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This Week In The WCHA: Jan. 11, 2001

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Upon Further Review

There really isn’t much on the line when Greg Shepherd is asked to go to work during the Frozen Four.

Maybe just the national championship.

In an extreme scenario, a goal missed by the on-ice officials or a non-goal allowed to stand as a goal could sway the national championship game from one side to the other.

Above all, a referee’s job is to get the call right. That’s where Shepherd comes in. A former WCHA referee and now the league’s supervisor of officials, he’s become one of the top replay officials in college hockey.

He’s worked the Frozen Four and the WCHA Final Five. He’ll be in Albany, N.Y., this April, as the person whose job it is to make sure the calls on the ice are right.

And this year he has a little more responsibility. Each goal scored in the Frozen Four must be reviewed before play resumes. It’s a safeguard to ensure things are done right.

“I think the main thing is we want to get everything right,” Shepherd said. “Even with the goal judge and two assistant referees on the ice, sometimes play is so fast and some of these nets are strung so tight, it’s tough.

“I’ve worked replay for the NCAA for five years, and there’s a couple situations where you really have to focus on and run back and look at so you can see it. And you know how it is for a referee, bang, bang, bang and that’s it.”

Among other rule changes as replay is involved, the replay official can call down to the referee before play resumes if he’s seen a goal the on-ice officials missed and coaches can request a replay by using their timeout.

But the one that stands out is the mandatory review. In an ideal situation, Shepherd said, the review would be done so fast that the fans wouldn’t notice a delay while waiting for the puck to be dropped at center ice.

Shepherd put the new system into play at the Badger Hockey Showdown in Milwaukee in late December.

“There was one situation where I wanted to look back again, but the rest of the time, there was no delay,” he said. “When they got the puck, brought it to center ice, we’re ready to go.

“As soon as it’s in the net, I’m replaying it. We look at it, it’s good, signal down to the bench, they signal the referee, let’s go. There is no delay in the replay process. It just gives everybody another signal that it’s a good goal and there’s no problem.”

Shepherd had three opportunities to review plays at the Showdown, plays of three different varieties. In one situation, a no-goal call was overruled when it was ruled the net was not dislodged before the puck crossed the goal line.

Another play was reviewed to see if the puck fully crossed the goal line, and another was reviewed when the on-ice ruling was that a puck was kicked in. That call was upheld.

The key to Shepherd’s job is that there must be indisputable evidence to overturn the referee’s call. If he’s not absolutely sure, the call on the ice stands.

Part of that depends on the technology available at the rink. In Albany, the replay official will use the feeds provided by ESPN. That includes the highly popular “goal cam.”

At the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn., site of the Final Five, the official will be able to use the facilities used by the NHL for Minnesota Wild games.

“The overhead is probably the best one or one of the best ones,” Shepherd said. “But last year [at the Frozen Four] in Providence, they had the camera in the net. That was fantastic. You can see everything with that one. With ESPN doing the TV coverage, you almost have every view you need.”

That is the exact reason video replay hasn’t been used in WCHA regular-season play. The league’s coaches voted to use replay for a two-year trial basis, starting next season, but only if the technology is available.

That’s fine at Wisconsin and Minnesota, whose games are televised. But at Michigan Tech and Minnesota-Duluth, where television cameras are not often present, it’s a bigger challenge.

“We are looking into doing it, but we have to have everybody on the same page,” Shepherd said.

Having everyone on the same page is the ultimate goal of the review process. The point is to have a second look at a fast-moving play and, Shepherd said, let the coaches and players know that the final call is correct.

And Shepherd said he doesn’t want his referees’ pride to blind their desire to get the call right.

“The tool’s there and what I instruct my referees to do, when we do use it in the Final Five, is if you’re not sure, go upstairs,” he said. “It doesn’t take that long and if you’re wrong and people find out, it can cost a goal. That costs a team maybe a shot at the NCAAs.

“As officials we try to be right all the time, we try to work hard. But other times, we’re going to make mistakes. If you’ve got the tool to correct that mistake, let’s use it. Don’t be too proud: ‘I’m Greg Shepherd, I don’t make mistakes. It’s a goal and that’s it.’ No, hold it here. Maybe I’m wrong, so let’s go upstairs and check it out.”

Pair Off

Interesting little tool, those Pairwise Rankings.

Hypothetically, if there were no automatic bids to the NCAA tournament and the selection committee took the top 12 teams in the PWR, and if the season ended today, the WCHA would get five teams in the national tournament.

If every college hockey fan’s dream came true and the tournament was expanded to 16 teams, seven WCHA teams would get in under those criteria.

Colorado College ranks behind only Michigan State and Western Michigan at No. 3 in the rankings through Jan. 7. Defending national champion North Dakota is No. 4.

Minnesota, St. Cloud State and Denver are eighth, ninth and 10th. Wisconsin is on the outside right now at No. 13 and Minnesota State-Mankato is No. 16.

“You look at our league and the strength of our league right now is very apparent,” Minnesota coach Don Lucia said.

“One of the things when you look at our league, hockey is the priority in every school in our league,” Lucia continued, apparently forgetting about football coaches named Glen Mason and Barry Alvarez. “You look at the new facilities that have been built, the attendance we get at our games. From top to bottom, nobody has the facilities and the commitment as our league does in every program.”

The Pairwise Rankings give ample reason for WCHA members to start a lovefest about the league. They can do that now, because for now the numbers are just numbers.

But when those numbers turn into selections in March, there’s virtually no chance the WCHA will get five teams in the NCAA Tournament. After automatic bids have their say, there are only seven spots left.

Back in Stripes

Whistlegate is officially over.

WCHA assistant referee Jay Kleven, suspended indefinitely earlier this season because of questionable calls he made in the Minnesota-North Dakota series in Grand Forks, N.D., was scheduled to be on the ice for the Fighting Sioux’s exhibition game with Manitoba last Sunday.

He missed the game because of a family emergency, but Shepherd said the suspension is over. And he’s glad, too, because he said the whole situation was blown out of proportion.

“The papers blew it up beyond what it was,” Shepherd said. “That really upset me that it was in the papers. That’s an internal thing between Jay and myself. It got blown way out of proportion and it’s too bad for him, it’s too bad for the officials in the league. I talked to the referees and they understood the situation and we went on.”

It’s All on You

Before the season, Gophers coach Lucia said the key to his team’s success this season is that it would have to be a team effort.

Shots had to come down, loosening the team’s dependance on goaltender Adam Hauser.

The shots have come down (32 last year to 25 this year), but the Gophers still need Hauser to be at his best to have a chance to win.

“Adam’s got to play well this weekend, I think that’s probably the biggest key for us,” Lucia said. “He was good this weekend up in Alaska and he’s been good all year, but now he’s got to be great. We’re playing an opponent where your goaltender has to win you a game.”

Good thing for the Gophers that Hauser is the kind of player that apparently feeds off that.

“He’s always played us tough down there,” North Dakota coach Dean Blais said. “He’s been the difference in the game, one way or another, every game we’ve played.”

A Recurring Theme

For the third time in less than three years, Alaska-Anchorage has lost a goaltender.

Corey Strachan left the team last week. He follows in the footsteps of Cory McEachran and Gregg Naumenko.

“He was a little frustrated playing behind [freshman Chris] King and I don’t blame him,” Anchorage coach Dean Talafous said. “The worst position to be the second guy in all of athletics is in hockey, a goaltender. You can only play one, you can’t change on the fly.

“I remember when [Aaron] Schweitzer and North Dakota won the national championship [in 1997] and they brought in Goehring. [Schweitzer] left and yet he won a national championship at 17 years of age.”

Talafous said he wasn’t sure what Strachan’s next move was.

“It’s a tough job sitting and watching,” Talafous said. “It was tough for him because he really liked it here and liked his teammates. You only have one career, and he couldn’t see himself playing here.”

Shuffle Here, Shuffle There

Minnesota is just a game behind North Dakota for first place in the WCHA. It got to that point without some key players — forwards Jeff Taffe and Troy Riddle and defenseman Paul Martin, who were with the U.S. National Junior Team at the World Junior Championships.

Now what do the Gophers do with them now that they’re back?

“That’s the tough question because we have to figure out how we’re going to put them back in, what our lines are going to look like,” Lucia said. “They’re tired right now. Talking to Jeff Taffe, they all lost 5 to 10 pounds over there, which is tough. It’s a long trip.

“It was nice last year when those guys came back, we didn’t play that weekend and they had a good rest before we came back and played at home. Hopefully they’ll have their energy back.”

They’ll need it against North Dakota, especially considering defenseman Nick Angell and forward John Pohl are questionable for the series. Angell has a separated shoulder and Pohl has a severely bruised ankle.

New Logo

logos/tournament-wc-medium.gif

The WCHA unveiled its new logo for the Final Five, to be held at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn., on March 15, 16 and 17.

The logo, at right, was designed by M.A. Apparel of Minnetonka, Minn., the same company that designs the tournament merchandise.

He Said It

“I think at times we’ve played better on the road. I think our teams are more focused. The bus trips get us together so the players talk to each other. We kind of come together on the road. You have to be a good road team anyway because at the end of the year, you’re going to be on the road.”

— Blais, on playing on the road. After this weekend’s series at Minnesota, the Sioux have only two more conference away series: at Minnesota-Duluth and at Michigan Tech.

News And Views

  • Alaska-Anchorage’s losing streak grew to nine games last weekend with a pair of losses to Minnesota at Sullivan Arena. It’s the longest streak of futility in the history of the program, but Talafous maintained his team is right in every game. “I think it’s important to realize you’re not far and be realistic about it and not change,” he said. “These are tough opponents and if we can ever learn to beat these people, we’ll be one of the best teams. It’s frustrating to the guys, but they’re positive and I think they’re realistic. I think they realize they’re a good hockey team. We just don’t have a nonconference schedule where we’re playing middle-of-the-pack teams.”
  • Talafous made the point that his team is usually one goal away in losses. The statistics seem to back that up. The Seawolves are averaging a WCHA-low 2.22 goals for per game, while allowing 3.22 goals per game, a difference of one goal.
  • Colorado College’s sweep of Denver put an end to the Pioneers’ unbeaten streak, but it continued CC’s impressive run. The Tigers are 9-1-1 since mid-November.
  • With a surprising 4-2 victory at Northern Michigan last Friday, Michigan Tech already has more wins this season (five) than last season (four). The win also snapped a 10-game winless streak against the rival Wildcats.
  • The 1,000th game in Minnesota State-Mankato history turned out to be a flop. Clarkson beat the Mavericks 5-4 to end their five-game winning streak.

    On The Docket

    Minnesota doesn’t get a rest from rivalries next weekend, as the Gophers travel to the Kohl Center to take on Wisconsin. Minnesota got the first two wins in this year’s series, starting to make up for going 0-5 last season.

    Meanwhile, next week’s schedule features the third part of the Gold Pan series as CC is at Denver on Friday before both teams take Saturday off.

    Nonconference foe Brown comes to Minnesota to take on St. Cloud State Friday and Saturday, and sticks around to play Minnesota on Tuesday night.

