Stars And (Zebra) Stripes

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February 12, 2002

Anyone involved in college hockey will tell you that one of the most thankless jobs in the sport is that of referee. A constant target for not-so-kind words from players, coaches and spectators alike, officials are considered most successful when nobody notices their existence.

Add to that as much a four-hour round trip to work and, simply put, the job doesn’t really seem to have much glamour.

But a passion for the game can supersede the tedious.

Take Scott Hansen. Known universally as “Scotty,” the always-smiling 34-year-old has been lacing up the skates as an official longer than most of the players in his games have been alive.

His passion for the game has seen him succeed at just about every level of the game. The six-year veteran of the ECAC and three-year member of Hockey East’s officiating crew now has a chance to further his officiating horizons.

Even though four years ago the International Olympic Committee voted to allow professional athletes, virtually eliminating the amateurs once a staple of Olympic hockey, Hansen’s Olympic dream has come alive: he is among the 2002 Men’s Ice Hockey officiating crew.

Potentially the greatest honor he will have bestowed upon him in his officiating career, Hansen left earlier this week to join eight other referees from around the world — and around the NHL — at the games in Salt Lake City.

An Early Beginning

Hansen began officiating about as early in life as you possibly can: at age 11.

“I was playing youth hockey and my father said it was a good way to learn the game,” said Hansen. “I found that I enjoyed it quite a bit. It had nothing to do with the power part of it, but simply being on the ice. It gained me an extra two or three hours of ice time a week.”

Beginning like most referees, at the mite level, Hansen worked his way up quickly. By age 14, not only did Hansen enjoy officiating but he also enjoyed the added benefit — money.

“When I was 14 or 15 it started to pay,” laughed Hansen. “I could go down on Saturday and do four games, and Sunday and do four games and I’d leave with $40 in my pocket. I had everything. If I wanted a new boom box, I went and bought a boom box. If I wanted new sneakers, I went and bought new sneakers because I had the money.”

During his high school years, Hansen stayed relegated to youth hockey. Shortly after graduating, though, came the promotion to the high school game.

Luckily for Hansen, at that point, he had become a skilled official. And within a short amount of time, professional hockey came calling.

Having grown up in Southern Connecticut, Hansen was familiar with minor league hockey in the form of the American Hockey League. The New Haven Nighthawks were a long-established franchise in one of the NHL’s top developmental leagues.

Living in the area, he was fortunate to get an early call to the pros.

“When I was 19, I joined the American Hockey League as a linesman,” said Hansen. “I didn’t do a lot of games because I was young, but I did enough just to get the feel of it and the sense that I could do it.”

That sense carried Hansen to another level.

An offer would come a few years later to head to the East Coast Hockey League as a referee — one that Hansen couldn’t refuse. Bags packed, Hansen moved to Tennessee.

By then, refereeing itself had become a passion. Mature beyond his years, night in and night out he dealt with the attitudes of professional coaches and players. He dealt with the fighting in one of the most violent pro leagues in the country. Still young, Hansen was able to control the game, something recognized by those above him.

At age 26, Hansen was selected by the National Hockey League to join their referee development program. What started out as a way to earn a few bucks and get some ice time had escalated far beyond.

“Once I got picked up by the NHL [for the development program], I was able to work in every minor league and Canadian juniors,” Hansen said. “At the end, I had at least refereed one game in every professional or junior league there was.”

But with the glory of the NHL, came the aggravation of a full-time job. What once was a pleasure had become a daily grind.

“Once I got with the NHL, it was every Wednesday on a plane and every Sunday coming home,” Hansen said. “I’d do my laundry and be home with my girlfriend and be back out on the road.

“Then I got married at it was home to my wife and then back on the road. The glamour wore off real quick. It was like a businessman who had to travel all the time. Sure we had our summers off, but summer got shorter.”

As tough as the travel may have been, officiating was still what Hansen wanted to do. Once the puck dropped, there was nothing in the world that compared.

“On the ice was still easy,” said Hansen. “The hard part was the travel, the paperwork, the conference calls. It was dealing with supervisors who had different personalities. The passion was still there for being on the ice. It was just the little things that made it tough.”

Unfortunately, those little things went away — and not because life suddenly got easy at the pro level.

“They cleaned out house at the development program,” said Hansen. He and eight other officials were laid off. “They had no movement up in the NHL [in terms of open positions] so there was no sense in keeping older referees in the development program. So they got rid of us and brought in some young guys.”

At that point, with nearly 17 years of officiating under his belt, the outside world was heading Hansen’s way. A day job would be his first step to reality, now supporting himself and his wife Christina. Even Hansen’s social life began to suffer.

“The tough part about being with the NHL was that when I got released I realized all my friends were in hockey,” admitted Hansen. “Everybody I associated with was in the hockey world. So not only was my professional life crashing, but my personal life was too.”

That in mind, officiating wouldn’t fall from Hansen’s radar screen.

In 1996, he joined the ECAC, working games at the Division I, II and III levels. After three years with the league, Hansen started doing game in Hockey East in addition to his duties in the ECAC.

“[Scott] wrote me a letter and said he wanted to do some Hockey East games,” said Brendan Sheehy, supervisor of officials for Hockey East. “I did some inquiring and found out he was one of the top officials [in the ECAC].”

That was 1999. Today, Hansen is one of the top-ranked officials in Hockey East, as evidenced by his selection for the ECAC, Hockey East and NCAA tournament. He worked last Monday in the highest-profile regular-season tournament of the year — the Beanpot — officiating the nightcap in the semifinals, between Boston College and Boston University.

Success Around The Globe

As Hansen has made the most of his success in his home territory, so too has he been feted on the international circuit. Hansen was selected in 1997, 1998 and 2000 to referee the World Junior championships. His first trip found him in the bronze-medal game. His last two brought the top reward: working the gold-medal tilt.

Hansen was also selected for the 1997 European championships, as well as the Far East and World Senior championships in 1999.

“I’ve been fortunate to travel all over the world. It’s like taking a paid vacation,” said Hansen. “Not a lot of people can say they’ve been to Russia, and I was there for five weeks in the last year.”

With Hansen’s move to the international game, the passion has strengthened. It’s not the youth hockey cakewalk of years back, but the day is more enjoyable for this referee.

“There’s politics involved, and all sorts of things outside of the ice surface,” said Hansen. “But they’re things you know up front and you deal with them.”

The Call To Salt Lake

With the Olympic Games on U.S. soil, Hansen’s involvement with USA Hockey and the international game served him well. When calls were made for officials late last summer, Hansen was one of the American nominees.

"For me, it’s a culmination of a lot of hard work that I’ve put in to really perfect my international officiating — to do the job they want."

— Scott Hansen, on his selection to officiate the Olympic hockey tournament.

He is part of a crew of six referees and ten linesmen for the early rounds of Olympic competition. After qualifying play is complete, three referees and six linesmen will head home. The remainder will be joined by officials from the National Hockey League.

“For me, it’s a culmination of a lot of hard work that I’ve put in to really perfect my international officiating — to do the job they want,” said Hansen.

He admitted, though, that his membership among the top officials in the entire world had not yet sunk in.

“Once I get there and we go to the opening ceremonies and get to sit in the stadium, then it’s really going to hit that this is the freaking Olympics,” Hansen said with a smile. “With the NHL players going to be there, this is the biggest tournament in the world. It’s bigger than the Stanley Cup. It’s the greatest teams from each country picked to go at it. You’re not going to be able to get better than that. After that everything is going to be anticlimatic.”

In a year when American pride has been displayed worldwide, from homes and schools to the Super Bowl, Hansen is proud to be able to represent the USA.

“It’s absolutely national pride to represent your own country,” said Hansen. “The pride for us comes when we find out who is selected to referee what games once we are there.

“If you’re American and you get a big game, that’s a feather in the cap for all the officials in the United States — all the people who are coming through the system and all the people who nominated me there.

“Everyone in the USA Hockey program — they’re the ones who are responsible for developing me so that I could … get to the Olympics.”

Walking onto the international stage in this just-once-every-four-years event allows Hansen to further build his experience — as he does every time he makes a three-hour ride each way to a college game.

Sheehy likened Hansen’s development to that of a golfer.

“Tiger Woods hits a lot of balls,” said Sheehy. “The more balls you hit, the better you’re going to get. And Scotty spends a lot of night going to the rink. His experience is tremendous to his development.”

At this rate, Hansen certainly has the ability to become the Tiger Woods of college hockey officials.

Gwozdecky Staying Put at Denver

By Todd D. Milewski

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February 12, 2002

Cross George Gwozdecky off the list of candidates for the prime college hockey job openings this season. He’s staying at Denver, with an extension on his already lengthy contract.

The school announced Tuesday that Gwozdecky, coach of the top-ranked Pioneers, signed a long-term contract with Denver.

Gwozdecky

“We have done everything in our power to make sure George will be our hockey coach for many years to come,” said Denver athletics director M. Dianne Murphy, who would not disclose the terms of the deal.

Gwozdecky, who in November 1999 signed an eight-year extension with Denver, was an early favorite for impending openings at Wisconsin, his alma mater, and Michigan State, where he was an assistant coach. He dismissed each rumor, however, with a news release saying he was not interested in leaving the Pioneers.

On Tuesday, three days before his team plays the Badgers in Madison, Wis., Gwozdecky left no doubt about where he’ll be next season.

“I’m here today to state that I’m very happy here at the University of Denver,” he said. “I have no intentions of coaching at any other institution, except for the University of Denver.”

Said Murphy: “I am announcing this today to end any speculation about George’s future. We want George and the hockey team to focus on the season at hand.”

Gwozdecky, 49, was already under contract to Denver until 2007, so this extension, and the timing of its announcement, was more to say that Gwozdecky is out of the running for the Wisconsin and Michigan State jobs, each of which will open at the end of the season.

He said he had no contact with either schools about their openings, but admitted he and his family had some sleepless nights in dealing with the situation.

“I know that there were some … distractions that have affected some of our players,” Gwozdecky said. “I wanted to make sure that wasn’t an excuse for any of us as we approach the most important time of our season.

“The longer something like this goes on, the more it can become bigger and more distracting. More rumors start circulating. I’m very pleased that we have been able to eliminate that.”

Gwozdecky is in his eighth year at Denver, where he has a 167-123-20 record. In 12-plus years as a Division I coach, Gwozdecky has a 250-217-39 record.

He was the WCHA’s coach of the year in the 1994-95 season, his first with the Pioneers, when he led them to a 25-15-2 record and a spot in the NCAA tournament.

Gwozdecky was a wing on Wisconsin’s 1977 NCAA championship team and was a graduate assistant with the Badgers for one year, 1977-78, before spending six years at Wisconsin-River Falls — the last three as head coach.

From 1984 to 1989, he was an assistant to Ron Mason at Michigan State before landing his first NCAA Division I head coaching job, at Miami.

Gwozdecky was 83-94-19 in five years at Miami (1989-94) and was given the Spencer Penrose Award as national coach of the year in 1993. He also won the CCHA coach of the year award twice.

The Pioneers coach said he hopes his team can now focus on the rest of the season instead of wondering where its coach will be next year.

“I want to reconfirm to our current players and our future players that I will be here to see them graduate,” Gwozdecky said. “I love these young men and I want to be here to win the national championship together.”

The Unkindest Cut

By David H. Hendrickson

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February 12, 2002

It was supposed to be the year of the underdog. Championships had finally been earmarked for the perennially heartbroken. Droughts were over.

Just eight days earlier, the New England Patriots had won their first-ever Super Bowl. Rewinding the tape by 10 months showed Boston College ending its 52-year streak of hockey heartbreak, winning its second national championship. And on this evening, Northeastern seemed destined to win its first Beanpot title in 14 years.

The headline would be, “Now They Can Die In Peace.” The Huskies had won the fewest ‘Pots of the four Boston schools. Other than a glorious nine-year span from 1980 through 1988 in which they had captured four championships, Northeastern had been shut out for the rest of the tournament’s 50 years. In the other 40 years, bupkiss.

While Boston University had advanced to its 18th championship game in 19 years, not to mention its 41st in 50, Northeastern was appearing in only its second since 1988. While the Terriers were a fixture in the title tilt limelight, the Huskies had played in 11 consolation games in 13 years. And in one of the two recent prime time appearances, they had been embarrassed by BU, 11-4.

This year, however, was different. The Huskies had entered the tournament playing better than any other competitor. Even more importantly, destiny was on their side. It was the Huskies’ year.

The stars were aligned for an NU win. Exactly 22 years ago to the day, Wayne Turner scored in overtime in the 1980 championship game to give the school its first-ever Beanpot title and usher in its “golden era.” This evening would be a renewed dawning of early February joy on Huntington Avenue.

At least that is the way the Hollywood script read.

For 30 minutes, Boston University did everything but steal the Husky players’ girlfriends. The Terriers held a 2-0 lead and could have taken a much larger margin if not for the acrobatics of NU goaltender Keni Gibson.

“They had a 14-7 shot advantage in the first period,” said NU coach Bruce Crowder, “and they were 14 great shots.”

At the other end, BU netminder Sean Fields might have been forgiven if he’d taken a little nap because halfway into the 60-minute game he had yet to really face a tester.

The Terriers’ experience in Beanpot championship games was showing through, but in an ironic way. Their goals had come from two freshmen — Justin Maiser and Ryan Whitney — who, of course, were playing in their first one.

The Hollywood script, however, kicked in at 12:43 of the second period. On the power play, Chris Lynch tipped a Jim Fahey shot from the point into the net. Lynch, a product of BC High School, and Fahey, out of Catholic Memorial, were both seniors in pursuit of their first ‘Pot.
This was how it was meant to be. Two Boston kids strive for four years and finally achieve their dream. A sappy script perhaps, maybe even a shameless tear-jerker, but it would be a big hit on Huntington Avenue, not to mention all places where the term “The BU Invitational” amounts to fingernails on the chalkboard.

Then it got better.

A minute and a half later, on another power play, Lynch picked up an attempted BU clearing pass that Mike Ryan blocked and walked in on Fields. Stymied on his first shot, Lynch stuffed the rebound in five-hole.

Euphoria erupted in the Northeastern end. After flatlining for 30-plus minutes, the Huskies had tied it and had Big Mo’ on their side.

But wait. It gets even better.

With 10 seconds left in the third period, Fahey fired a shot that again beat Fields five-hole. Now Northeastern had a stunning 3-2 lead thanks to its third unanswered goal in the span of little more than seven minutes.

And in a plot twist that bordered on a little too much of a good thing, BU picked up a penalty at the close of the period to set the Huskies’ vaunted power play in motion when intermission ended.

Visions of Beanpot sugarplums danced in the heads of Husky fans.

“Just 20 more minutes,” whispered one.

Things began to unravel a bit in the opening two minutes of the third period when the power play couldn’t deliver. It then worsened at 3:13 during a promising Husky rush that turned sour with an interference penalty that put BU a man up.

The script really began to go haywire on the resulting power play when the puck took a freakish bounce off the boards, over defenseman Jon Awe’s stick and into the goal-scoring lap of BU’s Mike Pandolfo. The lone accomplished Terrier finisher wasted no time making it a 3-3 game.

