Fair Play?

-

March 14, 2002

All will probably end well this weekend. You can make a case that the four best teams made it to Middlebury, and that a worthy national champion will be crowned. But in the eyes of many fans, coaches and players, the 2002 NCAA Division III tournament has been tainted by a selection process that seemed to put dollars ahead of fairness.

When it was announced back in December, the addition of a ninth team was unanimously welcomed. It allowed for an extra at-large team to be added, partially rectifying the format change in 1999-2000 that increased the number of automatic qualifiers from three to seven, thereby reducing the number of at-large berths from five to two.

As it was initially envisioned, and as it was explained to me, the play-in game would be between the two lowest eastern seeds. In a 6-3 split, the winner would then be sent west to even things up. In a 5-4 situation, the winner of the play-in would stay in the east as the lowest seed.

That was the assumption that most of us had throughout the season. But rumblings and rumors began to surface a few weeks ago about the possibility of putting the play-in game in the west in the event of a 6-3 split.

"Based on what’s happening, the west will never host the finals again."

— St. Norbert coach Tim Coghlin

The cat had to come out of the bag as the NCAA tournament approached, since the play-in game would necessitate a quarterfinal series on a Saturday and Sunday as opposed to the customary Friday and Saturday. Schools that might be affected were contacted to see if they had ice available for the new schedule.

One of the schools contacted was St. Norbert, and head coach Tim Coghlin was concerned. His fears were realized when the announcement came on March 3 that St. Thomas, winner of the MIAC, would meet NCHA champion Wisconsin-Superior in three days, with the winner headed to St. Norbert for a weekend series. There would be only one quarterfinal series in the west.

“From the view from the west, these are the worst NCAA pairings I have seen in the 16 years that I’ve been associated with college hockey,” said Coghlin.

Besides virtually assuring that the D-III frozen Four would be in the east for the sixth time in the past eight years (since there was no way the NCAA would fly three eastern teams west), the pairings left many with the impression that St. Thomas and Wisconsin-Superior were being considered as the two lowest seeds in the tournament, since that’s who usually is relegated to a play-in game.

The official seedings had the Tommies and YellowJackets as merely the second and third western seeds.

Not so fast, said Coghlin.

“Next year tell the number two and three eastern teams that they have to play a play-in game, and see what happens.”

St. Norbert had to scramble to play on Saturday and Sunday, rescheduling 16 games of the Wisconsin high school championships. There wasn’t any time available for either team to practice before the game.

So what happened? Why the change from the traditional practice of balancing out the teams so that each region had two quarterfinals series?

The NCAA wouldn’t comment, but did refer me to a section of the Division III manual:

“31.1.3.2.5 Nonrevenue Championship Site Assignment. Team championships that do not generate revenues, pairings shall be based primarily on the teams’ geographical proximity to one another, regardless of their region, in order to avoid air travel in preliminary rounds whenever possible. Teams’ seeding relative to one another may be taken into consideration when establishing pairings if such a pairing does not result in air travel that otherwise could be avoided.”

Division III hockey is considered a nonrevenue sport. No Division III sport made money last season — lacrosse and hockey came the closest, being in the black excluding travel expenses.

So, by the book, the NCAA selection committee can pretty much do anything it wants in the interests of financial responsibility. But in past seasons, the seedings have only been tweaked a bit to avoid flying multiple teams. Last year, Lebanon Valley went to RIT and New England College went to Wisconsin-Superior in order to have only one team fly in the first round. If you went by the seedings, NEC could have flown to RIT, with LV also flying to Superior.

This season saw just one team fly for the entire tournament, the first time that that’s ever happened. In this age of cost containment, expect this trend to continue.

“Based on what’s happening, the west will never host the finals again,” said Coghlin.

“Never again.”

But what about the fans? Well, I was also referred to this passage from the Division III Philosophy:

“Division III institutions: (a) Place special importance on the impact of athletics on the participants rather than on the spectators and place greater emphasis on the internal constituency (students, alumni, institutional personnel) than on the general public and entertainment needs.”

So it’s pretty clear that the interests of Division III hockey fans were not taken into account.

But does that explain why St. Thomas was left off the T-shirts the NCAA sells to the fans that don’t matter? I realize that Division III hockey is not Division I hockey — D-III exists to serve a purpose of providing an environment that’s more balanced than Division I, as well as give more student-athletes a chance to play. But these players care as much about their sport as their D-I counterparts, and their fans don’t care any less either.

The precedent set this season doesn’t bode well for Division III hockey. Fortunately, there’s talk of additional changes on the horizon, many of which could make things better. One calls for 50 percent of the teams in the tournament field to be at-large bids. The continued addition of new programs will increase the overall field.

But for now, and probably forever, don’t expect the NCAA tournament to feature the nine best teams. This is true of all NCAA tournaments — the Division I basketball tournament makes no claim of having all the best teams — but still hard to explain to the Elmiras and St. Thomases who think they were treated unfairly.

Many will be paying close attention to next year’s selection and pairings, to see if 2002 was an aberration, or the shape of things to come.

Frozen Four Semifinal Preview: Wisconsin-Superior vs. Plattsburgh

By Russell Jaslow

-

March 14, 2002

A Few Things In Common

Wisconsin-Superior and Plattsburgh have a few things in common.

They are both small state liberal arts schools located in small towns. They both are situated in out-of-the-way places in their respective states — Superior is located in the extreme northwest corner of [nl]Wisconsin, Plattsburgh in the extreme northeast corner of New York.

One other thing very much in common: they both have hockey teams. Very good hockey teams. Good enough that they seem to have a propensity to face each other in the NCAA Division III Men’s Frozen Four.

This is the third consecutive time, and fourth overall, that the Yellowjackets and Cardinals will meet this far into the season. Plattsburgh has won all three previously — last year in the semifinals, 5-3, the year before in the third-place game, 2-0, and back in 1992 in the semis, 8-5.

While Plattsburgh will be more than happy to keep that streak going, Superior will do everything it can to stop it once and for all.

“It’s put up or shut up time once you get into this tournament,” Plattsburgh coach Bob Emery says.

The tournament for these two teams gets started Friday at 3:30 p.m. in Kenyon Arena on the campus of Middlebury.

Plattsburgh Cardinals (20-8-4)

The Cardinals don’t like to do things easy. Not by a longshot.

“We had to climb some mountains and cross some rocky roads,” Emery says. “But I believe it makes us a stronger team.”

This year, in the SUNYAC semifinals, Plattsburgh was stretched the distance by Geneseo, and needed a mini-game to move on. In the conference finals, the first two games ended in a tie, and the Cardinals finally advanced in game three. Then, they virtually repeated that scenario in the NCAA quarterfinals, tying RIT twice before taking the mini-game, 1-0, to once again move on to the Frozen Four.

Essentially, the Cardinals have won just one regulation game in the last six. However, they are in the Frozen Four, and there is something to be said about knowing how to win.

“We find a way to win when it comes down to crunch time,” Emery said.

They did the same thing last year. Stretched to the limit in the SUNYAC finals, they defied the odds in the NCAA quarterfinals and finally beat an undefeated team for the national championship. This year’s team is pretty much the same as last year’s.

The top player is goaltender Niklas Sundberg, a second-team All-American. A big stand-up goalie, Sundberg has been outstanding when it has counted the most. He currently has a 2.00 GAA and a .927 save percentage, both seventh in the nation.

Emery says, “You have to have a strong goalie this time of year. Sundberg allows us to be able to win every game.”

Moving outward, Peter Ollari, another All-American, is the Cardinals’ top defenseman, both offensively (nine goals and nine assists for 18 points) and defensively. Freshman Doug Carr has been an invaluable addition helping to defend the Cardinals’ zone.

Plattsburgh’s offense is a bit misleading. Looking at the stats, you won’t find any national leaders. In fact, the top goalscorers have 12 tallies each (Adam Richards and Rob Retter) and the top point-getter is All-American Jason Kilcan with 41 (10 goals and 31 assists).

Part of this is due to the tough schedule Plattsburgh plays. Part of it is spreading the wealth around. Any one of Plattsburgh’s lines is capable of lighting the lamp. Plattsburgh will play all four lines and six defensemen throughout the game.

Most importantly, like these last few weeks have shown, the Cardinals can score when it matters most.

Speaking of that tough schedule, that very well may be why they are able to pull it out during this time of year. Already battle-hardened, the pressure is secondhand.

Therefore, don’t look at those eight losses as a weakness. Instead, consider the good teams they lost to — twice each to Elmira and Norwich, once to Middlebury and to league foes in Potsdam, Oswego, and Geneseo. Then consider six of those losses were by one goal, with two of those in overtime.

It begins to make sense why this may be the best-prepared come playoff time.

Wisconsin-Superior Yellowjackets (22-5-5)

The Yellowjackets didn’t exactly take the easy route, either. The finished second in the NCHA, so after knocking off Lake Forest they had to travel to St. Norbert for the conference tournament. Then, they played two overtime games to defeat Stevens Point and the host school to win the title.

The Yellowjackets’ “reward” was to appear in the first-ever NCAA play-in game. At least they got to host it, and they beat St. Thomas, which meant they once again had to travel to St. Norbert and attempt to beat the Green Knights for a second weekend in a row.

They did. So nobody can say that Superior didn’t earn its way here.

Superior also has strong goaltender in Nathan Ziemski, who is as hot as they come this time of year. He is also familiar with Plattsburgh, having played in the SUNYAC for Cortland his freshman year, as well as in last year’s semifinal.

He’s played more minutes than any other goalie in the country, participating in all but three of his team’s games, producing a 2.50 GAA and .903 save pct. He’ll be in shape if a marathon game occurs.

Interestingly, just like Plattsburgh, Superior didn’t place anyone on the first-team All-American squad, but the ‘Jackets did place three players on the second team. And three good players they are.

Defenseman Bruce Leonard anchors a solid defense. Forward Chris Hackett leads the team in scoring with 10 goals and 32 assists for 42 points and Colin Kendall is third with a 16-21–37 line, including three shorthanders. In between is Josh Liebenow at 14-27–41, including six power-play goals. Speaking of power-play goals, Randall Smisko has eight of them, all of which has helped Superior to be sixth best in the nation in scoring margin.

This is Superior’s fourth consecutive year in the Frozen Four. The three previous years, the Yellowjackets have come in second, third, and fourth. So, logically, what’s next?

You can bet the seniors are thinking of that.

Worthless Factoid

In the “this is kind of cool, but it means nothing” category, consider this possible scenario.

Last year, Plattsburgh beat Middlebury on the road in the quarterfinals, played Superior in the semifinal, and then defeated the tournament host, top-rated RIT.

This year, Plattsburgh could conceivably do the same thing in reverse order. Plattsburgh beat RIT on the road in the quarterfinals, will play Superior in the semifinal, and could then face the tournament host, top-rated Middlebury.

Strategy

So, what will each team’s strategy be? It’s always tough to decide when playing a team from a different part of the country.

As Emery explains, “We don’t know much about them, and they don’t know much about us. We’ll go out there and play our game, and they will play their game.”

Was Emery being coy? Probably. After all, these two schools have a few things in common, like playing each other in the Frozen Four.

This Week in Hockey East: March 14, 2002

By David H. Hendrickson

-

March 14, 2002

Go East, Young Man

This year’s NCAA East Regional in Worcester could have an especially distinctive Eastern flavor because of aftereffects from the Sept. 11 attacks. In fact, fans at the Centrum could conceivably see not a whiff from the West as six teams from the ECAC, MAAC and Hockey East converge.

In balanced years with six East and six West teams of evenly distributed strength, the top four teams in each region stay closer to home while the bottom two seeds cross over. This crossover gives the NCAA tournament a more national flavor, allows fans to see new teams from other parts of the country and gives the Selection Committee the most flexibility in avoiding same-conference matchups for as long as possible.

Other times, however, an imbalance exists and one region is stronger than the other. That happened last year. The West had the lion’s share of top-rated teams in the Pairwise Rankings, including five WCHA schools that earned berths. To place the highest-rated programs appropriately, three WCHA teams crossed over, taking East seeds numbers two, three and four.

The end result was the following:

East Regional
1. Boston College (HEA)
2. North Dakota (WCHA)
3. Colorado College (WCHA)
4. Minnesota (WCHA)
5. Maine (HEA)
6. St. Lawrence (ECAC)

West Regional
1. Michigan State (CCHA)
2. St. Cloud (WCHA)
3. Michigan (CCHA)
4. Wisconsin (WCHA)
5. Providence (HEA)
6. Mercyhurst (MAAC)

By the time the No. 3 vs. No. 6 and No. 4 vs. No. 5 first rounds were over, the East Regional was left with two same-conference matchups: BC-Maine and North Dakota-Colorado College. Ideally, these clashes are best saved for the Frozen Four, but there was little the committee could do with the West being so dominant and the WCHA placing five teams.

This year, the East-West balance is considerably better in the Pairwise, especially at the top where New Hampshire, Boston University, Maine and Cornell balance four WCHA/CCHA counterparts in the Top Eight. Western teams do fill the next four positions, but it’s a far cry from last year when the West earned seven of the top eight seeds.

So why is this year different with the potential for an all-East representation at the Centrum, one year after the East regional had as many teams from out of the region as in it?

In the aftermath of Sept. 11, the Division I Championships and Competition Cabinet implemented policies with all fall championships to reduce the amount of travel to minimize the risk for student-athletes. The cabinet met again in February and voted to continue those policies for this year’s winter and spring championships.

Teams are still selected based on the established criteria, but their placement in the East or West Regional is now governed by travel limitations that did not exist in the past. The only exemptions go to the top four seeds overall that will still be placed in the proper region as dictated by the criteria even if it means one or two must fly to a distant venue. With a first-round bye at stake, this is only fair.

(In purely technical terms, the NCAA exempted 25 percent of the field in all sports. Since 25 percent of a 12-team tournament is only three teams, hockey (as well as lacrosse) were allowed an additional team to be seeded regardless of travel.)

“The only thing the [Selection] Committee will have to take a look at is the eight teams [other than the bye teams] that are assigned to the regional sites, trying to make those assignments to create the fewest number of flights possible,” says Tom Jacobs, NCAA Director of Championships.

Jack McDonald, Quinnipiac Athletic Director and Chair of the D-I Men’s Ice Hockey Committee, uses last year as an example to make the point.

“The top four seeds would have been the same,” he says, “but Providence probably would have stayed in the East and either Minnesota or Colorado College might have stayed in the West.

“If, by chance, we do have an imbalance [this year] in the number of teams from each region — like last year we had seven from the West — then obviously some team from the West would have to come to the East.”

After that, however, the selection committee has less flexibility, especially since the requirement that a team use ground transportation instead of flying has been expanded from 300 miles away from the venue to 400 miles. (Not only does this presumably reduce risk, but also given the realities of post-9/11 airport delays is probably the more convenient route as well.)

“In some cases, a particular team might be [taking] a flight no matter which regional site they were assigned to,” says Jacobs. “If that were the case, you’d have some flexibility in terms of whether that team goes East or West.”

In the West, there will be several such schools, such as Denver, Colorado College and Alaska-Fairbanks. In the East, however, only one team meets the 400-mile standard: Mercyhurst. Clarkson and Cornell, which would have flown under the 300-mile policy, will now bus to Worcester, if selected.