    • This Week In The ECAC: Jan. 11, 2001

    By Jayson Moy/Becky Blaeser
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    Here we go, folks — the first full-fledged ECAC weekend since the second week of November, when most teams opened their ECAC schedules. All 12 teams are pitted against each other, which won’t occur again until after the second week of February as the teams hit the home stretch.

    Brown/Harvard at Princeton/Yale

    It’s a series of clashing momentum. Two teams coming off arguably their worst weekends of play to date are about to run directly into a pair of squads in the midst of midseason runs. Princeton and Yale returned from their nonconference weekends against Bowling Green and Michigan State, respectively, with very little to flaunt. Combined, the road partners were shut out in three of the four games and were eventually outscored by a 22-3 margin.

    While those two battled it out against nonconference teams, Harvard broke a four-game losing streak of its own by sweeping a home series against RPI and Union. The Crimson increased its lead in the ECAC standings and came oh-so-close to breaking into the national polls for the second time this season. Following a loss to RPI on Friday night, Brown rebounded with a solid 5-3 win over Union. Although it was only one win for Brown, that contest marked the team’s first ECAC win of the season.

    The Brown Bears were hoping that the start of the second half of the season would be radically different from the first. After all, the highlights of the first half included a win over Providence and ties against Clarkson and St. Lawrence. Not exactly a blazing start to the season.

    “I was hoping it would start on Tuesday, but that was the worst game we’ve played in a long time,” said Grillo, referring to his team’s 4-1 loss to UMass-Amherst on January 2. “But the guys responded. And hopefully what we can take out of [the Union game] is that if we battle and compete we have a shot to win. I’m pleased with the effort and the competitiveness.”

    Grillo, who has been vocal about his team’s potential from day one, was positive even after his team lost to the Engineers on Friday night. Following that contest, Grillo said this about his troops:

    “If you look up and down our bench, there wasn’t a guy that played poorly. I thought our guys played hard, battled and did what they were capable of doing.”

    The Bears came out strong the next night and broke out to an early 4-0 lead over the Skating Dutchmen. But with Brown showing signs of what has plagued the team all season — long defensive lapses and the inability to score in crucial stretches — Union almost broke the back of the home team by scoring three unanswered goals in a 1:15 span. Brown held on, but had the team lost that contest, all hope would have been lost, perhaps mentally more than anything else. Many would argue that another zero-point weekend for Brown would have transformed the second half of the season into an 11-team race for 10 playoff spots. With the victory, however, new breath has been inserted into the Brown lineup, at least temporarily.

    With only two league contests remaining for exam break, Harvard finds itself comfortably atop the ECAC standings. Following four straight losses, including two games to Colorado College, Harvard rebounded with a solid weekend sweep of Union and RPI. Those two victories put the Crimson in a favorable position heading into the second half.

    “It is a good weekend anytime you can come up with four points, especially after a bit of difficult times,” said head coach Mark Mazzoleni. “We finished very well [Saturday night]. Steve Moore and Dom [Moore] generated a lot of offense and we were good again on special teams.”

    The Moore brothers led the Crimson offensively as they combined for 10 points on the weekend. Dominic Moore (8-13–21) exploded on Saturday night with four points, including his first hat trick of the season.

    A player yet to demand the spotlight this season is freshman Tim Pettit, who posted his best collegiate weekend to date. The speedy forward registered two goals on Friday night and then followed up that performance with a season-high four assists against RPI. Pettit now sits fourth on the Crimson list in scoring with 15 points, trailing only the Moore brothers and senior Chris Bala (9-7–16).

    Once again, Harvard relied on senior goaltender Oliver Jonas to come up big in both games. Jonas finished with 72 saves on the weekend and improved his goals against average to .924.

    Jonas has needed to come up big in the face of the Crimson’s lack of depth defensively; with Aaron Kim out of the lineup due to a game misconduct against Union on Friday night, and Graham Morrell out of the lineup indefinitely — most likely for the rest of the season — with a shoulder injury, the team will continue with its five-man rotation. The result has been more shots on net and tired legs come the end of games. Heading into this weekend’s series, Harvard has been outshot by a 566-447 margin and has been outscored in only one period: the third.

    “We are still giving up too many shots per game; that is a component of our inexperience on defense,” Mazzoleni said. “But our young guys are starting to get comfortable because they’ve been seeing a lot of ice time in different situations.”

    It wasn’t a pretty weekend for Princeton. In fact, it was ugly. After claiming that Princeton has a way of taking a positive away from every weekend series, the team turned around and got offensively pummeled by a mediocre Bowling Green team. The Tigers once again fell victim to early defensive lapses — on Friday night, Bowling Green outscored Princeton 6-1 in the final two periods of play.

    “We’re still feeling the effects of playing New Hampshire, Wisconsin and North Dakota and not coming out with a ‘W’ on one of those games,” said head coach Lenny Quesnelle. “You saw the result in the games against Bowling Green. We’re fatigued mentally.”

    Quesnelle is talking about Princeton’s inability to play three periods of consistent hockey. In both games at the Badger Showdown, the Tigers dug themselves an early hole and could not muster enough strength for comeback victories. Against Wisconsin, Princeton spotted the Badgers a 5-0 lead after one period. The following night, North Dakota glided into the third period with a 4-2 lead. If you’re tracking this problem, it appeared to begin back on December 9, when the Tigers spotted RPI a 4-1 lead after one period. One week later, New Hampshire took a similar 3-0 lead after one period at the Whittemore Center.

    The problem has persisted and resulted in two more losses for the Tigers, extending their losing streak to six games. The difference in the last two, however, is that the energy and ability to fight back had disappeared. For the first time since this trend began, Princeton suffered embarrassing losses, outscored by a combined 13-3 margin.

    “We’re trying to address it,” Quesnelle said. “We’re going to work our way through it, but it all starts in practice. We’re trying to keep practices short and constructive.”

    Despite the losing streak, the team can take solace in the fact that it has saved its best games for league play: Princeton is currently in third place with 10 points. Quesnelle is hoping that the team can gut it out through one final weekend series before heading into the long exam break. The recent losing streak will be ancient history in many minds if the Tigers can steal three or four points this weekend.

    While Yale head coach Tim Taylor was busy coaching at the World Junior Championships in Moscow, his Elis were getting pounded by the number-one team in the country. Yale headed into the weekend series with Michigan State with a 3-0 record against ranked teams this year, but the Spartans quickly put a stop to that modest winning streak.

    For what it’s worth, Yale outshot Michigan State over the course of two games and generated a handful of solid offensive opportunities. The only problem was that the Elis could not figure out how to beat the goaltending tandem of Joe Blackburn and Ryan Miller, who combined for 37 saves on the weekend.

    “They are one of the top defensive teams in the country,” said Yale assistant coach C.J. Marottolo, who filled in both nights for Taylor. “They are disciplined, and they have great goaltending,”

    The losses came on the heels of a much-needed victory for Yale over Union on December 9. After winning three of their first five league contests, the Elis began stumbling and dropped their next four ECAC games. The Union game provided a ray of hope for the struggling squad, at least for the time being.

    “[The Union] game takes a huge monkey off our back to some extent,” said Taylor prior to his departure for Moscow. “I’m very proud of the effort for two reasons. Number one, because of [the 5-4 loss to Rensselaer the night before] and two, because not everything went our way.”

    Taylor will return behind the Yale bench this weekend and will look to right the sinking ship. With eight league points already amassed and with Brown and Harvard heading to New Haven, things look promising for the Elis. Yale holds the series lead over Brown and has posted a 4-0-1 record in the last five outings. In fact, Brown has not beaten Yale since Nov. 14, 1997, when the Bears pulled out an overtime victory at Providence. The Harvard series has been the most interesting, but Yale always seems to have the edge when the Crimson plays at the Whale.

    St. Lawrence/Clarkson at Union/Rensselaer

    After a week off, the St. Lawrence Saints get to come back to the Capital District and play Union and Rensselaer. Two weeks ago, the Saints took home the championship of the Rensselaer/HSBC Holiday Hockey Tournament, and head coach Joe Marsh thinks that perhaps now is the time to get things going.

    “We’ve had our nose rubbed in it a little it,” he said about the first half of the season. “We’re not blaming anybody, and the biggest thing to these guys is, don’t expect anybody to do it for you, don’t expect it to be easy, and be willing to look in the mirror and correct your mistakes.

    “I love this team and I like the work ethic. It’s … that we can’t sit back and wait for things to come to us. We really have to work; we’re a little different type of team than last year. We have to make sure our expectations don’t exceed our aspirations. Hopefully, this goes a long way to showing these guys what kind of team we have to be.”

    Clarkson went out to Minnesota State-Mankato and split a pair with the Mavericks, picking up the second game of the two-game set. Now the Golden Knights get into league play in a big way, and it starts in the Capital District.

    “I think RPI is playing really fine hockey right now,” said head coach Mark Morris. “They are breaking in two freshman goalies, but they are deep up front and they are getting strong defensive efforts. Dan Fridgen’s teams have been known for their high-end skill and ability to put the puck away. We will have to be more physical, much like we were this past Saturday at Mankato.

    “Union is a real hard-nosed, blue-collar team with several veteran players and one of the better goalies in college hockey in Brandon Snee. We will go into that game recognizing that they are a legitimate contender and can knock off anybody. Kevin Sneddon and his staff have done a great job in recruiting real character kids.”

    Meanwhile, Union has not had good luck since being ranked No. 11 in the USCHO.com poll in November. Since then, the Dutchmen are 0-7-2 and are looking for answers. After getting swept by Harvard and Brown this past weekend, the Dutchmen dropped a home contest to UMass-Lowell, 5-3, allowing four goals from right in front and leaving head coach Kevin Sneddon scratching his head about his defense.

    “Until these guys realize that the most important area to cover is right in front of your own net, then it’s going to be a long year,” he said. “Once they figure that out, we might be a pretty good team, but until guys pay the price and realize that a guy going to the net or standing in front of the net is a serious threat, it’s going to be a long year.”

    The other area is offense, as the Dutchmen have dropped off since their hot start.

    “The amazing thing is that [the defense] is what we’ll be working on in the next couple of days. When we should be working on creating offense and a lot of other things, we’ll be working on, ‘How do we cover the front of the net?'” said Sneddon.

    Rensselaer maintained its No. 12 ranking in the USCHO.com poll after defeating Brown on Friday and then losing to Harvard on Saturday. The split came at a price, as second-leading scorer Carson Butterwick was checked from behind against Brown and missed the Harvard game; his status is unknown. Add that to some other injury problems and the absence of Marc Cavosie, who was at the World Junior Championships, and the Engineers were a hurting bunch on Saturday against Harvard.

    “Any time you are not full strength it hurts,” said head coach Dan Fridgen. “But it’s just an opportunity for other guys to bring their level of play up, and we’ll get full strength down the road. Injuries are part of the game and part of the season.”

    And in the loss to the Crimson, the Engineers once again saw their penalty killing go down the tubes as three power-play goals were allowed.

