a 15-1-3 record with 1.47 goals against average and a .928 save percentage.

Sautter also came up big in the clutch. With Tuula Puputti battling an injury suffered in the Olympics, it was Sautter whom Miller went to at the Frozen Four and the Switzerland native responded with two victories, including a 33-save effort in the title game.

“We’re in a good situation with our goaltending,” Miller said. “Sautter was our number two last year but was good enough to be number one. We won the title with our backup goalie and now she starts this season with a lot of confidence.”

Defensively, the Bulldogs return their top four blueliners; depth is not necessarily a concern for Miller, who uses several different systems, including the “torpedo,” which features only one defenseman on the ice. It was the torpedo system that UMD used to win the title in Durham, N.H., last season.

Larissa Luther, who scored 11 goals during her rookie campaign, and junior Satu Kiipeli are the team’s top offensive threats from the blue line. Navada Russell is the lone senior of the group while sophomore Julianne Vasichek rounds out the group of top returners.

“It really depends on what system we use,” Miller said of the need for depth on defense. “If we play regular, 5-on-5 hockey, we have our pairs set and we have some other people who can play.

“If we play the torpedo, we only have one defenseman on ice. The advantage of the system is that you only really need three strong defensemen and you need depth at forward, which we have.”

Miller likes the way things look this year.

“We have a small roster this year,” she said. “We’ve only got 22 players, with 19 skaters, so everyone should get lots of ice time and people should be happy with their playing time.

“Our goal this year is the same as it is every year, and that is to get better. We want to be better in November than we were in March.”

The Bulldogs may well be better this year than they were last year, but that may not mean much.

“We’ve got five very strong teams,” Miller said of the WCHA. “We’ve got two that aren’t far off and can compete with anyone on a given night so you always have to be ready.”

Miller will find out early how her team can expect to fare at season’s end. By Thanksgiving they will have played Minnesota, Ohio State and Wisconsin on the road, in addition to their season opener, Oct. 12-13, at Providence. The Bulldogs will play the opener without the services of Eustace and Ouellette, who will be attending Team Canada’s development camp.

This much cannot be disputed; the road to this year’s NCAA championship goes through Duluth.

St. Norbert Preseason Pick in NCHA

USCHO Staff Report
-

St. Norbert has been voted the pre-season favorite to win its conference by NCHA coaches.

The Green Knights, who won the regular-season NCHA title in 2002, received three first-place votes and 59 total points in the conference’s pre-season coaches’ poll. St. Norbert finished 12-0-2 in conference play and 23-5-3 overall.

Defending NCHA playoff winner and NCAA national champion Wisconsin-Superior finished second in the voting with three first-place votes and 55 points. The Yellowjackets downed St. Norbert in overtime to win the conference playoff championship, and advanced to the NCAA Division III Frozen Four with a tie and a win over the Green Knights in that tournament’s quarterfinal round.

Wisconsin-River Falls received the other two first-place votes.

2002-03 Wisconsin Season Preview

By Craig Roberts
-

Last season, Wisconsin finished the season playing as well as anyone in the country, posting a 15-3-0 record after Jan. 1, including three wins over eventual national champion Minnesota-Duluth and a 2-0 win at Minnesota, which ended the Gophers’ 24-game unbeaten streak.

Although they were left on the outside looking in when the pairings for the NCAA championship were announced, the Badgers felt that they would be a force to be reckoned with in 2002-03. All they had to do was find a new coach.

Trina Bourget left the team in mid-season due to health problems and resigned at season’s end. Assistant coaches Tracy Cornell and Dan Koch led the team during the second half of the season but the reigns of the team were turned over to Wisconsin legend Mark Johnson, a two-time All-American in college, an 11-year NHL veteran and member of the 1980 U.S. Olympic Team.

Johnson kept both Cornell and Koch as assistants and the transition seems to be going smoothly. Johnson hopes the good things from last season will carry over into this season.

“I hope the confidence the team gained during the second half carries over,” he said. “We want to start where we left off.”

The Badgers have a veteran team with eight seniors and 19 letterwinners returning. No where is that experience more evident than in goal, where Jackie MacMillan enters her fourth season as the team’s number-one goalie. She led the nation in goals against average and backstopped a defense which was second nationally in scoring defense. She’s also the one player Johnson has worked with before this season.

MacMillan enrolled at Wisconsin one year before the Badger program took the ice. Rather than play club hockey, she worked out with the men’s program, with which Johnson was an assistant coach.

“Jackie’s a veteran,” Johnson said. “I had a chance to see her when she first came here and I’ve always been impressed. She has experience and will be an important part of this team.”

Although having off-season knee surgery, MacMillan is expected to be ready for the season opener. Even if she’s at less than 100 percent physically, she may have the nation’s best group of defensemen playing in front of her.

Seniors Kerry Weiland and Sis Paulsen anchor the group. Weiland earned first-team All-American honors last season and has 106 points in her career. Paulsen, who has 99 career points, is the team’s captain.

Wisconsin also returns Nicole Uliasz to its lineup. Prior to spending the 2001-02 season with the U.S. National team, the rugged, 5-9 sophomore recorded six goals and 18 points as a rookie.

Fellow sophomores Carla MacLeod, who will miss the team’s season-opener while attending the Team Canada Development Camp, and Molly Engstrom join junior Kathryn Greaves to round out the team’s defense unit.

“We have five very good defensemen,” Johnson said. “I feel very confident with any combination of those players on the ice.”

If Wisconsin can improve its scoring output, they will be tough to beat. The offense starts with senior Kendra Antony and junior Meghan Hunter. Antony is the team’s all-time leading scorer with 134 points and Hunter, who tied for the national lead as a freshman in goals (42) and points (78) has 123 career points, including 65 goals.

“There will be an opportunity for some other players to become more of an offensive threat,” Johnson said. “If some of them can enjoy success early in the season, it will build some confidence and help during the middle and late part of the season.”

Among those players who the Badgers will look to improve their offensive output are senior Kelly Kegley, who notched 22 goals and 45 points as a freshman, junior Karen Rickard, who has 25 goals during her first two seasons, and sophomore Jackie Friesen, who had 15 points as a rookie last year.

“I’m very excited to see them,” Johnson said. “I think we have depth and we should be strong. But we haven’t had a chance to face anyone yet and, in training camp, everyone seems to look good. We have a tough schedule to open the season so we’ll find out how we are right away.”

Johnson will find out where his team stands during the first four weeks of the season. The Badgers open the season at home, Oct. 12-13, by taking on ninth-ranked Northeastern. After a road series at Connecticut the following weekend, Wisconsin return home to face two-time defending national champion Minnesota-Duluth and then go on the road to face No. 2 Minnesota.