Presumably, this was one of those scripts where the heroes see things go terribly wrong to make their goals all the tougher to achieve and therefore all the sweeter when the happy ending developed. Such as Tebucky Jones’ Super Bowl fumble return for a game-sealing touchdown being negated by a penalty that set up the St. Louis Rams 1st-and-goal. Just as the Adam Vinatieri kick for the win became all the sweeter, so, too, would the elusive Beanpot title be all the sweeter for the Huskies.

Mike Ryan, the one player whose stick Northeastern fans most want the puck on in scoring opportunities, saw two great ones go by the boards, the latter one with Fields caught out of the net.

Hey, the script called for making it tougher to be all the sweeter. Tebucky, right?

Unfortunately for fans from Huntington Avenue, the Terriers rewrote the script. With 1:12 left in regulation, Maiser scored his second goal, roofing an almost identical shot that Gibson had miraculously gotten a stick on in the first period. There would be no miracle this time, however. BU led, 4-3.

What kind of script was this? Maiser, a freshman from Minnesota, of all places? He’d only seen his first Beanpot last year and that was on tape! He’d never been to the tournament in person and here he was setting himself up for MVP honors?

Would this be an ending to beat all endings? The Huskies would get an extra attacker goal and then win it all in overtime?

Laying it on too thick? A little too melodramatic? Perhaps.

As it turned out, the critics never would get to make that charge. With Fields apparently down and out, Tim Judy ripped a shot that appeared destined to for the top of the net, a tie game and eventual overtime.

Until, that is, Fields flashed his glove to make a highlight-reel stop that did indeed save the game.

Destiny had failed the Huskies. Boston University was once again the Beanpot champion.

“That’s a great team we played tonight with a lot of heart,” said BU coach Jack Parker.

A lot of heart and a broken heart.

Beanpot: The Origins

By John Connolly

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February 10, 2002

(This is an interview with late Northeastern athletic director Herb Gallagher, who was the last surviving member of the founders of the prestigious Beanpot Hockey Tournament. The session was conducted at the annual Beanpot luncheon held in the Blades & Boards Room of the late, lamented Boston Garden back on Jan. 31, 1991. Gallagher passed away Oct. 25, 1992 at age 81).

“I had to do a little research myself because I’ve been retired 17 years from Northeastern and … this thing started in 1952. That isn’t exactly yesterday,” said Gallagher with a laugh. “So before going to the meeting, I logically thought of a few things.”

“The first thing that came to my mind was the original committee that formed this thing,” Gallagher said. “We were in the habit back in those days, all four teams, of playing all of their games in Boston Arena with the exception of Harvard, which used to play a few of them at the Boston Skating Club.

"We put a clock rotation on it, rather than try and seed the teams. We agreed to rotate the clock and each successive year we would play one of the other three. And whatever that first rotation was to be it would be maintained. And it has been maintained to this day."

— Herb Gallagher

“And we met Mondays and Tuesday nights as a rule. And then we gimmicked some sort of a Christmas tournament. So to get to here — that was ’52 — I think, I’m not positive, but I think it was the day after Christmas. For two nights consecutive. Like we played Monday and Tuesday nights frequently.

“So I have to think who were the administrators … of course, Walter Brown was manager of the Boston Garden-Boston Arena corporation. With him were Bill Bingham of Harvard, the athletic director. There was ‘Buff’ Donnelli, who coached football [at BU] and became athletic director before going to Columbia. There was Jack Curley [athletic director] of Boston College.

“And because of my experience and work in professional hockey, as well, my athletic director had me represent Northeastern. We were the five. So we sat around the table. It took us, oh, maybe, an hour-and-a-half or two hours and we said, ‘Why not!’.

“And we put a clock rotation on it, rather than try and seed the teams. We agreed to rotate the clock and each successive year we would play one of the other three. And whatever that first rotation was to be it would be maintained. And it has been maintained to this day.

“So for 39 years we’d rotate the opponent. The only seeding that’s done is for the gate receipts. We don’t try and seed the top two teams. We rotate the clock and the opponent. But today, it doesn’t matter what the second game is. The place is sold out anyway.”

Gallagher was asked if he ever felt the ‘Pot would evolve into the storied spectacle it is today.

“Yes, I did,” he said. “See, I dealt with the Olympics back in 1936 at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. I played for the United States team.

“I turned professional and coached Austria. Not as the coach, but as one of the four of us coaching there. They had teams in each of the major cities. So I was one of the coaches of the Austrian team in the ’36 Olympics in Gamisch-Parkenden.

“In 1932, I was at Lake Placid but someone had to get sick [for me to play]. All I did was tape sticks. Then when I came back prior to World War II, I would have stayed there coaching in Austria. But the American consulate told me to get out of there. That there would be a war there in six months. I came home and turned to a Canadian government job I had. Then Northeastern hired me to teach in the business college and coach.

“The reason why I came down to Northeastern was not for more money. I wanted my first child [Joyce] to learn to speak English. Because my locale was French population. Sorel, Quebec.”

“I was born in Boston. My dad [Herb] was born in New Brunswick. But my dad had me playing hockey by the time I was three years old and playing baseball. I got into Sorel through baseball. When I was in college, I pitched every year in outlaw baseball. In fact, I started in high school. I pitched for Falmouth in 1929. I graduated from Newton High in 1930 but I was in Falmouth in 1929 in the Cape Cod League. I went down as a bat boy and batting practice pitcher.

“Some of their pitchers came up lame and I won a few games and I was in it for life. But I went to Sorel for baseball. They gave me a Canadian government job, more money than a professor makes today.”

Gallagher never had doubts about the Beanpot’s success.

“They knew we wanted something in that Christmas, New Year, vacation time,” he said. “Why not take these four schools that play one another anyway and match them up. Each of us is going to play the other fella anyway. So we could dovetail it and get rid of one of those assignments and count it each year.

“It was coincidentally great. Some other institutions wanted to get into the act after it became so popular that we also played in the Eastern Massachusetts district. I won’t name a particular institution but they felt they were being discriminated against. And we sure as hell discriminated because we had too good a thing going.

“This is better than all the NCAA championships. You go to the Olympics, I gave my tickets to the figure skaters at Squaw Valley because I could walk in, my wife [Geraldine] and I. They knew who we were because I was on the hockey committee. I mean our seats, we just strolled around. There were plenty of places to sit. You can’t walk into the Beanpot and find anywhere to sit. That’s for sure.

“Now the NCAA is a little different today. Even in the regional games it’s filling out. I’m talking back when this really became strong. You’re getting sellouts in the Western leagues. Some of these intersectional games aren’t soldout.”

Gallagher tabbed the 1980 Beanpot as his most memorable.

“Of course, the first one that our team won it,” said Gallagher. “We won it three times in the 1980s. [Wayne] Turner was the kid that won it for us. Of course, I should have won the first tournament.

“I had the best goalkeeper, the two best defensemen, I believe. I had Ray Picard that went with the Bruins and [NU captain] Buddy Purcell from Waltham and I had Len McNamara from Norwood. Those three could have played pro.

“The only one that did turn pro was Picard and he didn’t stay long. His little girl had a problem and the Bruins wanted to move him somewhere. But the interesting thing about Ray Picard was, in those days, the All-America team was not one in the West and one in the East. It was all one team. Picard was All-America two years running.

“I think going into the games we were 5-and-1. But we didn’t win them. I think [Dick] Rodenheiser, who was a great player at BU, had [some goals]. But today you can’t say who’s going to win this Beanpot.

“I know Northeastern two nights ago lost to BU, 4-3, we have a very weak won-loss record and we may win it. People that look at statistics and say, ‘No chance!’ But if you play a 4-3 hockey game you’re certainly in the hockey game.”

Expansion to 16-Team Tournament Passes First Major Hurdle

By Jim Connelly

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February 8, 2002

For the second time in two years, the NCAA Division I Championships/Competition Cabinet has given preliminary approval for expansion of the men’s Ice Hockey Championship bracket from 12 to 16 teams.

The proposal now must be approved by the NCAA Management Council and the Board of Directors, each of whom will discuss the issue in meetings in April and June respectively.

Also approved during the winter meetings of the Championship Cabinet were expansion of the Men’s Lacrosse (from 12 to 16) and Women’s Softball (from 48 to 64) tournaments. With four additional teams in both hockey and lacrosse, gender equity would be strengthened across the NCAA by adding 16 women’s softball teams, often a key factor in the NCAA’s decision.

“The best thing we did was link our proposal with women’s softball and men’s lacrosse,” said McDonald, athletic director at Quinnipiac University and chairman of the ice hockey committee. “It gave the proposal national attention along with gender equity and revenue potential.

“Softball couldn’t have done it by itself because it’s expensive to expend by 16 teams. Hockey couldn’t have done it by itself because it didn’t have gender equity.”

The proposal didn’t even get by the Cabinet in 2000. In February 2001, the Cabinet approved an identical expansion proposal that was later rejected by the NCAA Management Council, citing gender equity and budget constraints. At the time, the hockey bid was not accompanied by any balancing women’s sport.

“Two years ago, there was an approved priority list [of sports to expand],” said McDonald. “At that time, many other sports were ahead of us such as women’s soccer, women’s lacrosse, field hockey and men’s soccer. All of these sports have expanded.”

Ian McCaw, athletic director at Northeaster and a member of the ice hockey committee, agreed that this year’s proposal was different.

“The championship cabinet has prioritized [men’s ice hockey] within its budget, and that’s a significant step,” said McCaw, who is a likely candidate to replace McDonald as committee chairman after his term expires this spring. “It’s now more than likely that the expansion will take place for 2003.”

The big hurdle is the Management Council, since the Board of Directors often rubber-stamps such proposals.

If expansion were approved, the NCAA would immediately investigate the logistics for expanding the tournament sites. Most likely, two regional venues will be added — one in the New England/New York area, and a second in the geographic territory of the West region, that includes states such as Michigan,
Minnesota, North Dakota and Colorado.

McDonald said the two current venues for the 2003 regionals — the Centrum Centre in Worcester, Mass., and Yost Ice Arena in Ann Arbor, Mich., will be notified of the proposed expansion. These venues may want to reconsider whether hosting the event is still economically viable, since, instead of six teams — along with all of their staffs and fans — traveling to the area, there would be only four.

McCaw, though, does not believe that is a major concern.

“It’s something we haven’t yet addressed yet,” McCaw said. “But the popularity of the regionals has grown to be so great that we’re confident that any building of the 10,000-seat side would be able to meet the need of the fan base.”

McDonald also didn’t rule out the thought of remaining with two venues.

“There’s still a concept of a ‘Super Eight’ regional, hosting all the games in one building,” said McDonald, noting they could use a Thursday through Sunday format now in place in college basketball. “These are all the sort of possibilities that we need to address in the coming months.”

Without final approval, though, there still remains the question of when the actual expansion process can begin. If it were necessary to await final approval before any planning takes place, the Committee could find itself very short on time.

“We’re looking into the logistics to see if we can go ahead conditionally and begin the bidding process [for additional regional venues] or if we have to wait [for final approval],” said McCaw.

Tournament expansion has been an issue ever since the NCAA increased the field from eight to 12 teams in 1988. Many coaches and administrators believe the top two seeds in each region are given an unfair advantage by receiving a first-round bye. Teams advancing past the first round face rested opponents one night later in the regional final and rarely survive the second game to advance to the Frozen Four.

“Expansion will address the fact that the top four teams receive byes and we currently don’t have a balanced bracket,” said McCaw, who also said financial profit is a strong reason the proposal holds weight within the NCAA. The Division I men’s ice hockey tournament is the second-biggest money maker for the NCAA, behind men’s basketball.

The outcry to expand picked up more steam in 1999, when the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference first petitioned for an automatic qualifier to the tournament, which it received more than a year ago. Its bid knocked another “deserving” team out of the tournament. This was further magnified earlier this season, when College Hockey America received initial approval for an automatic qualifier. Based on the current format, six teams (representing each conference) would receive automatic bids to the 2003 tournament, leaving only six at-large berths. Expansion to a field of 16 would result in 10 at-large bids.

“One of the things that has been important to me is that for four years the MAAC has been blamed for taking a slot away from the established college hockey programs,” said McDonald, who as a member of the MAAC ice hockey committee, began the petition of the NCAA for tournament expansion in 1999.

“I would hope that as time goes on, the MAAC could be given some credit for adding more spots than for taking one away. This expansion would make everyone in college hockey welcome new programs and give all of our Division I programs access to the national championship.

“Every college athlete goes to school for two reasons: first to get an education and second to play for their sport’s national championship. Today, there’s a good possibility that 100 more [ice hockey] student-athletes will have a chance to do just that.”

The NCAA Management Council will meet on April 8, 2002, just two days after this year’s Frozen Four in St. Paul, Minn., concludes.

There still could be one caveat to this process, notes Tom Jacobs, director
of championships for the NCAA: Budget. Should the final NCAA budget not be sufficient to support all the packaged proposals for all three sports, the proposal may not survive.

“I don’t know what would happen if the management council says that there’s
not enough money to cover all three [sports expanding],” said Jacobs. “From
a gender standpoint, the numbers make sense in terms of keeping those
percentages [of male and females opportunity] relatively equal by expanding
all three brackets.”

This Week in the CHA: Feb. 7, 2002

By Geof F. Morris

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February 7, 2002

The Countdown

As College Hockey America approaches the stretch run, the schedule is better defined in weeks instead of months. Appropriately, we at the CHA Beat are counting down with you — like this:

Four Final Weeks

Yes, there are just four weeks left in the regular season. Each CHA foe has eight conference matchups left. Two pairs of teams have yet to take the ice against each other: Alabama-Huntsville and Findlay, and Wayne State at Niagara. Both matchups take place for the first time this weekend.

With four weeks left in the season, only Air Force is mathematically eliminated from the CHA regular-sesaon title race. Findlay could finish with as many as 25 points, but they’d need a lot of parity in conference to make that happen. The title is realistically within reach for current co-leaders Bemidji State and Wayne State and third-place Niagara. UAH probably needs too much help to finish at the top.

Three Tilts

For the first time all season, all six CHA teams are in play against each other. We’ll break down the matchups.

WSU-NU

Wayne State skates into upstate New York having won five of its last six conference tilts to rise to the top of the CHA dogpile. Niagara has slipped of late, losing three of its last five conference matchups, although the Purple Eagles did take a four-pointer from Air Force. Sophomore keeper Rob Bonk [14-8-0, 3.00, .890] has had more help on offense this year, but his stats are off a bit from last season.

This matchup promises to be a battle of keepers, as Bonk and Warrior junior David Guerrera [11-11-3, 3.51, .892] shoulder the burden in net for their teams. Bonk has the edge in all-around numbers, but when CHA games are distilled from the mix, Guerrera’s tough nonconference games are washed away, showing his real talent.

With Niagara missing coach Dave Burkholder for Friday night’s contest, we’re going to go with a road sweep for the Warriors. We may be going out on a limb here, but we think the Warriors really are that good.

UF-UAH

The Oilers from Findlay serve as the Chargers’ homecoming dance partners this weekend. Captain Kevin Ridgeway is a member of the homecoming court, but we figure the students at UAH will wait for him if he takes a while to clean up and change into a monkey suit after playing two tough games against the Oilers.