    “We did a very poor job of penalty killing,” said Fridgen. “Otherwise we did a good job of five-on-five play. You can draw it up as much as you want, but we just didn’t execute.

    “In order to put yourself in a situation to win hockey games, if you’re going to be taking penalties, you have to do a good job penalty killing. We’re doing a good job over the long haul, but tonight we didn’t get it done, and if you’re going to be allowing goals on the special teams, you have to be scoring goals on the special teams.

    “We didn’t do that either.”

    Cornell/Colgate at Vermont/Dartmouth

    The Big Red of Cornell came into the second half of the season with expectations, and returning home to face Quinnipiac last weekend, the Big Red had to feel good about themselves as the second half started. A 2-2 tie left the Big Red in a different mood.

    “I’m just really disappointed in them as a team,” head coach Mike Schafer told the Ithaca (N.Y.) Journal after the tie. “We’ve been there before and it’s up to them to respond in the right way. Your best players have to play really well in order for you to win, and I thought our best players didn’t play well enough for us to win.”

    The Big Red will head on the road this weekend. This past week was a hard-working one for the Big Red.

    “Guys are comfortable, there’s no school, and there’s got to be a real paying attention to detail,” Schafer said. “Intensity in practice will definitely pick up.”

    Colgate got off the schneid last weekend with a 4-2 win over Mercyhurst at home. The Red Raiders are looking for their first road win of the season this weekend, at either Dartmouth or Vermont. The Red Raiders are 0-9-3 away from Starr Rink this season.

    “It certainly helps bring the team together early on, but for us this year, the amount of time we have been away from home has been an extreme challenge and rough at times,” said head coach Don Vaughan.

    The Red Raiders will head to the road once again, but within the ECAC and its schedule. This time around one big difference will be that the Red Raiders will be at full strength as the full roster will be available to Vaughan.

    “It’s nice to be able to look there and have depth,” he said. “It’s great because it creates a lot of competition in practice and helps make us a better team. It also helps to take some of the pressure off of some of the guys who were filling in roles on the power play and penalty kill that they might not have been ready for at this point of the season and now I can return them to a more comfortable zone.”

    Despite having its five-game unbeaten streak stopped by Dartmouth last Friday night, Vermont maintains its national ranking for yet another week. The Catamounts are ranked No. 13 and are having a dream season. Heading into the Dartmouth series, the team had won 10 of last 12 games The Big Green victory not only snapped the unbeaten streak, but it also stands as Vermont’s only ECAC loss thus far.

    “We knew we weren’t going to go 22-0 in the league,” said head coach Mike Gilligan after the 4-2 loss. “Dartmouth seemed to have better legs tonight. We knew they were a good team, and we respect them. Any team that beats Maine and New Hampshire deserves your respect.”

    The following night, Vermont salvaged a 1-1 tie, thanks to a power-play goal by the team’s leading scorer, J.F. Caudron (10-10–20). The senior forward continues to be the main offensive threat for the Catamounts as he has registered at least one point in 13 of 15 games this season. The 1-1 tie also gave Vermont a critical point which keeps the team in sole possession of second place right now, just one point ahead of Princeton heading into this weekend’s series against Cornell and Colgate.

    A motivating factor for the Catamounts heading into this weekend’s series will be the man standing on the bench. Head coach Mike Gilligan is only two victories away from hitting 400 for his career. With those two wins, Gilligan will become only the 18th coach in NCAA history to accomplish such a feat. Earlier in the season, the Catamounts pulled out an emotional 5-2 win over Harvard to give Gilligan the title of winningest coach in the program’s history.

    While a few teams in the ECAC are experiencing bumps along the road, Dartmouth is starting to pick up the pace. After a deplorable 1-5 start, the Big Green has turned things around over the past month, posting impressive wins over national ranked teams such as Maine, New Hampshire and most recently Vermont.

    Considering the fact that Vermont walked away with the Auld Lang Syne title Dartmouth’s holiday tournament just days earlier, this recent victory was especially sweet. It also doesn’t hurt that the 4-2 win came in front of a near-sellout home crowd.

    The three-point weekend was a welcome surprise for Dartmouth fans, who have been patiently waiting for their team to turn the corner. Although the squad has been somewhat solid defensively thanks to the play of Trevor Byrne and Nick Boucher, the team has struggled offensively. One of the big weapons is Mike Maturo, who has been relatively quiet this season. Maturo’s play certainly dictates Dartmouth’s success as he has scored 10 of his team-leading 16 points since the Maine victory on November 25.

    “Mike is a real leader and a difference maker on our team,” said head coach Bob Gaudet. “When he plays well, it lifts the entire team because he sets a good example and he gets everyone working hard and wanting to win. Mike is really what this program is all about.”

    Here’s a quick series note: Dartmouth has struggled against Colgate (its last win coming on February 12, 1999), but has dominated the Cornell series as of late. The Big Green has won four of the last five meetings.

    Notes

    Some happenings from around the ECAC…

    And The Telly Will Ruin All

    The ECAC Television Package starts this weekend in a rematch of last season’s ECAC Championship game when St. Lawrence travels to Rensselaer. The games will be shown live via a combination of NESN and Empire and will feature 13 games this season, including a Division III matchup between Middlebury and Norwich and the Division I Women’s championship game.

    For the schedule, check the sidebar on the right.

    A Repeat Participant

    The upcoming season will feature the first time that the Ice Breaker Cup will be played in the East, as Maine will host the tournament on October 12-13, 2001, after turns in Madison, Minneapolis, Denver and Ann Arbor.

    Along with Bowling Green (CCHA) and St. Cloud (WCHA), the four-team tournament will feature its first repeat participant as Clarkson will get the nod from the ECAC once again.

    The Golden Knights participated in the first Ice Breaker Cup along with Wisconsin, Boston University and Michigan State and finished fourth.

    CSB Midseason Rankings Out

    Seven ECAC student athletes were among those ranked in the National Hockey League Central Scouting Bureau’s midseason rankings. Those seven are:

    Round 2:
    No. 56 Patrick Sharp, Vermont
    No. 59 Francois Senez, Rensselaer
    Round 3:
    No. 61 Dennis Packard, Harvard
    No. 90 Kenny Smith, Harvard
    Round 5:
    No. 145 Mikael Hammarstrom, Rensselaer
    Round 6:
    No. 161 Jim Lorentz, St. Lawrence
    Round 8:
    No. 228 Jeff Miles, Vermont

    Comings and Goings This week three vital members of squads will return to the ice for the ECAC as Yale head coach Tim Taylor, Harvard forward Brett Nowak and Rensselaer forward Marc Cavosie all return from a fifth place finish for the United States National Junior Team in Russia.

    In goings, Zach Schwan has taken a leave of absence from Clarkson University to play for Des Moines in the USHL this spring. He is expected to return in the fall to Potsdam.

    If It’s So Easy, You Try It

    Another week, another fan goes down.

    The contest thus far:

    Becky and Jayson d. Vic Brzozowski – (10-2-2) – (8-5-1)
    Becky and Jayson d. Tayt Brooks – (7-7-1) – (5-9-1)
    Becky and Jayson d. Michele Kelley – (5-4-3) – (2-7-3)
    Becky and Jayson d. C.J. Poux – (9-4-2) – (6-7-2)

    If memory serves us right, the newest team in the ECAC has been playing in the league for 10 years and were off to their hottest start ever at the Division I level. Their fans have been known to be vocal and spirited. Shawn Natole, show us what the Union fans will bring into USCHO Stadium to try and defeat the Iron Columnists. Whose picks will reign supreme?

    The Picks

    Friday, January 12

    Harvard at Princeton
    Shawn’s Pick – Princeton 4, Harvard 3
    Becky and Jayson – Harvard 4, Princeton 2

    Brown at Yale
    Shawn’s Pick – Yale 4, Brown 2
    Becky and Jayson – Yale 5, Brown 3

    Colgate at Dartmouth
    Shawn’s Pick – Colgate 2, Dartmouth 2, ot
    Becky and Jayson – Dartmouth 4, Colgate 1

    Cornell at Vermont
    Shawn’s Pick – Vermont 4, Cornell 1
    Becky and Jayson – Vermont 3, Cornell 2

    St. Lawrence at Union
    Shawn’s Pick – I gotta go with the Dutch on this one. Union 4, St. Lawrence 3
    Becky and Jayson – St. Lawrence 4, Union 2

    Clarkson at Rensselaer
    Shawn’s Pick – Clarkson 5, Rensselaer 3
    Becky and Jayson – Rensselaer 3, Clarkson 2

    Saturday, January 13

    Harvard at Yale
    Shawn’s Pick – Harvard 3, Yale 3, ot
    Becky and Jayson –     Yale 3, Harvard 2

    Brown at Princeton
    Shawn’s Pick – Princeton 3, Brown 1
    Becky and Jayson – Princeton 6, Brown 2

    Colgate at Vermont
    Shawn’s Pick – Vermont 4, Colgate 2
    Becky and Jayson – Vermont 6, Colgate 4

    Cornell at Dartmouth
    Shawn’s Pick – Dartmouth 2, Cornell 1
    Becky and Jayson – Cornell 3, Dartmouth 2

    St. Lawrence at Rensselaer
    Shawn’s Pick – St. Lawrence 3, Rensselaer 2
    Becky and Jayson – St. Lawrence 4, Rensselaer 3

    Clarkson at Union
    Shawn’s Pick – Sorry, loyalty lies with the Dutch again. Union 4, Clarkson 3
    Becky and Jayson – Clarkson 4, Union 3

    Tuesday, January 16

    UMass-Lowell at Brown
    Shawn’s Pick – Lowell likes these Tuesday games, especially after the Tuesday win over Union. UMass-Lowell 2, Brown 1
    Becky and Jayson – UMass-Lowell 5, Brown 4

    And remember that if you are interested in putting your money where your mouth is, drop us an e-mail to be eligible to be chosen when Shawn bites the dust.

    Thanks to David Sherzer for his contributions this week.

    Ohio State’s Umberger Fourth in CSS Rankings

    By Adam Wodon
    -

    Ohio State freshman R.J. Umberger is the top U.S. College Player ranked in the NHL’s mid-season Central Scouting Service report.

    Umberger is ranked No. 4 among North American skaters, behind major junior players Jason Spezza (Windsor), Stephen Weiss (Plymouth) and Dan Hamhuis (Prince George). Last season, Wisconsin’s Dany Heatley was the first U.S. college player to be ranked No. 1 by the CSS. Heatley ended up being taken No. 2 overall in the June NHL Draft by Atlanta, behind Boston University goalie Rick DiPietro.

    It will be difficult to duplicate last year’s NHL Draft bumper crop, when, in addition to Heatley-DiPietro going 1-2, five other college players went in the first round.

    Umberger, 18, is from Pittsburgh, which already makes him the most accomplished player ever to come from that area.

    “R.J. is a good puckhandler and is always dangerous when he has possession of the puck,” says the CSS report. “[He] has shown the ability to score the big goal and is capable of making big plays in traffic … he is strong on his skates and protects the puck very well … used in all game situations and is frequently played on the power-play and penalty-killing units.”