That is, if eventually six East and six West teams get into the tournament, then there may be plenty of West teams that can fly to Worcester under the rules to cross over, but only Mercyhurst would be eligible to fly to Ann Arbor, Michigan.

In other words, a one-way street.

If either UNH, BU or Maine wins the Hockey East tournament, Cornell wins the ECAC tournament and Mercyhurst wins the MAAC, then the committee won’t have too tough a problem to deal with. There will be five East schools and seven from the West. The three Hockey East teams and Cornell will stay in Worcester, Mercyhurst will fly to the West and two Western teams will head East.

If, however, there are upsets, then things could get sticky. UMass-Lowell could win Hockey East, creating a fourth team from the league that fits the ground travel profile. Or if any team other than Cornell wins at Lake Placid, then the ECAC will get two, not one team into the NCAAs, both of which are ground-travel schools. Or if some school other than Mercyhurst wins the MAAC, then it, too, will be within 400 miles of Worcester.

The committee will then be stuck with West teams that can come East under the new process, but none that from the East that can go in the other direction. In that case, Worcester could see only schools from Hockey East, the ECAC and the MAAC.

Not what we’ve come to expect, but unavoidable in this post-9/11 world.

“Well, it’s certainly going to fill up a lot of buildings attendance-wise,” says McDonald, “but I think the committee is still committed to keeping a national theme to our brackets. If it did work out in an even world that the bye teams were two East and two West and the [other] teams were four West and four East, then it would be our job to prevent first-round matchups of conferences and keep a national flavor to the tournament. But we just don’t know.

“Right now, the Pairwise looks like it’s got a Western feel to it, but we’ve got a lot of games to play. The committee will do what the NCAA rules say as well as what’s best for the tournament.”

Go Cornell! Well, Maybe Not…

Fans from conferences other than the ECAC have probably been planning on rooting for Cornell this weekend so that the league’s automatic qualifier berth in the NCAAs goes to a team that is already solidly placed in the Pairwise Rankings. Those same fans, however, may have to balance the additional berth that would create with the potential loss of a bye.

Word has it that if all the favorites win this weekend, Cornell moves up in the criteria to grab the second East Regional bye.

Of course, if the Big Red lose, then they’ll remain solid in the Pairwise while another ECAC team currently ranked 19th in the Pairwise or lower — Clarkson at 19 is the second highest ranked team from the league — will take the ECAC Automatic Qualifier, bumping some school on the bubble.

Pick your poison.

Whither UMass-Lowell?

If the River Hawks defeat UNH, but lose in the Hockey East championship game, can they grab an at-large berth? After all, they’re close now, sitting 13th in the Pairwise.

Based on the criteria, the answer is no.

Their problem is that the teams ahead of them are unpassable. For example, look at the current comparisons between Lowell and Alaska-Fairbanks as well as Northern Michigan.

 Alaska-Fairbanks vs UMass-Lowell
 RPI      0.5667  1           0.5645  0
 L16    10- 4- 2  1          6- 8- 2  0
 TUC    11- 7- 2  1          9-11- 0  0
 H2H              0                   0
 COP     0- 0- 0  0          0- 0- 0  0
 ============================================
 PTS              3                   0
 
 UMass-Lowell vs Northern Michigan
 RPI      0.5645  1           0.5572  0
 L16     6- 8- 2  0         12- 4- 0  1
 TUC     9-11- 0  0         11- 8- 1  1
 H2H              0                   0
 COP     0- 3- 0  0          1- 0- 0  1
 ============================================
 PTS              1                   3

The problem, of course, is that Lowell’s Last 16 Games criterion and to a lesser extent, the Teams Under Consideration category as well, took a beating while three of its best players were playing for Team France in the Olympics. Of course, they did the right thing in playing for their country, but it certainly left its mark.

This Weekend At The Fleet

When asked for his thoughts about potentially appearing in the championship game against UNH or Lowell, BU coach Jack Parker just says, “We’d love to play either one of them because that means we’d be playing. It’s anybody’s tournament, that’s for sure.”

That certainly is true. Here’s a look at the matchups.

New Hampshire vs. UMass-Lowell (4 p.m.)

Regular season:
Nov. 9, UNH 5 Lowell 2 (at Lowell)
Nov. 10, Lowell 1 UNH 0 (at UNH)
Feb. 22, UNH 3 Lowell 0 (at UNH)

New Hampshire is presently number one in just about everything. First in the USCHO poll, Pairwise Rankings, Hockey East regular season, team offense, team defense, power-play percentage and penalty-kill percentage. And of course, first in the hearts of Granite Staters. (Sorry, Dartmouth!)

Small wonder, then, that UNH coach Dick Umile isn’t focused on what Lowell can do well, but instead will let the River Hawks worry about his team.

“We’re just concerned with ourselves, to be quite honest,” he says. “As long as we play well, that’s what we’re concerned with. Obviously, we’re familiar with Lowell. They’re a real good team. The four best teams in the league, the way they were playing, are in the FleetCenter.”

Anyone who has watched these two teams much at all will point to a contrast in styles. UNH tends to kill you with its skating game and is deadly on the transition. Lowell can be dominant in the corners and down below the faceoff dots.

“I think we can do both to be honest,” says Umile. “We’re a quick skating team, but we’ve proven down in their arena and even in the 1-0 loss when we played them here [at the Whittemore Center] that we played well against them.

“They like to get it down along the boards and we know that. I think we’re able to do that, too. How well we do it come Friday is the question mark. But we’re familiar with that.

“I think we can do a little of both. We can transition and play down low as well. We’ve just got to do it.”

The question each year, almost ad nauseum, is how well the Wildcats will react to leaving the Whittemore Center’s Olympic sheet for the FleetCenter’s NHL-sized ice surface. Given that they’ve posted a 9-4-2 road record, compared to 16-2-1 at home, the Wildcats don’t miss the extra 15 feet of width all that much.

“It’s hard for us to play here as well in the Whittemore Center,” says Umile. “We like playing in the smaller rink. We’ve done well when we’ve gone down to the smaller rinks. We feel good about playing there, too.”

With goaltenders Matt Carney and Michael Ayers both playing well heading into the playoffs, Umile is faced with a choice between continuing to go with a rotation or just stick with one hot hand.

“I’ll make a decision on Friday as to who will play,” says Umile. “I’m not saying we’re not going with both goaltenders. We could possibly be doing that.

“But at this point in the season it’s a little different. It’s single elimination so you come out and make a decision. Both goalies need to be ready to play and do the job when they have to do it.”

For UMass-Lowell, the task of facing the Wildcats with all those number ones noted above could be daunting. Nonetheless, the River Hawks know that if you remove the distracted weekend before their Olympians left for Salt Lake as well as their sleep-deprived returning weekend in which the three went straight from airport to arena and were playing their seventh game in eight days, this season’s record stands at 21-5-1.

21-5-1! The River Hawks would be a lock already for the NCAA tournament.

So combining that what-if statistic with some good head-to-head games against UNH leaves reason for optimism.

“We played them twice up there and I think UNH has been outshot at home three times all season, once by Boston College and twice by Lowell,” says UML coach Blaise MacDonald. “So clearly we’ve done a decent job of being able to establish some ebb and flow to the game where they have not been able to dominate us.

“[However], we’ve only scored three goals against them, too. They’re a real good team and they’re going to put a lot of pressure on us, but we’re going in fast and loose. We have nothing to lose. They’re the number one seed, the number one team in the country so we’re going in, ‘Hey, let’s have fun. Let’s get after this thing and see what happens.'”

What happens could depend on whether the River Hawks can control UNH’s lightning strikes on transition and keep the game in the corners. They did this to perfection in their rubber-game win over Northeastern in the quarterfinals that was a clinic in how to win off cycling.

“We need to do a good job of keeping the puck out of the guts of the ice — out of the middle of the rink — keep everything up the walls and then make good dumps, keep it down in the corners and then really try to employ and establish our forecheck,” says MacDonald. “That’s what we did on the third night against Northeastern and we did not do that, for the most part, on the second night.

“It starts with us being able to come out of our own zone cleanly, which would force us to do a good job of breaking UNH’s forecheck. They’re a very good forechecking team. So they’ll put a lot of pressure on us. I really think that we’re preparing ourselves every day in practice to handle the transition that UNH is going to throw our way.

“They’re a dynamic team. The amount of goals they’ve scored this year and the guys who have big points, it’s like they have a couple Kurt Warners out there, three Marshall Faulks and a bunch of other guys. So it’s tough to pick your poison in who you’re going to try to stop. They’re a very good team and we’re going to have our hands filled playing against them.

“But we’ve been there before. We were in the FleetCenter last year. Lowell beat UNH last year [in the quarterfinals], so there’s some experience on this team in playing in that game.

“Now it is single elimination. We’ve been conditioned to play single-elimination for the last five or six games whereas UNH hasn’t had to have that pressure put on them. That’s an advantage to us, I think.”

Cam McCormick, who will be back between the pipes, has had success against the Wildcats in the past. He holds two career shutouts over them in their own building, including the 1-0 win earlier this year.

“I don’t know whether it’s the Whittemore Center or if it’s UNH or whatever,” he said last Saturday after stopping 22-of-23 Northeastern shots. “I just love playing against that team.

“Everybody is excited to play UNH. They won our conference. They’re the top dogs right now. They’re kind of expected to win everything. It would be a great upset if we could pull this off.”

PICK: One might say that only a moron would pick against the dominating Wildcats. That said, this moron thinks that Lowell’s ability to keep UNH away from its preferred pace and grind away in the corners will turn this into a battle of goaltenders. And McCormick now looks to be again playing like a rival to Michigan State’s Ryan Miller. Lowell 2 UNH 1

Boston University vs. Maine

Regular Season:
Nov. 9 BU 3, Maine 2 (OT) (at Maine)
Mar. 1 Maine 9, BU 6 (at BU)
Mar. 2 Maine 4, BU 4 (at BU)

With two of the three games this year between these teams going into overtime, there’s plenty of promise for a reprise in the semifinal contest. The two rivals also finished tied in the regular season, with the Terriers taking the number two seed — and the resulting opportunity to get the last line change on Friday night — by virtue of the most league wins tiebreaker.

When healthy, BU holds the advantage on the blueline, particularly in terms of depth, while Maine has proven itself the more explosive offensive team. BU’s advantage, however, has been nullified by injuries to defensemen Pat Aufiero and Bryan Miller, both of whom were characterized by Parker as out for this weekend.

What concerns him most about the Black Bears?

“Their overall team speed, their quickness to the puck and their power play, which has been hot as heck lately,” he says.

Indeed, Maine’s power play finished second only to UNH’s with a 22.4 percent mark in the league and 25.0 percent overall.

The Terriers got an up-close look at the Black Bears when hosting them for the final two games of the regular season. Maine blew their doors off in the opener, jumping out to an 8-3 lead heading into the third period before finishing at 9-6. The following night was a strong game for both sides, finishing tied at 4-4.

“It doesn’t matter what the adjustments are,” says Parker after being asked about adjusting following the first night’s debacle. “It’s being ready to play. It wasn’t a matter of us not being fast enough. It was a matter of us not being ready to play. I’m not worried about keeping up with their speed next time.

“It was good that we played them recently to give us an idea of just how good they are because we hadn’t seen them since November. They’re a different team now than they were then, obviously.

“But also, we played real well against them. I thought we had a real good game against them in the 4-4 tie. The pace of that game was more to our liking in terms of being able to slow it down once in a while but also being able to pick it up and make them worry about our speed, too.”

The respect expressed by Parker is mutual.

“They’re an excellent hockey team,” says interim Maine head coach Tim Whitehead. “They play with a lot of intensity and passion. We need to match that.

“Secondly, they’re real good on the special teams so we’ve got to be prepared in that area: power play, penalty kill and four-on-four.

“They’re also real good in transition so that would be the third area we need to focus on, both transition on offense and defense. Those will be the key areas against them.”

As to whether it is to Maine’s psychological advantage to have taken 3-of-4 points in the Terriers’ barn or whether that might sharpen BU’s focus, Whitehead notes that it could go in either direction.

“You never know how that’s going to go,” he says. “I’ve seen that work both ways. We just have to focus on ourselves. The way it can help us is, hey, we know we can play with them, but at the same time we have complete respect for BU and how they play and what they can bring.

“It kind of brings a little of both for us and says, hey, this is going to be a great hockey game. We know we can go toe-to-toe with them and we know it’s going to be a close game. We hope we’re fortunate enough to come out on top.”

For most of the season, there’s been no question who the goaltender would be. With Matt Yeats suffering through a very sub-par year (4-6-3, 3.10 GAA, .883 Sv%) and Mike Morrison ranking among the league’s, if not the nation’s, best (18-3-4, 2.17 GAA, .922 Sv%), the choice has been a no-brainer.

However, Yeats has shared the action the last two weekends and played well. As a result, Whitehead is waiting until Thursday to let his netminders know who will start and will let the rest of the world know on game day.

“The good news for us is that we’re in the situation we thought we’d be in for most of the year where we have two guys to go to this time of the year,” he says. “Each guy has had his highs and lows, but the key is knowing that both of these guys can help us a lot this time of the year. That’s something we’re really excited about.

“The last few weeks, Mattie has reemerged and that’s excellent; Michael has carried us for the bulk of the season. So we’ve got two guys now that we’re very confident in down the stretch here.”

PICK: A barnburner, humdinger, pick your pet phrase. This should be a pleasure to watch with the Black Bears’ more explosive offense being the deciding factor in overtime. Maine 4 BU 3 (OT)

CHAMPIONSHIP GAME PICK: Maine wins its fifth title, breaking Lowell’s dream of its first along with an automatic qualifier to the NCAAs. Maine 3 Lowell 2

(Fudging the pick: If Lowell instead faces BU, that’s a matchup more to the River Hawks’ liking and they take a 3-2 win. If, on the other hand, UNH gets past the River Hawks, the Wildcats will take their first ever Hockey East title.)

The Award Winners From These Eyes

It’s the coaches, not the media, who select the official Hockey East award winners. You’ll be reading those results this evening. However, there’s nothing to stop this scribe from putting his own opinions out there for your consideration.

After all, I don’t get enough hate email as it is….

The All-Rookie Team

Admittedly, yours truly does weasel out when it comes to selecting forwards, going with four of them when the choices got too tough. However, there’s ample precedent for this. For three straight years (from 1997-98 through 1999-2000), the league awards did the exact same thing. In fact, in 1997-98, they had two goalies, two defensemen and four forwards.

So if the coaches can be weasels…

Goaltender: Keni Gibson (Northeastern). Defensemen: Ryan Whitney (Boston University) and Tim Judy (Northeastern). Forwards: Sean Collins (UNH), Colin Shields (Maine), Greg Mauldin (UMass-Amherst) and Dave Spina (Boston College).

Rookie Of The Year

Keni Gibson. Collins will probably win the official award and made for a very tough choice. But Gibson had the bigger impact.

Ceglarski Sportsmanship Award

Martin Kariya (Maine). There may be a tendency to avoid giving him the nod simply because his brother Steve won it three times straight. One doesn’t want to appear to be voting for a Kariya reflexively. Nonetheless, Martin Kariya is this observer’s winner.