These teams may be out of the running for the top spot, but they can hope to finish strong for a good seed for the conference tournament at Niagara. UAH is a little beat up after facing national No. 2 St. Cloud last weekend, and the Oilers should be able to take advantage.

We’ll go with a split for the series; in the meantime, we’ll enjoy watching two teams that are very young, with few seniors on their rosters.

AFA-BSU

The Serratore Struggle resumes this weekend in Bemidji, when older brother Frank brings his Falcons to face Tom’s co-leading Beavers. The season hasn’t been kind to Frank’s team, with nonconference success not spilling over into CHA wins. Despite the curious inclusion of USAFA on three USCHO.com poll ballots this week, this just isn’t Air Force’s year.

The key for the Beavs is to see whether or not they’ve really broken the Saturday Slump. Bemidji is only 4-6-3 on Saturdays this season, but they have won the last two such events. While we’d like to go with the easy pick and figure the Beavers for a sweep, we think that Air Force is good for a tie … on Saturday.

Two Teams in a Tie

After heading into last week with three teams tied for the conference lead, the CHA schedule has pared it down to two. Ties at the top have been a common theme this year, so what’s the procedure for tiebreakers? Here’s the word from the CHA in this week’s press release:

a. If two or more teams are tied, head-to-head competition during the regular season will be used to break a tie.

b. If two or more teams are still tied after (a), the highest seed will go to the team with the highest winning percentage during regular-season conference games.

c. If two or more tied teams played a series during the regular season and the teams have the same win-loss records for the series and the same number of CHA wins, the team having the least number of goals scored against it in the series shall have the higher rank.

d. If not determined by (a), (b), or (c), the seeding shall be determined by the flip of a coin by the Commissioner.

e. Game [sic] played against CHA opponents in holiday tournaments shall not be counted in the above determinations.”

Hoo, boy, this’ll be fun. The way we read it at the CHA Beat, the two four-point games against Air Force by Bemidji and Niagara will have an effect if the tiebreaker goes past (a) into (b). It’s not as convoluted as the Bowl Championship Series selection process or Boolean algebra, but it’s still a bit kookier than we’d like.

One Out

As mentioned previously, Niagara head man Dave Burkholder is out for Friday night’s game versus Wayne State. Burkholder was suspended by the league for getting into a heated discussion with on-ice officials and then berating the officiating after the game.

Burkholder was quoted on the Niagara Web site as saying, “To come all this way and play for first place, and have to kill off 13 minutes in penalties in the third period, on the road without even one power play, is a travesty to college hockey.”

Niagara athletic director Mike Hermann responded to the suspension: “Coach Burkholder’s postgame actions and comments were inappropriate, and Niagara will accept the league’s sanctions without appeal.”

Kudos to Hermann for doing the responsible thing. To Coach Burkholder: At least the referee wasn’t Dave Glassman.

For the CHA Beat, I’m Kasey … never mind.

This Week in the ECAC Northeast: Feb. 7, 2002

By Ed Seero

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February 7, 2002

The Other Side of The Story

The story of events at Johnson & Wales has more than one side to it. Last week you heard from J&W coach Lou Izzi. This week, two former players, junior co-captain Scott Graham and junior Scott Feeney, have their turn.

Asked about complaints on ice time or statistics, Graham said, “No. Not at all. I don’t know where that came from.”

“No,” Feeney agreed. “There was none of that. Guys were doing fine statistically. [Co-captain Dave] Acetturo was a senior and he was one of the leaders in scoring. Why would he be complaining about stats?”

According to Feeney and Graham, what happened with the team began very early in the season. The players were winning, but they were not making smart decisions on the ice or off.

“Through the beginning of the season the team started to get a negative attitude towards the program because of the lack of discipline. There is no discipline,” said Graham. “Guys have done things around the school that they shouldn’t. The same guys take bad penalties all the time and don’t pay for it at all. There was no motivation, no instruction, no respect. [The lack of discipline] showed on and off the ice and it was becoming the cancer of our team.

“So in reaction to this, as a team we decided to try and remove or fix the problem, which was created by lack of discipline.

“On the outside everything looks wonderful because the team is winning. ‘Wow, the team is winning. They must be happy’ — that seems to be the theme around here. Well, it’s not. It is a very disgusting situation. On the inside everything is just twisted up into knots. I hope the best for my friends who are still on the team,” added Graham. “There are some sketchy things going on and it started a long time ago. We thought we could change it as upperclassmen, and that is what we were trying to do.”

Added Feeney, “The whole thing started from the beginning at the beginning of the year. There is a lack of discipline through the whole program. It ripped through the team. Guys don’t learn anything. People are having bad experiences.”

Graham and Feeney suggested that a lack of discipline was the reason they were knocked out of the playoffs last year and they were determined not to let that happen again.

“Something had to be done,” said Feeney.

According to Feeney and Graham, the events that led up to that something were as follows.

On November 4 an assistant coach quit because he felt like he didn’t have the ability to instruct the players on his own. Later in November, a second coach, brought on after the first one left, quit for the same reason.

“Then we got a third coach who knew a lot about hockey. He was teaching us a lot about the game. Then he was fired after the December 30 game against St. Thomas,” said Feeney.

And that is when the decision was made by the players to do something.

“At the practice after St. Thomas (their third straight loss to the tune of 7-4), the team did not get dressed and we told Coach Izzi that our team has a problem, and we will not play until it is fixed. Then we had a meeting with the athletic director and a few other faculty members. We stated our claim and presented the petition of no confidence.”

That petition of no confidence was one that the captains drew up after some of the younger players voiced their concern for what was happening. Graham outlined the contents of the petition.

“The petition had ‘JWU Hockey’ at the top and under that it said, ‘Petition of no confidence against Lou Izzi.’ That is all it said. And everyone except for one player signed it.”

The following day the team had a meeting with the school president, the Athletic Director and Coach Izzi. “[The president] told us that Izzi would remain the coach and whoever wants to play for him can do so,” said Graham.

After the meeting the players got together on their own and decided that they would not play or practice until something was done. The idea was that if the school didn’t have a team, then someone would take notice and the school would be forced to do something about it.

“We just wanted a change,” said Feeney. “It didn’t even have to be coach getting fired. We just wanted something to change.”

At that point, matters broke down. Feeney said, “When we left [for the winter break] everyone was in. But I guess we didn’t have a strong enough nucleus.”

Feeney and Graham, along with a number of the other older players, advised the younger players that if they didn’t think anything would change than they should continue playing. A number of those players elected to do so.

Now Feeney, Graham, Acetturo, former co-captain Chris Molyneaux and others who stuck with the petition are without a place to play hockey. They say that they hope their stand makes people stand up and take notice. They hope their stand produces changes. And perhaps most importantly, they hope they can get a chance to play hockey again.

“We hope this changes the program,” said Feeney. Would he play next year under different leadership? “Definitely.”

Said Graham, “We didn’t want to win any more games for that guy. I’m hoping something will happen. If he’s gone next year I’ll play again. I just don’t want to be looked at as a quitter. It’s bad. I don’t want to be a part of a bad situation.”

It should be noted that the players, both former and current, are still friends and interact socially on a regular basis. In fact, some of the former members of the team still live with current members of the team.

So when Graham suggests that the difficulties among teammates “[were] not personal at all,” circumstances agree.

According to Graham, the NCAA has been in contact with him in regards to a possible investigation into the team. Reached for comment, Wallace Renfro, a public relations contact for the NCAA, said, “We don’t comment. We don’t confirm or deny any investigations.”

“They haven’t been in contact with me since the initial email,” said Graham.

The Streak Is Over

It’s almost comical how every time a ECAC Northeast team is on the verge of being ranked — or actually is ranked in the top ten — they lose.

Almost.

To fans and supporters of the ECAC Northeast — this writer included — it is discouraging. You have to be perfect to crack the top ten, it seems. Not almost perfect or practically perfect, you have to be perfect. First it happened to Wentworth. After the gigantic win over undefeated (at the time) RIT moved them into the USCHO top ten, making them the first ECACNE team to ever be ranked that high, the team stumbled. Then JWU was getting some votes and making a strong case to be ranked and lost more than just games.

Now it has happened to Lebanon Valley.

That’s right, folks, the longest win streak in college hockey is over. For the first time since November 2, the Flying Dutchmen did not win. They tied Southern New Hampshire in Hooksett last weekend in a fantastic 1-1 battle. They followed that up the next afternoon with a loss at Wentworth. Too bad for LVC and, in a way, the conference. It would have been nice to see an ECACNE team in the top ten for a sustained period. Don’t get the wrong impression about the tie, though. It wasn’t a case where LVC took them lightly and was clearly the better team having a bad night.

On the contrary, SNHU looked like a good t-e-a-m out there. And we all know how far that can take you. (Ahem: New England Patriots — Super Bowl champions.) I’m not saying that the Penmen are going all the way, but don’t rule them out to slip into the championship game come Division II playoff time. They already own a win over DII rival Assumption College and their 3-2 loss to Saint Michael’s went down to the wire. And if you get there, you never know.

SNHU had been doing some good things even before the LVC game. Heading into the Saturday night matchup with the Dutchmen, the Penmen had won their last three. Plus, Pat Doherty was last week’s Division III USCHO.com Offensive Player of the Week last week.

Doherty (10-5–15), a freshman out of Wakefield, Mass., only recently launched himself onto the public scene with his POTW performance, but he is a heckuva player who will be heard from in the next few years.

Doherty plays tough, he is big (6-1, 180), he works hard along the boards and his success stems from that. Add to that a nice pair of mitts, a slinkiness with the puck, a willingness to shoot and, assuming his learning curve is at least average, he will be one of the top players in the league in the next few years. In the last minute against LVC he was the biggest threat out there.

Other forwards that impressed included Ryan Frew, who takes a beating and keeps plugging while stationed in front of the net. You gotta like that in a player. Leading scorers Chris Russo (7-14–21) and Nick Nugent (8-11–19) are solid forwards. Mike Flynn’s mucker-type tying goal against LVC, his fifth of the season, was a clutch effort.

Bottom line: the Penmen are solid up front.

Also contributing to SNHU’s win was a solid pair of defensemen. Dan Brown (2-3–5) and David Yasinka (1-4–5) are smart young players. If you go and watch SNHU you will like them as a pairing. They might not show up on the scoresheet all that often but their intelligence with the puck and vision allows them to make the right play. When you have a good young duo that, despite their youth, makes few mistakes, you’re doing all right.

In goal, Brian Holland (7-7-1, 3.66 GAA, .893%) played a good game against the Dutchmen, though he wasn’t tested all that much, a credit to the solid defensive effort on the part of SNHU.

Expect good things in the near future from the Penmen. I know I wouldn’t want to oppose them in the latter part of the season.

Leopards Continue To Impress

Wentworth, 17-4 overall, 10-1 in conference play, had a historic weekend. With his three-goal performance against Nichols last Wednesday, senior sniper Tim Yakimowsky became the all-time leading scorer at Wentworth. He passed former teammate Ivan Filipov’s old mark of 76 career goals, and the Leopards have four more games, not including playoffs, for Yakimowsky to extend his mark. He also recently became the ninth player in school history to play in at least 100 games.

With Sunday’s win over LVC (you mean there were other things going on last Sunday?), the Leopards moved into a tie for first place in the Northeast. It is nice to see Raj Bhangoo getting a break from tending the twine for Wentworth: a smart move by Bowes, who will need Bhangoo fresh for the playoffs.

Jamie Vanek played well in the 4-1 loss to Manhattanville. The junior goaltender, who plays a smart butterfly — almost Patrick Roy style despite his lack of Roy size, has quietly put together an impressive 2001-2002 campaign. He is 6-1 with a 2.86 GAA and a .910 save percentage.

Freshman Bryce McFadden (1-0, 2.86, .906) made his first career start against Nichols and kicked aside 21 shots, earning the win.

The aforementioned Bhangoo got the big start against LVC and continued to stymie the opposition, giving up only two goals, one on a late power play, in the giant 4-2 win. That was a good tuneup for the playoffs.

Freshman forward Jayden Der is only 5-5 and 143 pounds, but is a talented player capable of big things. He has speed, great hands and he makes good little (excuse the pun) plays in the offensive end that catch the eye.

Credit should be given to the line of Bill Clifford (6-2–8), Joe Crowley (2-4–6) and Ben Pierce (2-11–13). They are a hardworking, basically mistake-free group that helps Wentworth win games. These kinds of players deserve a little pub once in a while, too.

Curry College

For the first time since the 1997-98, the 10-7-1 Colonels have won ten games. Mike O’Sullivan (17-14–31), Joe Savioli (11-18–29), and Brian Doherty (13-13–26) have been on fire as of late. They have helped Curry outscore its last three opponents to the tune of 25-13.

The Soaring Seahawks

Salve Regina is 4-2 in its last six games — not overly impressive on first glance.

When you consider who they have beaten, it is: league powers UMass-Dartmouth and Wentworth have fallen victim to the Seahawks.

The usual suspects have contributed. Billy Baker (last week’s ECACNE Player of the Week), Matt Hillberg, and Jack Wallace are all scoring at a decent pace. Add freshman Adam Asselin (13-12–25), who had a goal in five straight games before Tuesday’s loss against Worcester State, to the mix and you have a prolific offense.

Other youngsters contributing offensively are Geno Binda (5-12–17) and Eddie Maurer (10-5-15), who was on fire with six points in his last two games heading into the game against the Lancers.

Netminder Chris Burns’ numbers (2.95, .907) remain solid. He is a valuable asset for the Seahawks and will be counted on come playoff time.

Thursday Night

Tonight is Thursday, the night I put the finishing touches on this column. And it might be the best weeknight of matchups the league has had all season. I’m glad I only predict weekend games because each one of these would have been tossups.

Wentworth travels to New Bedford to take on UMass-Dartmouth in what should be an epic battle (ECACNE championship preview?).

Stonehill will play at Curry in a matchup of snipers remarkably close in the scoring race. Sean Pero/Rob Pascale, Brendan Flemming/Mike O’Sullivan, Mike Ryan/Joe Savioli, Brian Doherty/Jeff Rowe are all gunslingers. If those guys get some room to move it should be a high-scoring affair, exciting to watch.

Fitchburg plays at Assumption in what should be a tough one between two good teams.

The Pairwise Rankings

Don’t ask me to explain them, but you should take a look at the Pairwise Rankings for Division III.

There you will find that LVC is No. 4, Wentworth 12th, and UMass-Dartmouth barely misses the top 20 at number 21. See Lee Urton’s article (though it references the D-I significance) at if you’re interested in what it all means.

This Week in Hockey East: Feb. 7, 2002

By David H. Hendrickson

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February 7, 2002

How ‘Bout Them Yankees?

In the last month, this column’s praise has sent Boston College into a six-game tailspin and UMass-Lowell into one that lasted five games. Last week, it jinxed the St. Louis Rams. (Yeah, baby!)

So let’s talk baseball. Specifically, let’s talk about the unbeatable New York Yankees.

Great pitching staff yada yada yada.

Derek Jeter yada yada yada.

Jason Giambi yada yada yada.

[nl]Mariano Rivera yada yada yada.

Bernie Williams yada yada yada.

Jorge Posada yada yada yada.

Roger Clemens yada yada yada.

Mike Mussina yada yada yada.