This Week in Hockey East: Oct. 10, 2002

By
-

Let The Games Begin

Although only Northeastern had a game that actually counted last weekend, the chance to take the ice for even a meaningless exhibition contest was more than welcome for athletes who’d had a steady diet of captain’s practices, conditioning workouts, pickup games, official practices and intrasquad scrimmages. Finally, here was hockey with some meat on its bones.

A case in point was Massachusetts-Lowell star Ed McGrane, who a week ago looked forward to the River Hawks tilt against Concordia.

“Geez, this exhibition game is like playing at the FleetCenter right now,” he said. “You’ve been waiting all summer and been thinking about hockey all summer and doing dryland training and then practices. Now it’s just like we want to get on the ice and wear our jerseys again. We want to play some hockey again. It’ll be a big thrill.”

Many stircrazy fans feel just the same way.

The Early Leaders

The Northeastern Huskies currently lead Hockey East in all statistical categories. Three goals per game, tops in offense. Three goals against per game, tops in defense. The list continues: 37 shots per game, 36 saves per game, one shorthanded goal per game and a penalty-killing percentage of 75. The Huskies similarly dominate all the top individual stats.

Of course, it helps to have played the only official game to date.

I Don’t Get It

This will no doubt unleash torrents of nasty emails from Commonwealth Avenue, but I just don’t get it.

Certainly any of the four perennial powerhouses rank as reasonable choices to win the Hockey East title this year. But Boston University’s clear-cut selection as the top pick in the coaches’ preseason poll — most notably at the expense of New Hampshire — surprises me. Since no coach could vote for his own team, there were eight first-place votes available to the Terriers and they garnered all but two of them.

A more or less even distribution of votes among four co-favorites would not have surprised me. New Hampshire as a clear-cut favorite would not have surprised me. BU as a clear-cut favorite, however, does surprise me.

Obviously, the Hockey East coaches aren’t collectively out there losing sleep over the fact that yours truly disagrees with them. Hey, they’re the experts and, as my readers like to point out so fondly and so frequently, I are a moron.

But let’s look at this.

Last year, UNH finished first in the league during the regular season, won the Hockey East tournament and advanced to the Frozen Four. BU could claim none of those highlights. The Wildcats finished the season ranked first in the league in all four major categories: team offense, team defense, power-play percentage and penalty-kill percentage. The Terriers, by comparison, finished third, third, fifth and second, respectively, in those same categories.

UNH then lost Darren Haydar, David Busch, Ed Caron and Matt Carney. While the Terriers graduated no one of the stature of Haydar, they still lost Mike Pandolfo, Jack Baker, Chris Dyment, Pat Aufiero and Jason Tapp.

Looking at the offense, UNH must replace 49 goals scored to 46 for BU, a negligible difference. The gap is wider in assists, but the Wildcats have five players (Colin Hemingway, Sean Collins, Lanny Gare, Josh Prudden and Jim Abbott) returning with more points last year than their top counterparts on Babcock Street.

Defensively, New Hampshire did lose half of its 1A-1B goaltending tandem when Carney graduated, but Michael Ayers arguably outperformed him and could easily, one would think, shoulder as much of the load as BU’s Sean Fields if freshman Jeff Pietrasiak isn’t as good as advertised. And on the blue line, the Wildcats return everyone except for Garrett Stafford, who’ll miss the first semester due to academic ineligibility. By contrast, the Terriers must replace both Chris Dyment and Pat Aufiero.

Yes, BU’s recruiting class is a very impressive one, but UNH’s is hardly chopped liver. And, of course, BU coach Jack Parker can be a magician when it comes to getting the most out of his players. But UNH coach Dick Umile is also the reigning Hockey East Coach of the Year for a reason.

I just don’t see BU garnering all but two of the first-place votes.

I won’t be a surprise if the Terriers finish on top, but my money is on UNH.

If I’m right, I’m sure my email box will be almost empty. If I’m wrong, though, I fully expect that it will be overflowing with messages from Commonwealth Avenue reminding me of one of life’s few unshakable truths.

I are a moron.

Sadness At UMass

Condolences go out to Massachusetts freshman Matt Fetzer, whose 48-year-old mother died suddenly of an embolism.

“[The team] was all there when Mattie got the word,” says UMass coach Don Cahoon. “It was very traumatic. It had an unbelievable affect on everybody. There’s still a dark cloud hanging over everybody.

“It’s a terrific family. … It leaves a huge void.”

Debbie Fetzer leaves her husband, Brian Fetzer, and five children ranging in age from 21 to nine. She had planned to make the trip from Chicago to see her son play in Sunday’s home opener. A kid’s first college hockey game is supposed to be a moment of great pride for him and his family. Instead, the Fetzers have found out that sometimes life is just not fair. Our thoughts are with them.

The Fish Changes Hands

Perhaps Hockey East’s most colorful tradition is the throwing of a fish onto the ice at UNH home games after the first Wildcat goal is scored. The fish underlines the opposing goaltender’s need to “fish” the puck out of the net.

There are many great fish stories. Such as the time one mysteriously found its way from the ice to the cargo hold of an opposing team’s bus. Or the evening when a Division III opponent deemed less than worthy was greeted by a mere sardine.

The latest twist in the fish saga is that the Zeta Chi fraternity, which has long been responsible for the fish, is being relieved of that honor by the UNH athletic department.

“The athletic department is not taking away the tradition of the fish,” says Umile. “That goes back a long way and the fraternity that has been involved has been supportive. But I think at this point the athletic department’s thought was to give other organizations, other fraternities, and other people in the community involved because it is such a great tradition.”

Verbal Agreements in General and Brian Pouliot in Particular

Although it’s been quite a few years since I’ve seen him play, I’ve known Brian Pouliot for a very long time. He and my son skated in camps together and the two played on several teams that I helped coach. Exhibit A would be the 1994 tryout application I recently dug out of a file folder which listed him at 4 feet, 6 inches and 70 pounds. I guess you could say that he’s filled out a bit since then.

Brian, a really nice kid, had great hands and a scoring touch even back then and this year he stands a good chance of leading the EJHL in scoring. An attractive recruit, he verbally committed to UMass-Lowell in the summer as he looked ahead to his final year of juniors. Recently, however, he backed out of that agreement and switched to New Hampshire.

UNH would be a logical destination for any top-notch kid from the Granite State like Brian, but the reversal of intentions has prompted some controversy

“I committed to UMass-Lowell fairly early,” says Pouliot. “When I committed, I had taken unofficial [visits] to BC, Providence and Lowell. On unofficials, it’s gives you a real strong visual of the school and the facilities, but school was out — it was in summer session — so you didn’t really get a good feel for the students and that aspect of the school.

“It all came at me at once and I may have jumped the gun. I decided to take my real official visit at UMass-Lowell a month ago to see the student body. After taking that, I started having some second thoughts on whether I was going to fit in, not as an athlete but as a student. 75 percent of the time I’ll be with the team, but I want to make sure that I’m happy that other 25 percent of the time. It’s the next four years of my life and I don’t want to look back and have any regrets.