Old Time Hockey Best Defensive Defenseman

Mick Mounsey (UNH). There are plenty of candidates for this award, with more than one coming from the UNH. This should be no surprise, given that the Wildcats finished Hockey East play with a lower goals against average than any other team by more than half a goal a game. But Mounsey gets the nod with a +27 in league play alone.

Best Defensive Forward

Marco Rosa (Merrimack). Talk to his linemates, coaches or fans and they all gush about Rosa’s attention to defense. Then you watch the Warriors in action and see what they’re raving about. Rosa is the prototypical complete player.

All-Hockey East Team

There were a boatload of deserving candidates that got left out, but here goes…

Goaltender: Mike Morrison (Maine) and Cam McCormick (UMass-Lowell).
Defensemen: Jim Fahey (Northeastern), Peter Metcalf (Maine), J.D. Forrest (BC) and Chris Dyment (BU).
Forwards: Darren Haydar (UNH), Colin Hemingway (UNH), Tony Voce (BC), Niko Dimitrakos (Maine), Ed McGrane (Lowell) and Anthony Aquino (Merrimack).

Player of the Year

Jim Fahey and Darren Haydar. One could make a case that these two are the best defenseman and forward, respectively, in the country.

Coach of the Year

Dick Umile (UNH). One can make cases for Tim Whitehead (Maine), Jack Parker (BU) and Blaise MacDonald (Lowell), but when a coach leads his team to all the number ones noted above — first in the polls, Pairwise Rankings, Hockey East regular season, team offense, team defense, power-play percentage and penalty-kill percentage — he’s a slam dunk for Coach of the Year.

The Curtain Comes Down

This is the final column of the season. Next week, USCHO conference writers combine to provide previews to the East and West Regionals. Following that come previews of the Frozen Four.

So here’s a thanks to all of you for reading. Since photos were added to these columns, many of you have introduced yourself to me when you see me at games. That’s great. Don’t be strangers.

Although if we’re both in a rest room standing at urinals, let’s wait to shake hands.

Thanks to those Lowell fans who saw me at the recent Merrimack game and began chanting, “Dave! Dave! Dave!” It got me thinking back to a few decades ago when I was a pint-sized halfback and outside linebacker and a pretty cheerleader yelled, “Dave Hendrickson, he’s my man. If he can’t do it, no one can!”

(Does it show just how pathetic I am that I can remember that day clearly after all these years?)

And the “Dave H. Rocks” sign was really cool. Check’s in the mail.

I deny that my friends have been calling me Hollywood Hendrickson ever since.

Thanks to all of you for the friendly emails this year. It’s always good to hear from you. As for the really nasty emails, those are best sent to [email protected].

Thanks to the athletes, coaches and sports information directors throughout the league for their cooperation. It wouldn’t be possible without all of you.

Thanks also to my fellow media members for always making the press box fun.

And a huge thank you to the editor of this column, Scott Brown. I packed my schedule a little too tightly this year and Scott had to bail me out all too often. If you’ve liked this column and you see him at a rink or at the Frozen Four, shake his hand and maybe buy him a drink.

How to recognize him? He’s the real ugly one with dandruff, bad breath, and body odor. Oh yeah, and he has the personality of a toad.

Trivia Contest

First, a correction. Last week’s answer was that the 1997-98 Merrimack Warriors, who entered the league playoffs with a 12-game losing streak, stunned BU in three games. I noted that it was the league’s only upset of a top seed by an number eight.

Past winner (and good guy) Todd Cioffi makes the following correction: it was the only such upset since Hockey East went to best-of-three series. In a single-elimination quarterfinal in 1991, number eight Northeastern took out number one BC, 6-5.

That’s what I meant to say. Of course, as a loyal BU fan, I’m sure it warmed the cockles of Todd’s heart being able to point out a BC heartbreak.

Onward…

Last week’s question noted that Maine had lost only a single postseason game at Alfond Arena. What was the opposing team, date and score?

For many, this question simply had to wrong. After all, they’d heard that the Black Bears were 19-0 in Hockey East quarterfinal games played at home.

True, but if you go back to the years that predate the NCAA Regional format, the first two rounds of the national tournament were played on campus sites. On March 24, 1989, Maine lost the first game of a best-of-three series to Providence, 8-6. The Black Bears came back to win the series, 3-2, and 4-3 in double-overtime. Coincidentally, the Friars have yet to win again in the building.

Long-time UMass-Lowell fan David DiSalvo was the first to answer correctly. His cheer is:

“Go Chiefs ….on to the Fleet and beyond!”

Some other fans found another correct answer that I hadn’t considered. On March 7, 1979, back when the Black Bears were still playing Division II, they lost in the playoffs to Salem State, 7-4.

Quickest on the draw with that answer was Alexis Wollstadt. I had the very good fortune a few years back to write for her father, Dave Wollstadt, then the esteemed editor of the Friends of Maine Hockey Newsletter. If he was as good a father as he was an editor, Alexis was a very lucky daughter.

Her cheer shows that she certainly inherited her father’s passion for Maine hockey:

“S*cks to B.U.! M-A-I-N-E, Goooooooooo BLUE!”

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

You never forget your first time.

Myself, I was 16. That’s a laughable age in today’s world, but is the honest-to-goodness truth. Embarrassing, but true.

We had open campus in our high school at the time, so I left during a study period. The rest is history.

As the years have gone by, I admit that I’ve gotten jaded through repetition. But it’s still special to look back on that first one.

Yup, you never forget your first cheese steak sub.

Youth Is Served By Quinnipiac

By Jim Connelly

-

March 14, 2002

When it comes playoff time, the teams that seem to rise to the top of any pile are most often the ones deep in experience. Talented rookies can take you, without any doubt, into the postseason, but college clubs rich and juniors and seniors are usually the ones hoisting the trophy come tournament’s end.

That’s conventional thinking. Quinnipiac, though, has no reason to be thought of as conventional.

The Maize and Blue Thursday got the ultimate rookie performance in their 3-2 victory over Sacred Heart, advancing them to a rematch of last year’s MAAC championship with Mercyhurst this Saturday in the title tilt. Behind the backstop of freshman Jamie Holden, who made 33 saves in stifling the Pioneers, and a two-goal effort by rookie center Matt Craig, Quinnipiac lives to see another day.

“There’s no question that the freshmen have made a major impact,” said Quinnipiac coach Rand Pecknold, whose club is making its fourth consecutive appearance in the MAAC final four. “We jumped from sixth or seventh [in the standings] all the way up to second in the second half of the year because my freshman got it going.

“It’s a great freshman class, probably ahead of where I want them to be. I can be proud of them.”

Holden’s appearance and performance in the semifinal on Thursday was a chance at redemption of sort. He was lifted in favor of sophomore goaltender Justin Eddy last Saturday night after giving up four goals to Iona in the first 25 minutes of the MAAC quarterfinal. Obviously, Quinnipiac was able to rally and win the game, but that left Pecknold with the question of which of his two quality goaltenders to play.

“I was absolutely pleased with the way that Justin Eddy played [on Saturday night],” said Pecknold of his sophomore goaltender who a year ago won the starting job over senior J.C. Wells. “He struggled in the beginning of the year but he’s really come on a lot.

“But Jamie’s won the job this year. I felt confident in either guy who I threw out there, but to me, Jamie’s been our MVP this year and he needs to play that game.”

“I was a little shaken up after the Iona game,” said Holden. “In a one game elimination it’s either you do or you don’t. I felt a little bit of pressure there and on one of the goals I got kind of caught deep. A couple of the guys came out and got behind me and said they wouldn’t be in this position if it wasn’t for me in the regular season, so stand tall and I’ll get ’em later.

“I just really wanted to play my best for the seniors and the coaches and that’s what I did tonight to get us a win.”

Holden, though without any college playoff experience, is still no stranger to playing in the big game. Before arriving at Quinnipiac, Holden led Merritt in the BCHL through an upset-laden playoff trail that ended with a runner-up finish in the British Columbia championship.

“We played 15 playoff games [last year] and I started every one,” said Holden. “You win some and you lose some and you just have to keep your head up high and never get down on yourself. We have to keep positive like we did at Iona and like we did tonight and we came back and won both games.”

Craig, who hails from London, Ontario, and played last season for the Stratford Cullitans of the Mid-Western league, is no stranger to playoffs. He led his Stratford team to the league championship in 1998 and carried the club to the Ontario finals. Still, he admitted that in the beginning of tonight’s game, there were plenty of butterflies.

“There were definitely butterflies early in the first,” said Craig. “Some of the seniors on my line, though, helped us out with that and we really got it going in the second period.”

Got it going, they did. And Craig was the catalyst. After Brian Herbert’s tally at 2:38 gave the Maize and Blue some momentum, Craig built on it, scoring 58 seconds later to turn a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead. But that wasn’t the end for this quiet and reserved rookie. He would use his speed and a great individual effort to speed past the Sacred heart defenseman and lift the eventual game-winner over Sacred Heart goaltender Eddy Ferhi.

Such has been the story for this Quinnipiac team. Having graduated five of the top 20 scorers in school history from last year’s runner-up squad, everyone knew that Pecknold would have to bring in a top-notch recruiting class. Then, though, once getting those rookies through the door, it would be up to Pecknold, and more importantly his small senior class of Neil Breen, Ryan Olsen, Todd Bennett and Ben Blais, to help this freshman class adjust.

“The confidence [of the seniors] in the last few games has rubbed off on me personally, and it runs right down the whole team,” said Craig, whose Quinnipiac club is 5-0-1 in its last six games and has lost only twice since a pair at Michigan State in early January.

“My seniors have really stepped up in the second half of the year, and they played really well tonight,” said Pecknold, who admitted that his club basically gelled around the Christmas break. “They are really excited to go back and take care of Mercyhurst on Saturday night.”

Now, the daunting task lies ahead of facing Mercyhurst, a team full of seniors — seniors with NCAA tournament experience. Regardless, that won’t shake Quinnipiac, which Thursday night proved that with this talented crop of freshmen, the future looks bright.

Frozen Four Semifinal Preview: Norwich vs. Middlebury

By Scott Biggar

-

March 14, 2002

An old rivalry will be renewed in the semifinals of the Division III tournament. The rivalry between [nl]Vermont schools Norwich and Middlebury goes back many years, but has heated up recently as both teams came to national prominence in the mid-’90s. The teams split their two regular season games this year.

“It’s a great rivalry with Norwich,” said Middlebury assistant coach Neil Sinclair. “The guys on both teams respect each other, which makes it a great rivalry. The fans should see some terrific Division III hockey. If it is anything like the game broadcast by NESN [earlier in the season], it should be up and down with a lot of action. Both goaltenders will be asked to make some great saves.”

“I’m looking forward to this weekend,” said Norwich coach Mike McShane. “Our kids have been playing very well the last month or so, and it should be a great game with Middlebury.”

Middlebury Panthers (26-1-1)

The Panthers have the longest winning streak in Division III men’s ice hockey this season, currently standing at 23-0-1. The last time Middlebury lost, and the only Panther loss of the season, was way back on November 24 in the Primelink Great Northern Shootout championship game.

The only team to blemish Middlebury’s record? Norwich, by a 5-1 score.

Since that early stumble, the Panthers have steadily been winning games with solid defense and strong goaltending, and climbing the ladder to the No. 1 ranking in the USCHO.com poll. Except for that game against Norwich, no other team has scored more than three goals against Middlebury all season. The Panthers have also earned eight shutouts.

“We’re a puck-control team,” said Sinclair. “We try to score off the rush. We rely on creating pressure off the forecheck and rotating the pressure down low.”

Christian Carlsson, a senior goaltender and first team All-NESCAC honoree, anchors Middlebury in net. Carlsson has amassed impressive statistics this season, including a .926 save percentage and a 1.29 goals against average.

Offensively, sophomore Kevin Cooper (28-13-41) leads the Panthers with six game-winning goals. Cooper also is tied for the lead in goals per game in the national statistics.

Middlebury advanced to the Frozen Four with a two-game semifinal series win over Wentworth. Both games were tight in the first period, but Wentworth couldn’t keep the Middlebury offense contained for long as the Panthers coasted to the victories. Carlsson didn’t face a lot of shots, but he did stop 19 of the 20 that sneaked past the stingy Middlebury defense.

“[The series] gave the guys confidence,” said Sinclair. “We had people scoring goals who have had difficulty putting the puck in the net. It got them going. It gave confidence to guys on the power play, and we were able to work on moving the puck around in the neutral zone.”

Norwich Cadets (26-4)

Youth has been the keyword at Norwich this season. That youth, both on the scoreboard and in goal, has carried the team all the way to the Frozen Four. Three of the top five scorers on the team are freshmen — and the other two are sophomores.

Freshmen Kurtis McLean (27-21-48) and Vadim Beliaev (14-28-42) occupy the top two spots on Norwich’s scoresheet. McLean is ranked fourth in the nation in points per game by a rookie, and also monopolized the ECAC East All-Star awards by taking home both the ECAC East Player of the Year and ECAC East Rookie of the Year honors.

Add to that mix a freshman goalie who has started 20 games with a 16-4 record. Kevin Schieve has been the young star in net for the Cadets this year. Schieve has tallied a .932 save percentage and a 1.50 goals against average.

Norwich won the national championship two years ago. Last year was a little bit of a rebuilding year, in which the Cadets lost to New England College in the ECAC East championship, and missed earning a bid to the NCAAs. However, the downturn in fortunes was both shallow in depth and short in duration, and it is remarkable that McShane has gotten his team back to the big show so quickly.

It is even harder to believe how young Norwich is when you look at the results of its close games this year. The Cadets have been involved in five overtime games, and have a 4-1 record, including a double overtime thriller of a victory against Plattsburgh in the opening round of the Primelink Tournament. Norwich’s youth grew in to seasoned veterans awfully fast this year

Norwich was as high as No. 1 in the USCHO.com poll midseason, but ended up No. 3 in the season-ending poll, behind Middlebury and RIT.

In the NCAA quarterfinals, Norwich kept Bowdoin scoreless the entire weekend in 3-0 and 7-0 victories. The Cadets enjoyed a narrow 1-0 lead for most of the first game before scoring twice late in the third period to sock the victory away. The second game wasn’t as close as Norwich scored four times in the first period on its way to the series sweep. Schieve stopped all 66 shots that he faced in the series, before being replaced late in the third period of the second game by senior Ziga Ivanic.

The NCAA Semifinals

Middlebury and Norwich meet in the NCAA Frozen Four semis at 7 p.m. Friday at Middlebury’s Kenyon Arena.

UNH Sweeps Top HEA Awards

By David H. Hendrickson

-

March 14, 2002

For the second time in four years, New Hampshire has won all three of the highest individual Hockey East honors. Dick Umile was chosen Coach of the Year, Darren Haydar Player of the Year and Sean Collins Rookie of the Year. The Wildcats also led all teams with four members selected to the All-Hockey East team.

The awards were presented at the annual Hockey East Tournament Banquet held at the Sonesta Hotel in Cambridge.

The emotional highlight of the evening came during remarks by Lynne Walsh, widow of legendary Maine coach Shawn Walsh, who offered thanks for the support of the college hockey community while also encouraging players and coaches to persevere through difficulties and be their best. She was accorded a standing ovation.

This marks the fourth time Umile has won the Bob Kullen Award, matching Walsh for tops among league coaches.

Haydar and Northeastern defenseman Jim Fahey, who earlier in the day were announced as Hobey Baker Award finalists, were the only unanimous All-Hockey East First Team selections.