Andy Pettitte yada yada yada.

The Yankees are clearly the best team in baseball. Positively unbeatable.

A Gutsy Performance

Last Friday night, UNH defenseman Mick Mounsey inadvertently stepped on goaltender Michael Ayers’ wrist, slicing a tendon. On Tuesday, Ayers had the necessary surgery, which produced a better than expected prognosis: he would be out for 3-to-6 weeks.

What’s remarkable, though, is what happened between the injury and the surgery. Wearing a brace and playing in considerable pain, Ayers backstopped UNH to a 2-2 tie at Maine, almost certainly saving the Wildcats from a pivotal sweep with 33 saves.

Following the second-period injury on Friday, Ayers had been rushed to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor. A doctor informed him that surgery was required.

“I told him I really wanted to play in [Saturday’s] game, and I asked him if there was any way I could delay the surgery, and he said that was possible,” said Ayers. “He told me that I couldn’t do any more damage [to the wrist], so I could try and play.

“It bothered me a lot. Covering up the puck was really hard. And the one [Colin Shields slapshot] at the end, the cannon. It hurt a lot to catch that.”

Without question, Ayers’ return inspired his teammates.

“You thought there was no way he was going to be able to come back,” said David Busch. “We got word late [Friday] night that he was okay, and we were all relieved. It’s tough to play in a building like [Alfond Arena], and that gave us so much confidence to see him back there.”

The netminder’s courage was also not lost on coach Dick Umile.

“Once the hand specialist said that he wouldn’t do any more damage, I let him decide what he wanted to do,” said Umile. “It wasn’t my decision. He really wanted to play.

“I’m so proud of him. It was obviously very painful for him out there, but he did a good job. His effort was incredible.”

The Other UNH Goalie

Matt Carney, who has been sidelined for six games following a concussion, has been cleared to play this weekend. With his availability in question and Ayers undergoing the knife, the Wildcats added senior goaltender Dan Carney — no relation — to the roster. Carney last played for UNH’s club team, the New Hampshire Moose.

A Moment in the Spotlight

UMass-Lowell found itself in much the same position as UNH a few weeks back when Jimi St. John was sidelined with an elbow injury. Suddenly without a backup to Cam McCormick, the team scoured the campus for an NCAA-eligible goaltender. The River Hawks found one working in the athletic office.

Matt Carroll, a junior who had last played varsity hockey at Masconnomet High School three years ago and only intramural hockey since then, became the solution. Instead of cheering from the stands, he became a River Hawk himself. He was quickly welcomed to the team in the first practice.

“I’d been watching them from afar,” he said. “It was a dream just to go practice with them. Ever since I was told about it, I was on cloud nine. When I actually got out there, I was nervous at first.

“[But] they were really excellent out there. It was a really good feeling to be out there with them. After Coach told me at the end of that practice that I’d be dressing the next night — Friday night against Maine — from that point on all of the guys on the team were really nice to me. They really tried to make me feel comfortable. It was then I realized how much they were a team.”

Of course, taking to the ice for his first game in years and at the highest possible collegiate level prompted a few butterflies.

“I was nervous even in high school when I’d go out,” he said. “There’d be all the kids I knew in the high school — 100 kids max — would be at the games. But the Maine games were a couple thousand people. It was definitely new.

“I just tried to keep my head away from the stands and not look and see all the people, just skate around and do what I’ve been doing for years. Just try to stop some of the warmup pucks. I felt pretty good out there actually. It was definitely a great feeling to finally take Division I ice.”

Initially, Carroll found himself desperately hoping that he wouldn’t have to play.

“The first game I was, like, ‘Cam, please don’t get hurt. I don’t want to go out there and maybe embarrass myself or something,'” he said. “But the second game, after seeing them lose to Maine the first night, the second night I just felt that even if I’d gone out and made a fool out of myself, I didn’t care.

“I’m not that bad. I really think I could have held my own. Obviously, I don’t want Cam to get hurt, but I was thinking to myself that if he did have to come to the bench, I think I would have a great time out there. I don’t think I’d do that bad. I would have loved it.”

With St. John healthy again, Carroll has returned to the stands, but wouldn’t have changed a thing.

“When you’re six years old and you’re waking up at 6 a.m. to go skate, you don’t really realize then that you’re going to be doing that for a long time,” he said. “It’s been about 15 years since I first began putting skates on and maybe 11 months out of every year.

“You graduate high school and figure, all right, that’s it. Play intramural would be as close as you’d get. Division I and all that was what your dream was, what you were shooting for.

“When you finally get to do it, even if it’s just my position, to sit a bench and skate around during warmups with them, that’s fine by me. It was a dream come true. I loved every second of it.”

Two Goalies Or Else

UNH and Lowell weren’t just being cautious when they sought a backup goaltender. Although the penalty for dressing only a single netminder had been just a bench minor in the past, it now constitutes a forfeit.

“It was changed a year ago,” says Hockey East Commissioner Joe Bertagna, who also serves on the NCAA Rules Committee. “What was happening in women’s hockey, for example, is that Minnesota-Duluth had a situation where one goalie had some tournament so they basically said that they’d take their two-minute penalty at the beginning and play with one goalie and that’s the way it’s going to be.

“[The Rules Committee] thought about it. Division III women’s programs, many of them only have one goalie in school. If that one goalie gets hurt, you have to stop the game and put the equipment on somebody else.

“So the Rules Committee decided that if you’re going to be a full-fledged varsity program, there are certain responsibilities you have to bear and one of them is that you have to have two goaltenders. I don’t know how you can run a team practicing with just one.

“So we decided to stiffen the rule. It’s caused a little bit of a problem with Division III women. Many programs may have rushed to varsity status, but we’ve stuck to our guns.”

There is some wiggle room, but only a little.

“The book allows for extenuating circumstances,” says Bertagna. “For example, if you travel to Clarkson and St. Lawrence for a weekend and your goalie gets hurt on Friday night. That would be extenuating circumstances. You can play the Saturday game with one goalie because logistically to get a goalie up there would [be difficult] and it’s a one-time thing.

“Some of the women’s Division III programs have been trying to claim extenuating circumstances for the entire season that they only have one goalie and we’ve not budged on that. We’ve said no.

“We’ve granted a number of waivers this year for injury-related situations. We had a situation at Lowell a number of years ago where we got a call from Tim Whitehead who said, ‘Here’s my situation. I’ve got three goalies. One won’t be eligible until January. One has to attend a funeral in Ontario. His plane lands at 5 o’clock and we have a seven o’clock game. He’ll probably be in uniform by the time we drop the puck, but I can’t guarantee it.’ We granted the waiver for that because, again, it was a one-time thing; it wasn’t a systemic thing.”

In UNH’s case, the Wildcats would have probably been expected to find another goalie somewhere, as they did with Dan Carney, if Matt Carney had been unable to dress.

“The rulebook says that you have to start the game with two in uniform, dressed and ready to play,” says Bertagna. “You cannot put the equipment on and give privileges to somebody [else] until all the goalies that started the game have been incapacitated. So both goalies would have to go down with injury before you could stop the game and dress a third guy.”

The Newest Zebra

Most fans view referees the same way kids look at eating their vegetables. Both are a necessary evil. Conrad Hache, however, seems to have become more of a lightning rod for criticism in his first year with Hockey East than any other in recent memory.

There have been complaints about poor judgement in handing out, or not handing out, penalties. Some of those complaints have been valid.

However, what has caught this writer’s attention more than anything is the quick trigger with assessing bench minor penalties. Hache has already nailed UNH’s Dick Umile, Northeastern’s Bruce Crowder and Lowell’s Blaise MacDonald. Perhaps I’ve missed some, but I don’t recall any others being assessed this year. If one referee has all, or even the bulk of the totals, then that would seem to be cause for concern.

“There is a warning procedure,” says Supervisor of Officials Brendan Sheehy. “We’ve taken zero tolerance with assistant coaches. If an assistant coach speaks up for anything, the referee will go over to the coach and tell him that the next thing he hears from the bench, the situation will be addressed and there will be a bench minor.

“They give the head coach more latitude. However, if [unacceptable] language is involved or if it is something personal, a bench minor will be called. If they’re arguing a certain point, that’s one thing. But if there is language involved or something personal involved, they immediately give them a bench minor in those cases.”

I was at the Lowell-Maine game where MacDonald was assessed a bench minor, resulting in a five-on-three advantage that the Black Bears capitalized on to turn a tight 2-1 lead into a much more comfortable two-goal margin. And even though I was looking in that direction, I never saw anything that remotely looked like a warning.

Was improper language or something personal said?

MacDonald’s fault? Possibly. Crowder’s fault? Possibly. Umile’s fault? Possibly.

Hache has a chip on his shoulder? Possibly.

Referee Assignments

Considering the controversy just alluded to as well as his bottom-of-the-totem-pole seniority ranking, it was a surprise to see Hache sent to Maine last weekend to officiate the league’s marquee series. Which prompts a discussion of how assignments are handed out among the six referees.

“Brendan does the assignments in four blocks,” says Bertagna. “From the start of the year until mid-December or the Christmas break; the first of the year until the middle of February; the last three weeks of the regular season; and then the playoffs.

“We try to do a couple of things. We try to rotate guys so people don’t see the same [referees] all the time. Part of the reason you have these blocks that get smaller and smaller as the season goes along is that for those last two blocks, you finally have some ratings and observations that you can now factor in so if you have two coaches playing who have both rated someone low, then you could avoid assigning that referee to that game.

“It’s not an exact science. For example, last year before the quarterfinals we had four matchups that for one of our officials there was a team in each series that rated him very highly and a team in each series that rated him very lowly. There was no place to assign him where one coach wasn’t going to be upset.

“And some of these ratings are not all that deeply thought out. The coach that eventually got that guy, but hadn’t wanted him, when he won a game in that series, he wanted him the next night. That shows how deep some of the thoughts are.

“I don’t want to get into commenting on specific officials or assignments, but there is a rotation. No one wants to see the same guy in the same building all the time simply because familiarity breeds contempt.

“It was further compounded this year in that Scott Hansen, who works for both leagues, also was named to the Olympics, so he flew out [this week]. Jimmy Fitzgerald, who has been with Hockey East since the first year, got a job promotion that required that if he took the promotion, he’d have to give up officiating right away. So all of a sudden, two people were pulled from the pool, so it meant scrambling.”

Furthermore, the expectation that a high-profile series will warrant the league’s best referee isn’t realistic at this point of the season.

“That type of dynamic — a top-rated official — doesn’t come into play until those last couple of blocks where we actually have a body of information and ratings that we don’t have earlier in the season,” says Bertagna. “Also, the fans’ perceptions quite often have no bearing on our ratings and how we feel about the officials. Some fans have been writing emails about officials in games that they didn’t even see. So the fan opinion doesn’t really carry much weight in this particular topic.

“We have paid observers at every game, many of whom are former officials, some of whom are not. And we have Brendan and a fellow who are above that level of paid observer and go see a lot of games on their own. Then the coaches have ratings.”

In the case of the observers, the evaluating is quite detailed.

“A report is filed after every game by the observer which specifically rates every official in about 10 categories from demeanor to appearance to mechanics to judgement to game control,” says Bertagna. “The coaches do a less detailed report, more of a mid-year report.

“Brendan will sit down with officials from time to time with videotape and will go through an entire game and ask an official what he thought about this and that as part of a mentor process. And then if there is a pattern, [we can address it].

“One of the reasons we ask coaches is because a lot of them are embarrassed to drop a dime or if they lost a game sound like they’re complaining. But we tell them if they really think there is a pattern of behavior, we want to know about it because if collectively they just keep this to themselves, we have nothing we can address in that mentoring capacity.

“But if we start to build a file from the coaches that matches the observations of these observers have been filing game by game, that allows Brendan to sit down with an official and say, ‘You’re doing a great job in this-and-that, but you’re not keeping up with the play or your positioning isn’t great or you use of the assistant isn’t right.’

“Whatever that one area is, he can sit down and say this is what people are saying across a cross-section and this is what you need to work on.”

All that said, the league office is happy with the officiating work it has been receiving, especially considering the loss of veterans like Fitzgerald and, temporarily, Hansen.

“There isn’t one referee that we’re using now that we don’t feel very comfortable with and we aren’t going to ask back and have as a major part of our officiating crew next year,” says Bertagna.

Turning the Corner?

The Providence Friars have now won four of their last five and may finally be on the verge of fulfilling the promise that prompted league coaches to predict a first-place finish for them. They did lose to Northeastern, 3-2, on Friday night, but rebounded to defeat the pesky UMass-Amherst Minutemen.

“Anytime you get a win on the road in Hockey East, especially this time of year, to get you back to .500 you’re always happy,” says coach Paul Pooley. “BC obviously had a tough time on Friday night with them [going into overtime] and we had a tough time with them on Saturday. They’re a very young hockey club, but they come to play and they play well defensively. I was very happy with the victory.”

Recently Jon DiSalvatore and Drew Omicioli have earned league honors and sparked the Friar offense.

“Jon has been our best player all year and he’s reaping the rewards of his work ethic from day one,” says Pooley. “Drew is obviously a very talented player who has had success lately. We need him to continue to have that for us to be successful against the tough Hockey East teams we’ll face down the stretch.

“I’d throw [Devin] Rask and [Peter] Fregoe into that mix, too. I think the consistency of what we’re doing [has made the difference]. Our power play is starting to move up the Hockey East percentage chart from being below 10 percent. Now we’re in the middle of the pack. That’s a big part of what we’re doing.

“Consistency in practice and consistency in games is how you get points. That’s what they’re doing.”

The big concern for Providence, however, is its schedule. All seven of its remaining games are against Top 15 opponents.

“We’ve played ranked teams all year, so it isn’t intimidating,” says Pooley. “I think it’s going to be a challenge. But we’re excited because the teams ahead of us are the ones we want to catch.

“I think the opportunity is there for us if we can play solid, good hockey and continue to keep getting better then it’s an opportunity for us. This is what you want because you’re playing the teams ahead of you — except Northeastern . That’s what you want. You get to measure yourself to see how good you are. We’ll get a chance to see if we’ve improved in some areas or not.

“We love the challenge. We love the opportunity. It’s great to be the underdog going against the teams ahead of you.”

Quotes From The Beanpot

A downcast Pat Aufiero on being sidelined, likely until the Hockey East playoffs reach the FleetCenter: “It’s just a shame, my senior Beanpot. It’s such a shame.”

BU coach Jack Parker on his man advantage unit: “I thought we killed off a couple of our power plays tonight.”

Parker, when asked if he encourages defenseman Ryan Whitney to rush the puck: “He doesn’t need any encouragement…. He’s got a Tom Poti type of attitude offensively.”

Parker, when asked if it was a bigger incentive to beat BC or to simply avoid playing in the consolation game: “It would be a bigger incentive to beat Boston College if you were playing at the Skating Club at three in the morning.”

BC coach Jerry York on the effect of attrition on his lineup: “[It was] just old-fashioned hockey. We just scrambled the eggs up and mixed and matched.”

NU coach Bruce Crowder on his school’s Beanpot dry spell: “There’s no doubt that every time you walk around the campus at Northeastern — whether it’s the people in facilities or the professors or the cook in the cafeteria — they’re all giving you jabs here and there, Beanpot this, Beanpot that. For us it would be fantastic for the university and the alumni [to win it]. We just wanted to get in a position to play for it, and that’s what we accomplished [last Monday].”