“That’s when I decided to call Lowell and let them know that I wanted to take a step back and reenter the whole process of visiting a few more schools that I didn’t get a chance to visit [before] and basically make sure that wherever I decided to go I wouldn’t have any regrets.

“That’s when I decided to call UNH. I hadn’t really thought about them earlier in the process because when I was talking to BC, Providence and Lowell, I got caught up in those three schools and jumped the gun and committed to Lowell without stepping back and asking myself, ‘What if I wait? I might have some other schools [pursuing me].’

“When you look at UMass-Lowell and UNH, one is a city school and one is kind of a countryside school. Two different types of schools. I loved the team at UMass-Lowell, but I’m not sure that the city environment is what I was looking for. I know I’m going to be much happier at UNH.”

Obviously, Umile is thrilled with the outcome.

“He’s a kid from New Hampshire and Lowell had done a very good job in the recruiting of him,” says Umile. “But after making the verbal commitment, for whatever the reasons, he wasn’t quite sure [of his decision]. He wanted to visit some other schools and he visited us. He went through [UML coach] Blaise [MacDonald] and his staff and ultimately made the decision to change his mind.”

Of course, MacDonald is less than pleased.

“I thought [assistant coach] Kenny Rausch and our staff did a good job of identifying Brian early and recruiting him,” says MacDonald. “Brian made a decision based on Providence, Boston College and us and chose Lowell so we were pretty pleased with that.

“Then what happened is that he got the sense that maybe if he had waited longer, UNH might be an option. Whereas UNH really hadn’t been recruiting him early on, perhaps there was the sense that maybe UNH is an option. Being a New Hampshire kid and a good player, there’s no question in my mind that it’s logical for him to want to look at that. I think that’s pretty much what transpired through a series of events.

“I’m very disappointed to lose Brian because I thought we had done a good job recruiting him. He had verbally committed and it was known to everybody that he was coming to Lowell. Then some things changed and opened up his mind perhaps that there may be some other options.”

All of which leads MacDonald to wonder if some teeth need to be added to the informal agreement among league coaches to step back from recruits who have verbally committed to other league teams.

“[It] needs to be looked at and perhaps be better defined,” he says. “There is no policy. That’s the problem. There’s nothing that’s enforceable. There’s no due process. Maybe we need to look into a policy, just for our league not for the NCAA.”

Hockey East Commissioner Joe Bertagna says with a perhaps rueful laugh, “I don’t know the particulars of this case and I’m happy not to.

“[In general, though], there are these informal agreements — informal because they’re sometimes not [even] put down in writing — and maybe more to the point, they’re not enforceable because they’re not backed by a structure like a conference that has procedures to back up rules and punishments if the rules are broken.”

While Hockey East could certainly formalize such an agreement, it’s not likely to come anytime soon.

“I think you have to also understand that in the end a family is always free to do whatever they want to do,” says Bertagna. “What also makes these things difficult is whether there’s clarity that somebody actually violated the spirit of whatever agreements are in place. I’ve never been a recruiter, but sometimes a very innocent remark can be construed by a family as something else and maybe it goes to how deep a commitment somebody has made if they can change their mind.”

2002-03 Minnesota State Season Preview

By Craig Roberts
-

In his second season at Minnesota State, head coach Jeff Vizenor feels his team has improved enough to move up from the WCHA’s cellar, where the Mavericks have dwelled for each of the league’s three seasons.

He has a number of reasons to feel confident that his team can move up in the league standings: some of those were evident in MSU’s 6-1 exhibition win over the Toronto Jr. Aeros Saturday.

Scoring six goals in a game was a major feat. The Mavericks scored just 38 goals in 32 games last season and had not scored six in a game since Jan. 9, 2000, in a 7-3 win over Division III Gustavus Adolphus. Four of those goals came from newcomers to the Minnesota State roster, including a pair by sophomore transfer Melanie Salatino, who finished third in goals and fourth in scoring in Division III at Wisconsin-Superior. Freshmen Devon Nichols and Amber Sharratt also tallied for the Mavericks.

“I learned we can put some pucks in the net,” Vizenor said after his team’s exhibition victory. “One thing about Salatino is that she came from Superior where she scored goals, that was her job. She’s come in here and we expect the same thing, that’s the only job we really give her.”

Vizenor expects his team to be higher-scoring than in the past and, if they can produce more goals, the Mavericks know they have the goalies to keep their opponents at bay.

Despite seeing 38 shots per game, junior goalie Shari Vogt posted a 3.21 goals against average and a .916 save percentage. Senior Katie Beauduy, who has seen nearly 35 shots per game during her career, has a 4.15 GAA and .880 save percentage overall.

“When you talk about our goaltending, you have to talk about Shari Vogt,” Vizenor said. “We’re going to expect her to log a lot of minutes for us again and win some games.”

Vogt simplifies her duties.

“I have to stop the puck,” she said. “I have to make big saves when the team needs me to and I need to keep the puck out of the net.”

Keeping the puck out of the net will start with MSU allowing fewer shots per game. Vizenor feels that his team understands its responsibilities better this year, but the addition of Sharratt, 5-9 Jen Johnson and 5-7 Andrea Jensrud should help. The Mavericks have not enjoyed size on their blue line and will look to use it to their advantage.

Up front, Salatino and Nichols bring their goal-scoring abilities to an offense that desperately needs them. However, Vizenor has upperclassmen who he expects to step up this season.

Senior Amy Egli has been handed the captaincy of the team. She and classmate Tristin Stephenson, the team’s leading active career scorer, are among the returning players who will be looked to for offensive output.

Egli realizes she will have to play a larger role on this year’s team.

“I have a lot more responsibility,” she said. “I have to lead by example and help keep everyone working together.

“We have a great group of freshmen and my role is to help them learn. They bring a great deal of energy to this team and they can score goals.”

One of the primary goals at MSU this season is getting the team into the WCHA playoffs. Moving from seventh to fifth in the league standings, though, won’t be easy.

“It’s going to take a consistent effort,” Vogt said. “Every series, every game, every shift, everyone is going to have to be consistent all of the time. This league is good and anyone can beat anyone on a given night.”

“Whenever you talk about the WCHA, you have to talk about Minnesota and Minnesota-Duluth,” Vizenor said. “They’ve been the top teams and they’ve added top players. But everyone else has gotten better, too. No one in this league can go out and assume they’re going to win. We have to work hard and give a good effort every night if we want to finish in the top five.”

The Mavericks open up the WCHA’s season by hosting Ohio State at All Seasons Arena, Oct. 11-12.