Boston University also received high honors as Chris Dyment was named Best Defensive Defenseman while fellow senior Mike Pandolfo was selected as Best Defensive Forward.

With 28 points in 24 Hockey East games and not a single penalty taken, Providence College’s Jon DiSalvatore became the Len Ceglarski Sportsmanship Award winner.

The full list of awards follows:

KOHO PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Darren Haydar, New Hampshire
Runner-Up: Jim Fahey, Northeastern

CCM/BOB KULLEN AWARD – COACH OF THE YEAR
Dick Umile, New Hampshire
Runners-Up: Jack Parker, Boston University; Tim Whitehead, Maine

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
Sean Collins, New Hampshire
Runner-Up: Keni Gibson, Northeastern

ALL-HOCKEY EAST FIRST TEAM
Goaltender: Mike Morrison, Sr. Maine
Defenseman: Jim Fahey, Sr., Northeastern *
Defenseman: Peter Metcalf, Sr., Maine
Forward: Darren Haydar, Sr., New Hampshire *
Forward: Colin Hemingway, Jr., New Hampshire
Forward: Tony Voce, So., Boston College
* – unanimous selection

ALL-HOCKEY EAST SECOND TEAM
Goaltender: Michael Ayers, So., New Hampshire
Defenseman: Chris Dyment, Sr., Boston University
Defenseman: Garrett Stafford, Jr., New Hampshire
Forward: Niko Dimitrakos, Sr., Maine
Forward: Ben Eaves, So., Boston College
Forward: Ed McGrane, Jr., UMass-Lowell

Honorable Mention:
Goalie: Cam McCormick (UMass-Lowell)
Defensemen: J.D. Forrest (Boston College), Mick Mounsey (New Hampshire)
Forwards: Anthony Aquino (Merrimack), Martin Kariya (Maine), Mike Pandolfo (Boston University)

ALL-ROOKIE TEAM
Goaltender: Keni Gibson, Northeastern *
Defenseman: Ryan Whitney, Boston University
Forward: Sean Collins, New Hampshire *
Forward: Brian McConnell, Boston University
Forward: Colin Shields, Maine
Forward: Dave Spina, Boston College
* – unanimous selection

ITECH “THREE STARS” AWARD
Colin Hemingway, New Hampshire
Runner-Up: Darren Haydar, New Hampshire

HOCKEY EAST SCORING CHAMPION
Darren Haydar, New Hampshire (42 points)
Runner-Up: Colin Hemingway, New Hampshire (36)

OLD TIME HOCKEY BEST DEFENSIVE DEFENSEMAN
Chris Dyment, Boston University
Runner-Up: Mick Mounsey, New Hampshire

ITECH GOALTENDING CHAMPION (Best goals against average)
Michael Ayers, New Hampshire (1.79 GAA)
Runner-Up: Matt Carney, New Hampshire (2.09 GAA)

BEST DEFENSIVE FORWARD
Mike Pandolfo, Boston University
Runners-Up: Ed McGrane, UMass-Lowell; Robert Liscak, Maine

LEN CEGLARSKI SPORTSMANSHIP AWARD
Jon DiSalvatore, Providence
Runner-Up: Martin Kariya, Maine

CHARLIE HOLT TEAM SPORTSMANSHIP AWARD (Fewest penalties)
UMass-Amherst

Hartigan Gets Nod As WCHA’s Top Player

By Todd D. Milewski

-

March 14, 2002

Mark Hartigan admitted he was a little nervous when addressing the audience after receiving the WCHA’s player of the year award.

At least now he knows how his opponents feel.

SCSU’s Mark Hartigan earned WCHA POTY honors.

Hartigan, a St. Cloud State junior who leads the nation in scoring, was named the league’s top player on Thursday. He also was named one of the finalists for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award at the same awards presentation before the first game of the Final Five.

“I guess I got a little lucky,” Hartigan deadpanned. “They must have messed up on the balloting or something, but I’ll take it.”

Denver coach George Gwozdecky, who led the Pioneers to their first regular-season title since 1986, was named the league’s coach of the year.

It was the second such honor for Gwozdecky. He earned the same award in 1995, his first season with Denver.

The Pioneers were picked by the coaches to finish fifth in the league, but went 21-6-1 in the league to claim the MacNaughton Cup.

“The regular-season championship in this league is the most difficult thing to win in Division I hockey,” Gwozdecky said.

Minnesota’s Jordan Leopold and John Pohl were named to the league’s first team, joining Hartigan, Colorado College’s Mark Cullen, Minnesota-Duluth’s Andy Reierson and Denver’s Wade Dubielewicz.

Leopold, who tied with Hartigan as the top vote getters on the first team, was also tabbed as the league’s defensive player of the year.

North Dakota forward Brandon Bochenski was the rookie of the year and Cullen was honored as the league’s top student-athlete.

Here are the league’s second, third and rookie teams:

Second team: Ryan Bayda, F, North Dakota; Nate DiCasmirro, F, St. Cloud State; Judd Medak, F, Minnesota-Duluth; Matt Shasby, D, Alaska-Anchorage; Paul Martin, D, Minnesota; Dean Weasler, G, St. Cloud State.

Third team: Jeff Taffe, F, Minnesota; Connor James, F, Denver; Peter Sejna, F, Denver; Tom Preissing, D, Colorado College; Aaron MacKenzie, D, Denver; Adam Berkhoel, G, Denver.

Rookie team: Mike Doyle, F, St. Cloud State; Brandon Bochenski, F, North Dakota; Peter Szabo, F, St. Cloud State; Keith Ballard, D, Minnesota; Matt Gens, D, St. Cloud State; Bernd Bruckler, G, Wisconsin.

On to Lake Placid

By Adam Wodon

-

March 14, 2002

Sure the ECAC had its worst out-of-conference season ever. And, sure, that fact justifies the concern observers have over the conference’s future.

But, with everyone in wonderous Lake Placid for championship weekend, now is not the time to dwell on those points. Now is the time to sit back and appreciate just how crazy this season was, and how much there still is to look forward to.

Can ECAC teams compete, night-in, night-out with the nation’s best? Well, at least for this year, the answer generally was no. Which is a hard thing to admit for someone used to defending the conference in the past against outsiders whose perceptions were that it couldn’t compete, when reality was quite different.

But, either way, if you stay focused on the competitiveness within the conference itself, you have to appreciate how truly extraordinary it was.

Every year since I can remember, observers say, “Wow, this is the tightest the ECAC race has ever been.” Yet, every year, somehow, it genuinely gets even tighter. For as tight as things have been the last few years, this season took the cake (excepting last-place Vermont, and first-place Cornell, which each ran away with their respective distinctions).

Consider that second-place Clarkson was closer to being out of the playoffs than it was to first place.

And then, just when you are sure that every first-round series will be a war, all the top seeds advanced in two-game sweeps. Go figure.

It’s this kind of thing — and the league’s wonderful tradition — that makes ECAC observers keep coming back for more.

Taylor Remains a Good Fit

Tim Taylor says he’ll be back at Yale again next year.

With long-time hockey dignitaries Ron Mason and Jeff Sauer stepping down from their respective head coaching positions at the end of this year, it’s worth wondering how long Yale patriarch Tim Taylor has left. One of hockey’s most respected gentlemen, Taylor is coming off a tough season with the Bulldogs.

But the 60-year old seems far from ready to step down.

“It crosses your mind. You can’t coach forever,” he said. “But I enjoy it. As long as I enjoy it and they want me around, I’ll do it.”

So no surprise announcements in July?

“I don’t think so.”

Taylor said he really enjoyed coaching this year’s scrappy 10th-place bunch. Yale lost a lot of close games this year, and the future it hopeful.

“There’s a room full of tearful guys,” said Taylor following Saturday’s season-ending playoff loss to Cornell, “but this is one of the best teams I’ve coached in terms of accepting their roles, being together, doing their job. We had great seniors, like [Luke] Earl and [Dan] Lombard.

“I look around the league, and there’s not a lot of seniors walking away out of the top teams. [But] we have the Rookie of the Year from the last two years in the Ivy League. We have young players on the power play. We have a cornerstone player in [Chris] Higgins to build around. Our younger players benefitted by what happened this year. We lost a lot of close ones.”

Taylor is not “fiery,” he won’t get in a player’s face to inspire his team, he won’t yap at officials. His record is below .500.

What he is, is a treasure, an ECAC icon. And we’re glad he’s sticking around.

Unwelcome Rest

More than anything, the trademark of Cornell’s steamroll over the ECAC this year was its depth. The Big Red can send out four solid lines and six steady defenseman every night, and goalies Matt Underhill and David LeNeveau both have long careers ahead of them.

In that sense, having the rest of their games on television may be somewhat of a neutralizer for Cornell opponents.

It started with Saturday’s win against Yale, which was televised on NESN. The ECAC tournament games in Lake Placid will be televised, as will, of course, the NCAA tournament.

Obviously it didn’t hurt the Red on Saturday, but coach Mike Schafer does notice a difference.

“With the TV timeouts, you can’t get on a roll. It does slow things down,” he said.

“We’d love to roll over four lines all night. … But we couldn’t do that. But it gives you a chance to play your better players more often.”

Of course, the Big Red don’t have a lot of spectacular offensive players. So, defining who their “better players” are, is not easy, outside of, perhaps, defenseman Doug Murray.

“I don’t think we’re blessed with a lot of natural goal scorers, but we get our chances,” Schafer said.

Murray

Cornell’s Doug Murray is an ECAC Player of the Year Candidate. (photos by Adam Wodon)

Speaking of Doug Murray, Schafer was doing some last-minute politicking for him to win the league’s Player of the Year Award, a race that’s come down, essentially, to him and RPI’s Marc Cavosie.

“Murray should be Player of the Year in our league,” said Schafer. “You look at who it goes to, it’s usually the guy with the stats. But it’s a shame if Doug doesn’t get it. He brings so much more to the table then just scoring. His physical nature, and he’s still our leading scorer.”

Cavosie’s numbers are certainly impressive, and he is a gifted player. And, surely, his coach, Dan Fridgen, would have an equally strong statement to make on his star’s behalf.

But it says here, the best player on what was by far the league’s best team, should get the honor.

As previously discussed, Cornell’s depth was its strength, and it’s hard to pick out any one player as a star. But the Big Red were so far out in front of everyone, you have to figure out a way to get the award to someone from their team. And Murray is the one Cornell player who does stand above the others.

First-round Flings

So much for the big showdown in the North Country. Of course, Clarkson was clearly the better team this year, though in the rivalry with St. Lawrence, you can throw that out the window. Surely it was the last team Knights’ coach Mark Morris wanted to face.

Tensions were high in this series, as you’d expect, and I doubt we’ve heard the last of it.

Kudos to RPI for playing a very strong series against a Princeton team that had been on a roll. Of course, RPI is a long-time Princeton nemesis, and the Tigers have never won a game from the Engineers in the postseason, including the 1995 championship game, and the 1999 consolation when a win would have put Princeton in the NCAA tournament.

Dan Fridgen has taken a lot of flak from the Rensselaer faithful in recent years, wondering when this once-dominant program will be an NCAA team again. Perhaps some of the criticism is justified. But he had his team ready to play this past weekend, and he’s hardly alone in that category of programs that were one-time consistent NCAA challengers.

Buddy Powers, who always wanted RPI to jump ship for Hockey East, left seven years ago for so-called greener pastures at Bowling Green. Fridgen took over the Engineers. Both coaches had great first campaigns, with Powers winning CCHA Coach of the Year and Fridgen taking RPI to the ECAC tournament championship. Things went slowly but surely downhill from there, though much more dramatically at Bowling Green. Now Powers is gone, but Fridgen is still going.

RPI’s problem has just been consistency. The players seem to be in place, but they wind up falling apart for stretches that kill their season.

But there’s still a decent groundwork there, and Fridgen has earned the right at another shot with this program.

Harvard’s series with Brown was all about redemption, after everyone seemingly had them written off, and deservedly so. But not even Yann Danis could save the Bears, as the Crimson won in two games from their travel partner.

A two-game series win against Brown hardly redeems Harvard’s spotty play this season, after it came in with such high expectations. But it does afford the Crimson the chance to keep playing, and perhaps get some genuine redemption this weekend.

Brown is just as big a story, for the opposite reasons. After years of being mired in the basement under Roger Grillo, the Bears got some leadership, and got the great goaltending from Danis this year. While teams like Clarkson, Harvard and Dartmouth struggled to carry the torch for the league out of conference, here was little old Brown beating some of the nation’s best.

Dilemma

If you’re an ECAC fan, you want to see the league’s teams make the NCAA tournament. But, perhaps even moreso, you want to see those teams do well in the tournament.

When the NCAA eliminated the second automatic bid for each conference last year, so went the chance of the ECAC having two teams in the tournament. Although, these are not really related issues. Even though the ECAC was assured two bids in years past, there was always at least two teams that deserved it on the basis of the PairWise Rankings anyway.

Last year, the league lost the second automatic bid, and, coincidentally, severely slipped in out-of-conference play, leaving only the ECAC tournament champ — St. Lawrence — to make the NCAAs.

This year, Cornell could actually make it as an at-large team, but only Cornell. To once again get two teams in the NCAAs, someone else must win the ECAC tournament.

So, what do you do?

Do you hope that Cornell gets upset at Lake Placid, paving the way for a second ECAC team to get the automatic bid while assuming the Red keep an at-large berth? Or, do you root like mad for Cornell to win the ECAC tournament, and hope things break right so it gets a bye in the first round of the NCAAs, thus increasing its chances of making the Frozen Four?

Putting aside all loyalties to whatever particular program you root for, and just looking at it from a neutral observer’s standpoint, it’s a tough call.

We do know that Cornell is in good shape to earn the bye if it defeats Clarkson in the ECAC final. If it defeats Harvard in the final, it all but assures Cornell won’t get the bye, because the Crimson are a sub-.500 team, and thus not considered a team under NCAA consideration. Getting wins against TUCs is critical toward winning comparisons and improving your PWR.

Some other things have to break right, but, in essence, if Cornell defeats Clarkson in the final, it will probably get a bye.

Now, this assumes the NCAA committee overlooks the ECAC’s weak conference Ratings Percentage Index (RPI). You can make a great case that Cornell’s PWR is highly inflated because of playing in the ECAC. And, I don’t think you could blame the committee if it makes a subjective judgment to bump Cornell out of the bye slot based on conference RPI.

But, odds are, they won’t take that bold and unprecedented a step. So, we’re going on the assumption that, if the Red take care of business, they will earn the bye.

The bye obviously is huge. It means you face a tired team in the second round for a right to go to the Frozen Four. Cornell hasn’t done that in about three decades.

Of course, we’re getting way ahead of ourselves.

Perhaps we should just discuss Cornell’s chances in the NCAAs. To do that, we have to ascertain just how good it really is. It’s a hard thing to figure.

No question the Red completely dominated the ECAC (except Dartmouth), but they beat teams who are largely in the bottom half of nation, and only mid-level at best. They play extremely consistent hockey, which is a huge plus, and allows them to avoid being picked off by lesser ECAC opponents. But does it bode well for an NCAA matchup against the likes of St. Cloud, Colorado College or Michigan?