Mike Ryan on NU captain Jim Fahey: “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a kid who wanted a Beanpot so badly. Just the look on his face. I think [on Monday] it really hit home how important this thing is.”

Ryan on playmaking linemate Jason Guerriero: “I knew right from day one. I sat down with Coach before the year started. [We were] going over some line combinations. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to play the first few weeks of the season [because of mononucleosis] so I got to sit up in the stands and watch. He’s a kid that I stepped right up and said that I’d love to play with. He sees the ice extremely well, similar to [Graig] Mischler last year in that he’s pretty much a playmaker. We complement each other really well.”

Polls

This week I received several emails from readers wondering how Maine could have dropped one position in the poll after taking three of four points from second-ranked New Hampshire.

Oddities sometime do occur, but in this case the voters were on target. Maine did have a very successful weekend, but Colorado College deserved to leapfrog the Black Bears after sweeping top-ranked Denver in a home-and-home series.

Maine does seem to be coming on during the stretch drive for what seems like the umpteenth year in a row, but still has only the 12th-best winning percentage in the country. Putting it all together, number seven in the country (with a bullet) seems just about right for now.

Trivia Contest

Last week’s question asked what hockey team other than Boston University, Boston College, Northeastern and Harvard has played in the Beanpot? Since this projected to be a difficult question, you were encouraged to “think outside the box.”

As it turned out, a lot of readers found this quite easy. A lot! The answer was the 1993 Brown women’s team, which won the tournament.

Jason Morgan became the first back-to-back winner by beating a boatload of other correct responses. Once again, his cheer is:

“UNH – You can’t stop them…you can only hope to contain them. Haydar for Hobey!!”

This week’s question asks what significant on-ice characteristic having to do with the specific players involved (as opposed to the location of the schools, won-loss records, etc.) did all four Beanpot teams last Monday share? Email Dave Hendrickson with your wild guesses.

Thanks to Jeff Mannix, Scott Weighart and Jim Connelly.

This Week in Division III: Feb. 7, 2002

By Chris Lerch

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February 7, 2002

Standing Alone

The Bowdoin Polar Bears are the only undefeated team left in NCAA hockey. At the beginning of the 2001-2002 campaign, 196 squads, men’s and women’s, started out that way. Yet with just a few weeks left in the season, only Bowdoin’s players don’t know what it feels like to come off the ice as a loser.

Bowdoin is ranked third in this week’s USCHO.com Division III poll, but its ascent has been slow, probably too slow. The Polar Bears have flown under the radar for most of the season, not getting the attention, and possibly the respect, they deserve.

“To tell you the truth, we haven’t been caught up with that,” said Bowdoin head coach Terry Meagher. “We know we have the respect of the teams that we’ve played, and we’ve played some quality teams.”

The Polar Bears are 15-0-3 with five games left to play. They have defeated the likes of Norwich and Williams and tied top-ranked Middlebury. But Bowdoin was in and out of the ninth and tenth spot in the poll most of the season, until mid-January.

That was when Bowdoin defeated Williams, 4-1 and tied Middlebury, 1-1.

“The Williams and Middlebury weekend was big,” said Meagher.

It solidified Bowdoin’s position in the poll, and after a big 3-1 win against Norwich last weekend, the Polar Bears jumped to number three, getting three first-place votes.

Meagher credits his team’s success to a strong work ethic. “I can honestly say that we haven’t had a bad practice all season,” he said. “It’s been a fun. They’re a great group, very mature. They’ve dealt with adversity well, responded well.”

According to Meagher, the makings of a good team require “a good goalie, guys who can get the puck out of the zone, and someone to get you 30 points.”

This team has all that, starting with Mike Healey between the pipes. The sophomore from Hamden CT, is sporting a 1.73 GAA and a save percentage of .925.

“He’s old school,” said Meagher of his netminder. “He’s an old-fashioned stand-up goalie, and that can frustrate some shooters.”

The next line of defense is key to Bowdoin’s success, according to Meagher.

“I’ve got six really good defensemen,” he said. “They’re really good with the puck and make smart decisions.”

And finally, the guy who can get you those 30 points: Mike Carosi, who already has 39, best in the league.

“He does so many things well,” said Meagher of the senior from Warwick, R.I. “He’s great with the puck.”

Put all that together, and you have a team poised to challenge Middlebury for the NESCAC title.

Almost There

It’s hard to believe, but by the time my next column comes out, they’ll be getting ready to play the first round of the playoffs in the SUNYAC and NCHA. The NCHA finishes its regular season this weekend, and each SUNYAC team will play its final three games with a pair this weekend and a final game on Tuesday.

Plattsburgh, which needs four points to lock up the regular-season title, has clinched a first-round bye. Oswego needs a single point in its final three games to lock up the other. Brockport has been eliminated from playoff contention, and Fredonia needs a lot of help. The Blue Devils can still catch Buffalo State if the Bengals lose all three games and Fredonia wins all three, which must include defeating Buffalo State by more than three goals on Tuesday.

Still with me?

The NCHA is almost as muddled. One thing is sure: St. Norbert has won the regular season crown and will have home ice throughout the playoffs. But after that, anything can happen — only three points separate the teams in the second though fifth position. Wisconsin-Superior, which is currently in second place, could find itself on the road in the first round of the playoffs with a pair of losses this weekend. The Yellowjackets clash with a hot Wisconsin-Stevens Point team on Friday. The Pointers are 6-1-1 in their last eight games, recovering from a 5-6 start.

Who’s In, Who’s Out

The rest of the conferences have as many as three weekends left in the regular season, but some things have been decided, or are close.

In the ECAC East, Norwich has clinched the regular-season title, and will host the semifinals and finals of the ECAC playoffs if it wins a quarterfinal game. The rest is up for grabs. For example, UMass-Boston, currently in the basement, can still finish as high as fourth place, good enough for a home playoff game.

The ECAC West will provide an entertaining finish as RIT and Elmira go down to the wire for the regular-season title. Each controls its own destiny — win its remaining games and take the title. Their paths intersect at RIT on February 16.

Lebanon Valley had a chance to pull away in the ECAC Northeast, but Wentworth ended the Flying Dutchmen’s 18 game unbeaten streak last Sunday, upending Lebanon Valley, 4-2. Both have clinched playoff spots, as have UMass.-Dartmouth and Johnson & Wales. Nichols and Framingham State are out, leaving the remaining seven teams to fight it out for the final four spots.

St.. Thomas has clinched a share of the MIAC title, and will be the number-one seed in the MIAC playoffs. Each of the other eight teams is still mathematically alive for one of the other four playoff spots.

In the MCHA, Marian has clinched its first ever regular-season title, while last weekends sweep of Northland by Minnesota-Crookston puts the Lumberjacks in a tight spot. Northland must take at least five points in its final four games, and get some help in order to make the playoffs

There are two weekends left in the NESCAC regular season, with four games to play for each team (except Trinity, which also has yet to finish a suspended game against MCLA). Middlebury, Bowdoin and Williams are in, leaving the other seven squads to battle for the remaining four spots. Colby needs a single point to make the playoffs; Trinity and Hamilton need two. Friday’s game between Amherst and Conn. College may decide the seventh and final playoff position.

Fat Tuesday

Division III fans can celebrate Mardi Gras in style with a bevy of critical games on tap. In the SUNYAC, the travel partners (Brockport-Geneseo, Fredonia-Buffalo State, Oswego-Cortland, and Plattsburgh-Potsdam) square off against each other in the final games of the regular season. Some teams will merely be jockeying for position while others will be playing for survival.

Bowdoin and Colby square off for the second time this season and an amazing 176th overall, with even more on the line this season. Bowdoin could still be undefeated coming into the game, and Colby is fighting for a home playoff game.

Last, but not least, there’s the annual war between Middlebury and rival Norwich. New England Sports Network (NESN) will televise the game live from Middlebury.

Get those satellite dishes ready, or get to one of these games if you can.

This Week in the MAAC: Feb. 7, 2002

By Jim Connelly

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February 7, 2002

Logjam

Never in the four-year history of the MAAC have the league standings been as tight as this. Last season there was a question right up to the last week as to which teams would have home ice and which would hit the road, but for the most part that was the only thing left unsettled.

Coming into Friday, though, only four points — a deficit that can be made up in one weekend of play — separate the number-two seed from number seven. With seven teams with plus-.500 league records, the ensuing logjam that is the middle of the MAAC has brought a playoff feel into league competition a month early.

Sitting in the best position is second-place Quinnipiac. Having taken three of four points from Sacred Heart last weekend, the Maize and Blue post a record of 11-5-2 through 18 games — good for 24 league points.

This year’s biggest surprise, Holy Cross, sits one point behind Quinnipiac in third place. The Crusaders carry with them a 10-7-3 record after dropping two home games against league leader and probable regular-season champ Mercyhurst last weekend. The main issue for Holy Cross: the Crusaders are the only team in this second-to-seventh mess that has played 20 games. All other squads have played 18, meaning the rest of the league has two games in hand on Holy Cross.

The balancing comes next weekend, while the Crusaders enjoy a 12-day break. This weekend, Holy Cross plays a home-and-home with Quinnipiac that could have make-or-break implications.

In fourth place stand Canisius, Iona and Sacred Heart with identical 10-6-2 records. With eight games left, don’t expect a tie in the end, especially since five games over the next four weeks involve two of these three meeting head-to-head.

For the record, current head-to-head records for these three teams are as follows:

Canisius: Lost to Sacred Heart once (two games remaining); defeated Iona twice (one game remaining)
Sacred Heart: Beat Canisius once (two games remaining); has not played Iona (two games remaining)
Iona: Lost to Canisius twice (one game remaining); has not played Sacred Heart (two games remaining)

The remaining soldier in the pileup is Connecticut. The Huskies are all the way back in seventh place with 20 points, but still stand only four points away from second-place Quinnipiac. The Huskies, though, have the least enviable schedule, slated for two games against Iona this week, along with traveling west to Canisius/Mercyhurst next week, a two-game set with Holy Cross, and single games with Quinnipiac and Bentley.

Though, if I may make a prediction, with all the head-to-head play among these six teams, if UConn can play above .500 hockey the rest of the way, home ice is still very possible.

And just so the hate mail stays away: yes, Army is still a mathematical target for home ice, but with 15 points and having played 20 games, the future doesn’t look very bright. It gets dimmer when you realize that Iona remains twice on the Black Knights’ schedule, as do single tilts with Canisius and Mercyhurst.

Weekly Awards

ITECH MAAC Hockey League Player of the Week: Nathan Lutz, Iona, Sr. D (Mistatim, SK)

Defenseman Nathan Lutz had his finest offensive output of the season, notching four goals and an assist in last weekend’s sweep of Fairfield. Lutz picked up his third and fourth career two-goal games. Lutz fired a slapshot from the blue line on Friday night that was redirected by Erik Nates for the winning goal. On Saturday the tri-captain nailed his team-high fourth power-play goal of the year to give the Gaels a 3-1 lead early in the third period.

ITECH MAAC Hockey League Goalie of the Week: Peter Aubry, Mercyhurst, Sr. G (Windsor, ONT)

Aubry remained unbeaten in the MAAC with two wins on the road against Holy Cross. He upped his overall mark to 14-5-1 and his MAAC record to 14-0-1 with a save percentage of .946 and a goals against average of 1.58. Against the Crusaders, he stopped 60 of 64 combined shots (.938). Saturday’s win was the 50th of his career, second all-time at Mercyhurst.

ITECH MAAC Hockey League Rookie of the Week: Brian Worosz, Canisius, Fr. G (Brantford, ONT)

Worosz picked up his fourth win of the season, all in MAAC play, in the Griffs’ 4-1 win over Army Friday night. He stopped 27 shots, including 11 in the first period, allowing Canisius to grab a 3-0 lead after one period en route to the win. Worosz lowered his GAA to 2.11 and posts an impressive .926 save percentage in eight games.

Final Change To Final Four Is No Change At All

Having tinkered with changing the dates and times of this year’s MAAC Final Four, the league has decided that status quo is the way to go.

As in the past two seasons, the MAAC will play its semifinal matchups on Thursday night: March 14, at 4 and 7 p.m. Up in the air was the date of the championship game. Wanting the prime-time television spot for the tournament — this year being held at Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass., the league originally scheduled the title tilt at 7 on Friday evening, even though it would be in direct competition with the Hockey East tournament in nearby Boston.

But as it usually the case, television dictated, and the best possible time for the championship remains Saturday, March 16, at noon. As they have for the past two seasons, Empire Sports will broadcast the championship game live, bringing the drama of the second-ever MAAC autobid live to cable subscribers of New York and satellite and digital cable subscribers nationwide.

This will be the first time television will broadcast from Holy Cross’ Hart Center. Though the inaugural MAAC championship game was played at Holy Cross, with the home team taking home the championship, it was before the league locked in its TV deal with Empire.

Moving Up The PairWise

Just when you thought it was safe to say that there would be no controversy in the selection process for the NCAA tournament, it seems the Mercyhurst Lakers are prepared to throw a bit of a monkey wrench into things.

The Lakers have compiled an eight-game winning streak and have been victors in 11 of their last 13 contests, propelling them from the bottom of the PairWise Rankings to a bubble position of 15th. Of course, should the Lakers defend their postseason title, the argument becomes moot as they would earn the automatic berth to the NCAA tournament.

But what if the Lakers run the gamut and win their final eight regular-season games, win in the first round of the MAAC playoffs, win again in the semifinals but lose in the championship game? The chance that the Lakers could stand in the top 10 of the PairWise is very good.

The above situation would clinch one of the criteria for the Lakers — performance in the final 16 games. Mercyhurst would end up with a 15-1-0 record, its only loss coming in the championship game.

You can also look at teams under consideration (TUC) — i.e. teams on Mercyhurst’s schedule with a plus-.500 record. With an undefeated slate in the MAAC, the Lakers only loss to a TUC in league would come to the eventual playoff champion — assuming that team is even above .500. Outside of conference, Clarkson, Northeastern and RPI are all hovering around the .500 number, while Niagara looks like a good bet to remain above .500. The Lakers’ combined record against these teams is 0-5-0, so consideration of these games will be crucial.

Common opponents and head-to-head don’t stand to sway for or against Mercyhurst. The Lakers haven’t played any current teams at the top of the PairWise, and said teams haven’t played a lot of games against MAAC clubs.

The final criterion — the Ratings Percentage Index — is the one automatic dropoff for the Lakers due to the relative schedule weakness. Mercyhurst’s current RPI ranks 18th in the country. Not very impressive, though the “run-the-slate” situation could improve that.

This situation isn’t a strange one for the MAAC. Before the MAAC was awarded its autobid last season, the previous two years saw Quinnipiac sit high in the PairWise late into the season and allowed critics around the country the chance to throw darts at the MAAC. The complaint back then was that Quinnipiac, or any MAAC team for that matter, couldn’t be competitive in the NCAA tournament. But Mercyhurst quieted that argument after taking Michigan to the brink last season before falling, 4-3, in the first round of the West Regional.