    The top 240 North American skaters are ranked, plus the top 30 goalies, top 100 European skaters, and top seven European goalies — all in separate lists.

    Defenseman Ryan Whitney, currently with the U.S. Under-18 team and ticketed for BU, is No. 6 on the list. Other college players or recruits among the top 25 are: No. 9 Mike Komisarek (Michigan), No. 21 Rob Globke (Notre Dame), No. 23 Tim Jackman (MSU-Mankato) and No. 25 David Steckel (Ohio State).

    The only American goalie on the list is No. 11 Jason Bacashihua, who is headed to Michigan in the fall. The only U.S. college goalie listed is Findlay’s Kevin Fines at No. 26; Fines is from Sudbury, Ont.

    Other notables including Michigan recruit Eric Nystrom at No. 32, and current Boston College freshman phenom Chuck Kobasew at No. 33. Michigan’s Mike Cammalleri is No. 41, followed by Colorado College’s Colin Stuart (43) and UMass-Amherst’s Scott Horvath (44).

    The complete list can be found at the NHL.com.

    Players such as Whitney and Bacashihua, who will only be 18 years old by this fall, are not actually eligible for the NHL Draft unless they “opt in.” Doing so, however, would relinquish their NCAA eligibility, so that appears unlikely. Most players already in college will be 19, and thus eligible for the draft without having to opt-in or lose their eligibility.

    The exception last year was DiPietro, who was four days short of the cutoff and was considered 18. He had to choose between staying at BU or opting-in, and chose the latter.

    This Week In Women’s Hockey: Jan. 11, 2001

    By Zevi Gutfreund
    -

    Dartmouth Finally Loses in Wacky First Week

    So the Y2K bug didn’t arrive a year late, and Florida hasn’t seceded from the Union since the recount ended a month ago. But that didn’t mean the world of women’s hockey didn’t have a few surprises in the first week of 2001.

    The most shocking news was that No. 1 Dartmouth (10-1-1) no longer has a chance at an unbeaten season. That’s because the Big Green fell to No. 5 Northeastern (11-3-0) at Matthews Arena last Friday.

    Dartmouth fell prey to Northeastern goaltender Erika Silva, who stopped 40 shots en route to her fourth shutout of the season. Silva, who has .935 save percentage and a 2.04 GAA, is one of the most experienced netminders in the nation.

    “Erika possesses extreme confidence in her ability and competes like no one I have ever coached,” said Northeastern coach Joy Woog. “She is technically sound and mentally tough. She is an extremely focused and intense competitor, willing to work hard every day with a ‘never say die’ attitude. She’s the real deal.”

    But No. 2 Minnesota-Duluth (14-4-1) brought Northeastern down to earth (which is pretty cold in Duluth this time of year) when the Huskies traveled to UMD for two games immediately after beating Dartmouth. Silva kept Northeastern close on Sunday, stopping 36 Bulldog shots in a 3-2 loss. But she ran out of steam between the pipes on Monday when she allowed six goals to the country’s highest-scoring offense in less than 30 minutes as UMD steamrolled Northeastern, 12-0.

    This Week

    The schedule does not lighten up for Northeastern, which plays No. 6 Harvard (9-6-0) and No. 7 Brown (7-3-3) on the road this weekend. Brown, which was just 1-2-2 between Thanksgiving and Christmas, combined for 83 shots against Cornell and No. 3 St. Lawrence last weekend. Add the Bears’ improving offense to the steady goaltending of sophomore Pam Dreyer and Brown will be a challenge for Silva and the Huskies, as well as Providence — Northeastern’s travel partner — and rookie goaltender Amy Quinlan.

    Silva and Quinlan should also see plenty of pucks from Harvard, which pelted Cornell and St. Lawrence with 75 shots in as the Crimson went 1-1 last weekend. But other than a strong third period against Cornell, Harvard was held to four goals by the Saints and the Big Red, which allowed Cornell to lead after two periods and St. Lawrence to win at Bright Hockey Center, 3-2.

    St. Lawrence also managed a tie at Brown. In eight games against ranked conference opponents, the Saints have lost just once. That defeat was at home against Harvard, which made St. Lawrence’s victory in Cambridge even more important to the young team’s maturing process.

    “We’re still getting over the hurdle of recognizing that we’re expected to beat good teams on the road,” said St. Lawrence coach Paul Flanagan. “We were nervous playing a team like Harvard and we showed it in the first period. But we settled down, made some adjustments and got the breaks we needed to win the game.”

    The Saints travel to Princeton and Yale this weekend.

    UMass Adds Defenseman

    By
    -

    Defenseman Nick Kuiper has been added to the UMass-Amherst roster and is expected to play this weekend.

    Kuiper (6-foot-2, 185 pounds) was in his second year of playing for the Hawkesbury Hawks in the Central Junior A Hockey League in eastern Ontario. He played 32 games and scored seven goals and 10 assists for 17 points.

    He is currently enrolled in the school and is considered a freshman both academically and athletically.

    “Nick is going to be a good addition to our team,” said Cahoon of the 18-year-old. “He skates real well and has great hockey sense. It is going to be a big adjustment for him both physically and mentally.

    “He will help to add some depth and quickness to our defense.”

    Hockey East Title Tickets On Sale Jan. 19

    By
    -

    Tickets for the Hockey East Championship Tournament will go on sale on Jan. 19 at 11:00 a.m. at the FleetCenter box office and Ticketmaster. Prices will be $15 per seat in the balcony and $25 per seat in the loge.

    Semifinal tickets will include admission to both games taking place on Friday, Mar. 16, at 5 and 8 p.m. Championship tickets will be for the title game on Saturday, Mar. 17, at 7 p.m. Both evenings sold out last season and are likely to follow suit again this year.

    “We were thrilled that the fans responded so enthusiastically to last year’s event,” said Hockey East Commissioner Joe Bertagna. “The electric atmosphere created by the full house served as a fitting complement to the incredible action on the ice. We are really looking forward to sharing another great tournament with all of our fans around New England this year and beyond.”

    Limited discounts will be available to groups of 20 or more and to students with a valid ID from any Hockey East member institution.

    Ticketmaster can be reached by calling (617) 931-2000.

    Rebuilding From Tradition

    By Adam Wodon
    -

    When you look behind the Western Michigan bench during a game, you begin to notice a pattern.

    Jim Culhane, Scott Garrow, Chris Brooks, Brendan Kenny.

    Four young coaches. All four played for, and graduated from, Western Michigan University. What does it mean?

    logos/wmu.gif

    “Personally, I think it helps,” said Culhane, a four-year defenseman for the Broncos from 1983 to 1987 who is in just his second full year as head coach. “We can speak with tears in our eyes, very passionately, about what we’re doing.”

    What they’re doing is trying to turn around a program that had hit rock bottom just two short years ago.

    Western Michigan was an NCAA tournament team in 1996. But things started to go sour shortly thereafter. By 1997-98, the Broncos finished with a CCHA-record 18-game losing streak. The next season wasn’t much better.

    Before the 1998-99 season, a series of minor violations were uncovered, involving-then coach Bill Wilkinson and the players. That came just after a party, with allegations of hazing, at a house being occupied by Mark Wilkinson, a member of the team and the coach’s son. The entire team, including coach Wilkinson, were suspended to varying degrees. By February, with the team’s record at 3-16-6, Wilkinson was let go.

    All of which is the backstory to Culhane’s procession to head coach. As an assistant at the time, he was initially named interim coach. In the summer, he was picked as the full-time replacement.

    It was an odd time for Culhane, taking over for his mentor and friend; someone he played for.

    “Obviously I owe a lot to Bill,” said Culhane. “He gave me my opportunity to play here at Western. I had a fantastic time playing here for Wilkie. We won a CCHA title my junior year. I have a lot of loyalties to Bill. He also gave me the opportunity to get into coaching. I have a lot of respect for him for taking a chance on a kid from Northern Ontario, and taking a chance on me as a member of the [coaching] staff.

    “Yes it was difficult. Yet, knowing the relationship, there was a lot of guidance there. He’s like a father figure.”

    "We’re still trying to build a winning atmosphere and environment. And with winning, you gain respect. That’s what drives you, trying to gain respect."

    — WMU coach Jim Culhane

    Culhane has actually had a lot of coaching role models. After WMU, Culhane had a five-year pro career, mostly in the AHL (plus six games in the NHL with the Hartford Whalers). He got to play for people like Larry Pleau, Jack Evans, Doug Jarvis — all respected coaches.

    “Between those three guys and [current New York Islanders coach] Butch Goring in Capital District, I take a little bit from all those guys,” said Culhane. “And, here [at Western], as a young assistant, the No. 1 assistant was [Cornell head coach] Mike Schafer. Between all those guys, you pick up different things.

    “And the similarities are, they’re all extremely competitive people.”

    That is a trait Culhane never lacked, and it’s something he has been able to instill and reinforce in his players.

    Now, less than two years after taking over, Culhane has Western Michigan riding a tremendous roll, that has them at 16-3-2 overall and ranked No. 5 nationally. The turnaround could cause whiplash, if Culhane, his staff, and the seniors he relies upon weren’t so grounded.

    “When I took over, we didn’t have a timeline or a blueprint of when we could be back on the national scene,” said Culhane. “You’re just looking at trying to build your program. Obviously we’re very pleased about our start, but there’s still half a schedule left. We’re trying to, as a program, get better. That happens in practice.”

    Culhane is getting results out of some key contributors, players he recruited as an assistant, who are now blossoming.

    Steve Rymsha, who, along with Mark Wilkinson, took the brunt of the penalties in the aftermath of those violations two years ago, has 17 goals in 21 games, including five game winners. Fellow senior David Gove centers the top line, and also has 17 goals to go with 25 assists. His three shorthanded goals are tied for first in the nation with four other players.

    Then there’s junior Mike Bishai, the team leader in points with 45, which ranks him No. 2 nationally behind North Dakota’s Jeff Panzer. In Bishai, you’re talking about a true catalyst.

    “Mike reminds me of the point guard on a basketball team,” Culhane said. “He has the ability to move the puck around, and also the ability to shoot that 3-point shot. He has a good shot.”

    None of this includes another 17-goal scorer, freshman Jeff Campbell, the frontrunner for CCHA Rookie of the Year honors. Campbell has 10 power-play goals as part of a five-man unit that includes the aforementioned three upperclassmen, plus defenseman Mike Jarmuth. Campbell and Gove are 1-2 in the nation in power-play goals.

    Watching these five players perform during their time on the ice has really been something special for those lucky enough to see it this year.

    “We get our five most skilled players and put them on the ice and let them figure it out,” Culhane said about his power play. “Their natural instincts take over from there. We give them some things to think about, and let them go from there.”

    Gove

    Gove

    The Broncos are No. 1 in the nation in scoring offense. Gove-Bishai-Rymsha are 1-2-3 in scoring in the CCHA. And the list goes on.

    These numbers jump out at you, and are hard to ignore. Mind you, Gove and Bishai had just 18 goals all of last year, and Gove led the team with 46 points.