2002-03 St. Cloud State Season Preview

By Craig Roberts
-

After falling from 17 wins to seven, and from fourth to sixth place in the WCHA standings last season, Husky head coach Jason Lesteberg takes over the reigns of a team that went through a tumultuous 2001-02 season.

With 11 new players, nearly half of his 25-player roster, Lesteberg realizes there is some rebuilding to do. However, he feels there are some good things from the past that can be built upon.

Despite some sloppy play, the Huskies opened the season Sunday with a 4-2 exhibition win over the Toronto Jr. Aeros, getting goals from four different players.

“We’re starting fresh here and things that happened in the past are past,” Lesteberg said. “We want a fresh attitude but we want to build on some of the positives and there were some positives last year.”

Two of those positives were the play of junior forward Roxanne Stang and junior defenseman Kobi Kawamoto. Stang notched 23 goals during her sophomore season and has 49 goals and 72 points in two seasons. Kawamoto is a two-time second-team All-WCHA selection who boasts 22 goals and 61 points during her first two seasons.

Those two were among 11 players on this year’s squad who enjoyed St. Cloud State’s 17-win season in 2000-01, a point which Lesteberg stressed.

“We want to get across to our players that we expect to be able to win every game we play,” he said. “We want to get that winning edge back. The bulk of our kids were part of that team that won 17 games two years ago.”

Lesteberg stated that the trademark of his team will be its work ethic and Amanda Mathison, one of the team’s five seniors, echoed that sentiment.

“The big thing is attitude,” she said. “Everyone wants to work hard. We’ve gotten to know what Jason wants and everyone is working to their full potential.”

Kawamoto added that they’re not just grinding things out in practice.

“We’re having fun as a team,” she said. “The cohesion is great and we’re really coming together as a team but Jason gets his points across too. He’s a big guy and, in this building, his voice booms so you really listen. He’s stopped practice and addressed a couple of issues already.”

As with most teams, goaltending will be a key for the Huskies this season. Lesteberg will have the services of two returning goalies in senior Laura Gieselman and junior Ellen Brinkman, along with freshman Brie Anderson, but said they’ll be competing for playing time.

“I’m the kind of coach who would rather have a go-to goalie,” he said. “But I’ll probably rotate them until one of them steps up.”

Gieselman was 15-15-2 two seasons ago before falling to 4-16-0 last year. Brinkman was just 3-10-1 last year but came up with a 3-0 shutout of eventual national champion Minnesota-Duluth late in the season.

In all, Lesteberg likes the future for his program and feels he has another program to serve as a model: Craig Dahl’s men’s program at St. Cloud State.

“I feel we have all of the ingredients to build a successful program,” Lesteberg said. “Just look at the men’s program. We have to utilize what we have and I feel we have one of the best situations in college hockey. The facilities are excellent and the location, the atmosphere and the support makes it a very positive environment.”

The Huskies open their regular season with a pair of WCHA home games against Lesteberg’s former team, Bemidji State, Oct. 12-13.

This Week in the WCHA: Oct. 10, 2002

By
-

Now On Tour

The WCHA’s supervisor of officials, with help from a few of his referees, is canvassing the league from Alaska to Michigan, discussing and dissecting the rule most likely to change how college hockey runs this season.

Call it the Greg Shepherd faceoff education tour. At least he has more than 15 seconds to explain it to teams at each stop.

That’s all the players will have between whistles this season under an NCAA rule that draws off the popularity of the quick faceoffs at last winter’s Olympics in Salt Lake City.

An adjustment? Yes. Impossible? No. Matching lines, however, may be the casualty of the speed, taking away some of the home-ice advantage. The age-old coaches’ trick of slowing things down between whistles when protecting a lead might be gone, too.

Like it or not — and, at least on the outside, most coaches appear to like it — it’s here.

Unnecessary? Maybe.

One of the stats the NHL is thrilled to throw out is the fact that under a similar system this preseason, average game times were down from 2:33 last season to between 2:15 and 2:18.

The average length of a WCHA game last season was 2:20. Last Saturday, Michigan Tech and Northern Michigan played a game in 2:09.

Complaints about the excessive length of college hockey games are rare. But, the way Shepherd is presenting it, this is as much about keeping the game moving as cutting down its overall time.

“If you watch some teams, the centers would kind of [mess] around, the teams would hold their players at the bench and the referees would have to go get them and tell them to get out there,” Shepherd said. “This eliminates all the [BS]. They’re going to be there, otherwise the puck is going down, otherwise they’ll get a warning and the next time’s a penalty.”

Said Denver coach George Gwozdecky: “I think everybody, whether it’s fans or whoever you like, likes to have continual action. Not that we haven’t had it before at the college level, but I think everybody agrees if we can keep the games going, as opposed to slowing them down, I think that’s a positive.”

Here’s how it’ll work. When the whistle blows to stop play, the referee gets into position for the next play. When he’s ready, he’ll start counting to five seconds, giving the visiting team the opportunity to make its line changes.

After five seconds, the referee’s hand goes up to signal it’s the home team’s turn to change. After counting to five again, he’ll signal to the assistant referee at the faceoff dot, who blows his whistle to get the centers ready for the draw.

If they’re ready before the assistant referee gets to five, the puck drops early — that’s been the case nine times out of 10 so far, Shepherd said. If someone’s not ready and the AR finishes the count, the puck drops anyway.

Meanwhile, the assistant referees are just as busy as the players. They have to collect the puck and get in position within a few seconds. That can be tricky, especially when the play moves to the other end of the ice after an icing call.

The down time will be a little longer after goals and penalties, but for the most part, there shouldn’t be more than 15 seconds between plays.

There have been some quirks in trial runs during exhibition and intrasquad games this season. Denver coach George Gwozdecky said the explanation of penalties, normally given to coaches after multiple players go to the penalty box, was overlooked to get to the faceoff.

“I think the officials were so intent on getting the puck down that they probably forgot to take a little extra time to inform the coaches of what the situation was,” Gwozdecky said.

Shepherd insists he has covered all the bases as far as instructing the officials on the new procedure, and his trip around the league is designed to give the teams more knowledge on the subject.

The new rule will require coaches to make quicker decisions on lines and players to make sure they don’t get burned by not being ready for the draw.

“Once you make the decision and holler out who’s going, the guys have got to be ready to get to the faceoff circle,” Alaska-Anchorage coach John Hill said. “You don’t have time to stand around and talk about setting something up if you’re trying to work a play in the offensive zone.”

Now, we wait for the first team to get stung by being slow between the whistles and await the reaction.

Opposite Ends

The coaching dynamic at the Ice Breaker Invitational is fascinating. Wisconsin’s Mike Eaves and Northern Michigan’s Walt Kyle are will be coaching games Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, in their Division I collegiate careers Friday night at the Kohl Center.

They’ll be going up against Dan Fridgen, in his ninth season and in game 289, and Jack Parker, in season No. 30 and game 1,045.