Granted, all of this talk is premature. The Lakers first need to win a lot of games — ten to be exact — to make this scenario come true. But on the chance that they could, it will be interesting to listen to the arguments for and against the MAAC getting two tickets to the big dance.

This Week in the ECAC: Feb. 7, 2002

By Becky Blaeser and Jayson Moy

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February 7, 2002

Winners And Losers

This past weekend in the ECAC saw all 12 teams in action twice with league games. Who came out on top? Who were the winners and who were the losers?

The Winners

Cornell — The biggest winner of them all. A four-point weekend, a defeat of Harvard in The Game, and a five-point lead in the ECAC for the Cleary Cup with eight games left.

Colgate — The Raiders are in the last home-ice spot. Who would have thought that six weeks ago, or even three weeks ago? A four-point weekend has the Raiders flying high.

Clarkson — The Knights staged an incredible comeback on Friday at Yale, and Saturday head coach Mark Morris got his 300th career victory. And the Knights are in second place.

Dartmouth — The Big Green got three points on the weekend and are tied for second place, though percentage-wise in third. They got a strong weekend and are poised to take home ice.

Rensselaer — The Engineers got three points and jumped into the last playoff spot in the ECAC, out of seventh place by one point. A big weekend for the Engineers to gain confidence.

The Losers

Harvard — The Crimson had a chance to move back into first place, but were dominated by Cornell. The next day? More of the same, by Colgate. Then a Beanpot loss in the semifinals once again. Not a good weekend for the Crimson.

Yale — Ouch. A big lead on Friday against Clarkson and the Bulldogs lose, followed by a loss to St. Lawrence, both on home ice. The Bulldogs were in fifth place, but are now ninth.

Brown — The Bears upset Lowell, but then got swept on the road at Cornell and Colgate. The team with the biggest nonconference wins this season is currently out of the playoffs.

Vermont — The Catamounts sink deeper into last place after getting swept this weekend.

We Made Out Okay

Union — Union had a four-point weekend in its grasp, but let a two-goal lead slip away in a matter of moments at Dartmouth on Saturday. Had the Dutchmen won, they would be in the last home ice spot, closing in on Dartmouth for positioning.

St. Lawrence — The Saints split on the weekend, and will take the two points. The tiebreakers have the Saints in seventh place.

Princeton — The Tigers had a shot at four points as well, but couldn’t take out Clarkson on Saturday night.

Back From The Dead

At one point the Colgate Raiders were 3-11-0, 2-4-0 in the ECAC. They had been outscored 67-30 and there didn’t seem to be much hope.

Since then the Raiders have gone 7-2-1, including 5-2-1 in league play, and stand in fifth place — the last home-ice spot in the ECAC playoff tier.

What happened?

“We’ve played a little bit better recently and more success from a point production standpoint,” said head coach Don Vaughan. “It’s been fun, I guess, for a lack of a better way of putting it.”

The turnaround started in December, but really didn’t come to fruition until January, Vaughan explains.

“I look back and we had a long trip back from Princeton and Yale in December. We sat down that night as soon as we got back and we talked about goal-setting, and trying to find some way to help us focus a little bit, to give the team some hope that the season wasn’t lost at that point.

“What I talked about — especially with a young team — what I wanted them to understand is that this league is so unpredictable. We’ve had a little bit of success, but there’s still a long way to go. And I wanted them to understand that a lot could still happen here and I mapped out for them what I felt it was going to take for us to take a run at a playoff spot.

“We looked at our schedule, we put it up and we looked at the games, the games we had left at home, the games we felt we needed to get after to have a chance to make the playoffs and after we did that, the guys felt that this was something we could get after.

“This was important — to go home for break and realize that the second half of the season was still ahead of us, and that there were a lot of opportunities still there for us to make something of the season. The attitude coming back was positive but until you have a taste of that success, you can’t manufacture that.”

The Raiders then dropped a game to Lowell at home before hitting the road to take on Iona. That, according to Vaughan, was the turning point.

“The win at Iona was very big for us,” he said. “We went on the road after we lost to Lowell on that Friday and they took it to us pretty good. We weren’t in the greatest of places at that point; we went down to Iona, and we tied it up late and won it in overtime. The fact that we had success, the guys could feel good about that.

cann

“We started to grow and we’ve since had consistent goaltending from David Cann. He’s allowed us to stay in games. In the North Country, both St. Lawrence and Clarkson took it to us in the second and he allowed us to come out in the third and get something out of those games. The other factor has to be that our young guys are coming of age. They’ve been thrown into this and they’ve gotten a lot of opportunities to play. There’s nothing better than game experience.

“They’re getting a lot of support from guys like Ben Bryce, Rob Brown and Etienne Morin. Those guys have done a nice job from a leadership standpoint. They’ve had a lot of ice time for us and that’s allowed some of the younger guys to pull back a little bit.”

Since the game against the River Hawks, the Raiders have only lost two, both to ECAC-leading Cornell. Aside from those defeats, Colgate has put together a 7-0-1 record, with a 5-0-1 ECAC mark.

In that stretch, the Raiders have outscored their opponents 30-16, by no accident. Vaughan and his staff changed some things up and that has succeeded.

“When you’re not scoring like we were, there was a tendency to press and when you press you expose yourself and we were giving up a lot of scoring opportunities because we were trying to score,” he said. “We were giving up odd-man opportunities, breakaways and all of the sort, we had to make a decision as a staff and as a team that we weren’t going to be able to play that way anymore. We had to be patient and take the opportunities that came along and the team bought into that.”

There are eight games left in the ECAC season. The Raiders only have to face three teams above them in the standings, so home ice is in reach for the Raiders.

brown

“In this league anything is possible, but realistically we were trying to find a way to make a run at a playoff spot,” said Vaughan. “When we sat down in December I can honestly tell you we weren’t talking about a home playoff spot.”

The turnaround has almost appeared miraculous, but Vaughan also knows that things can change in a hurry, especially in the ECAC.

“We’re still a little guarded,” he said. “We’ve had a nice little turnaround here lately, but we’re still not out of the woods. There’s a lot of hockey still in front of us. This thing is still up for grabs.

“Focus is the key. There’s such a fine line that if you let your guard down for one shift in this league, that could be the difference — especially with a young team like we have. It’s an effort that stay focused like that for the next four weeks. It doesn’t sound like a big deal, but it really is and that will be the challenge.

“The mood around here has obviously changed recently and that’s fun.”

Widening The Gap

The Cornell Big Red swept Harvard and Brown last weekend and in the process opened up a five-point lead in the race for the Cleary Cup.

“[Harvard] was a big game and there was big hype leading up to it,” said head coach Mike Schafer. “The guys felt the pressure a little bit, but moreso the guys wanted revenge for what happened in Cambridge. We came out and played very determined for 60 minutes.

“The way we came out on Saturday and the way we played in the first period, I was proud of them. We didn’t give them anything offensively and that’s the way I wanted to see the team respond on Saturday.”

The Big Red will host Yale and Princeton this week.

“Both these teams will come in and try to play well defensively and take the crowd out of it,” said Schafer. “It will be important for us to come out and focused on the game in hand, so we’re looking forward to playing them. Princeton has had some good wins and it’s never easy against these teams and we expect a big battle from both of these teams coming in.”

“Our guys feel that we owe something to Yale for the game down there. It was a 1-1 tie, but we treated it as a loss from our standpoint.”

Congrats!

With Clarkson’s 3-1 win over Princeton on Saturday evening, head coach Mark Morris joined an elite club with 300 coaching victories.

“I guess the number means I’ve been around for a long time,” said Morris. “I have been real fortunate to be involved with Clarkson and surrounded by a lot of supportive people, who have been a great help. Without good players it is hard to get the type of recognition that comes with that number. I am pleased to be associated with the Clarkson program and hope that we can continue our success.”

From the first win against St. Cloud in 1988 to the Princeton win, Morris has built one of the best programs in the country. Congratulations, Mark!

Near The Top

Dartmouth almost had a one-point weekend, but a three-goal third period on Saturday propelled the Big Green to a 3-2 victory over Union and moved them into a tie for third place.

“In the second period, we were just scratching our heads because their goalie was playing well and we couldn’t find a way to score,” head coach Bob Gaudet said after the game. “Then, it was just the thought of playing one good shift at a time and not worrying about being down in the game. And then when the goals came, it was bang-bang-bang.”

Kent Gillings scored twice and freshman Lee Stempniak got his first game-winner and now the Big Green will travel to Brown for their only game the next week.

“The one game next weekend is really huge for us,” Gillings said. “We have a lot of guys banged up — a few small injuries here and there. So it’s going to be really big for us to get some time off and just concentrate on Brown. They’ve been getting some good wins against top teams, so it’s going to take our best effort to beat them.”

Back In The Hunt

Rensselaer took three points this weekend and jumped into the last playoff spot, within striking distance of the upper echelon of the ECAC. The tie against Dartmouth and win over Vermont had head coach Dan Fridgen happy.

“I thought we were pretty resilient all weekend,” he said. “We bent, but we didn’t break. I thought it was a real team effort and a gutsy win for us.

“It was something that we needed, to come out of this weekend with three out of four points.”

The points were important as the Engineers host St. Lawrence on Friday and then Clarkson in the Big Red Freakout on Saturday.

Rethinking

Well, at the beginning of the year, we challenged you, the fans, to pick the ECAC. If you remember, here were the picks:

   Challenge     Range   Becky and Jayson 
1. Clarkson (8)  1- 4     1. Cornell 
2. Harvard (14)  1- 7     2. Dartmouth 
3. Cornell (6)   1- 6     3. Harvard 
4. Dartmouth (4) 1- 6     4. Clarkson 
5. St. Lawrence  2- 7     5. St. Lawrence 
6. Rensselaer    2-10     6. Vermont 
7. Vermont       5-10     7. Rensselaer 
8. Union         8-11     8. Union 
9. Colgate       7-12     9. Colgate 
10. Yale         6-12     10. Yale 
11. Princeton    7-12     11. Princeton 
12. Brown        9-12     12. Brown

So how are we doing? Giving one point for every place each team is away from the predictions, the fewest points is the leader. So who is it?

Let’s take the standings — percentage-wise.

1. Cornell
2. Clarkson
3. Harvard
3. Dartmouth
5. Colgate
6. Union
7. Princeton
7. Yale
7. St. Lawrence
10. Rensselaer
11. Brown
12. Vermont

We’ll apply the appropriate tiebreakers, as the ECAC does for the playoffs.

The Harvard-Dartmouth tiebreaker goes to Harvard: the Crimson are 1-0-1 against the Big Green.

The Yale-Princeton-St. Lawrence tiebreaker goes to the next tiebreaker, record versus Top 5. With this tiebreaker, Yale is eliminated, having gone 1-4-1, while Princeton and St. Lawrence are 2-4-0. This places Yale ninth.

Now to break the next tie, this goes all the way to record versus Top 10, since the remaining two teams split the season series and are both 2-4-0 against the Top 5. In record vs. Top 10, both teams are tied at 4-6-0, so we move to head-to-head goal differential. In the two games, St. Lawrence outscored Princeton 7-6, so St. Lawrence wins the tiebreaker.

So the standings, for our purposes:

1. Cornell
2. Clarkson
3. Harvard
4. Dartmouth
5. Colgate
6. Union
7. St. Lawrence
8. Princeton
9. Yale
10. Rensselaer
11. Brown
12. Vermont

Let’s do our comparisons with the points in parentheses.

1. Cornell — Fans (2) / Becky and Jayson (0)
2. Clarkson — Fans (1) / Becky and Jayson (2)
3. Harvard — Fans (1) / Becky and Jayson (0)
4. Dartmouth — Fans (0) / Becky and Jayson (2)
5. Colgate — Fans (4) / Becky and Jayson (4)
6. Union — Fans (2) / Becky and Jayson (2)
7. St. Lawrence — Fans (2) / Becky and Jayson (2)
8. Princeton — Fans (3) / Becky and Jayson (3)
9. Yale — Fans (1) / Becky and Jayson (1)
10. Rensselaer — Fans (4) / Becky and Jayson (3)
11. Brown — Fans (1) / Becky and Jayson (1)
12. Vermont — Fans (5) / Becky and Jayson (6)

Guess what? We’re even once again this week at 26 points each. Not bad, but let’s see where we go from here.

If It’s So Easy, You Try It

The Iron Columnists are humbled, without a doubt. The Iron Columnists were massacred last week, an amazing week by Mike Johnson.

The competition thus far:

Vic Brzozowksi t. The Iron Columnists — 7-2-1
The Iron Columnists d. Vic Brzozowksi — 8-3-1 to 7-4-1
Ben Flickinger d. The Iron Columnists — 11-4-2 to 10-5-2
The Iron Columnists d. Ben Flickinger — 5-1-4 to 4-2-4
John Beaber and Lisa McGill t. The Iron Columnists — 6-7-0
The Iron Columnists d. John Beaber and Lisa McGill — 7-5-3 to 6-6-3
Mike Johnson d. The Iron Columnists — 10-3-1 to 6-7-1

So, Mike, take another shot. The Iron Columnists are angry! Whose picks will reign supreme?

The Picks

Friday, Feb. 8

Yale at Colgate
Mike’s Pick — Brady Colgate 4, Yale 2
Becky and Jayson’s Pick — Yale 3, Colgate 1

Princeton at Cornell
Mike’s Pick — Smith Cornell 3, Princeton 1
Becky and Jayson’s Pick — Cornell 4, Princeton 0

Vermont at Harvard
Mike’s Pick — Law Harvard 6, Vermont 2
Becky and Jayson’s Pick — Harvard 5, Vermont 1

Dartmouth at Brown
Mike’s Pick — Cox Dartmouth 3, Brown 1
Becky and Jayson’s Pick — Dartmouth 4, Brown 2

St. Lawrence at Rensselaer
Mike’s Pick — Andruzzi St. Lawrence 4, Rensselaer 2
Becky and Jayson’s Pick — St. Lawrence 5, Rensselaer 4

Clarkson at Union
Mike’s Pick — Patten Clarkson 3, Union 1
Becky and Jayson’s Pick — Union 3, Clarkson 2

Saturday, Feb. 9

Yale at Cornell
Mike’s Pick — Brown Cornell 4, Yale 1
Becky and Jayson’s Pick — Cornell 6, Yale 3

Princeton at Colgate
Mike’s Pick — T-Buck Colgate 4, Princeton 3
Becky and Jayson’s Pick — Colgate 4, Princeton 1

Vermont at Brown
Mike’s Pick — Phifer Vermont 5, Brown 3
Becky and Jayson’s Pick — Brown 3, Vermont 1

St. Lawrence at Union
Mike’s Pick — Bruschi Union 4, St. Lawrence 2
Becky and Jayson’s Pick — Union 4, St. Lawrence 2

Clarkson at Rensselaer
Mike’s Pick — Bledsoe Rensselaer 3, Clarkson 2
Becky and Jayson’s Pick — Clarkson 4, Rensselaer 2

Monday, Feb. 11

Beanpot
Boston College vs Harvard
Mike’s Pick — Vinatieri Harvard 4, Boston College 3
Becky and Jayson’s Pick — Boston College 5, Harvard 4

And remember that if you are interested in putting your money where your mouth is, drop us an email to be eligible when Mike bites the dust.