Again, it’s hard to say. They pounded Alabama-Huntsville twice. OK. Then came a weekend at Boston University where they played quite well in earning a split. That’s definitely in the plus column for the Red.

The only other out-of-conference test came at the Everblades Classic holiday tournament. A 4-3 loss in double overtime to a solid Northern Michigan team is nothing to be ashamed of. The next night, playing tired, they lost a 2-0 game to Ohio State, which included an empty-net goal.

A win over Ohio State, the seventh seed in the CCHA tournament, would’ve convinced me the Big Red were ready for the NCAAs. It would’ve meant they had beaten every team they were “supposed” to be beat, and played tough with some other ranked opponents, including a nice win at BU.

But, excuses of having tired legs aside, Cornell lost that game. If you’re a true NCAA contender, you’d beat the seventh-best CCHA team.

Still, it’s hard to tell. I suppose we have to sit back and see how it plays out.

Having it all to look forward to is half the fun.

This Dog’s Day Ended Early

By Jim Connelly

-

March 14, 2002

When you’re facing the best defensive team in the league in a college hockey tournament, one thing is a must. Connecticut coach Bruce Marshall knew entering his club’s semifinal matchup with defending champion Mercyhurst that the Huskies couldn’t fall behind.

The game plan looked executable for the opening minute. When UConn freshman Matt Grew was sprung on a breakaway, his seemingly perfect shot was headed top shelf on Mercyhurst goaltender Peter Aubry. But in every effort to prove why he was named MAAC Goaltender of the Year for two years running, Aubry flashed his glove at Grew, robbing him of a goal and UConn of a chance to take an early lead.

From there, Mercyhurst responded with two goals before the end of first period, killing Marshall’s game plan and in essence killing UConn’s hope of advancing to the MAAC finals.

“You know that with Mercyhurst, when they get a lead, they’re tough to beat because they have a proven goaltender down there,” said Marshall. “Being down 2-0 we were still playing well. We were generating scoring chances. But they’ve got those natural goal-scorers that bury their chances, and that’s what they did.”

“It’s definitely a little bit of a blow to our confidence [to be in a 2-0 deficit],” said UConn captain Mike Boylan, who finishes his career as the school’s all-time leader in games. “We wanted to prove to them that we could play with them and then move on from there.”

Instead, from that point, things never got better. UConn never beat Aubry and, in the end, the Huskies were on the wrong end of a 5-0 decision, ending a short, but exciting, Cinderella run through the season’s end for the tournament’s number six seed.

Some might say that the win for Mercyhurst was revenge. Two years ago, as the tournament’s second seed, the Lakers were knocked off by UConn, 2-0, the only other shutout in MAAC tournament history. UConn would go on to the true Cinderella run at that point, winning the tournament from the fourth seed.

But that game had one very different aspect — the venue. The 2000 tournament, as was the 2001 event, was hosted by UConn on its home ice in Storrs, Conn. This time, with the tournament being played at Holy Cross in Worcester, Mercyhurst coach Rick Gotkin felt the playing field was leveled.

“Playing UConn on neutral ice was definitely in our favor,” said Gotkin. “I like [Holy Cross coach] Paul Pearl a lot and think his team had a heck of a season, but I was glad, in a way, that they weren’t in it because it made this tournament one on neutral ice.”

Regardless of venue, things for Mercyhurst went according to game plan. That said, they didn’t necessarily go easy. If any team in the league would be able to come back, it would be Connecticut. The Huskies faced a month of adversity just to qualify for the playoffs.

Entering a January 25-26 weekend series with Fairfield, UConn held a 5-11-6 record and stood out of a playoff position in the MAAC. Six consecutive wins, though followed for the Huskies and suddenly not only were they looking at the playoffs, but were looking at home ice.

The rollercoaster wouldn’t end there. UConn’s next five games saw it winless; the final game of the season against Bentley was its only hope to gain momentum. The Huskies did exactly that — winning 7-4 before winning last Saturday, 6-5 in dramatic fashion.

“We thought we had hit our stride in January and February and coming down to the end of the year we thought we were playing well,” said Boylan. “But it was always a battle for us. We never looked at any weekend and said, ‘Phew! We can just pick up our four points and move on.’ It was always, ‘We need these four points. These are a huge four points and we need to make sure everyone is on the same page.'”

“When it gets to 3-0, when you know you have to keep it to two to try and win the game, it’s a long way back,” said Marshall. “But, all year we’ve had to scratch and claw. Not every weekend has been, ‘Okay, we’re on a role here and we can just roll them out and play.’ There’s been so many times when we just needed to get back into the game. There was a point in the year that we weren’t even in the playoffs, and we had to battle just to get to this point.”

Truth be known, the size of the fight in the dog can carry a team a long way. The Huskies were certainly dogs with plenty of fight.

Thursday, though, this dog ran into a brick wall in Aubry, and a Laker team that just wouldn’t be denied.

Said Marshall, “I thought our effort was there. I thought we kept getting pucks to the net. But we just needed that one goal to get us rolling a little bit.”

Boylan agreed.

“We didn’t get it done and they capitalized on the mistakes that we made,” said Boylan. “That’s something that we knew Mercyhurst has done all year long. That’s what makes them so successful, I think. We talked about that coming into the game — that they thrived on capitalizing on the opportunities they had.

“They definitely did that today.”

Cornell Big Winner At ECAC Awards; RPI’s Cavosie POTY

By Jayson Moy

-

March 14, 2002

The ECAC’s year-end awards were handed out Thursday morning at the annual ECAC brunch, with Cleary Cup champion Cornell leading the way. The Big Red captured four of the individual awards and placed four players on the first two ECAC All-Star squads.

Mike Schafer receives the COTY Award from ECAC Associate Commissioner Steve Hagwell

Mike Schafer picked up the Coach of the Year Award, guiding the Big Red to their best ECAC season and first regular-season title since 1973.

The defensive awards also went to the Big Red. Matt Underhil received the Dryden Award, captain Stephen Baby was awarded the Defensive Forward of the Year and Brian McMeekin took home the Defensive Defenseman of the Year.

The Yale Bulldogs featured the league’s Rookie of the Year as the leading rookie scorer, Chris Higgins, picked up the honors.

Marc Cavosie received POTY from John Rooney of AVAYA

Player of the Year went to Rensselaer junior forward Marc Cavosie. Cavosie led the league in scoring this season and is also a Hobey Baker finalist.

The ECAC First Team All-Stars included two members of the Big Red and two Engineers. Along with Underhill, Cornell defenseman Doug Murray gathered First Team honors. Murray is the other ECAC representative among the Hobey Baker finalists.

Matt Murley, the second leading scorer in the ECAC, joined teammate Cavosie as a First Team All-Star. Mike Maturo of Dartmouth was the other forward on the first team while Kerry Ellis-Toddington of Clarkson was the other nod at defense.

The second team also featured two members of the Big Red as Baby and Mark McRae were named at forward and defense respectively. Higgins and Harvard forward Brett Nowak filled out the forwards. Trevor Byrne of Dartmouth was listed on defense and Yann Danis of Brown was the goaltender.

The ECAC All-Rookie team featured David LeNeveu of Cornell in goal, Noah Welch of Harvard and Randy Jones of Clarkson on defense. The forwards were Higgins, Jordan Webb of Union and Lee Stempniak of Dartmouth.

ECAC Player of the Year

Marc Cavosie, F, Jr.. Rensselaer

Cornell’s award winners (l. to r. Baby, Underhill, McMeekin, Schafer)

ECAC Coach of the Year

Mike Schafer, Cornell

ECAC Rookie of the Year

Chris Higgins, Yale

ECAC Defensive Forward of the Year

Stephen Baby, Jr., Cornell

ECAC Defensive Defenseman of the Year

Brian McMeekin, Sr., Cornell

Dryden Award

Matt Underhill, Sr., Cornell

ECAC All-Rookie Team

F Chris Higgins, Yale
F Jordan Webb, Union
F Lee Stempniak, Dartmouth
D Randy Jones, Clarkson
D Noah Welch, Harvard
G David LeNeveu, Cornell

ECAC All-Stars

First Team
F Marc Cavosie, Jr., Rensselaer
F Mike Maturo, Jr., Dartmouth
F Matt Murley, Sr., Rensselaer
D Kerry Ellis-Toddington, Sr., Clarkson
D Doug Murray, Jr., Cornell
G Matt Underhill, Sr., Cornell

Second Team

F Chris Higgins, Fr., Yale
F Brett Nowak, Jr., Harvard
F Stephen Baby, Jr., Cornell
D Trevor Byrne, Jr., Dartmouth
D Mark McRae, Jr., Cornell
G Yann Danis, So., Brown

Honorable Mention

F Jamie Herrington, Sr., Dartmouth
F Dominic Moore, Jr., Harvard
D Rob Brown, So., Colgate

This Week in the ECAC: March 13, 2002

By Becky Blaeser and Jayson Moy

-

March 13, 2002

The little village nestled in the Adirondack Mountains where miracles have been known to occur: that’s where we’re headed.

It’s time for Lake Placid.

Bracket One

Play-In Game
Rensselaer vs. Dartmouth

This Season
01/26/02 – Dartmouth 3, @ Rensselaer 2
02/01/02 – Rensselaer 2, @ Dartmouth 2, ot

Playoff Matchups
1980 ECAC Quarterfinal – @Dartmouth 8, Rensselaer 0
1996 ECAC Preliminary Round – @Rensselaer 5, Dartmouth 4, ot
2000 ECAC First Round – @Rensselaer, 7-2, 3-2, ot
2001 ECAC First Round – @Dartmouth, 4-2, 5-1

It isn’t often that two teams meet for three consecutive years in the playoffs in the ECAC. The ECAC isn’t, after all, the model of consistency in terms of where teams place. But for the third straight year, Rensselaer and Dartmouth will do just that.

The last two years it has been in the first round, with the Engineers winning two years ago and Dartmouth last year, each on home ice. The rubber match will be in Lake Placid.

“We have a little bit of history with them the past couple of years,” said Dartmouth head coach Bob Gaudet.

Over the past three seasons the teams have played ten times with the Big Green gaining the advantage, 5-4-1.

This season on back-to-back weekends they faced each other, with Dartmouth coming from behind to beat Rensselaer and then rallying to tie.

After that, Rensselaer went on a tear, going 9-2-0 and rising from last place to a tie for third in the standings.

“What was important when they beat us here was that we were able to play them the following Friday at Dartmouth,” said Engineer head coach Dan Fridgen. “To have them as our next game helped because we could try to redeem ourselves — we’re ahead by two and they chip away and we were able to hold them off, that was a difficult game. And that gave us some confidence, whereas the weekend before they snuck up on us and stung us.”

The Engineers have spread it around offensively since then, getting scoring from everyone, not just the two leading scorers in the ECAC, Marc Cavosie and Matt Murley.

“That’s a situation where early on they were the ones getting the goals for us and I had them on a line at one point. It was tough breaking them up because they were the only ones producing,” said Fridgen. “We weren’t scoring many goals and that’s a tribute to the team where we’re getting offense from a number of guys; that’s what you need any time.”

“They’re potentially the hottest team in the league. They’re doing a great job and they are spreading it around, so they’re solid offensively,” said Gaudet. “But I don’t think you can underestimate their defensive ability.”

Meanwhile, Dartmouth also got hot after that series, going 3-0-1, but then faltered to a 0-3-1 stretch before rebounding with a series sweep of Colgate in the ECAC First Round.

The Big Green did not have momentum, and those looking at records are reminded of this by Fridgen.

“When you look at all five teams going into the tournament, everyone has got momentum from winning their series and I don’t think we’re any different from that perspective.”

The spin of this game naturally turns to Cavosie and Murley, and how Dartmouth will stop them.

“You can’t keep those guys off the board. Our strategy is that we have to be smart with the puck and we can’t be giving them opportunities in the neutral zone to have outnumbered rushes,” said Gaudet. “We have to be with smart with the puck and limit their opportunities because you can’t keep them off the board.”

But Gaudet is quick to point out that it should not matter who the opponent is.

“We have to prepare for RPI, but our whole mentality is to play good hockey and I don’t think it makes a difference who we play against,” he said. “We’re not a team that’s a juggernaut — we have to play sound hockey.”

For the Engineers, it will take something they haven’t done this season to advance.

“We’ve got our work cut out again for us against Dartmouth,” said Engineer head coach Dan Fridgen. “They’re a team we haven’t beaten this year.”

The Pick – Dartmouth seems to have the touch back with the weekend sweep. Dartmouth 3, Rensselaer 2

ECAC Semifinal
Play-In Winner vs. Cornell

This Season
11/10/01 – @Cornell 4, Rensselaer 1
03/01/02 – Cornell 2, @Rensselaer 1
01/12/02 – Dartmouth 5, @Cornell 3
02/15/02 – @Dartmouth 1, Cornell 0, ot

Playoff Matchups w/ Dartmouth
1980 NCAA Consolation – Dartmouth 8, Cornell 4
1980 ECAC Championship – Cornell 5, Dartmouth 1

Recent Playoff Matchups w/ Rensselaer
1985 ECAC Semifinal – Rensselaer 5, Cornell 1
1990 ECAC Semifinal – Rensselaer 3, Cornell 2
1997 ECAC Semifinal – Cornell 5, Rensselaer 3
1998 ECAC Quarterfinals – @Rensselaer, Cornell wins 5-4, 0-3, 5-4

Fact or fiction: The Big Red are slow.

Fact or fiction: The Big Red will have trouble on the Olympic ice sheet because they are slow.

Fact or fiction: Someone is making this all up

The first two are fiction, the last is fact. And that’s a fact.

“We’re just going to go up there and play the same game,” said Big Red head coach Mike Schafer. “One of our best games was at Vermont and from our standpoint, if you’re good defensively, you’re good defensively no matter what size of the ice. We’re going to go up there and play the same game and make no adjustments for the big sheet.

“We’ve got to be aware that guys have more room to maneuver, but they have to come to the net, which is the same on every ice sheet. It cracks me up that the comments that this team is slow and that we’ll be affected by the big ice, and if we were slow we would have had more trouble than we had all year.”

Those who think the first two statements were fact have not seen the Big Red play this year.

The biggest misconception, as it has been for the entire Schafer era, is that because the team is defensive-minded, that is physical and likes to wear down opponents, that it is a slow team. That couldn’t be any further from the truth.

It takes quickness to forecheck, it takes quickness to force turnovers, be successful on special teams and win games. The Big Red have done all that and more in their Cleary Cup run.

And it’s all about the defense.

“I think defense works for the whole season, not just the playoffs,” said Schafer. “We’ve been fortunate that our team has matured all season. Defense has been our staple all season long. To win hockey games I’ve always believed that you have to be strong defensively and be defensive to be offensively successful.

“As the season has progressed we’ve been getting stingier, and it will have to continue because there’s some great offensive players we’ll be facing.”

There isn’t much more you can say about the Big Red except that they have put together and unbelievable season and with two wins this weekend, the Big Red will take a huge step towards a bye in the NCAA Tournament.

But either Dartmouth or Rensselaer will come at them on Friday evening.

“They’re both good hockey teams and they both present different problems,” said Schafer. “If you asked our guys who they would want, they would probably say Dartmouth. That’s probably the athlete saying that they would want revenge.

“But, there are a lot of teams that would want to play us for redemption.”