They’re at opposite ends of the spectrum, and Eaves looks forward to meeting up with Parker in particular, one of college hockey’s best storytellers.

“He’s one of those guys in hockey, he’s seen a lot in 30 years,” Eaves said. “He’s got more stories than Carter’s got pills. He’s such a good man. You listen to him tell stories, not only has he seen a lot but he can weave a pretty good tale as well, so it makes it twice as enjoyable.”

As Eaves prepares to debut behind the Kohl Center bench, he said he’s not nervous. But putting a raw team out on the ice, one in the middle of a transformation, could be cause for some butterflies.

“There’s going to be excitement because we’re going to have maybe close to 10,000 people here,” Eaves said. “But we’ve got a lot of work to do. There’s no grand illusions here — we’re at a crawling phase right now. We’re learning things step by step, inch by inch right now.

“The kids are going to be excited, but for a lot of these kids, doing what we’re doing is going to take them back a step. We’re going to take one step back to take three or four steps forward. Whenever you learn something new, that’s what happens because you’re trying to think and you’re trying to work hard at the same time and as a result your performance usually dips.”

Oh, and don’t mind the Badgers if they drop and do push-ups every time a whistle blows. After a few days in Camp Eaves, that might be the conditioned response.

Eaves has closed the first days of practice to the media and the public, and in the closed sessions the UW players have paid for mistakes with push-ups.

“We’re just trying to change habits, trying to bring what we’re doing to the front of their brain so they’re very aware of it,” Eaves said. “Because only when you have awareness can you have change. So, sometimes by doing something that’s out of the ordinary like stopping practice, dropping down and giving push-ups, it’s like, ‘Gee, this guy’s serious. They’re holding us accountable. I don’t want to do any push-ups here, I’m going to do it right.'”

That kind of discipline factor would seem welcome to a team that led the league in penalty minutes last season, by more than two minutes per game over the closest competitor.

Start Strong Or Don’t Start At All

Not many teams have the chance to take direct action on two of their goals in the first two weekends of the regular season. Goals, however, are a bit different at Alaska-Anchorage than they are at, say, Minnesota and Denver.

The Seawolves have a late-season goal, too — becoming the first UAA team to get to the Final Five. But they’re faced with a series with in-state rival Alaska-Fairbanks and their Nye Frontier Classic tournament before the season really even gets rolling.

It just so happens that those two events are central to the Seawolves’ objectives for the season. They set claiming the Alaska Airlines Governor’s Cup, as the winner of the season series with Fairbanks, and winning their tournament as two of the three things they’ll shoot for. The first of two series with the Nanooks is this weekend in Anchorage and the Seawolves get Iona and Maine next weekend in the Classic.

“I guess in a perfect world you’d play these games later in the season, but it’s also a very exciting way to start off the season,” Hill said. “Our nonconference games are important — all six. Sometimes, I guess, sure, you would prefer to maybe not have so much at stake when you play them. But at the same time, I think it’s great that there’s a lot at stake.”

Hill will have a good read on his team in two weeks’ time, but, if things don’t go his way, part of that read could be that one of the goals is past and another is nearly out of reach.

If the Nanooks win both games this weekend, the Seawolves would have to win both games in Fairbanks on the weekend of March 7 and 8 just to force a shootout on road ice.

Possibly worse yet, they’ll have to contend with defending national runner-up Maine in the Classic next Saturday. Last season, they took three points in their tournament but watched Denver skate away with the trophy after Denver won twice.

So the Seawolves have to be somewhat cautious of putting all their proverbial eggs in the basket of the first two weekends. Playing well and living with the results is the plan.

“I don’t think you want to make the results the end-all, be-all,” Hill said. “But at the same time, you can’t be afraid to state what your goals are. And ours are to win the Governor’s Cup, win our tournament and make it to the Final Five in the WCHA.

“And if you don’t achieve it, it doesn’t mean you’ve failed or the season hasn’t been a success. But those are the rewards that are out there for us, and we’re striving to reach those.”

Missing You

If you’re a fan of goaltenders in the WCHA — and who isn’t, really? — the 1999-2000 season was about as good as it could get.

Think about it: You had Karl Goehring and Andy Kollar in charge at North Dakota, you had Graham Melanson in one of his best seasons at Wisconsin, you had Scott Meyer and Dean Weasler battling for time at St. Cloud State.

You had a tandem of Jeff Sanger and Colin Zulianello at CC; an Eric Pateman in the best shape of his career at Minnesota State-Mankato; a kid named Adam Hauser with the Gophers; a wall in Duluth’s Brant Nicklin; a solid Stephen Wagner at Denver; and a freshman named Wade Dubielewicz also with the Pioneers.

Not too shabby. Hope you enjoyed it then.

There are some top-notch goaltenders in the WCHA today — unquestionably led by Dubielewicz — but this group isn’t full of household names.

“I remember three or four years ago, where eight or nine teams had very high-end goaltenders,” Minnesota-Duluth coach Scott Sandelin said. “Now, I think there’s some good goalies, but who’s going to emerge?”

That’s the dilemma for a number of league teams this season. Denver has it made with Dubielewicz and Adam Berkhoel. Wisconsin has a dependable tandem of Scott Kabotoff and Bernd Bruckler.

But the eight other teams have at least some questions about their goaltending. Will Chris King or Kevin Reiter step forward to take the top spot at UAA? Can Curtis McElhinney stabilize CC’s defense the way Sanger did? Is Cam Ellsworth the answer for an entire season at Michigan Tech?

Will uncertainty between Travis Weber and Justin Johnson be one of Minnesota’s downfalls? Will UMD’s Rob Anderson be able to be an every-game goalie? Can Mankato’s goalies stay healthy?

Will North Dakota find quality or mediocrity between the pipes? And will Jake Moreland be able to lift himself to the level of Meyer and Weasler?

You’d be safe in assuming there will be some surprises in the goaltending ranks this season — some good, some bad.

In particular, keep an eye on the North Dakota situation. Josh Siembida and Jake Brandt had sub-par seasons a year ago — at least when held against the example of Goehring, one of the WCHA’s top 50 players of its 50-year history as chosen last season.

It looks like the Sioux forwards are ready to take off and the defense could be improved. But they need the goaltenders to follow suit for the team to climb the standings.

On The Move

For the fourth straight season, the WCHA has at least one new coach in its ranks. Wisconsin’s Eaves is the first coach to be hired by a league team from outside the 10-team circle since Scott Owens left the United States Hockey League to take over for Don Lucia at Colorado College in 1999.

Eaves’ may be the most prominent move of the summer, but that was just one of many changes.

The league has two new athletics directors: Joel Maturi at Minnesota and Kevin Buisman at Minnesota State. Maturi, the former AD at Miami and an assistant AD at Wisconsin, long has been a supporter of college hockey.