Thanks to Dave Sherzer.

This Week In The WCHA: Feb. 7, 2002

By Todd D. Milewski

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February 7, 2002

The Public Reprimand

To those who say the WCHA’s public reprimand of Alaska-Anchorage and Wisconsin for the brawl after last Saturday’s game was a slap on the wrist, league commissioner Bruce McLeod will kindly disagree.

“Some people think, well, you didn’t do anything,” McLeod said. “This is more than the normal, behind-the-scenes taking care of business. This is a public thing and it hurts.”

Reprimands take place all the time. Few ever hear about them because they’re normally done in private. The league sends a coach or a school a note to say it disapproves of something.

Almost never, however, does the league send a fax to the media to announce it. This was one of those extreme cases.

Six players got fighting majors and game disqualifications after a fracas developed at the end of Saturday’s game in Madison, Wis. There were 26 penalties called after the horn, resulting in 118 penalty minutes.

“It was really important to set that it’s completely unacceptable,” McLeod said of the need to send a message to the Badgers, the Seawolves and the league as a whole.

“It gives all of us a black eye — collegiate hockey, the league, the institutions, the coaches, the players, everybody.”

McLeod noted that Wisconsin and UAA were spared larger penalties by being “proactive” in handling the situation — by showing that they were embarrassed by it and by talking with the players about it.

The commissioner, who solicited advice from Hockey East commissioner Joe Bertagna and former WCHA commissioner Otto Breitenbach, considered suspending Wisconsin coach Jeff Sauer and UAA coach John Hill for a game each for a “lack of control.”

Indeed, this was no normal week around the WCHA home office.

The Stretch Run

What do we know about the way the WCHA is going to shape up at the end of the regular season, just four weekends away? Not as much as you might think.

Precious little is actually clinched at this point. Here are (smart-aleck) answers to some questions:

So who’s going to win the MacNaughton Cup, anyway? Ask after the Denver-St. Cloud State series on Feb. 22-23.

OK. Who’s not going to win the MacNaughton Cup? That’s an easier one. There are five teams that have been officially eliminated from championship contention. Others may have packed it in, but only five — Michigan Tech, Minnesota-Duluth, North Dakota, Alaska-Anchorage and Minnesota State-Mankato — are mathematically out of it.

What’s it going to take to get a home-ice spot for the first round of the playoffs? One more point than the sixth-place team.

All right, smart guy. Who’s not going to have home ice for the first round of the playoffs? Surprisingly, no one has yet been eliminated from holding a top-five spot, by the numbers. The team to watch right now is fifth-place Wisconsin, with 22 points. Tenth-place Michigan Tech can finish with 24 points by winning out; ninth-place Minnesota-Duluth can end with 25 points by doing the same. Tech will be eliminated from home-ice contention with a net loss of three points with Wisconsin (combination of Wisconsin winning points and Tech losing points). Duluth will be eliminated with a net loss of four points with Wisconsin.

Did I really need to know all that? Isn’t it a foregone conclusion that Tech and Duluth are going to be on the road for the first round? Do you ever really know with this league?

So who’s going to be at home for the playoffs then? It appears that only Denver has an upper-level finish wrapped up at this point. There are enough games left that St. Cloud, Colorado College, Minnesota and Wisconsin could all take great falls.

What’s your prediction, then? The only thing I’m sure of is at this point is that the over/under on the number of bags of minidonuts I’ll take down combined at the Xcel Energy Center this postseason is seven.

The Wait Is Over; Now He Waits

If T.J. Caig was going to have to sit out a year of collegiate hockey, Scott Sandelin said, this is the way to do it.

Maybe that’s just a positive spin the Minnesota-Duluth coach is putting on the NCAA’s decision that Caig would be punished for playing in a Tier I exhibition with a one-year ban and a loss of one year and one game of eligibility.

But it’s the reality with which Caig and the Bulldogs must live. Caig will be eligible to play starting Dec. 28 against Union.

“If you’re going to sit a year, the best way to do it is the way it’s going to happen,” Sandelin said. “Not being here a full year, you have a summer to break it up. The reality is, we’ve only got a little over a month, month and a half of hockey left anyway … then you’ve got school, school’s done, then you have your summer, come back and you have a little over two months, then you play.”

Sure, piece of cake, right?

‘A Matter Of Perspective’

Look at it one way, Michigan Tech coach Mike Sertich will tell you, and the Huskies are in last place in the WCHA.

Always the jester, though, Sertich is encouraging his players to start looking at things from another angle. Like, the bottom.

“Like I told ’em yesterday,” Sertich said Wednesday, “if you turn the paper upside down, we’re in first place. It’s a matter of perspective.”

The perspective from the way most college hockey fans read the standings isn’t very cheery for the Huskies. They’re 3-15-2, less than three weeks after sweeping Minnesota-Duluth in a series that looked like it could put Tech on an upswing.

This week is different for the Tech players. It’s Winter Carnival. It has historically been the highlight weekend of the season.

But for some added incentive against second-place St. Cloud State this weekend, Sertich said his players don’t have to look far.

“All we have to do is look at the standings,” he said, assuming he meant they should look at them right side up. “It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out where we are and why we are.”

In short, they’re there because of a scoring offense that ranks last in the WCHA at 2.54 goals a game and a scoring defense that’s also last at 4.36 goals a game.

They’re last in every major statistical category except penalty minutes, in which they’re ninth.

Power play? Last. 7.1 percent. Ouch.

Penalty kill? Last. 72.6 percent. Double ouch.

Attitude? There’s no ranking for that, but Sertich indicated that it, too, needs to improve.

“We’ve got to win these games that we’ve been in the ballpark to win,” he said. “We’ve got to find ways to win rather than find ways to lose. I think we have to expect to win rather than think we’re going to lose. It’s just an attitude.”

Leadership? It’s coming right now from two sophomores and a freshman. Brett Engelhardt, with linemates Jon Pittis and first-year player Colin Murphy, is driving the Huskies’ offense.

“That’s an unfortunate state where we are, when you’ve got two sophomores and a freshman leading,” Sertich said.

That’s not a direct attack on anyone, but senior forwards Paul Cabana and Brad Patterson aren’t producing at the expected pace.

Patterson had 21 points last year; he has 10 (two goals) this season. Cabana had 15 goals last season; he has six this year.

“Without the contributions of your upperclassmen,” Sertich said, “it gets a little harder.”

As if it wasn’t hard enough.

Who’s Out?

Wisconsin’s defense takes a big hit from the DQ’s handed out last Saturday night in Madison. Brian Fahey and Jon Krall will be out for Friday night’s game at Colorado College. Also out is Badgers freshman forward Jake Heisler.

For Anchorage, Mike Scott and Vladimir Novak are out for Friday’s game against Minnesota State-Mankato. Gregg Zaporzan was originally charged with a DQ, but that penalty was rescinded and assessed to Martin Stuchlik after WCHA officials watched video of the brouhaha.

Kick Start To Nothing

The last time North Dakota and Minnesota got together, it looked like the Sioux were ready to make a run at the upper half of the WCHA.

Looks can be deceiving.

You might remember a four-goal Sioux third period in a 4-3 victory over the Gophers. You might remember that it was new goaltender Josh Siembida’s second win in a row and the team’s fifth in a row.

“That gave us a little bit of confidence going into the second half,” Sioux coach Dean Blais said.

But you’ll probably also remember that, starting with a Sunday night loss to the Gophers the next night, the Sioux didn’t win another game until last weekend. That was five games without a victory, doubly bad because it was their second such skid of the season.

The Sioux won’t win their fifth MacNaughton Cup in sixth years. It looks like they won’t even come close. But if they’re going to avoid finishing in eighth place, it’s time for them to show they’re not an eighth-place team. They host the Gophers this weekend at Ralph Engelstad Arena.

Blais said he hasn’t noticed a sense of urgency from his team about trying to climb the league ladder.

“We kind of thought we’d be here with 11 freshmen playing week in and week out,” Blais said. “Some of the games that we’ve won we probably shouldn’t have. I don’t think we’ve stolen a whole lot of games; I think the games we’ve won, we’ve deserved. It’s just a tough league. We don’t have the personnel that a Colorado College or a St. Cloud or a Minnesota has.”

Say it as many times as you want, in as many different ways; it’s still odd to hear that North Dakota is having trouble just competing with the rest of the WCHA.

Pan Stays South

Is this any way to settle a dispute?

Colorado College’s sweep of Denver last weekend tied the regular-season series at two games apiece. The Gold Pan, awarded annually to the winner of the season series, stays in Colorado Springs because the Pioneers failed to win it away from the Tigers.

All In The Power

In its three-game losing streak, Denver hasn’t scored a goal at even strength. The Pioneers have five power-play goals and two shorthanded goals.

Friday Fizzle

Those who wanted to blame goaltender Adam Hauser solely for Minnesota’s recent woes on Fridays got some bad news last weekend.

It’s not Hauser.

The Gophers lost 5-2 to Minnesota-Duluth last Friday — they’re 0-3-1 in their last four Friday games — but, for the first time in its winless Friday streak, Hauser wasn’t the goaltender of record.

Travis Weber allowed four goals on 17 shots and was pulled in the second period. It was Weber’s first loss of the season.

Largely In The Right Direction

Sandelin is one of many who didn’t quite know which direction Minnesota-Duluth was going two weeks ago.

His Bulldogs had just been swept by Michigan Tech, sinking his team into the depths of last place in the WCHA. One of the toughest parts of the schedule stared him right in the face.

But does anyone really know what to expect from UMD when it takes the ice?

“After the Tech weekend, I didn’t really know what direction we were going to go,” Sandelin said. “We tried not to make a big deal or dwell on it, focus on what’s ahead and I think our kids did a great job with that.”

Sure did. Two home wins — especially the Saturday game against the Seawolves — helped set up last Friday’s surprise 5-2 victory over Minnesota.

“Winning one [against UAA] would have been OK, but to come back and play an even better game Saturday — we played with a lot of confidence and carried that over last weekend,” Sandelin said. “It’s a funny thing. Confidence, you never know what triggers it.”

Had the Bulldogs not pulled out of the funk, they would most likely be facing an ominous outlook for this weekend’s series against Denver. While the Bulldogs still appear overmatched by the top-ranked Pioneers, do you ever know what to expect from UMD?

Colorado College might be the WCHA team no one wants to play right now, and deservedly so from its record in the last five weeks. But UMD’s unpredictability makes it an interesting draw for a series.

The Bulldogs have found that success, even in moderatation, can be invigorating.

“It’s just a better feeling, and winning is a big part of that,” Sandelin said. “It doesn’t get any easier this weekend.”

Eight In One

Sertich has been involved in some high-scoring games in his time as a college hockey coach. One that stands out was a 10-7 Minnesota victory over his Minnesota-Duluth team in late February 1999.

That game was 5-5 after the first period. So when his Michigan Tech squad rallied last Saturday from a 4-1 deficit against Minnesota State-Mankato to tie the game at 4 by the end of the first 20 minutes …

“I thought that’s where we were headed,” Sertich said.

As it turned out, that was the end of the scoring for the Huskies. The Mavericks’ B.J. Abel scored with eight seconds left in the second period and Justin Martin added an empty-netter with one second left in the third for the only other goals of the game.

Odd when a 6-4 game seems tame.

Hobey Hubbub

The Mark Hartigan-for-Hobey campaign got into full swing this week, when media members found materials in their e-mail inbox touting the St. Cloud State forward for college hockey’s top individual award.

St. Cloud State sports information director Tom Nelson said the mailing, which included a Hartigan profile and stats, was sent to about 150 people, including coaches, media members and school alumni and fans.

The Update Returns

We were advised this week that Michigan Tech freshman defenseman Clay Wilson gets a significant amount of ribbing from his teammates for being featured in this space.

Sorry, Woody.

Wilson — here known as “Woody” because he was described on a Huskies line chart early in the season as having the same last name as a U.S. president — hasn’t cracked the scoresheet with a goal since he scored two in a Nov. 3 game against Minnesota.

Woody has two goals and six assists for the season. His last assist came on Jan. 19, against Minnesota-Duluth.

Oh, and making up for lost time, did you know Woody asked Santa for a PlayStation 2 system for Christmas? He didn’t get it.

One Last Thought

In just two months, we’ll know the identity of the 2001-02 NCAA champion. Enjoy the ride.

This Week in the SUNYAC: Feb. 7, 2002

By Russell Jaslow

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February 7, 2002

Middle Four In Final Scramble

Not all the playoff spots are clinched. Mathematically, Fredonia can still get in if it wins its last three games, Buffalo State loses its last three games, and Fredonia beats Buffalo State by more than three goals.

Cortland, Geneseo, and Potsdam all clinched playoff spots last weekend. Plattsburgh clinched a bye for the first round, but Oswego has not. Geneseo can’t catch Oswego, but Cortland could with the same scenario as above, including needing to win by more than three goals.

Therefore, outside of those two miracles, the real battle is where the third to sixth place teams end up. Frankly, I’m not going to try to figure out all the permutations. Let’s just say that everyone more or less has his own destiny in his hands. Win the next three games, and you’re almost guaranteed to host a first-round playoff series.

A secondary battle is for first place and home ice throughout. Plattsburgh has a slightly easier schedule than Oswego, is already up by two points, and even more importantly, holds the tiebreaker advantage.

Why Coaches Get Gray Hairs

Over a week ago, Oswego walked into Plattsburgh and beat the Cardinals to tie for first place. A week later, Oswego promptly lost. To Geneseo. At home.

“We lost first place tonight,” coach George Roll told the Oswego Palladium-Times, “and that’s an awful feeling to have that happen.”

Jonathan Hoose scored in the first period to give the Great Lakers the lead. Geneseo controlled the second period, notching three unanswered goals. Pete Boudette got one 20 seconds into the period, followed by Scott Lephart and Derek Powell. Brian St. John got one back in the third for Oswego, but it was too little too late.

Oswego came back the next night to crush Brockport, 8-1. John Hirliman led the way with a pair of goals.

It is conceivable that Oswego could host Geneseo in the second round. In the meantime, Roll might want to buy some Grecian Formula.

Give Credit Where Credit Is Due

For all the criticism Geneseo goalie Brett Walker receives due to his aggressive play, it’s time to praise his effort last weekend. He committed no penalties, made 24 saves in an upset 3-2 win over Oswego, made 30 saves in a 2-2 tie against Cortland, and was, deservedly, named SUNYAC Goaltender of the Week.

He will now have to maintain that performance: Geneseo can finish anywhere from third to sixth depending on its last three games, including a key matchup against Potsdam.

Talk About Coming Clean

Cortland is the most penalized team in conference play, averaging over 30 minutes a game. Yet, in a 2-2 tie against Geneseo, both teams scored twice as many goals as they tallied penalties. That’s right, only one minor penalty was called on each team, both in the third period. They played 48 penalty-free minutes before that call.

Both teams scored on their lone power play.

Cortland has the advantage in a tie with Geneseo as the Red Dragons win the tiebreaker, and are two points ahead of Potsdam and Buffalo State. First-year coach Tom Cranfield would love to be able to host his first playoff series. It won’t be easy as his squad has to face Fredonia and Buffalo State on the road, and then Oswego at home.