The Pick – The Big Red don’t want to leave without the Whitelaw Trophy. Cornell 4, Dartmouth 2 or Cornell 2, Rensselaer 1

Bracket Two

ECAC Semifinal
Harvard vs. Clarkson

This Season
12/01/01 – Clarkson 2, @Harvard 2, ot
02/15/02 – @Clarkson 4, Harvard 1

Recent Playoff Matchups
1985 ECAC Semifinal – Harvard 2, Clarkson 1
1986 ECAC Semifinal – Clarkson 4, Harvard 2
1988 ECAC Semifinal – Clarkson 6, Harvard 4
1991 ECAC Semifinal – Clarkson 3, Harvard 2
1998 ECAC Semifinal – Clarkson 6, Harvard 2

This would have been a classic playoff battle back in November when both teams were picked to lead the way for the ECAC. More than four months later, a lot of hockey has been played and opinions about both teams have shifted, but it doesn’t change the fact that when Clarkson and Harvard take to the ice in the first semifinal contest, it will be one heck of a game.

When you break it all down, no other teams play such similar games and no two teams mirror each other so well in the way they approach each game.

Both teams prefer an up-tempo game that hinges on the speed and agility of their forwards. Both teams feature goaltenders who have the potential to steal a game, and also give one away.

Both teams have marquee players who consistently garner league attention, yet they also play three and four lines deep. Both teams are led by fiery coaches who rarely hold back their words.

Both teams have had seasons that fell below expectations, and both feel that they have a lot to prove Friday night.

“I think we match up pretty well,” said Harvard head coach Mark Mazzoleni, who will be making his second straight appearance in Lake Placid since he took over the Crimson in 1999. “The game [against Clarkson] that was here was a very evenly played game. When we went up there the biggest difference was that we got out-goaltended.”

In many respects, those games against the Golden Knights were played by two very different Harvard teams. Back in December, the Crimson was in the midst of an ECAC run that hit an apex at the holiday break mark. In early December, the Crimson stormed back from a deficit against the Golden Knights and delivered a crushing blow with just three seconds remaining in regulation to salvage a tie.

Time would prove that the league cushion created early in the season by Harvard was its very lifeboat. The Crimson never really recovered from exam break and — prior to its quarterfinal sweep of Brown — had posted only three wins since January 12 (one a 5-2 exhibition win over the U.S. Under-18 team).

One of those eight losses came at Cheel, where Harvard was easily disposed of by a three-goal margin. Nearly two months later, Harvard finally found the spark that buoyed it to a strong first half of the season and knocked off Brown last weekend to earn a repeat trip to Lake Placid.

For anyone who has watched this team over the course of the year, the reason for Harvard’s schizophrenia isn’t such an enigma. Back in the first half of the season, the Crimson was boosted by strong goaltending from sophomore Will Crothers, who appeared poised to take over the regular starting position.

When Crothers began to falter after exam break, however, the goalie swapping charade began and it didn’t end until recently when freshman Dov Grumet-Morris rose to the top and took over full-time netminding duty.

(An interesting factoid is that Grumet-Morris — whose numbers are less than eye-popping with an 8-7-1 record and a 2.96 goals-against-average — has earned more league accolades than any other player, including five ECAC Rookie of the Weeks, and one ECAC Goaltender of the Week, yet will almost surely walk away from the ECAC Awards banquet on Thursday with no hardware.)

“We didn’t play as bad as people think going down the stretch,” contends Mazzoleni. “A number of our games we outshot people, we had more quality scoring chances, but we just didn’t get very good goaltending which we had at the beginning of the year. When we went into Yale, blew a lead and lost, I thought Grumet-Morris played well. And when we lost 3-0 to Princeton, he played well again. That solidified our goaltending position because it had been part of our fast start and a part of our demise over the last ten games.

“We match up well with them and the thing that will be more our biggest challenge will be experience going in,” Mazzoleni continued. “We don’t play a lot of people that have been through this before where Clarkson does have much more of a history on that.”

On paper, Clarkson is the more experienced and more consistent team. Despite being riddled with injuries throughout the year — capped off by the loss of Rob McFeeters for six weeks earlier this month — the Golden Knights plugged away all year long in a workmanlike manner to earn a chance at the Cleary Cup. And despite league domination in the modern era and despite the fact that Clarkson holds a 4-1 record against Harvard in ECAC semifinal action, head coach Mark Morris continues to deny the advantage heading into this weekend.

“We weren’t there last year and we’re not as experienced as some people think,” said Morris. “Our seniors had a good experience when we won in 1999, but other than that, we’re just like everybody else. Some of our guys will be wide-eyed and taking in the experience. Our track record of getting there is one thing, the other thing is if we can finish this thing we have going on the last couple of weeks.”

A strong ECAC quarterfinal series against St. Lawrence capped off a four-game winning streak to end the season for Clarkson. It also marked one of the first times that this team has played with a full complement of players.

“I’m pleased that we have the opportunity to be back in Lake Placid and last season was humbling for us. Lately we’ve been playing hungry hockey and we look forward to going back,” said Morris. “We’ve learned a lot about ourselves this season, with all the injuries that we’ve had. This is the first time that we’ve been healthy and we’re looking forward to seeing what we have under the hood.”

Both coaches feel like their teams have the advantage of momentum. Now it’s time to see who has the real edge come Friday night on the Olympic sheet.

“I like our chances,” said Mazzoleni. “And I’m sure Mark likes his chances.”

The Pick – The Golden Knights are peaking at the right time, and despite what Morris contends, championship experience will make a difference. Clarkson 5, Harvard 3

The Final Day

So who do we think wins it all?

The Pick – The Big Red are headed to the NCAA Tournament, perhaps with a bye. Cornell 4, Clarkson 3

A big thank-you goes to all the coaches and student-athletes in the ECAC, who took the time to be as gracious as they were with us all season long.

Another big thank-you to the Sports Information Directors of the ECAC. Without them this could not exist.

See you next year!

Holy Cross Shines as MAAC Presents Postseason Awards

By Jim Connelly

-

March 13, 2002

One night before the MAAC final four gets underway, the league presented its annual awards at the championship banquet held on the campus of the College of the Holy Cross.

Fittingly, it was the home school that cleaned up in the awards, as senior captain Patrick Rissmiller, the MAAC’s regular-season leading scorer was named Offensive Player of the Year and head coach Paul Pearl was named Coach of the Year. Mercyhurst’s Peter Aubry was named the ITECH MAAC Goaltender of the Year for the second straight season, and Bentley’s Steve Tobio was named Defensive Player of the Year.

Rissmiller had a breakthrough season in 2001-02, scoring 16 goals and 30 assists in 33 games for the Crusaders. His effort was part of a charge that lifted Holy Cross from a ninth-place finish a year ago to third place this season.

Mercyhurst’s Aubry was simply spectacular for the second straight year. His goaltending statistics led the league in every category, including a .927 save percentage, 2.24 goals against average and a phenomenal 18-7-2 record overall. Aubry was the backstop for a Laker defense that allowed a league-low 2.37 goals per game. Aubry and the Lakers will compete Thursday in the MAAC semifinals versus Connecticut.

Tobio had another solid offensive season on the blueline. The senior Bentley captain netted 14 goals and 19 assists in 32 games for the Falcons to capture the award for the second time in three years (co-defensive player of the year in 2000).

These players joined Iona’s Ryan Carter, Mercyhurst’s Louis Goulet, and UConn’s Mike Boylan to round on the ITECH All-MAAC First Team.

The Offensive Rookie of the Year Award went to Army’s Chris Casey. He tallied 25 points in 23 games for the Black Knights this season.

The Defensive Rookie of the Year was Quinnipiac goaltender Jamie Holden. Holden stole the top goaltending job away from last year’s rookie phenom Justin Eddy, compiling 13-6-3 record, a .918 save percentage and a 2.40 goals against average. All three of those statistics rank Holden second in the league behind only Aubry.

Holy Cross’ Paul Pearl led his team above all expectations this year, finishing third after being picked ninth in the preseason coaches’ poll. The Crusaders finished 14-7-5 in MAAC play and 17-12-5 overall. They were ousted in the MAAC quarterfinals, 6-5, by UConn despite a brilliant effort that saw them rally from a four-goal deficit in the third period.

Below is a complete list of the league awards:

Offensive Player of the Year
Patrick Rissmiller, Holy Cross

Defensive Player of the Year
Steve Tobio, Bentley

ITECH Goalie of the Year
Peter Aubry, Mercyhurst

Coach of the Year
Paul Pearl, Holy Cross

Offensive Rookie of the Year
Chris Casey, Army

Defensive Rookie of the Year
Jamie Holden, Quinnipiac

ITECH All-MAAC First Team

Ryan Carter, Iona
Louis Goulet, Mercyhurst
Patrick Rissmiller, Holy Cross
Mike Boylan, Connecticut
Steve Tobio, Bentley
Peter Aubry, Mercyhurst

ITECH All-MAAC Second Team

Brandon Doria, Holy Cross
Brian Herbert, Quinnipiac
Martin Paquet, Sacred Heart
Adam Tackaberry, Mercyhurst
Nathan Lutz, Iona
R.J. Irving, Holy Cross
Eddy Ferhi, Sacred Heart

ITECH MAAC All-Rookie Team

Chris Casey, Army
Bryan Goodwin, Bentley
Rich Hanson, Mercyhurst
Brent Williams, Iona
T.J. Kemp, Mercyhurst
Adam Rhein, Connecticut
Jamie Holden, Quinnipiac

This Week In The WCHA: March 13, 2002

By Todd D. Milewski

-

March 13, 2002

The stark reality of the WCHA Final Five is that you can play a tremendous weekend of hockey and still end up in second or third place.

Ask Colorado College. The Tigers won two of three games at the Xcel Energy Center last year, and even played well in the one game they lost, and went home with third place.

Another stark reality is that if you play poorly, you’ve got no shot in a weekend like this.

Ask Minnesota. An 0-for-9 power-play performance in the semifinals last year sent the Gophers to the third-place game, where they lost a two-goal lead and the game. That’s fourth place.

Those are the potential ups and downs this weekend for Denver, St. Cloud State, Minnesota, Colorado College and Wisconsin, who will meet up at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn., for the Final Five.

In one respect, you could toss the teams in a hat and pick a winner. The teams, however, would rather do the winning on the ice.

“The reality is, if we played this tournament three different times,” Minnesota coach Don Lucia said, “I’d be willing to bet you’d have three different winners. I think that’s what’s going to make this tournament so great, the quality of the teams.”

Here’s a quick look at the five teams that make up the field:

Denver: The Advantage

Denver coach George Gwozdecky knows that his team has what could be the greatest advantage of all the teams in the Final Five.

And why shouldn’t it? The Pioneers won the WCHA regular-season title, have the top seed in the playoffs and demolished Michigan Tech last weekend.

They are the only team that will travel to St. Paul without knowing who it’ll play in its first game, but their big advantage is timing.

The Pioneers play the winner of Thursday night’s Colorado College-Wisconsin game at 2:05 p.m. Central on Friday. So, between the end of the Thursday night game (let’s say 9:30 p.m.) and the start of the Friday semifinal, there’s only about 16 1/2 hours for the winner of the play-in game to rest before playing Denver.

That’s a result of the league putting the Minnesota-St. Cloud State semifinal in the preferred nighttime slot on Friday, but it also turned into another reward for the Pioneers’ top seed.

“I think there is an advantage, there’s no question about it,” Gwozdecky said. “That’s one of the things that everybody realizes going into the season, the way our Final Five is set up that the top three seeds have an advantage. We’ve worked very hard to be able to get a top seed in this tournament so we don’t have to play three days in less than three days.

“There’s no question it’s an advantage for us. But at the same point in time, it’s something that, at this point of the season, with so few games left in the season and so much resting on every important shift, a lot of times adrenaline takes over and the outcome is different.”

Returning early: Pioneers defenseman Aaron MacKenzie made an early return from a broken left wrist in last weekend’s sweep of Michigan Tech.

MacKenzie, the Pioneers’ leading scorer on defense (five goals, 17 assists), wasn’t expected to return until the Final Five, but played last weekend and was credited with an assist in each game.

“That’s good from our standpoint,” Gwozdecky said.

The opposition: Denver beat Wisconsin in all four games between the teams this season. Colorado College, on the other hand, won the last two games of the season series with the Pioneers to split for the season.

St. Cloud State: The Challenge

Defending the Broadmoor Trophy is difficult, but perhaps moreso when your semifinal opponent is a team that might have an edge on you.

St. Cloud State won its first WCHA playoff title last season, but under largely different circumstances. For one, the Huskies had a great end to the regular season. For two, they had just swept Minnesota in the last regular-season weekend.

The end to the regular season this year wasn’t stellar (just one win in the last four games) and Minnesota swept the last series the teams played.

The Huskies didn’t exactly back into the postseason this year, but maybe they went in sideways. They swept Minnesota-Duluth last weekend, but Friday night’s game against the Gophers will likely show which way St. Cloud will turn in the playoffs.

“It was a low point in our season, certainly,” St. Cloud State coach Craig Dahl said of the home-and-home sweep by Minnesota on March 1 and 2. “For that reason, I think Minnesota enjoys a psychological advantage on Friday night.”

Huskies hurting: The Huskies have a couple of banged-up Ryans. Ryan Malone suffered a grade-one separated shoulder last Saturday, while teammate Ryan LaMere suffered a bruised hand in the same game.

LaMere is expected to play, but the prognosis for Malone is murky. Dahl said he’s probable-to-questionable for the Gophers game.

“He has improved each day, but he’s still not there,” Dahl said of his team’s third-leading scorer. “There are signs that it’s improving.”

In goal: It’s no controversy, but the goaltending situation in St. Cloud is less than perfect going into the Final Five. Dean Weasler and Jake Moreland practiced for most of this week without knowing who was going to start Friday night’s game against the Gophers.

That decision was scheduled to come Wednesday night from Dahl.

Repeaters: The year after winning their first WCHA playoff titles, three teams again claimed the postseason crown. Denver won in 1960 and 1961, North Dakota won in 1967 and 1968 and Minnesota-Duluth won its only two titles in 1984 and 1985.

Minnesota: The Positioning

Minnesota has to like its position going into the Final Five. An NCAA tournament bid is wrapped up, but a first-round bye isn’t, so there’s still plenty to play for.

The Gophers play St. Cloud State in the semifinals. They won both meetings in a late-season series with the Huskies.

They’re on a seven-game winning streak. Their top goaltender is on a nine-game winning streak.

Fortunes can change quickly, though, in playoff hockey. The Gophers must stay on their toes to keep rolling through the WCHA postseason.

“We put ourselves in a great position,” Lucia said. “We know we’re in the NCAA tournament at this point of the season, now, along with a few other teams in our league, we’re playing for seeding.”

Lucia lists a few reasons for his team having a strong second half. The return of Dan Welch after a hiatus while academically ineligible is one. Nick Anthony returning from an injury is another. Johnny Pohl putting the team on his back, in Lucia’s words, is another.

But the lineup of teams that has lined up opposite the Gophers may be the clincher.

“We’ve had to play North Dakota six times,” Lucia said. “We’ve had to play Wisconsin four times. We’ve played CC, we’ve played Denver, we’ve gone up to Alaska. We had to go to Duluth, which is a big rival. We’ve had nothing but rival after rival the second half of the season, and I think it’s made us a better team. It’s forced us to play at a higher level in order to beat such quality opponents.”