    “They developed in our program, they made improvements every year,” Culhane said. “Gove has doubled his point total every year. Rymsha is similar. They have dedicated themselves to be stronger, quicker. … They have bought into the senior leadership and what we’re trying to do with our program. They’ve taken ownership of the program.”

    However, according to Culhane, despite all those lofty totals, none of it is the key to the Broncos’ resurgence.

    “The thing that excites me,” said Culhane, “is reducing our goals against from last year, and also improving on penalty killing. Last year, we were last in penalty killing. As coaches, we looked at it in the spring, and we thought, if we could improve in those two areas, we can win a lot of hockey games.”

    Right now, Western Michigan is fourth in the CCHA with an 83.7 percent penalty kill. The team has allowed 60 goals, which is nothing like Michigan State’s obscenely low 28, but is nothing to sneeze at either for a team that gave up 137 last year.

    The defense is clearly the flip side to the Broncos’ offense, and it’s the part of the game molded more in the image of their head coach than the high-finesse, creative forwards.

    Culhane was a big, bruising defenseman. During most of his four years, he played alongside Wayne Gagne, a Hobey Baker Award runner-up during his senior year, and the one with the finesse in that defense pairing. Culhane scored nine goals his senior year, but coach Wilkinson didn’t waste much time making sure Culhane knew his real role.

    “Wilkie told me, my job was to get the puck to Wayne,” Culhane said. “Wilkie recruited me just to protect this kid.”

    The game was different then. Borderline brawls weren’t uncommon.

    With Culhane in charge of the Broncos, no one doubts his team has taken on the image of its coach. But, some have said that includes more than his competitive philosophy, and crossed the line at times into chippiness. A post-game brawl with Alabama-Huntsville earlier this season didn’t help matters.

    So, for all the finesse up front, is this really a “dirty” team?

    “I hope not. I don’t want to be known like that,” said Culhane. “I want to be known as a team who puts forechecking pressure on your defense. We’re not dirty in nature. There’s no checking from behind or hitting after the whistle.

    “There was the unfortunate incident against UAH. There was a celebration on our net in an overtime against us, and it ended in both benches being cleared. But nothing more.”

    Of course, then there’s Brian Pasko, the freshman defenseman who has racked up over 120 penalty minutes already this season, including 30 on one play in a game against Merrimack. He has been, shall we say, an aggressive player.

    “Too much so. … It’s only his fourth year of competitive hockey. His passion for the game, his willingness to compete, is what excited us,” said Culhane. “It’s an education process. In junior hockey, you can drop the gloves. He’s learning what the college game is all about. There’s going to be some bumps along the way.”

    To be fair, every up-and-coming team, especially those that don’t have the resources to recruit the blue-chippers of say, Michigan and Michigan State, find themselves digging for those character players — the types that are willing to go through a wall to win, even if they don’t always have the most raw ability. Inevitably, as they get some success, many of those teams also get an unfair label.

    “We look for a kid that can get up and down the ice,” Culhane said. “We want a willingness to compete, whether that’s hockey or playing cards. We look for young men with good hockey sense. If you can get those three attributes, you are doing well.

    “We like to try to turn the puck over, whether that’s by stick positioning or getting in there quickly, having to play the body, we’ll do that. It’s similiar to full-court press in basketball. People have called us up-tempo, but we’re not sitting back.”

    And, perhaps, Western Michigan is gaining in the recruiting wars because of it.

    “Maybe because of our start this year, maybe we’re getting more attention than before. But to say we’re landing that top blue-chip recruit that BU or Michigan has been landing, we’re not to that level. Obviously we compete against those schools, but they have a lot of resources that we don’t have. We’re trying to build something like that.”

    Part of building that is making improvements to their facility. When looking at other smaller programs that have been able to compete nationally, Culhane points to the buildings that Lake Superior State, Northern Michigan and Nebraska-Omaha have.

    “Lake Superior, look what they’ve done with their facility,” Culhane said. “Nebraska-Omaha, Northern Michigan. We look to what other programs do and try some legalized plagiarism. You have your own niche.

    “We’re addressing [facility] enhancements, improvements. I’ve talked with the president and AD. Eventually we’ll see some.”

    There are a number of reasons for the Broncos to hold out from making reservations in Albany. Or even in Detroit in March, for that matter. Teams not used to winning so regularly can have their inexperience exposed suddenly in the postseason. And critics point to Western’s schedule, which has yet to see Michigan, and includes a tie in the only meeting so far with Michigan State.

    Culhane understands that. He knows his team still has a lot to prove. But, he also sees the schedule building to a crescendo, which may be following along perfectly with how his team is reacting, too. When it needed to get confidence early, it was playing lesser teams. As the team grew in confidence, it has kept on pace with the increasing difficulty of the schedule.

    It would seem to bode well for the Broncos.

    “By winning, you continue with that,” said Culhane. “We’re still trying to build a winning atmosphere and environment. And with winning, you gain respect. That’s what drives you, trying to gain respect.”

    Between the Lines

    By Adam Wodon
    -

    Last column, we discussed the classic 1997 Michigan-BU semifinal, and fawned over how many future NHL players were in that game. With close to 1,000 NHL games recorded by players who participated in that matchup, it’s an average of over 300 per year.

    We then started looking for other Frozen Four games where the combatants had better totals, and found the 1991 BU-Northern Michigan final. A silly computational error subtracted 1,000 games from the total, yet still beat the 1997 contest in average NHL games played per season. The correct total should have been 4,071, for an average of 452 games over nine years.

    However, thanks to a number of dedicated readers also with too much time on their hands, a new champion has been discovered: The 1982 NCAA Final between North Dakota and Wisconsin.

    This game featured a mind-blowing 20 future NHL players, totalling 9,565 games over 18 years. That’s an average of 531.5 NHL games played per year, with Chris Chelios and James Patrick still playing.

    Here’s the breakdown: North Dakota (5,776): Craig Ludwig (1,256); Patrick (1,064), Troy Murray (914), Dave Tippett (721), Rick Zombo (652), Phil Sykes (456), Jon Casey (425), Dave Donnelly (137), Gord Sherven (97), Darren Jensen (30), Jim Archibald (16) and Dan Brennan (8). Wisconsin (3,789): Chelios (1,170), Bruce Driver (922), Brian Mullen (832), Patrick Flatley (780), Marc Behrend (38), John Newberry (22), Phil Houck (16), John Johannson (5) and Terry Kleisinger (4).

    Wow!

    Bergene writes, “For my money, that year was the all-time high in talent for college hockey, in the West at least, and the NHL stats would seem to bear that out. … The average games per year of 531 would be higher if we measured just the first 10 year or 12 years, which is a more typical pro career than 18 years.”

    Which brings up a good point. Somewhere along the line, on both ends of the spectrum, this average games per year figure may not be a reliable barometer. What we now need is some sort of statistics major to do, like, a regression analysis, or something.

    Hvinden, a North Dakota supporter, writes, “In addition to being a game full of future pros, this was one of my early favorite games. I remember watching the game on ESPN as an eight year old. [In] 1982, North Dakota and Wisconsin is the rivalry. The schools are in the third year of a four-year run where they will trade off NCAA titles. Fights of this era are legendary. One of the future pros listed is Jim Archibald, UND and WCHA career penalty minute leader (540).”

    Which also may be the NCAA mark, though those kinds of records are incomplete.

    By the way, another candidate — mentioned by reader Steve Gruhn — was the 1985 semifinal between RPI and Minnesota-Duluth, with players like Brett Hull, Norm Maciver, Adam Oates and Darren Puppa. That game totalled 4,463 NHL games over 12 players in 15 years, or 297.5 per year.

    Did we mention Jim Archibald?

    Have you seen the kind of penalty minute numbers being put up by Western Michigan’s Brian Pasko? The freshman defenseman has apparently not been reminded that he went to college, not juniors.

    "It’s an education process. In junior hockey, you can drop the gloves. He’s learning what the college game is all about."

    — WMU coach Jim Culhane on defenseman Brian Pasko

    In a recent game against Merrimack, Pasko put up 30 penalty minutes on the same play. A misconduct a weekend seems pretty regular for him.

    Pasko’s penalty minutes are now approaching 130. As a matter of comparison, those pacifists at Alaska-Anchorage have 212 PIMs as a team through 18 games.

    Western Michigan coach Jim Culhane, certainly no choir boy in his day, has nonetheless been trying to control Pasko.

    “We love his passion for the game, and his willingness to compete is what excited us,” Culhane says.

    Pasko has only been playing organized hockey for four years, three of them in the Jr. A NAHL with the Chicago Freeze. Therefore, he’s only known the junior style of play.

    “It’s an education process,” says Culhane. “In junior hockey, you can drop the gloves. He’s learning what the college game is all about. There’s going to be some bumps along the way.”

    No good records exists on the all-time single season, or career, NCAA mark for penalty minutes. But, as mentioned earlier, Archibald has to be a candidate. His single-season high was 197 in 1984-85. And, according to WCHA media relations director Doug Spencer, statistics at that time did not include game misconducts as 10 penalty minutes.

    In 1992-93, Ohio State’s Craig Patterson had 164 minutes in league games alone.

    So, it appears Pasko has a long way to go. But, my guess is Culhane reels him in long before then.

    To Russia With Glove

    Another exciting World Junior tournament has come and gone, and not even a yawn is heard below the 49th Paralell.

    logos/worlds2000.gif

    Americans are missing good hockey.

    The United States had a solid 3-1 record in Group play at this year’s tournament in Moscow, losing only to the Czech Republic. Unfortunately, as the No. 2 seed, the U.S. was matched up against Canada, which was third in Group B. Again, the Canadians stymied the U.S., winning 2-1 in the quarterfinals despite getting off only 15 shots on net.

    So, another year without a medal for the Americans, but they had a respectable tournament nonetheless under new head coach Keith Allain, a former goalie at Yale. Some players that stood out were Michigan’s Andy Hilbert, RPI’s Marc Cavosie and Providence’s Jonathan DiSalvatore.

    Yale coach Tim Taylor, who Allain once played under, was an assistant with the U.S. team this time around. He thought, despite the disappointment of not winning a medal, Team USA did extremely well.

    Taylor

    Taylor

    “We had an outstanding tournament,” Taylor says. “We were 1-1 with Canada and lost on a late power-play goal, we were 1-1 with the Czechs and lost on a 5-on-3 goal.

    “[Keith] had the kids prepared with the frustrations of this kind of event. We didn’t let the little things bother us. Clearly any one of six or possibly seven teams could’ve won the gold medal. It’s obviously a short-term event. You have to execute almost flawlessly at the right time. There’s no opportunity to make adjustments, you have to go with your game plan and be well prepared.”

    The U.S. has been frustrated in recent years. After finishing second in 1997, the team failed to win a medal in the next three years, losing a shootout to Canada in the bronze-medal game in 2000. That ended Jeff Jackson’s four-year run as head coach of the team.

    Jackson was picked to lead the U.S. National Developmental Program in 1996, a job that included coaching the World Junior team. He was let go this spring following an eighth-place finish in the World Under-18 Tournament. The coaching duties were then split, with Mike Eaves picked to run the NDP and coach the Under-18 team, Moe Mantha selected as the Under-17 team coach (which just won a gold medal), and Allain picked to coach the World Junior team.