Bengals Looking To Regain Bite

Buffalo State has faltered recently, dropping six of its last seven games, three of which were nonleague contests. This has Buffalo State in a tie for fifth place with Potsdam, but the Bengals lose the tiebreaker.

Buffalo State needs one point to clinch a playoff spot, and facing Cortland and Oswego at home will not be a cinch. Worse yet for the Bengals, they could conceivably find themselves facing Fredonia in the final game for that last playoff spot. After starting out so well, that would be a disastrous ending.

However, don’t expect it to happen. Captains Todd Nowicki, who leads the SUNYAC in scoring with 19 points (eight goals and 11 assists), Jad Ramsay, and Rocky Reeves have waited too long to allow their team to let its opportunity slip away. Buffalo State may not be a conference power, but it is a playoff team.

Powerless Power Play

Take away Potsdam’s second game against Cortland, in which the Bears went eight for 13 on the power play, and Potsdam is a measly five for 68 in conference games with the man advantage. That works out to a 7.4 percent efficiency, which would be the worst in the league.

There are three things you need to win in the playoffs — goaltending, defense, and special teams. Potsdam may have enough of the first two to make some noise in the second season, but unless it finds a cure for the power play, it could be seeing a quick exit.

Next Time

It’s official. Ed Trefzger has run for the hills down the stretch, so I’ll be with you for the rest of the year. We will have a very busy column for next week, including the final games and jockeying for position, while previewing the first round of the SUNYAC playoffs.

SUNYAC Trivia

Last Week’s Question

Who was the only player to win the SUNYAC Tournament MVP award twice?

Jeff Lupu of Fredonia won the award two times in a row, in 1994 and 1995. Those were also the only two times that Fredonia won the SUNYAC title.

This Week’s Question

Speaking of Jeff Lupu, what NCAA Division III Tournament record did he set?

Game of the Week

Once again, two contests play a more important role in determining the final playoff picture.

Both Potsdam and Buffalo State, who are tied for fifth, get to play one of the two teams tied for third and just two points up in the standings. Potsdam plays at Geneseo Friday night, and Buffalo State hosts Cortland Saturday.

This Week in the ECAC West: Feb. 7, 2002

By Scott Biggar

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February 7, 2002

Though it’s hard to believe the season has gone by so quickly, there are just three weekends are left in league play in the ECAC West. So let’s take a look at the playoff picture for each team.

As of Thursday, RIT and Elmira are the only teams that have clinched a playoff berth. The Tigers reside in first place in the league and Elmira is a close second, only four points back with three games in hand on the Tigers. All the other teams are still in the playoff hunt.

Points — two for a win and one for a tie — earned during league play are the main criteria to determine final standings in the league. When, inevitably, a tie in points arises, the official tiebreaking criteria are:

1) Head-to-head record
2) Number of conference wins
3) Record vs. common opponents
4) Overall record

The common theme among coaches when answering the question: “What do you need to do to get into the playoffs?” is the expected “just win.” That is the simple answer, and would certainly help each team achieve its goals. As usual, though, there is a lot more to the story than meets the eye.

The ECAC West will follow the same playoff format this season as in recent years — a final-four format on March 1 and 2 at the rink of the regular-season champion.

Here is a team-by-team analysis of the playoff picture. Teams are listed in current order of the standings.

RIT Tigers (19-2 overall, 7-1 league)

Highest Possible Finish: 1st
Lowest Possible Finish: 4th
Most Likely Finish: 1st or 2nd

RIT is No. 2 in the nation according to the USCHO.com poll this week and leads the ECAC West with 14 points. However, RIT has played more league contests than any other team.

The Tigers have only two regular-season games remaining on the schedule, both at home. Neumann makes its first visit to Ritter Arena on Friday, and a showdown with Elmira is on tap for February 16th.

“We want to play as well as we can,” said coach Wayne Wilson. “We’re not changing anything, but we need to cut down on the mistakes. Every game at this point is a single-elimination game. We want to prepare ourselves for those single-elimination games.”

Assuming RIT gets past Neumann, the game with Elmira will be for all the marbles. Elmira beat RIT 4-2 in their meeting on January 26, and may need to win the rematch in order to force a tie in points and send the decision to the tiebreaking criteria.

How? For this discussion, assume that RIT and Elmira both win all their remaining league games except for their game on the 16th, as noted above. That’s nine wins each against league opponents. So each team has a 9-0 record so far. Common opponents outside the league are Geneseo, Amherst, Williams, and Oswego. RIT goes 5-0 against those opponents, while Elmira is 2-2.

Here is how they would compare:

1) Head-to-head record — Tied, 1-1
2) Number of conference wins — Tied at nine apiece.
3) Record vs. common opponents — Edge to RIT: 14-0 vs. Elmira 11-2.

Hence RIT wins the third tiebreaker and takes the regular-season title. But this all hinges on RIT defeating Elmira on the 16th.

Elmira Soaring Eagles (14-6 overall, 5-0 league)

Highest Possible Finish: 1st
Lowest Possible Finish: 4th
Most Likely Finish: 1st or 2nd

Elmira enjoys the only unblemished record remaining in the league and is in the driver’s seat for the regular-season title. With five league games remaining, the Soaring Eagles are also the only team whose playoff prospects are entirely in its own hands. By winning out, Elmira will win the regular season and host the playoffs.

While the showdown with RIT is a key contest, Elmira has to be careful not to look past its other games. Included in those is a dangerous pair against Manhattanville, which took two of three games from Elmira last season. The first of those meetings is this Saturday, when Elmira travels to New Roc City.

Here are various scenarios for Elmira’s playoff picture:

1) Win out — earn the regular season title.
2) Win out, except for tying one team along the way — earn regular season title.
3) Win out, except for losing to RIT (and RIT wins out) — Elmira loses the tiebreaker and finishes second.
4) Lose against Manhattanville or Hobart or Neumann or Utica — Elmira would need to beat RIT to win the regular season.

Elmira needs to take care of business to setup the big match with RIT on the 16th. However, Elmira still has to beat Manhattanville and Hobart the following week to complete the picture.

Win, and Elmira takes the title. Lose, and the Soaring Eagles will most likely finish second in the league. Even with a disastrous collapse, the worst Elmira could finish would be fourth place.

Manhattanville Valiants (13-4-3 overall, 3-2-1 league)

Highest Possible Finish: 1st
Lowest Possible Finish: 6th
Most Likely Finish: 3rd

With four league games remaining (Elmira twice, Hobart, Neumann), Manhattanville is mired in the middle of the pack in third. If RIT and Elmira collapse, the Valiants still have a shot at first. However, realistically, the highest Manhattanville could finish is second. Third is more likely going to be the outcome.

The key contests coming up are the pair of games against Elmira. If Manhattanville can win both, it would jump over Elmira into second place.

But the Valiants can’t put the cart in front of the horse. Manhattanville has not even clinched a playoff berth yet. The Valiants need to earn two points in any combination of wins or ties to clinch.

With those two points, Manhattanville would have nine points. The Valiants own the tiebreaker with Utica (1-1 head to head), and also own the tiebreaker with Hobart currently (1-0 head to head with one game remaining). So nine points is the magic number that the Valiants need to get into the playoffs.

Hobart Statesmen (7-14 overall, 2-4 league)

Highest Possible Finish: 2nd
Lowest Possible Finish: 6th
Most Likely Finish: 4th

Hobart is in the midst of a race for the fourth and final playoff spot with Utica. The Statesmen have four league games remaining, one each against Elmira, Neumann, Manhattanville, and Utica.

Hobart has a leg up on Utica for the fourth playoff spot at the moment. The Statesmen defeated Utica 4-3 on November 3. The rematch is slated for February 13 in the frozen confines of the Geneva Recreation Center. A Hobart win or tie in that game would almost assure the Statesmen a slot in the playoffs.

“Every game is a big game,” said coach Mark Taylor. “It is pretty easy for us. If we can get a point somewhere, that could be the difference.”

There is a chance that Hobart could finish as high as third in the league. If Hobart can take care of business against both Utica and Neumann, and then defeat Manhattanville on February 16, that might be enough to vault Hobart over Manhattanville. Two weeks ago, Hobart lost to Manhattanville, 4-3, in a closely played game.

“All of the guys have gotten better in parts of their game,” said Taylor. “As a team, are we at playoff hockey, doing all the little things you have to do? We’re not there yet.”

Utica Pioneers (9-10-3 overall, 1-5-1 league)

Highest Possible Finish: 3rd
Lowest Possible Finish: 6th
Most Likely Finish: 5th

Coach Gary Heenan’s stated goal all year long has been to get his team into the ECAC West playoffs in its first year of competition. That may have made some hockey fans chuckle a little at the time, but with only three weekends left in the season Utica has a good chance to pull it off.

Utica got a big leg up when the Pioneers tied Manhattanville two weeks ago. That extra point may be crucial as the season winds down.

Utica can earn at most nine points by winning all of its remaining games, against Elmira, Hobart, and Neumann.

The Pioneers’ playoff hopes are not entirely in their own hands, though. Utica needs Hobart to lose both its games against Elmira and Manhattanville to have a shot. And Utica must defeat either Neumann or Elmira.

If those things happen, then Utica’s remaining game against Hobart is for the whole enchilada. Win that game, with the preceding happenings, and Utica makes the playoffs.

It is a testament to the team that Utica has built in its short history to be in this position in only its first year of competition.

Neumann Knights (2-19 overall, 0-6 league)

Highest Possible Finish: 3rd
Lowest Possible Finish: 6th
Most Likely Finish: 6th

It has not been the season that coach Nick Russo had hoped for, as the Knights competed in the ECAC West for the first time. Neumann kept some games competitive, particularly early in the season. But academic problems among the team’s top scorers gutted the offense over the holiday break, and Neumann’s narrowest loss in the second half was by five goals.

Mathematically, Neumann is still in the playoff hunt. The Knights have games against RIT, Hobart, Manhattanville, and Utica remaining, all on the road. Winning three of those four games would probably be enough to sneak into fourth.

Realistically, Neumann doesn’t honestly have the talent to pull off all three of those wins and will not make the playoffs this season. If the Knights can win one of their four remaining games, that alone will give them a positive to build on for next season.

Game of the Week

The most important game this week comes when Utica travels to Hobart on Wednesday. RIT, Elmira, and almost certainly Manhattanville are in the playoffs already. But Hobart and Utica are battling for the last playoff spot; this game will go a long way in determining who earns the last invitation.

Assault Report Filed Against Parker

USCHO Staff Report

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February 7, 2002

A Northeastern student has filed assault charges against Boston University coach Jack Parker for an incident before a game between the Huskies and Terriers on Jan. 4. The report was filed with Northeastern campus police, according to the Northeastern News.

The student and Huskies fan, Justin Harriman, filed the report on Jan. 17. According to the News article, he didn’t want police to investigate the incident, but just wanted it as part of the record.

The report alleges that Parker confronted Harriman about harassing the Terrier players as they came out of the tunnel to the ice before the game. As Harriman prepared to use a megaphone to taunt the Terriers, Parker confronted him and warned him not to do it, then pulled Harriman’s jersey over his head, according to the News.

Harriman then says other BU team members joined in.

Parker admits to confronting the fan, but said he was just trying to protect his players as Harriman got overzealous. Parker said there was a similar incident last year, where campus police warned Harriman not to get too close.

“I told him I didn’t want him using that horn while my players walked by for the safety of my players,” Parker said to the News. “When he began doing it I went to grab the megaphone. I couldn’t reach and grabbed the jersey he was wearing.”

The Northeastern athletic department says it is not planning any action at this time.

WCHA Reprimands Badgers, Seawolves For Postgame Brawl

USCHO Staff Report

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February 6, 2002

Four days after a postgame brawl that resulted in six game disqualifications, the WCHA issued a reprimand to both Wisconsin and Alaska-Anchorage’s coaches and players for the incident.

“The Association takes incidents of this nature very seriously,” said WCHA commissioner Bruce McLeod, “and we are aware that they cast a dark shadow on the teams involved, the conference, and college hockey in general. The WCHA will not tolerate such conduct and any further incidents of this nature will result in severe action by the Association.”

At the same time, McLeod noted the efforts of both schools this week to avoid a repeat of the incident, which also included seven double minors for roughing. In total, 26 penalties for 118 minutes were assessed, all at the 20:00 mark of the third period of UAA’s 3-2 win Saturday.

“I just think it was frustration on their [Wisconsin’s] part — they were frustrated they lost the game, and started cross-checking,” Alaska-Anchorage head coach John Hill said at the time. “We didn’t skate away. Do I wish we would have? Yes. But we didn’t, and at that point all heck broke loose. I’m just glad that no one got injured. Both teams showed a lack of discipline.”

Anchorage’s Dallas Steward scored the winning goal on a controversial play which originally appeared to be whistled dead by referee Derek Shepherd.

“I still don’t know how this all started,” UW coach Jeff Sauer said after the game. “I wasn’t concerned about looking at that, I was concerned about looking at the goal. … It is a very difficult situation. You have the end of the game, both teams are on the ice. You have 40 hockey players on the ice, you’ve got problems.”

McLeod also said that the league would correct one of the penalties. The fighting major originally assessed to UAA’s Gregg Zaporzan was withdrawn and assessed instead to UAA’s Martin Stuchlik.

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An Early Beginning

Success Around The Globe

The Call To Salt Lake

The Countdown

Four Final Weeks

Three Tilts

Two Teams in a Tie

One Out

The Other Side of The Story

The Streak Is Over

Leopards Continue To Impress

Curry College

The Soaring Seahawks

Thursday Night

The Pairwise Rankings

How ‘Bout Them Yankees?

A Gutsy Performance

The Other UNH Goalie

A Moment in the Spotlight

Two Goalies Or Else

The Newest Zebra

Referee Assignments

Turning the Corner?

Quotes From The Beanpot

Polls

Trivia Contest

Standing Alone

Almost There

Who’s In, Who’s Out

Fat Tuesday

Logjam

Weekly Awards

Final Change To Final Four Is No Change At All

Moving Up The PairWise

Winners And Losers

The Winners

The Losers

We Made Out Okay

Back From The Dead

Widening The Gap

Congrats!

Near The Top

Back In The Hunt

Rethinking

If It’s So Easy, You Try It

The Public Reprimand

The Stretch Run

The Wait Is Over; Now He Waits

‘A Matter Of Perspective’

Who’s Out?

Kick Start To Nothing

Pan Stays South

All In The Power

Friday Fizzle

Largely In The Right Direction

Eight In One

Hobey Hubbub

The Update Returns

One Last Thought

Middle Four In Final Scramble

Why Coaches Get Gray Hairs

Give Credit Where Credit Is Due

Talk About Coming Clean

Bengals Looking To Regain Bite

Powerless Power Play

Next Time

SUNYAC Trivia

Game of the Week

RIT Tigers (19-2 overall, 7-1 league)

Elmira Soaring Eagles (14-6 overall, 5-0 league)

Manhattanville Valiants (13-4-3 overall, 3-2-1 league)

Hobart Statesmen (7-14 overall, 2-4 league)

Utica Pioneers (9-10-3 overall, 1-5-1 league)

Neumann Knights (2-19 overall, 0-6 league)

Game of the Week

The World Is Still Spinning, But…

What’s In The Water In Omaha?

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