Three schools have new assistant coaches. With Mark Strobel leaving Minnesota-Duluth for Nebraska-Omaha, Lee Davidson moved to the Bulldogs from a volunteer position at North Dakota. Former UMD goaltender Taras Lendzyk joined his alma mater as a volunteer goalie coach.

Doc DelCastillo left St. Cloud State, also to go to UNO, and was replaced by Fred Harbinson, a former assistant for Sioux City of the USHL.

Eaves’ staff at Wisconsin includes Troy Ward and John Hynes. Hynes followed Eaves from the USA Hockey National Team Development Program; Ward was in management with the East Coast Hockey League.

As for the former Badgers assistants, Mark Johnson is the women’s coach at UW and Pat Ford took an assistant job at Findlay.

On The Shelf

  • At Wisconsin, defenseman Dan Boeser likely will play Friday night’s game against Rensselaer, Eaves said. Boeser was cleared to play by doctors after undergoing the last of 20 radiation treatments for lymphoma.

    He missed much of training camp and isn’t to the conditioning level of his teammates, Eaves said, so his fitness to play on Saturday will be evaluated after Friday’s game. Boeser has played in 80 straight games for UW and his goal after revealing his illness to the public was not to miss a game.

  • At Alaska-Anchorage, Dallas Steward is out with a sprained left knee and Jim Dahl is sidelined with a broken right hand.

    The original prognosis on Steward, a top-line forward, was that he’d be out three to six weeks. Steward was scheduled to be re-evaluated on Thursday.

    It’ll take six weeks for the broken bone in Dahl’s hand to heal, but Hill said the sophomore forward would be fitted with a playing splint as soon as the pain subsides.

    The injuries will test the Seawolves’ newfound depth. Martin Stuchlik joined Vladimir Novak and Peter Chytka, making an all-Czech Republic top line. The so-called Energy Line will feature Jace Digel, Spencer Carbery and Justin Johnson on Friday, but Hill might call on that depth if a change is needed for Saturday’s game.

  • At North Dakota, forward Brian Canady may start his sophomore season where he finished his freshman campaign: on the sideline. A shoulder injury could keep him out of the Xerox College Hockey Showcase in Buffalo, N.Y., this weekend. His first season ended with a knee injury in the playoffs.

    New In Stripes

    The WCHA has four new referees this season, but one is already familiar to the league.

    Marco Hunt, a WCHA assistant referee for games in Minnesota, got his orange armbands from Shepherd in the offseason. Also new are Todd Anderson, Brad Albers and Craig Hanson.

    League refs John Boche and Mike Riley retired in the summer. The new hires bring the referee roster to 13 members, including Shepherd, who now takes the ice mainly in emergency situations.

    Shepherd said he brought in four referees to replace two so the newcomers could get their feet wet slowly and not be immediately called into action every weekend. The second half of the season, he said, is when the officials who have done the best job will get the most calls.

    Anderson will make his league debut next week at Wisconsin’s nonconference series with Alabama-Huntsville in Madison.

    The Kinks, And Not The “Lola” Kind

    No. 2 Denver vs. No. 7 Michigan State: Not bad for the first full weekend of the college hockey season.

    But don’t fool yourself into thinking Friday’s national spotlight game will be an instant classic. Not in the first game of the season, anyway.

    This will most likely end up looking like … well, a first game of the season. It’ll probably be sloppy, there will be a few defensive breakdowns and not everyone will be on the same page.

    Gwozdecky and the Pioneers are anticipating an “adjustment period” before they’ll be at top form, and they’re not sure how long that will be. It might be a period on Friday against the Spartans; it might be the whole weekend at the Maverick Stampede in Omaha, Neb.; it might continue through Monday’s exhibition game against Windsor.

    It’s the same thing with every WCHA team. Everyone has some bugs to work out at the start of the season. The early advantage, however, goes to the team that works them out the fastest.

    The Pioneers make Boston College their second top-10 opponent of the season next Friday, so they’ll need to look sharp early.

    “We haven’t had the opportunity to play against anybody but ourselves, whereas Michigan State has played a couple of games,” Gwozdecky said, referencing the Spartans’ exhibition victories over the U.S. Under-18 team and Western Ontario.

    “That definitely helps your timing and it definitely helps your rhythm. I know it really helps the freshmen, who need some time to adjust. There’s going to be an adjustment period in that game on Friday and perhaps that game on Saturday as well.”

    The key date to remember for the Pioneers is Nov. 1, when they open the WCHA season at Wisconsin. If they’re not in good form by then, you’ll hear concerns.

    • 2002-03 Bemidji State Season Preview

    By Craig Roberts
    -

    Bemidji State has already kicked off its season, dropping 1-0 and 2-1 decisions Friday and Saturday at Mercyhurst. Despite the two losses, new head coach Bruce Olson wasn’t displeased with what he saw.

    “We played well, especially for our opening games,” he said. “Defensively, we played well. Our forwards came back and picked people up in our own zone, our defense played well and our goalies played very well. We made it difficult for Mercyhurst to get to the net with quality shots and we didn’t make many mistakes.”

    That neatly sums up what Olson is looking for from his team this season. Defense, goaltending, hard work and execution will be the trademarks for this year’s Beaver squad.

    “We tried to pick up the pace in practice,” Olson said. “The girls have been receptive to what we want and they’re working hard. When I first met with them, they said they want to improve on what they did last year and they weren’t afraid to work hard so we’ve been putting more pressure on them in practice.”

    The most pressure may be among the goalies, where senior Bre Dedrickson and junior Anik Cote are in competition. Cote got the nod in the season opener, stopping 35 of 36 shots in the 1-0 loss. Dedrickson followed up with a 29-save effort in the 2-1 defeat.

    Olson admits to a preference for a clear-cut number-one goalie and his two netminders know the score.

    “It’s real interesting right now,” Olson said. “Anik seems to be a little more controlled, moves better and has her body in proper position to stop the puck. Bre flops more but seems to get a glove or a pad on the puck when she needs to.

    “They’re pushing each other right now and they know they’re battling for the number-one job. It might take a while, though, to determine that with these two because they both look capable of playing well and doing the job.”

    BSU returns 20 letterwinners but return only one experienced blueliner in fourth-year captain Lisa Peters. At 5-9, she is the poster girl of the Beaver defense, which boasts size as its hallmark.

    Bemidji State added three freshman defensemen to the lineup who have had an immediate impact. Toronto natives, 5-9 Mandy Bambrough and 5-6 Emily Curcuruto, plus 5-6 in-state recruit Sarah Zuelke, all logged extensive ice time in the team’s season-opening series at Mercyhurst.

    Olson pointed out that former head coach Jason Lesteberg, now at St. Cloud State, and assistant coach Jim Ingman, who stayed on at BSU, filled some holes through recruiting.