Happy with Hauser: Gophers goaltender Adam Hauser has had bumps in the road this season, but he’s playing well exactly when the Gophers need him to.

He’s 9-0 in his last nine games. Lucia chalks some of that up to the plan his team put in place before this season: have Hauser play only 65 to 70 percent of the team’s games.

Hauser has been the Gophers’ goaltender in 70.8 percent of the minutes this season.

“The last few years he’s had to play almost every game, every night. That becomes a real mental and physical grind, combining with school and everything else,” Lucia said. “I think it’s allowed him to be very fresh. He has exorcized a few demons here lately, beat North Dakota the last three times he’s played them, beat St. Cloud a couple times two weeks ago. If he can continue to play the way he’s playing right now, it’s certainly going to help us.”

Lock it up: At No. 2 in the Pairwise Rankings, Minnesota probably needs only one victory this weekend to clinch a top-four spot, and therefore a first-round bye in the NCAA tournament. But don’t quote us on that.

Colorado College: The Bubble

You’ve heard of people-watching, but how about Pairwise-watching?

It’s quickly becoming the hottest event in the press box at the Final Five. There are coaches and media members who clearly understand the Pairwise, and there are those who freely admit they don’t, but like to see the numbers anyway.

Last season, the bubble watch was for Wisconsin. This year, it’s for Colorado College, which enters the weekend ninth in the Pairwise.

“We’re a bubble team as far as the Pairwise is concerned,” CC coach Scott Owens said. “We somewhat have our destiny in our own hands, but some of it depends on how the other playoff tournaments go.”

In reality, no one really knows what, other than a Final Five title, will get the Tigers into the NCAA tournament this weekend, so the Tigers will just have to play the games.

They’ve heard all about the statistic that no team has ever won three games in three days at the Final Five, emerging from the fourth or fifth seed to win the Broadmoor Trophy.

They were in the same fourth seed last year and won two of three games.

“I think we’re better prepared knowing what to expect in terms of the turnaround game if we were to win Thursday’s game,” Owens said. “Do we have to win (two games)? I’m not sure. … I’m not a genius when it comes to figuring out the Pairwise Rankings.

“I think if we win two games, we’re in pretty good shape. If we win one game, it’s going to be questionable. If we don’t win at all, I think there’s still an opportunity if everything goes according to form.”

Badgered again: CC and Wisconsin will play in a tournament for the second time this season, and in the Final Five play-in game for the second straight year.

The teams played to a 3-3 tie at the Badger Hockey Showdown in Milwaukee on Dec. 28. Wisconsin claimed third place in the tournament by beating the Tigers in a shootout.

Last season, CC’s Peter Sejna broke a 2-2 tie with 47 seconds left in the third period to help the Tigers to a 4-3 victory over the Badgers.

In the WCHA regular season, the teams played only two games, both in Colorado Springs. CC won the series 1-0 with a tie.

Wisconsin: The Darkhorse

Wisconsin arrives in St. Paul on one of the only sustained ups of an up-and-down season. But the Badgers will be playing tougher competition than they did to get here.

The Badgers earned home ice for the playoffs with a sweep of Minnesota-Duluth in the last weekend of the regular season. They got their tickets to the Final Five with a sweep of Minnesota State-Mankato.

Now, to keep their season alive to the NCAA tournament, they need to win three games in three days. First of all, though, to avoid going home after one day, they need to beat Colorado College on Thursday, something they didn’t do in last year’s Final Five.

A series with Colorado College in early February started a slide that saw the Badgers go 0-5-1. Wisconsin coach Jeff Sauer, though, is convinced that his team’s current four-game winning streak is partially due to that six game winless skid.

“We lost five of six games right before the last four that we’ve won, but I think we’re a better team because of that,” Sauer said. “We had to play at Minnesota and at Colorado and we played at home against Denver. We didn’t come out on the top end of the stick there, but we played well. I hope that carries over.”

Everyone knows the position Wisconsin is in. It’s certainly not the cushy lose-and-still-advance scenario the team faced last season, when it was the fifth WCHA team invited to the NCAA tournament.

Sauer, though, doesn’t want his team to feel the weight of the world.

“We have to win three games to get to the NCAA tournament. We’re well aware of that,” he said. “I’m not trying to put pressure on our guys from that standpoint.”

And now, the end is near …: Time is running out on Sauer’s college coaching career. The Wisconsin mainstay is retiring when his team’s season is over, which could be as early as Thursday.

He’s not letting that cloud his vision, though.

“Right now, I feel like every other coach that’s got a team in the playoffs,” Sauer said. “We’re trying to focus, get ready for that. One of the keys for me, I will say though, is the fact that the tournament is in St. Paul, and that’s where I grew up. If it does end this weekend, I’ll feel very satisfied just for the fact that it’s there.”

It’s on them: Sauer could be griping that his team, if it wins Thursday night, would have to play Friday afternoon. He’s not.

“We put ourselves in this position,” Sauer said. “We could have played better along the way, won a couple more games, got ourselves a little higher seed.”

You Asked

To be honest, no one outright asked this question, but here goes anyway: Why isn’t Friday’s afternoon semifinal being televised? All the other games are, even the third-place fiasco, er, game.

It turns out Fox Sports Net has a previous commitment to televise NASCAR at that time. The WCHA is happy to point out, however, that it has the best playoff championship television deal in college hockey.

A Fuzzy Farewell

If a broadcaster signs off for the final time but there’s no one to hear it, does it still happen?

Well, yes, but the people of Houghton, Mich., probably don’t know it.

Legendary Michigan Tech broadcaster Bob Olson did his final broadcast for the team last weekend in Denver, but most of his words Saturday night didn’t make it back to the Upper Peninsula.

A blizzard in the Houghton area (what else is new?) knocked out power lines, so listeners on WKMJ-FM in Houghton/Hancock heard only about 10 minutes of the game.

It’s certainly not the way a tremendous broadcaster should do his final game. Olson, however, will be a part of the Internet broadcasts from the Final Five on the WCHA’s Web site.

We’ll Never Know

Wisconsin’s overtime goal against Minnesota State-Mankato last Friday night may not have been a goal at all, but videotape failed to prove otherwise.

Matt Murray’s shot got past Mavericks goaltender Jason Jensen, did something and then ended up underneath Jensen, in the crease. The middle part is the gray area.

Jensen and his teammates said they heard the clang of a goalpost, which all but rules out the puck going into the net — the posts inside the net are padded — unless there is a gap in said padding.

But the goal judge appeared adamant that the puck went in the net, and referee Mike Schmitt called it a goal.

In this case, video review would have been of no help. There was no camera angle that showed the puck going into the net or hitting the post, only the shot getting past Jensen and, a second later, reappearing underneath him.

Oh, the Festivities

The WCHA will be using the multimedia capabilities of the Xcel to celebrate its 50th anniversary this weekend.

The league has been planning video segments to be shown on the arena’s scoreboard throughout the tournament. Included are interviews with the league’s alums and a rundown of its top 50 players.

Some of those 50 players will be in attendance. Each game will be preceded by a ceremonial puck drop with former coaches and players.

Tough Times

Wisconsin goaltender Bernd Bruckler played last Saturday’s game three days after learning his father, Franz, had died in Austria. Bruckler didn’t tell his teammates or coaches until after Saturday’s game.

“Then he kind of broke down,” Sauer said. “It’s been kind of an interesting concept with our team. The guys have really rallied around him.”

Scott Kabotoff will get the start in goal Thursday night against Colorado College, Sauer said, just like he did in the first game of last weekend’s series.

Hot Ticket

This season’s Final Five is going to challenge last year’s attendance record.

WCHA commissioner Bruce McLeod said Tuesday that ticket sales were ahead of last year’s pace.

“Last year was kind of a watershed year for us attendance-wise,” McLeod said. The first year of the tournament at the Xcel Energy Center in downtown St. Paul drew 67,612 people, an average of 13,522 per game.

“Right now, we’re on a pace ahead of last year. We sold about 1,200 more tournament packages than we did last year. Our ticket sales are up substantially. I think we’re set up to have a very exciting event.”

Last year’s tournament figures were aided by a crowd of 18,409 for the Friday night Minnesota-St. Cloud State game and 17,563 for the championship game a night later.

The Gophers and Huskies play again this season on Friday night, meaning one of them will play for the championship Saturday night. That will likely ensure a large gate for the title game.

Five More Years

McLeod confirmed this week that the WCHA was in the process of hammering out a new five-year contract to hold the Final Five at the Xcel Energy Center.

This is the second year of the original three-year deal, which will be scrapped in favor of the five-year contract.

He Said It

“I don’t know what shoe the foot’s on.”

— Minnesota coach Don Lucia, doing his best “Airplane” imitation when asked who has a mental advantage in his team’s game against St. Cloud State.

Woody Wrapup

And so it ends, the Clay “Woody” Wilson report. The Michigan Tech freshman defenseman ended the season with four goals and eight assists.

In true character, though, Woody had more points (12) than penalties (9).

And to those who have any clue what we’re talking about here, thanks for reading and paying attention this year.

This Week in the MAAC: March 13, 2002

By Jim Connelly

-

March 13, 2002

Will Mercyhurst Follow Mercyhurst?

It was just about one year ago that naysayers across the country lined up to moan that the MAAC was getting an autobid to the NCAA tournament. The tournament champion, Mercyhurst, proved them wrong, taking Michigan to the brink in the first round of the West Regional before eventually falling, 4-3.

A year later, not much has changed. The USCHO message board still has plenty of messages from college hockey types who have nothing better to do than whine about whether or not the MAAC “deserves” a bid. Personally, I had a little doubt of how successful a team could be last year. This year, I’m not convinced that any of the four MAAC finalists can conquer the number-three seed in the NCAA tournament, but at the same time, I’m more than looking forward to watching them try.

All of that said, it’s time to determine who will walk in the difficult-to-follow footsteps of Mercyhurst. Looking at the field for this weekend’s MAAC final four, I’d say that a very likely candidate is the Lakers themselves. With a solid chance at repeating as tournament champions, Mercyhurst could be making the trek back to the state of Michigan, this time to Ann Arbor, for the West Regional one week from now.

But don’t tell that to three other teams: Quinnipiac, Sacred Heart and Connecticut all have something to say. Each believes, as it should, that it has the chance to knock off the mighty Lakers. UConn will get the first chance as, being the six seed, the Huskies will face Mercyhurst in the semis. Should they fail, the survivor from the classic Quinnipiac-Sacred Heart rivalry, who face off in Thursday’s nightcap, will have the final chance.

The Road To Worcester

So how did we get to this point? Well, if you’re a faithful reader and you didn’t get to see any of the quarterfinal action last weekend, slap yourself silly for missing it. The MAAC accounted for the most exciting playoff hockey as the postseason began across the country last week. All four games were decided by one goal, two going to double overtime and one in overtime. All four winners rallied from deficits. Playoff hockey? I’d say so.

Top-seeded Mercyhurst thought maybe, just maybe, they’d have an easy time with number eight seed Army. Despite the fact that the Lakers lost to the Black Knights a week earlier, head coach Rick Gotkin sounded confident heading into his quarterfinal matchup. But the Knights did to the Lakers what they did to Michigan in the NCAA tournament — pushed them to the brink of breaking. Fortunately, for Mercyhurst, the Lakers didn’t break and held on for a 2-1 victory.

Quinnipiac’s time with seven seed Iona was even worse. The Maize and Blue rallied from deficits of 3-2 and 4-3 to carry a lead into the third period. But a bad bounce with 23 seconds remaining in regulation gave Iona’s Tim Krueckl the tying goal, meaning one shot would decide who survives. Twenty minutes of overtime decided absolutely nothing. But at 6:18 of double overtime, Quinnipiac’s Chris White beat Scott Galenza for the 6-5 victory, launching them to the final four for the fourth straight year.

Fourth-seeded Sacred Heart couldn’t get the job done in regulation either. Battling a tough Canisius team that jumped out to a 2-0 lead early in the second period, the Pioneers fought back. Goals by Marc-Andre Fournier and Nick Nucther 31 seconds apart evened the game with 5:21 remaining. And thought Sacred Heart controlled the early portion of the overtime period, it would take 10 minutes and 31 seconds before rookie defenseman Garrett Larson would bury the game-winner to earn the Pioneers its first trip the to final four.

Third seed and tournament host Holy Cross has one thing going for them beginning the year: get home ice in the quarterfinals and they could stay home throughout. Problem was, no one gave their plan to UConn. The Huskies stormed out of the gate, grabbing a 5-1 lead through two periods, having the game and a final four berth seemingly in full control.

But the Crusaders wouldn’t die and rallied to score four times in the third period, evening the contest in the final four minutes. Holy Cross even controlled play for the remainer of regulation, but a bad bounce and a turnover at the defensive blue line allowed Kurt Kamienski to blast a slapshot between the legs of Holy Cross netminder Derek Cunha with 21 seconds to play. Holding off the Crusaders in the closing seconds, UConn earned its third trip to the final four, becoming the second team in MAAC history to win a road playoff game.

So now, with all four teams in place and reseeded, the fourth MAAC final four is ready to begin. So with my best prediction foot forward, here’s how this weekend’s actions will shape up:

Semifinal No. 1

No. 6 UConn (13-15-7, 11-10-5 MAAC) vs. No. 1 Mercyhurst (23-9-3, 21-2-3 MAAC)
Thursday, March 14, 2002, 4:00 ET
Hart Recreation Center, Worcester, Mass.

Season series: Mercyhurst leads, 2-0-0

Dec. 1, 2001 — Mercyhurst 9, at UConn 0
February 15, 2002 — at Mercyhurst 4, UConn 1

Playoff history:

March 16, 2000 — at Connecticut 2, Mercyhurst 0 — MAAC Semifinal

Defending champ Mercyhurst, without any doubt, is lucky to be still playing. Though you could have anticipated a route of Army last week in the quarterfinals, the Black Knights, with nothing expected of them, played without inhibition in Erie last weekend and nearly pulled off a monumental upset.

“I tell you what, we played very well [on Saturday] but so did Army,” said Gotkin. “That’s a tough number eight seed. They work very hard, they’re very disciplined and they’re in great physical shape.”

So with one Cinderella kept from the dance, Mercyhurst will again have to break the glass slipper, facing sixth-seeded UConn in the opening game of the MAAC final four.

Maybe it’s a surprise to a lot of people [that UConn qualified for the final four], but it’s not a surprise to us. We thought they were a terrific hockey team when we played them,” Gotkin said, despite having beaten UConn 9-0 and 4-1 already this year. “We think that Thursday is going to be another battle.”

The game will be a rematch of the 2000 semifinal in which UConn, then the number four seed, pulled off a minor upset beating the Lakers, 2-0. The major difference this year, though, is venue. The 2000 tournament was played at UConn, with the Huskies eventually winning. This year, the tournament is hosted by Holy Cross, the team UConn defeated last Saturday to gain the berth.

“Two years ago is a long time ago,” said Gotkin, remembering back to the 2000 semifinals. “We thought we played pretty well that night. But we thought it would be hard to play the host team.

“We were the number two seed and they were the number four seed. But it was like they were the number one seed because it was their home game.

“Holy Cross had a great season this year and I feel bad for them being the host team and not getting there. But that’s is important to us because it’s neutral ice again.”