    The U.S. is still struggling with defining itself, and with the challenges inherant in the tournament.

    “I think our kids are able to play up tempo, and we have the individual skils to be a strong contender every year,” Taylor says. “The challenge is to match the strong collective game our opponents [have]. You have to build a team for international play capable of collective play. It’s the trouble the Russian team had this year.”

    One of the criticisms Jackson faced was that, by being in charge of the National Development Program, he tended to overlook non-NDP players when it came time to picking the World Junior team.

    “Clearly because of international experience and the preparation that the national program provides, a lot of these kids were very well prepared mentally and physically for the World Junior tournament,” says Taylor, “but also, arguably, our steadiest defenseman and top forward weren’t involved in the program. It’s still a matter of putting a team together. Not all of our players go to Ann Arbor for whatever reason, and we still have to use our whole pool.

    “There was a familiarity Jeff had because he had a lot of the kids all year, but there’s also fresh perspective that Keith had this time. So each way can be good.”

    Taylor was clearly proud of the job his former pupil, Allain, did in the few weeks he had the group together.

    “To win final the final two games without being in medal contention, those are games when discipline and morale are eroded,” Taylor says. “Keith didn’t let that happen.

    “I was very, very proud of him. He did a marvelous job pushing the right buttons. There’s not a kid who I think will say they didn’t have a positive experience. They were proud to play hard for their country.”

    Away for the Holidays

    Also coming and going were those holiday tournaments. Fun, as usual, even if they don’t really mean much beyond bragging rights. But, it’s good to get those non-conference games in so teams can measure up where they stand nationally.

    Michigan was missing some top players to the World Junior tournament, but I still don’t think anyone expected the Wolverines to get spanked by Michigan Tech.

    Tech then went out and pushed Michigan State to the limit, before the top-ranked Spartans won in overtime.

    Are there any more doubters to how much coaching means in collegiate athletics? Mike Sertich has completely changed the attitude around at Tech in one month.

    Minnesota and Wisconsin both won the tournaments they host every year, which happens less frequently in recent years than you might think.

    And Vermont put up a pair of impressive wins at the Dartmouth-hosted Auld Lang Syne Tournament. The Catamounts are now 9-5-1, including 5-1-1 in the ECAC.

    For whatever you think about Vermont and its recent troubles — and this column was certainly critical of the administration’s handling of the hazing situation — you have to love what coach Mike Gilligan and the team itself are doing. And the fans, among the best and loudest in college hockey, acted admirably through it all, not making excuses for what happened, but sticking by their team nonetheless.

    I’ve never missed an opportunity to go to Gutterson Fieldhouse, especially during the St. Louis-Perrin era, two players that remain as my all-time favorite players to watch.

    The only thing inexplicable about Vermont’s season so far is those two losses at home during the Thanksgiving tournament against Minnesota-Duluth and MSU-Mankato. At the time, you wondered if the Catamounts’ league record was a mirage. At what point now do we just say that weekend was an abberation?

    I’d suspect there are still many who need to be convinced. The beauty of it is, we’ll find out.

    Canisius

    I wish more could be known about the Canisius situation, and last month’s suspension of coach Brian Cavanaugh for hitting a player. But, everyone has been incredibly tight-lipped about it.

    Cavanaugh

    Cavanaugh

    All we know is, Cavanaugh admits to hitting freshman defenseman Matt Coulter on the head with a stick during practice. He says it was a light tap to get his attention. The kid’s father says he nailed him pretty good, causing a concussion. The administration suspended Cavanaugh, and he apologized. The school won’t talk now, shielding themselves being the privacy rights of students.

    Some can insinuate that this is a “Bobby Knight thing.” Others can claim this another case of an overzealous parent causing a problem where none existed. I can say which way I lean, but I can’t really know. If we weren’t there, do we really know what happened?

    What we do know is, Cavanaugh, unlike Knight, has no history of this kind of thing. We also know that Coulter’s father has zero evidence of a concussion, despite his claims that the player was checked out by two school doctors (the school’s training staff said they were told not to comment).

    And, right now, no one knows Coulter’s status. He was the only player not to go on the team’s trip to Huntsville, Ala. for the team’s holiday tournament there. But, technically, he’s still on the team.

    We suspect some sort of haggling with the kid’s father may be going on behind the scenes.

    As usual, all any of this is doing is hurting the kid.

    Things that Make You Go Hmmm…

    Then you have this other coaching controversey. Wisconsin-Eau Claire was down 9-1 in a game against Augsburg. The Blugolds’ coach, Marlin Muylaert, felt his team was getting the short end of things from the officials all night in a particularly chippy game. UWEC was called for over 90 minutes in penalties, while Augsburg had only 30.

    Whether his beef was legitimate or not, is irrelevant to what followed.

    Muylaert pulled his goalie, allowing Augsburg to score two goals. The 11-1 score caused the MIAC’s 10-goal rule to kick in, which sends the game to running time. Muylaert then pulled his team from the ice, forcing the officials to call delay of game penalties. Eventually, with the clock still ticking, the game was officially forfeited to Augsburg.

    Eau Claire is a member of the NCHA, but that league shares officials with the MIAC.

    Various hockey people expressed their outrage at Muylaert’s actions, accusing him of making a mockery of the game and showing no class. Muylaert said he knew there would be repurcussions from what he did, but he believed he did what he had to do.

    Muylaert was suspended.

    The situation really speaks for itself, and so not much else has to be said. But, this also brought to light the MIAC’s 10-goal, running time rule. It’s only been used in a handful of MIAC games over the years, and not many people outside of the league knew it even existed.

    A lot of people were just as shocked and appalled at this, as anything else.

    For sure, it is pretty silly. In organized NCAA athletics, to have a mercy rule, seems pretty odd to me, more than anything. But I’m not sure if I’d go so far as to be appalled by it, or even upset.

    Heck, I’ve been at many games where I was praying for running time.

    And really, is it any more preposterous than playing 4-on-4 in overtime, and awarding one point to the loser. Or shootouts. Arbitrary rule tinkering like that raises my ire a lot more than running time.

    Oh, baby!

    This past summer, my wife and I bought our first house. We also had our first child. Nearly seven months later, the jury is still out on which gives me more angst and pleasure. Let’s break it down:

    The house gets soiled, you clean it. The baby get soiled, it really stinks, and then you clean it.
    EDGE: House

    When I come home, the baby meets me with a smile that can make you cry. The house greets me with a pile of bills in the mailbox that make me cry.
    EDGE: Baby

    The house has a 30-year mortgage, but most people only stay for seven years before going through it again. The baby is your responsibility for at least 18 years, assuming it doesn’t run away from home. Of course, you are likely to have more than one at a time.
    EDGE: Even

    One day, I’ll teach the kid to play hockey. But, his mother will tell us not to play in the house.
    EDGE: Baby

    About 14 trips to Home Depot, and I still need some more paint, a couple caulking guns, one of those stud finder gizmos, and I think some ball bearings. Meanwhile, 27 trips to the grocery store for diapers, baby food, ora-jel, some sort of lotion and some gauze pads. Neither one really ever ends.
    EDGE: Even

    Every now and then, that back door creeks and slams when the wind blows. Babies cry.
    EDGE: House

    My kid gets a virus. My house gets ants.
    EDGE: Baby

    One day, I hope to sell the house for a profit. … It still won’t be enough to pay for the kid’s college.
    EDGE: House

    Some time in the next decade, the smart home will become a reality (check out Echelon, NASDAQ: ELON … full disclosure: Yes, I own stock, thank you very much). But that day isn’t here yet. Every day, the baby learns something new. He’s utterly fascinated by it, and I’m utterly fascinated watching it.
    EDGE: Baby

    Final Tally: Baby, 4; House, 3; Even, 2

    I guess in the end, that wonderful thing known as “raising children” is really what it’s all about, isn’t it?

    SUNYAC Newsletter: Jan. 10, 2001

    By
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    Mixed Results For Sunyac Teams As They Slowly Return To Action

    Plattsburgh, Potsdam, and Cortland all won twice as they returned to action in the new millennium. However, only Cortland didn’t lose a game, defeating Humber College, 4-3, and Hamilton College, 4-1; both Plattsburgh’s and Potsdam’s wins were sandwiched around losses. For Plattsburgh that was a crushing 8-2 defeat at the hands of RIT amidst beating Hobart, 5-2, and Norwich, 4-3. Potsdam lost to New England College, 3-1, thanks to a former Bear goaltender, but beat Plymouth State, 8-1, and Manhattanville, 4-2. In the only other action since the break, Brockport lost to New England, 9-3.

    Team-By-Team Report

    PLATTSBURGH (Ranked No. 5) — The Cardinals have stumbled a bit in midseason — they have gone 2-2 in their last four games due to a split in their own tournament and a victory over Norwich. Plattsburgh State opened the tournament with a 5-2 victory over Hobart, a game even till the third period (in fact, the final shots on goal ended up 32 apiece) before Plattsburgh scored four goals in the final eight minutes to overcome a one-goal deficit. Rob Retter scored early in the first, but Hobart tied it midway through the period. The 1-1 score stayed that way until Hobart notched a power-play goal early in the third period. Mark Coletta helped the Cardinals get untracked by scoring the next two goals, followed by a late goal by Brian Toussaint and an empty-netter by Jeff Hopkins. Niklas Sundberg made 30 saves. Plattsburgh then faced soon to be number-one RIT, and got pounded, 8-2. RIT was up 6-0 before Hopkins scored, and 7-1 when Joe Dolci scored. Both goals came in the second period. Finally, the Cardinals bounced back strong against Norwich in a 4-3 triumph. Plattsburgh jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first on a pair of goals by Dolci and one by Coletta. However, Norwich would score twice before the period was over to make a game of it. Tyler Keenan scored early in the second, and that would hold up despite a third-period goal by Norwich. Sundberg made 28 saves. Plattsburgh was 3-for-6 on the power play. This week, the Cardinals continue facing tough competition as they travel to Elmira.

    OSWEGO (Ranked No. 10) — The Great Lakers don’t return to action until they host Manhattanville on Friday.

    POTSDAM (Ranked No. 9) — At first glance, one would think Potsdam State should not have lost to New England College, but a closer look at the situation makes it obvious why the upset occurred. First, Potsdam was busy using Plymouth State for shooting practice. The Bears unleashed 70 shots on net en route to a 8-1 win as Brendon Knight got two goals and an assist and Mike McCabe and Chris Hesse each notched one goal and two assists. Other goal-scorers were Sean Darke, Dave Weagle, Nick Eagan, and Joe Munn, and Chris Lee got three assists. Todd Manley made 17 saves, while Matt O’Connor played 10 minutes but never saw a shot. Then came New England College and their goaltender, Ryan Thomson — yes, the same Ryan Thomson who just a year ago was the Bears’ top goaltender. Potsdam brought in a new recruit, and Thomson decided to go elsewhere. The result seems to indicate he was pumped for this game, making 28 saves and letting in just one goal (Mike Smitko) to upset his former team, 3-1. Todd Manley played well, stopping 24 shots while letting in only two goals (the last was an empty-netter), but the day belonged to Thomson. Then, like Plattsburgh, the Bears bounced back, defeating Manhattanville, 4-2. Mike McCabe and Joe Wlodarczyk each scored twice and Ryan Venturelli made 31 saves for the win. Potsdam takes a rest this week.