    “They identified that there were some holes to fill on the blue line and they did that with these three,” Olson said. “All three played on the power play, penalty kill and played a regular shift and were a big part of what we did.”

    Among the forwards, the Beavers return five 25-point scorers from a year ago, led by second-team All-WCHA selection Amber Fryklund, who ranked 10th in the conference with 36 points. Fellow seniors Lill Raynard, Kerri McEwen, Alicia Kinsman and Betsy Hegland have all played more than 100 games, providing plenty of experience up front. Freshman Carly Napier is expected to contribute by centering team’s third line on a regular basis.

    However, with 26 players, spots in the lineup and the travel roster are not guaranteed.

    “It’s part of the pressure we’ve put on them,” Olson said. “Some of them will have to work to keep their spot. They know they can’t take a game or a practice off.”

    After showing the largest improvement in the league standings last season, the Beavers look to continue their rise in the WCHA standings. They get that chance this weekend when they travel to St. Cloud State, Oct. 12-13, for their first league games of the season.

    This Week in the CHA: Oct. 10, 2002

    By Geof F. Morris
    -

    Stumbling out of the Gate

    College Hockey America members Air Force and Niagara traveled to Dayton, Ohio, for the Lefty McFadden Invitational. Both teams are nicknamed for birds of prey, but they were the hunted rather than the hunters last weekend. The two Ohio teams in the tournament, Miami and Bowling Green, showed that the home turf would be well-defended.

    Niagara opened up that first game with a tough 4-1 defeat. With so much turnover in the offseason, one would probably presume that the last thing to gel for such a young team would be the special teams.

    The Purple Eagles’ power play went 0-for-4 against the Falcons, who netted goals on two of four chances with the man advantage. Hannu Karru scored the lone Niagara goal, and in Bernie Sigrist and Joe Tallari, he might have consistent linemates on the Purple Eagles’ second line.

    Regarding Air Force’s game against the RedHawks, my mother always told me: “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.” It’s always a bad sign when you relieve the starting goalie after the first two periods; it’s an even worse sign when you replace the backup with the starter after just seven minutes in the third.

    As was the case with the Falcons last year, they’re playing a lot of young talent. The tournament saw three sophomores and a freshman take the ice on the Falcons’ blue line; only one of the sophomores [Steve Mead] saw action in more than two-thirds of Air Force’s games last season, and junior Buck Kozlowski only played in 14 games last year. With 19 goals allowed, it’ll certainly be a long year for senior defenseman Brian Reaney and goalies Mike Polidor, Tyler John and David Goodley.

    Niagara defeated Air Force in the consolation game at the E.J. Nutter Center, 7-3. Joe Tallari nabbed a hat trick for Niagara, and his line scored four goals overall.

    Sigrist-Karru-Tallari should be a solid line, and Chris Sebastian, Barret Ehgoetz, and Nick Kormanyos are also certain to garner respect around the CHA. The third and fourth lines are young, however, and likely to see a jumble until Dave Burkholder can find groupings that click.

    In what may be a harbinger of things to come, freshman goalie Jeff VanNynatten started for Niagara, stopping 24-of-27 shots on the night. Youth was served on defense, as freshmen Brian Hartman, Andrew Lackner and Brian Mills all got starts to go with sophomore Casey Handrahan and juniors Dave Hominuk and Andrew Nahriniak.

    If this trend continues for the Eagles, look for them to struggle in their tough nonconference schedule until the young guys get used to Division I play, and expect the load on Rob Bonk to be eased.

    Bemidji Defense Shines Without Simmons

    When the news came out that Clay Simmons was leaving the Bemidji State program for personal reasons, there was reason for concern on the Beavers’ blue line. This summer saw the Beavers losing their appeal on the NCAA’s eligibility ruling for Jamie Mattie, and with Mark Phenow lost to graduation, the Beavers looked a bit thin.

    Of course, that’s before Anders Olsson equaled his goal output from last season with two goals in an exhibition win over Manitoba. Olsson and fellow Swede Peter Jonsson each scored two points in the 4-2 victory. The pair of European defensemen should be strong in filling the Beavers’ blueline needs this season. What many thought might be a weakness could become a strength as the season progresses.

    Home Sweet Home

    CHA schools seem to have a problem when they open the season on the road. Including the twin losses in the McFadden, CHA teams are 7-12-1 when they start their season on the road, but are 11-6-1 when they begin the year on home ice.

    That doesn’t bode well for Alabama-Huntsville, which starts the season next weekend at Wisconsin, but with Wilfrid Laurier coming to Findlay and then Wayne State this weekend, perhaps the CHA can recover from a rocky start.

    Wayne State Gets Respect

    In each of the last two USCHO.com Division I men’s polls, Wayne State has been the sole CHA member gathering votes. The CHA was not well-represented last season, but this is a trend that could change.

    The Warriors have gained a lot of respect in college hockey in the last two years, and Alabama-Huntsville also has an opportunity to make noise with opening series against Wisconsin, Denver and Minnesota. By the end of the season, perhaps the CHA will be able to drop Rodney Dangerfield from retainer.

    Weekend Slate

    This weekend, three CHA schools play exhibitions. As previously noted, Wilfrid Laurier will visit Findlay and Wayne State in consecutive tilts on Friday and Saturday nights, providing CHA fans along I-75 an opportunity to get their fill of hockey this weekend. Air Force opens their home slate with a Sunday afternoon visit from Windsor.

    The big games for the CHA this weekend really involve Niagara. Canisius and Niagara are hosting the Xerox College Hockey Showcase in Buffalo, N.Y., and No. 3 Michigan and No. 13 North Dakota are coming to town.

    With two games under their belt, Niagara’s young players have started to get a feel for how they play as a team. Are the Purple Eagles up to the challenge? Wins would be an upset, but as Wayne State showed the CHA last year, testing your mettle in a tough nonconference fire can harden your team for a title run.

    2002-03 Minnesota Season Preview

    By Craig Roberts
    -

    Last season was supposed to be a rebuilding year for Minnesota. The Gophers had struggled the year before after winning a national championship, and Laura Halldorson’s inaugural recruiting class graduated at the end of the season.

    The Gophers returned just three seniors for the 2001-02 season and were woefully thin on defense as well as going into the year without a proven goalie.

    The result: WCHA regular season and playoff championships and a third-place finish at the NCAA championship.

    Although they lost three seniors, including co-captains Tracy Engstrom and Laura Slominski, the Gophers return WCHA Player of the Year and Patty Kazmaier Award finalist Ronda Curtin as well as 2000 WCHA Defensive Player of the Year Winny Brodt, who missed the last two seasons due to her commitment to the U.S. National Team.

    Add to that the addition of U.S. Olympic Team members Krissy Wendell and Natalie Darwitz, who combined for nine points in the Gophers’ 10-0 exhibition win over the Toronto Jr. Aeros, the talent level on the team is exceptional.