On the other bench, UConn will be riding the high of knocking off the higher-seeded Crusaders last Saturday night in dramatic fashion. But all the positives from that game were accompanied by one negative. The performance of goaltender Artie Imbriano was shaky, to say the least. His ability to control rebounds in front and to make the big save in crunch time has put a question mark under goaltending on the UConn depth chart.

“I thought I had [our starting goaltender] figured out until the third period of the Holy Cross game,” said UConn coach Bruce Marshall. “We’re watching both goaltenders this week in practice and will make a decision on Wednesday [on the starter].”

Marshall’s alternative is sophomore Jason Carey. His numbers are a little short of Imbriano’s, but he’s played well in big games. Carey made 52 stops in a 2-2 tie at Vermont this year and was the winning goalie in games against Quinnipiac, Sacred Heart and Iona.

Marshall, though, is still confident in both netminders.

“We were banging out heads [on Monday] trying to figure our which goalie to play,” said Marshall. “It would be nice to be riding a number one guy in. But I feel both are number one candidates.”

Goaltending aside, Marshall understands he has a yeoman’s task ahead of him facing the best team in the league. If fact, the Huskies haven’t won a game — or even managed a tie — against Mercyhurst since the 2000 semifinals. UConn is 0-5-0 against the Lakers in that span.

“Some people say maybe [Mercyhurst] is ripe for the picking,” said Marshall. “But teams can go off and be great year after year. Mercyhurst is a quality team that keeps on winning. They’ve never gone into a tailspin. They know how to win.”

In terms of what each team needs to do to win, it’s certainly not a consensus between Gotkin and Marshall.

Gotkin knows his Lakers have to play the game plan that has taken them to this point with only two league losses.

“We’re going to have to play well in our end of the ice,” said Gotkin. “Offensively, we’ll just need to capitalize on whatever opportunities we can get. The last couple of years we’ve taken pride to how we play in our end of the ice and how that generates offense.”

Marshall, on the other hand, realizes that this could be a game of survival.

“We can’t find ourselves down two goals early and think we’re going to come charging back,” said Marshall. He also has a similar concern he did entering the Holy Cross game regarding Mercyhurst’s power play. Though the Huskies shut down Holy Cross’ league-best power play, limiting them to one goal on six chances, they now have to face a Lakers power play that ranks second in the league.

“We can’t give them any power play opportunities. Penalties are going to be called, but we can’t give them the advantage in a 1-0 game,” said Marshall. “When you get skilled kids like they have down low, they’ll find a way to tuck it upstairs quickly. We’ve got to find way to control the rebound and keep the front of the net open.”

A lot to think about for a team that enters the tournament below .500 with a 13-15-7 record. But if it all comes together, there’s a true possibility Cinderella will still be dancing on the weekend.

Pick: UConn’s offense looked impressive last weekend, but the Huskies weren’t facing a goaltender like Peter Aubry. Mercyhurst will have its chance to defend the title. Mercyhurst, 4-2.

Semifinal No. 2

No. 4 Sacred Heart (16-13-4, 15-8-3 MAAC) vs. No. 2 Quinnipiac (18-12-5, 15-6-5 MAAC)
Thursday, March 14, 2002, 7:00 ET
Hart Recreation Center, Worcester, Mass.

Season series: Quinnipiac leads, 2-0-1

November 3, 2001: at Quinnipiac 4, Sacred Heart 2
February 1, 2002: at Quinnipiac 4, Sacred Heart 3
February 2, 2002: Quinnipiac 1, at Sacred Heart 1 (OT)

Playoff history: First Meeting

Rivalries are often the greatest part about college athletics. And at no time of year is that more appropriate to talk about than the month of March. March Madness, typified by the NCAA hoop tournament, also must include conference tournaments in both basketball and hockey — often the hotbed of college’s best rivalries.

When you think of the MAAC, though, it’s difficult to perceive rivalries. The conference’s youth, and the fledgling programs represented in the league, don’t necessarily make for the greatest of rivalries.

Ironically, then, for the second year in a row, true rivals meet in the league semifinals. Last year, it was Mercyhurst and Canisius. The two western schools of the league go way back to the days of the ECAC West when the true grudge was developed.

This year, we find Sacred Heart and Quinnipiac squaring off in the marquee nightcap. Separated by only 25 miles, these two schools have really been the first rivals to develop in MAAC play. Granted that for a few years leading up to the MAAC’s formation, the two Southern Connecticut schools found plenty to fight for. But since joining the MAAC, the battle has increased, mostly due to the higher stakes.

Thursday night, the stakes will be at an ultimate level — the winner taking a trip to the MAAC championship game. It’s almost too good of a story to be true.

“It’s exciting to be in the championship tournament against our in-state rival,” said Sacred Heart coach Shaun Hannah. “We battle in a lot of sports and the campuses really get into it. It’s going to make for exciting hockey on Thursday night.”

“We’ve had a great rivalry with Sacred Heart for a long time, even before we were Division I opponents,” said Quinnipiac coach Rand Pecknold, who recently became the all-time winningest coach in school history, surpassing Jim Armstrong. “The way the league has evolved, though, we’ve established rivalries with a lot of teams. It’s not like it’s a BU-BC [rivalry in magnitude], but its still exciting.”

The matchup, though, between these two Connecticut rivals probably doesn’t seem that competitive. Since joining the MAAC, Sacred Heart has never beaten Quinnipiac, going 0-10-3 in the 13 games since the beginning of the 1998-99 season. But on the ice, the battles have always been close.

Which may prompt the question, “Is Sacred Heart due?”

“It’s been a long four year and we’ve had some ups and downs,” said Hannah. “We’ve learned from the downs and the ups have given us the fire and fuel to build our program.

“I think the history [of the series] is not a concern to us — it’s more a fuel for our fire. We’ve played really well the last couple of times we played [Quinnipiac]. We were really disappointed to not beat them in the regular season.”

Adding, though, to the history of the series against Quinnipiac also will be playoff experience. For these two teams it’s like night and day. Quinnipiac is the only team to qualify for the final four all four seasons of the MAAC. Sacred Heart, on the other hand, is the true rookie, making its first appearance.

“I think they’ll be okay with [our first final four],” said Hannah. “We’ll have a little bit of the butterflies in the early going. It will be important to keep our game simple. They’re great kids and they work hard so I don’t think it will be a big factor.

“I think last weekend helped tremendously. The game against Canisius was a great hockey game. They played very well in the first period and we didn’t play our best hockey. We were forced to find a way to play good hockey that night. Once we did, it helped us in every way prepare for Thursday’s game.”

Even though Quinnipiac has the history of appearances in the final four, though, one factor will make them similar to Sacred Heart: freshmen. Dressing a lineup that can contain up to 13 freshman, Pecknold doesn’t have a team full of players with playoff experience. Still, he doesn’t worry.

“For us, basically, we’ve got some good players -we’ve got some guys who really came on in the second half,” said Pecknold. “Last weekend, we were able to not only take out of the game the confidence we gained by winning but the confidence we played with the whole game.

“In the first period, Iona went three-for-three on the power play. But we still had the confidence that we would win that hockey game. After we gave up the fourth goal and made the goalie change we were still confident. And after we gave up a late goal, going into overtime there was extreme confidence in the dressing room before the overtime.”

But after a 6-5 victory, Pecknold is faced with a similar situation to that of UConn’s Marshall — who to play between the pipes. Last Saturday, Pecknold started rookie standout Jamie Holden, the goalie who has carried the brunt of the load this season. But after allowing four goals in the first 27 minutes, Pecknold replaced Holden with Justin Eddy. Eddy finished the game by allowing only one goal in nearly two periods of regulation and both overtimes.

“We’re fortunate to be in a situation where we have to great goaltenders,” said Pecknold. “My decision was to go with Jamie for the playoffs, but he struggled a little bit. We felt we needed to make a change and Justin Eddy came in and played phenomenally. So now we’re at a place where we won’t make the decision probably until Wednesday night.”

Regardless of who plays for Quinnipiac, Thursday’s nightcap is set up as a great goaltending duel and a fantastic hockey game. And who said it’s too early for rivalries?

Pick: Quinnipiac’s final four experience is the deciding point in this tough-to-call matchup. Quinnipiac, 4-3 (OT).

USA Hockey Fishman Internship Returns For Fourth Year

By USA Hockey Media Relations

-

March 13, 2002

USA Hockey today announced it is accepting applications for the fourth annual Brian Fishman Internship, to be awarded to an outstanding college graduate who is pursuing a career in athletic media relations. The internship is named in honor of the late Brian Fishman, who served as the Manager, Communications and Marketing for the USA Hockey National Team Development Program during the 1998-99 season.

Brian passed away unexpectedly on Jan. 7, 1999 at age 28.

Brian’s responsibilities with USA Hockey included coordinating on-site media relations, marketing, sales and promotional activities for the National Team Development Program, which is based in Ann Arbor, Mich. Prior to joining USA Hockey, Brian worked for three years in the Athletic Media Relations Department at the University of Michigan.

“This internship is a fitting tribute to Brian’s memory, because he enjoyed helping younger people improve their media skills and excel in this profession,” said Barry Fishman (Potomac, Md.), Brian’s father. “Through this living memorial, we hope to perpetuate Brian’s great spirit and enthusiasm for life. The drive, passion and work ethic he demonstrated every day of his life; his honesty; his incredible love of ice hockey; and his concern for others will be forever remembered.”

Based in the Media and Public Relations Department at USA Hockey’s National Office in Colorado Springs, Colo., the internship will call for assistance with various media and public relations projects, and event promotions and publishing initiatives. This includes work with American Hockey Magazine, the official publication of USA Hockey and the world’s most widely circulated hockey magazine. The internship term is 10 months, beginning this September and concluding next June.

Successful candidates will have gained substantial experience working in their college or university sports information office. Preference also will be given to those who have earned an undergraduate degree in journalism, English, communications, sports management or a related field. Applicants should represent the high ideals characterized by Brian in both the personal and professional aspects of his life, including determination, integrity and enthusiasm.

The recipient of The Brian Fishman Internship will be chosen by a committee that includes representatives of the print and broadcast media; USA Hockey and its National Team Development Program; the National Hockey League; and several collegiate athletic departments. Applications must be received by USA Hockey no later than Monday, April 8. Those interested should forward a completed application form, current resume, list of references and samples of work produced.

Applicants must also submit a brief essay (400-500 words) in which they detail their interest in The Brian Fishman Internship and relate their personal and professional characteristics to those that were reflective of Brian, including determination, integrity and a love of hockey.
Following a review by the selection committee, the successful candidate will be notified by Monday, April 29.

To make a contribution to help perpetuate the internship through The USA Hockey Foundation, please contact Cindy Merkle at (719) 576-8724, ext. 165.

For more information, please contact USA Hockey Media Relations, (719) 576-8724 Cassy Maxton, ext. 172 or Yariv Amir, ext. 151 or visit www.usahockey.com.

College Division All-Americans Named

USCHO Staff Report

-

March 13, 2002

Middlebury, RIT and St. Norbert each placed two players on the first team of the Jofa/ACHA College Division All-Americans announced today.

There were only three repeat winners. RIT’s Jerry Galway was named to the first team for the third time, while Adam Kragthorpe from Wisconsin-River Falls is on the first team for the second straight season. Plattsburgh’s Niklas Sundberg repeats as the East’s second-team goaltender.

Twenty of the 24 players named participated in this year’s NCAA Division III tournament, with 11 advancing to this weekends championships in Middlebury, Vt.

First Team

East
G: Christian Carlsson, Middlebury, SR (Linkoping, Sweden)
D: Matt Dunn, Middlebury, SR (Kent, Conn.)
D: Jerry Galway, RIT, SR (Mississauga, Ont.)
F: Mike Bournazakis, RIT, JR (Toronto, Ont.)
F: Mike Carosi, Bowdoin, SR (Warwick, R.I.)
F: Kurtis Mclean, Norwich (Kirkwood Lake, Ont.)

West
G: Dan Melde, Gustavus Adolphus, SO (Maplewood, Minn.)
D: Adam Kragthorpe, Wisconsin-River Falls, JR (New Hope, Minn.)
D: Jim Underwood, St. Norbert, FR (Ravenna, Ohio)
F: Tony Lawrence, St. Thomas, SR (White Bear Lake, Minn.)
F: Mike Possin, St. John’s, SR (St. Cloud, Minn.)
F: Maris Ziedins, St. Norbert, JR (Talsi, Latvia)

Second Team

East
G: Niklas Sundberg, Plattsburgh, SR (Stockholm, Sweden)
D: Ryan Constantine, Middlebury, SR (Morrisonville, N.Y.)
D: Peter Ollari, Plattsburgh, SR (Agawam, Mass.)
F: Kevin Cooper, Middlebury, SO (Mississauga, Ont.)
F: Jayson Kilcan, Plattsburgh, JR (London, Ont.)
F: Todd Nowicki, Buffalo State, SR (Buffalo, N.Y.)

West
G: Ryan Gill, St. Norbert, SO (Watrous, Sask.)
D: Bruce Leonard, Wisconsin-Superior, SR (Calgary, Alb.)
D: Drew Palmgren, St. Thomas, SR (Blaine, Minn.)
F: Chris Bodnar, St. Norbert, SR (Thunder Bay, Ont.)
F: Chris Hackett, Wisconsin-Superior, JR (Paradise, Newf.)
F: Colin Kendall, Wisconsin-Superior, JR (Calgary, Alb.)

Super, Really

Parity, For Real

All-Conference Team Selections

Speaking Of Pairwise …

Quarterfinal Byes

Postscript, Part I

Postscript, Part II

Quarterfinals Preview

Thank You, Readers

A Few Things In Common

Plattsburgh Cardinals (20-8-4)

Wisconsin-Superior Yellowjackets (22-5-5)

Worthless Factoid

Strategy

Go East, Young Man

Go Cornell! Well, Maybe Not…

Whither UMass-Lowell?

This Weekend At The Fleet

New Hampshire vs. UMass-Lowell (4 p.m.)

Boston University vs. Maine

The Award Winners From These Eyes

The Curtain Comes Down

Trivia Contest

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

Middlebury Panthers (26-1-1)

Norwich Cadets (26-4)

The NCAA Semifinals

Taylor Remains a Good Fit

Unwelcome Rest

Murray

First-round Flings

Dilemma

ECAC Player of the Year

ECAC Coach of the Year

ECAC Rookie of the Year

ECAC Defensive Forward of the Year

ECAC Defensive Defenseman of the Year Brian McMeekin, Sr., Cornell

Dryden Award

ECAC All-Rookie Team

ECAC All-Stars

Bracket One

Bracket Two

The Final Day

ITECH All-MAAC First Team

ITECH All-MAAC Second Team

ITECH MAAC All-Rookie Team

Denver: The Advantage

St. Cloud State: The Challenge

Minnesota: The Positioning

Colorado College: The Bubble

Wisconsin: The Darkhorse

You Asked

A Fuzzy Farewell

We’ll Never Know

Oh, the Festivities

Tough Times

Hot Ticket

Five More Years

He Said It

Woody Wrapup

Will Mercyhurst Follow Mercyhurst?

The Road To Worcester

First Team

Second Team

Latest Stories from around USCHO

ECAC Defensive Defenseman of the Year

Brian McMeekin, Sr., Cornell