    FREDONIA — The Blue Devils come off their semester break with an exhibition game at Humber College and then a contest at top-ranked RIT.

    GENESEO — The Ice Knights will return to action this week with one home game against Elmira.

    BUFFALO STATE — The Bengals must be eager to return to action after ending the last semester on such a high. They have a pair of games at Milwaukee School of Engineering.

    CORTLAND — The Red Dragons started the second semester on the right foot with two wins, an exhibition victory over Humber College, 4-3, and an upset over Hamilton College, 4-1. The Humber game was a see-saw battle as Cortland State jumped out to a very early lead on a goal by Mike Rivara. After Humber took a 2-1 lead, Matt Donskov tied it up on a power-play tally. Humber again took a one-goal lead midway through the third period before Jeff Olsen came to the rescue, scoring twice in a 1:04 span, both while the teams skated 4-on-4 in the waning minutes of the game, to snatch the win. John Larnerd and Mark Paine split duties in net. Next, the victory over Hamilton came despite Cortland only getting 15 shots on goal. Greg Menchen scored twice in the second period, including a shorthander, sandwiched around the lone Hamilton goal. Donskov also scored in the middle stanza while Shawn Jensen added an empty-netter to seal the win. Larnerd made 30 saves. Cortland plays at RIT, then hosts Manhanttanville the following day.

    BROCKPORT — On paper, Brockport State may have had a chance against New England College. However, when you commit 36 minutes in penalties, and allow the opposition to score three power-play goals on six opportunities and two 4-on-4 goals, you’re not going to win, and they didn’t, dropping a 9-3 decision. New England was up 2-0 when Brandon Marineau scored to end the first period. New England than jumped out to a 5-1 lead before Stephen Howard stopped the bleeding to end the second. Kenny Daleo got the final Brockport goal in the third period. Adding insult to injury, Brockport loses the services of its outstanding first year goalie, Tom Payment, who was ruled academically ineligible, Christian Christensen, their fourth-leading scorer (and Brockport’s top scorer in conference play) decided to leave school, and Adam Prescott, their fifth-leading scorer, is out for the season with a dislocated elbow. The Golden Eagles try to regroup at Hobart.

    Upcoming Game Of The Week

    We’re going to go with two games this week: one obvious, one not. The obvious one is Plattsburgh at Elmira. If you need to ask why, you haven’t been following Division III college hockey very long.

    The not-so-obvious one is Manhattanville at Cortland. Both teams are looking to gain credibility in their respective conferences, so it will be interesting to see how they do against each other. The only downside to this contest is that Cortland may come in beat up from its game the night before against RIT.

    ECAC West Newsletter: Jan. 10, 2001

    By
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    Holiday Tournament Sweep For ECAC West

    It was a solid holiday season for the ECAC West as Elmira and RIT both took top honors in holiday tournaments. Hobart played a great game against Plattsburgh, but lost the contest and the follow-on game with Colby. Manhattanville stumbled after the break against Potsdam.

    Team-By-Team Report

    RIT: Five for five — that’s what RIT has done this year in tournament play. Five tournaments, five trophies to take home and put on the shelf. With the success comes the No. 1 ranking in the USCHO.com poll, along with a big target squarely on the Tigers’ backs.

    The latest piece of hardware came from the Pepsi Cardinal Classic in Plattsburgh. The Tigers opened the tournament against Colby and came right out of the gates early as Jerry Galway, Sam Hill, and Jonathan Day all notched tallies by midway through the first period to give the Tigers the 3-0 lead. Colby tucked in a shorthander, but the Tigers ripped off the next four goals and were coasting with a 7-1 lead by the middle of the second period. RIT eventually won by an 8-2 score. Peter Bournazakis had two goals, while Sam Hill and Mike Tarantino contributed a goal and two assists each.

    The Tigers then got the matchup against Plattsburgh in the championship game that they were looking for. Territorially, the first period was pretty even, but RIT took advantage of every opportunity presented it, especially on special teams. Derek Hahn scored shorthanded just 6:14 in to the game to get RIT rolling. Jerry Galway (power play), Mike Tarantino (4-on-4), and Sam Hill all scored in the first period to give RIT the 4-0 lead.

    The Tigers were nervous about the possibility of Plattsburgh staging a big comeback — as happened last year, when the Cardinals overcame a 4-1 third period deficit to defeat RIT 5-4. But the Tigers kept the momentum rolling this time. Peter Bournazakis and Galway tallied by the 10:24 mark to build RIT’s lead to 6-0. The Cardinals finally got on the board, but Peter Bournazakis answered at 16:34 to maintain the advantage. Plattsburgh scored later in the second period, but Jonathan Day put the final nail in to the coffin just 31 seconds into the third period to give RIT the 8-2 win. Tyler Euverman earned tournament MVP honors with a 37-save performance, while Galway, Peter Bournazakis, and Tarantino were also named to the All-Tourney team.

    Next up for RIT are two home games against SUNYAC opponents Cortland and Fredonia.

    ELMIRA: The Soaring Eagles found a piece of coal in their stocking for Christmas this year as standout freshman defender Lawne Snyder lost his academic eligibility for the remainder of the season. Snyder had seven goals and seven assists in only 11 games, including five power-play goals, and his loss weakens an already-thin Elmira defensive corps, not good news for an Elmira team that has been up and down all season.

    But even with the bad news from Santa, Elmira had a successful trip to the Codfish Bowl tournament in Boston December 29 and 30. The Soaring Eagles opened up with a score-fest against St. Anselm’s, winning 10-6. St. Anselm’s jumped on the board first with two quick shorthanded goals just 3:52 in to the game.

    “St. A’s has some pretty talented forwards. They got two quick ones shorthanded on us,” said coach Glenn Thomaris. “But we came back from that and built to the win from there.”

    Jay Zanleoni and Eddie Caissie notched first-period goals for Elmira to get back in the game, and Elmira then got three goals in the second period by Mike Hulbig, Jason Silverthorn, and Dean Jackson to take the lead. But St. Anselm’s wasn’t done yet as two quick goals late in the second period pulled them back within a single goal.

    The puck bounced Elmira’s way early in the third period, a rarity so far this season. Ryan Baker notched a pair, Jay Sirios and Clark McPherson each chipped in one, and Elmira was back to a comfortable 9-4 lead. St. A’s made it interesting with two more goals before Bob Siewert closed the door with 4:30 remaining. Elmira won by a final score of 10-6.

    Elmira met UMass-Boston in the championship game and the offensive onslaught continued as Elmira won 8-2. Mike Clarke opened the festivities just 2:13 in, and Dean Jackson chipped in two more to give Elmira a 3-0 lead. UMass-Boston made a game of it with two goals midway through the second period, but the Soaring Eagle offense more than met the challenge, rattling off five unanswered goals. Dean Jackson finished off his hat trick, combined with two assists, for a five-point night.

    Steve Kaye and Jackson were named to the Codfish Bowl All-Tournament team, while Pierre Rivard earned MVP honors. Kaye also earned the Lawrence Curran Award, given to the player who best combines good sportsmanship and good play on the ice.

    Elmira’s only game this past week was hosting Wentworth, coming off a huge tie at Middlebury.

    “It was important for us to jump on them early,” said Thomaris, and that was exactly what Elmira did. Kenny Keil scored just 31 seconds in, and Jay Sirios added another goal at 3:01, on the way to a 6-2 victory. Once again, Dean Jackson led the way on offense with two goals and one assist.

    Elmira opens this week at Geneseo, and then hosts Plattsburgh on Saturday. “We have now gone in to our SUNYAC stretch, which is always a tough stretch in our schedule,” said Thomaris.

    MANHANTTANVILLE: The Valiants had their four-game winning streak snapped by Potsdam last Saturday, losing 4-2. Potsdam took a quick lead just 2:35 in to the game. Manhattanville fought back and got the equalizer at 17:18 with a goal by Damon Iannillo. Potsdam retook the lead with two straight goals in the second period. The Valiants were able to chip away at the lead late in the second period when Bill Cummings scored unassisted. But 3-2 was as close as Manhattanville could get. Potsdam scored an insurance goal with just 44 seconds remaining in the game to seal the Valiants’ fate.

    Manhattanville has a busy week ahead as it tries to get back on the winning ways. The Valiants have a midweek tilt against Lebanon Valley, and then weekend games at Oswego and at Cortland.

    HOBART: Hobart came oh-so-close to pulling off a huge upset in the opening round of the Pepsi Cardinal Classic against Plattsburgh. The Statesmen played extremely disciplined, both defensively and in staying out of penalty trouble, and the dividends were apparent throughout the game. Plattsburgh went up 1-0 with an early goal in the first period, but Hobart’s Matt Pane tied it up midway through the period.

    The Statesmen stuck with the game plan as the game moved through the second period and in to the third still tied 1-1. Chris Doolan redirected a slapshot from the point for the go-ahead goal at 4:45 of the third period. The power-play tally put Hobart up 2-1, and all of Stafford Arena began to wonder if David really could slay Goliath. Alas, it wasn’t to be as Plattsburgh notched a goal at 12:27 to tie the game, and then swarmed the Hobart net relentlessly. The Cardinals notched two more quick goals, and added an empty-netter to send Hobart to the consolation game with a 5-2 loss.

    After the tough loss to Plattsburgh, Hobart’s heart just wasn’t in the consolation game against Colby. After a quick 1-0 Hobart lead on a goal by Greg Reynholds. The White Mules picked it up from there and converted on some not-so-smart Hobart penalties, going 5-for-10 on the power play, and eventually defeated Hobart 7-2.

    “I was a little worried about playing two tough games back to back right after break,” said coach Mark Taylor. “I don’t think our legs held up as well in the Colby game as I had hoped for.” Eric Christianson notched the other Hobart goal.

    This week is a little easier for the Statesman. Their only game of the week is at home against a struggling Brockport team.

    Game Of The Week

    Elmira looks to finally be on a roll after an up-and-down first half of the season, and a six-game winning streak has the Soaring Eagles’ fans hopeful. However, the level of competition over the last couple of wins wasn’t as tough as the teams Elmira faced earlier in the season.

    Has Elmira really turned the corner? Is this the beginning of a wave of wins that the Soaring Eagles can ride towards the NCAAs? This Saturday’s game against Plattsburgh may very well answer those questions. The Cardinals are reeling after a loss to RIT, and Elmira is looking to avenge a 5-2 loss earlier this season to Plattsburgh. If Elmira can beat Plattsburgh this time around, they will be able to put that corner behind them once and for all.

    Special Walsh Jerseys to be Auctioned On-line

    By
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    The North Dakota jerseys worn during its Oct. 13 game with Maine — each bearing the name “Walsh” in honor of Black Bear coach Shawn Walsh — will be auctioned online at Hockeyeastonline.com to benefit the Coaches Foundation.