    Minnesota men’s coach Don Lucia, whose own team is coming off a national championship, opened his press conference on media day by saying “Our penalty kill is going to be really good this year because we’re going to practice against the women’s power play.”

    He may have been kidding, but he underscored the point that talent abounds on this year’s edition of Gopher women’s hockey.

    Does that make them a lock to win it all? According to Halldorson, it doesn’t.

    “Women’s hockey is going to get a big boost this year from Olympians who are coming back to their college programs,” she said. “People who realize how talented our team is going to be also need to know there are going to be a lot of great teams out there this year and I think the level of play, as a whole, is going to be a couple of notches above what it has been.”

    Without question, however, Halldorson’s Gophers have had high expectations placed upon them.

    “I think we have to accept the fact that we have higher expectations this year,” she said. “Our goal is to take all of the positives that we created last year, in terms of work ethic, character, heart and chemistry, add talent to that, and, hopefully, our players remember what made us successful last year and we can build on that this season.”

    Not only do they bring the aforementioned firepower to the rink, they return their top forward line of junior La Toya Clarke and sophomores Kelly Stephens and Kristy Oonincx.

    “We talk all the time about every player on the team having a role,” Halldorson said. “They’re all important and they do evolve and change over time. Having depth may affect some people’s roles.

    “The great thing is that, besides the talent we’re bringing in our freshman class, we have great returners and they’re going to benefit from having more talent around them.

    “Clarke, Stephens and Oonincx were tremendous last season and, although they stood out more last year than they will this year, they will still be very involved in our offense and I believe contribute a great deal.”

    The trio ranked second, third and fourth on the team in scoring, combining for 54 goals and 123 points. They also accounted for 17 of the team’s 28 game-winning goals.

    As a whole, the team returns five 20-point scorers with junior Jerilyn Glenn, who had 12 goals and 20 points, joining Curtin, Clarke, Oonincx and Stephens in that group.

    Halldorson also said both Curtin and Brodt could see time at forward. Kelsey Bills, who will serve as an assistant captain, Cecilia Retelle and Melissa Coulombe performed well on defense and will be joined by Ashley Ahlbrecht, the 2002 Ms. Hockey Award winner in Minnesota, Chelsey Brodt (Winny’s younger sister) Krista Johnson and Allie Sanchez.

    The elder Brodt, who will anchor the defense with Curtin, is glad to back in the Maroon and Gold.

    “It’s great to be back,” she said. “It’s fun to be practicing again. The break that I had last year was good for me personally and now I’m ready to play.”

    Brodt sat out last year as a red-shirt after being cut from the U.S. National Team, one year after spending a full-season with the program, culminating in a silver medal at the 2001 World championships.

    Curtin feels she is still developing as a defenseman, despite her impressive campaign last season.

    “I don’t know what position I’ll be playing this year,” she said. “If I play defense I still need to learn more because I’ve only played it for a year. My goal is just to improve.”

    With what appears to be a solid, and improved, defense, things should be really good for the Gophers in their end of the ice as they return sophomore standouts Jody Horak and Brenda Reinen in goal.

    Each started 16 games last season and posted nearly identical numbers. Horak was 14-2-2 with a 1.43 goals against average, .947 save percentage and four shutouts. Reinen was 12-0-5 with a 1.39 GAA, .948 save percentage and one shutout.

    “We want them to build on what they accomplished last season,” Halldorson said. “I really think they were two of the best goalies in the country as freshmen.

    “We split them almost exactly evenly last year. We kept thinking that someone would emerge as a top goalie and they kept having awesome games. They’re both extremely competitive. They have different strengths, but they’re both mentally strong and their objective is to keep the puck out of the net, and they find ways to do that.

    “What I’ve told them is that we’re starting a new season and we’re going to always reevaluate but, if they both deserve to play, they will.

    With all that they’ve got going, the Gophers also open the new Ridder Arena this season. The brand-new facility is the first in the country built primarily to house a women’s hockey team. The arena will feature a standard (200 by 85 feet) sheet of ice which, according to Winny Brodt, will help their game.

    “I think it’s going to be an advantage to our game,” she said. “The game is going to be a lot quicker and things are going to happen that much faster.”

    That, says Halldorson, will help build excitement.

    “Ridder Arena is a perfect facility for us,” she said. “We hope to generate great enthusiasm and an exciting atmosphere for our fans and our players with an intimate setting.”

    Ridder Arena, which is adjacent to Mariucci Arena, will seat approximately 3,000 in a bowl configuration, with a club room and suites totaling another 400 seats.

    The first game in the new arena will be the Gophers’ WCHA home opener, Oct. 19, when they take on St. Cloud State. Minnesota opens its season Oct. 12-13 at Findlay.

    1...1,4141,4151,416...1,532Page 1,415 of 1,532

    Latest Stories from around USCHO

    Bowling Green assistant coach Paskaris leaves bench, named assistant athletics director for development with Falcons

    USCHO Staff -

    Women’s Division I College Hockey: The PodKaz Offseason interview – A visit with 2-time defending NCAA championship coach Joe Cranston of UW-River Falls

    Nicole Haase -

    After 42 years coaching Amherst men’s hockey team, Arena retires as ‘heart and soul’ of Mammoths program

    USCHO Staff -

    Western New England men’s hockey coach Young announces resignation after four seasons with Golden Bears

    USCHO Staff -

    SUNYAC tabs Fredonia’s Sudbrink as conference men’s hockey scholar-athlete of the year for ’24-25 season

    USCHO Staff -

    ‘A proud day’ as former Minnesota Duluth women’s hockey captain Brodt tabbed new head coach for St. Scholastica

    USCHO Staff -

    Denver sophomore blueliner, recent Wild signee Buium tabbed USCHO Player of the Year for ’24-25 season

    USCHO Staff -

    Western Michigan’s Ferschweiler leads Broncos to national championship, named unanimous USCHO Coach of the Year for 2024-25 campaign

    USCHO Staff -

    After 48-point freshman season with Boston University, Hutson adds to accolades with 2024-25 USCHO Rookie of the Year honor

    USCHO Staff -

    Wisconsin’s Simms, McNaughton, Minnesota’s Primerano take home final women’s hockey HCA monthly honors for ’24-25 season

    USCHO Staff -

    Final HCA men’s hockey monthly honors for ’24-25 season go to Western Michigan’s Washe, BU’s Hutson, Denver’s Davis, Bentley’s Hasley, Minnesota State’s Tracy

    USCHO Staff -

    Norwich grad Dawes named new men’s hockey coach for Cadets, leaves Stevenson after nine seasons behind Mustangs bench

    USCHO Staff -
    ©1996-2025 USCHO.com – U.S. College Hockey Online