    Walsh

    Walsh

    The auction will run from 8 a.m., Jan. 19 to noon, Jan. 25 and will be based on jersey number. Bids begin at a minimum of $150. Individuals may bid on multiple jerseys but will be limited to winning only one.

    The Coaches Foundation is a charitable organization set up to serve as a resource for coaches who might need financial help in the face of devastating illness. Although initiated during Walsh’s fight with kidney cancer, it is designed to assist any coaches in such need. It is the official charity of the American Hockey Coaches Association.

    “Shawn wanted to get [something] going, he was just trying to find the right way to do it,” said Joe Bertagna, Executive Director of the AHCA and commissioner of Hockey East. “Doing this on-line seems like the perfect way.

    “The irony is, [North Dakota coach] Dean Blais’ daughter has [since] been diagnosed with leukemia. So you just never know.”

    D-II Passes Amateurism Deregulation; D-I Next?

    By Adam Wodon
    -

    In a monumental shift in NCAA eligibility standards, Division II delegates at the annual NCAA Convention, passed legislation on Monday deregulating amateurism.

    The delegates enacted the legislation by a 217-29-2 vote.

    The vote came on the same day Division I delegates were discussing a similar package aimed at changing the definition of amateurism. This was the last opportunity for the entire membership to discuss the topic before the Management Council meeting in April, where a vote is scheduled.

    The amateurism deregulation package, which has been tweaked for almost two years since the original proposal, and was first discussed on USCHO last fall, would change the definition of amateurism from one based on whether someone was compensated for their play, to one based upon the amount of competition someone has participated in.

    These proposals have far-reaching impacts on all sports, not the least of which is ice hockey.

    Monday’s session was dominated by football and basketball officials, concerned about how the new proposals would affect their sport.

    “The forum was to give our member schools an opportunity to voice their opinions and perhaps make suggestions on what the approach should be,” said NCAA spokesperson Jane Jankowski.

    The deregulation package would affect students who have yet to enroll in college. The so-called pre-enrollment package would allow prospective student athletes to:

  • Accept prize money based on place finish
  • Enter a professional draft and be drafted
  • Sign a contract for athletics participation
  • Accept compensation for athletics participation
  • Compete with professionals; and
  • Accept educational expenses in specific situations

    • Jankowski said it is possible this package could be split and voted upon separately.

    The NCAA’s Subcommittee on Amateurism and Agents was in charge with coming up with the initial proposals. After a two-year study, it concluded that accepting money and being drafted, for example, does not, in itself, constitute an unfair competitive advantage. Instead, they concluded, the standard for eligibility should be based upon the time spent playing competitively in that sport.

    Initially, that meant the clock would start ticking on a player from the time they were 18. But the impact on hockey would have been enormous, moreso than most sports. It meant that any player going to the USHL for two years, would have to sit two years before playing in college and only have two years of eligibility remaining.

    After meeting with hockey officials, the NCAA’s subcommittee included an amendment giving a one-year waiver to prep school players, and two-year waiver to Jr. A players.

    Nonetheless, the proposal would still have far-reaching impacts on hockey, because this would mean that major junior players — as of now considered professionals by NCAA standards — would be able to leave at will to come to college, without any penalty (assuming it was before 18 years old).

    However, hockey people could not reach a consensus on whether this was good or bad for college hockey. Thus, another amendment was passed this summer, saying that a major junior player who wants to enter college, has to sit out a year and lose a year of eligibility for each season of major juniors he played, effectively, in this specific instance, erasing the intent of the amateurism proposal.

    Vote For Hobey Enters Second Phase

    USCHO Staff Report
    -

    The second phase of fan balloting for the 2001 Hobey Baker Award is now under way via the Internet at U.S. College Hockey Online.

    Through the Vote For Hobey process, college hockey fans have the unique opportunity to participate in choosing the candidates, the finalists and, ultimately, the winner of the presitgious Hobey Baker Award. Phase one was the Nominating Phase; players needed at least 25 nominations to advance to this Finalist Selection phase.

    Registered voters can now cast one ballot per day for their first, second and third choices from among the 40 candidates determined in the nominating phase, and track the progress on-line.

    Fans are casting ballots along with the 60 Division I college hockey head coaches. The cumulative winners of the fan voting will receive a percentage of the final tally in determining the Top Ten Finalists. That list of elite players will be announced on Thursday, March 15.

    Presented annually to the top men’s collegiate hockey player in the U.S., the Hobey Baker Award is college hockey’s top individual prize.

    In the final round of balloting, running from March 16-28, registered voters can, once per day, cast their ballots ranking their candidates one through five. The top selection from the fans will join the ballots from the Selection Committee (comprised of college hockey personal, pro scouts and media) in determining the 2001 Hobey Baker Award winner. The award recipient will be announced in a live telecast from the NCAA Frozen Four Tournament in Albany, N.Y. on Friday, April 6, 2001.

    The Hobey Baker Award criteria include strength of character on and off the ice, scholastic achievements, and sportsmanship.

    U.S. Blanks Swiss, Takes Fifth at World Juniors

    USCHO Staff Report
    -

    Rick DiPietro stopped all 14 shots he faced to give the U.S. National Junior Team a 4-0 win over Switzerland and a fifth-place finish at the World Junior Championship in Moscow.

    logos/worlds2000.gif

    The U.S. finished the tournament with a 5-2-0 record, tying a team record for most wins at a World Junior Championship, equalling 1992 when Team USA took a bronze medal.

    Providence’s Jon DiSalvatore scored in all but one game of the tournament, and finished with six goals and three assists, including the first goal in the win over Switzerland. Taking a 2-0 lead into the third, the U.S. dominated, outshooting Switzerland, 10-1. Minnesota’s Jeff Taffe set the tone early with a power-play goal just 11 seconds into the period, giving the U.S. a 3-0 lead. Notre Dame’s Rob Globke closed out the scoring with his goal at 12:37.

    logos/teamusa2000.gif

    DiPietro, the former Boston University goalie, who left after his freshman year and was taken No. 1 overall by the New York Islanders in last year’s NHL Entry Draft, finished the tournament with a 5-1-0 record, a 1.33 goals against average and .930 save percentage. At last year’s tournament in Sweden, DiPietro was 2-2-1 with a 1.81 GAA and .935 save percentage and won the tournament’s outstanding goaltender honors.

    Taffe finished the tournament with six goals and eight points. Michigan’s Andy Hilbert had three goals and eight points, while RPI’s Marc Cavosie had two goals and six points.

    The Czech Republic ended up winning the gold for the second straight year, defeating Finland in the final game. Canada, which lost to Finland in the semifinal, won the bronze medal for the second straight year by defeating Sweden in the third-place game.

    The U.S. was 3-1 in Group play, losing only to the Czech Republic. It then faced Canada in the quarterfinals, losing 2-1, before defeating Slovakia, 3-2, in a loser’s bracket game. Boston College’s Justin Forrest, DiSalvatore and Taffe scored goals in that game.

    Last year, the U.S. lost to Canada in the bronze medal game, 4-3, in a shootout. In 1997, the Americans lost the gold-medal game to Canada, taking the silver, its best ever finish. That marked Canada’s fifth straight gold medal, though it hasn’t won since.

    This Week In Division III: Jan. 4, 2001

    By
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    OK, maybe they’re not invincible.

    Wentworth went into top-ranked Middlebury on Tuesday and battled to a 4-4 tie. It was almost more than a moral victory for the Leopards, who had their chances to win the game outright.

    “The shots (58-17) were not an indication of how close the game was,” said Wentworth head coach Bill Bowes. “I don’t think the shots were accurate. It wasn’t that lopsided. We had a lot of good chances to win, as did they.

    “I’m so proud of my team. It was the best we’ve played all season. We played with heart and worked hard.”

    Bowes said that his players knew it would be a challenge facing the 6-0 Panthers, who had allowed just one goal all season coming into the game.

    “Middlebury has set itself apart with the way that they’ve played. My guys, as well as every other team that plays Middlebury, see it as a good opportunity to make a statement.”

    An interesting tactic used by Bowes was to swap goaltenders Jamie Vanek and Jeremy Glasgow after every whistle. The netminders would high-five each other as they switched and seemed to enjoy the experience.

    “I talked with them about it when we got back from break,” Bowes said. “I told them it was up to them. They had to be comfortable with it.”

    I actually was going to use three goalies, but one was away with a family emergency. I’ve got three really good guys in net this season.”

    “I wanted to do something special, something off-the-wall to shake things up,” said Bowes. “I wanted to get (Middlebury) thinking. They’re so good at figuring out goaltenders. I wanted to keep them guessing.”

    Bowes had never done anything like this before, but had it done to him once — by Middlebury coach Bill Beaney.

    “We coached against each other in prep school hockey 18 years ago,” said Bowes. “In one game, I had a better team, but Bill kept swapping his goalies and it worked for them. I took a page out of his book.”

    The Leopards try to be giant-killers again this Saturday when they travel to Elmira to take on a resurgent Soaring Eagle squad, followed by a home game against Bowdoin.

    “We’ll play anybody,” Bowes said. “I think playing teams that have a good chance to make the NCAA tournament, the major contenders, will prepare us for the tournament if we are fortunate enough to make it. It will help my players know the kind of environments they’ll be playing in, and what to expect in terms of competition.”

    After those nonconference games, it’s back to the meat of the ECAC Northeast schedule. Bowes is already convinced that the NCAA automatic qualifier has improved the quality of play in his conference.

    “There’s no doubt it’s had an impact,” he said. “The opportunity to play in the national tournament has allowed everybody to bring in higher quality players. We’ve been the weak sister conference for a long time, but we’re a heck of a lot closer (to the other conferences) than we were.”

    Close enough to tie the number one team in the nation.

    Holiday Happenings

    Since there was little action and no conference games since my last column, here’s a recap of all the holiday tournaments for those of you that might have missed the action due to insignificant things like Christmas, New Year’s, Hanukkah …

    Salem State Holiday Tournament

    The Babson Beavers stayed hot by defeating the host Vikings in a shootout in the semifinals and then shutting out Bowdoin 3-0 in the championship game. Babson is off to a 7-1-2 start (3-0-1 in conference) after finishing dead last in the ECAC East last season with a 1-15-1 conference record (7-17-1 overall).

    Salem State, which beat Fitchburg State 4-0 in the consolation game, is still undefeated at 6-0-2. The Vikings lost 2-1 in a shootout after a 4-4 stalemate with Babson in the first round. The game goes into the books as a tie.

    Times Argus Classic

    The Cadets won their own tournament, which featured a quartet of close games — they were all decided by two goals or less. Friday featured a pair of 4-2 contests, with Norwich defeating St. Michael’s and Trinity handling Johnson and Wales.

    Saturday’s games were even closer, with St. Mikes and J&W battling to a 4-4 in the consolation game, and Norwich holding off a late Trinity rally to take the championship, 5-4.

    The Bantams get a shot at a rematch right away — the same two teams tangle this weekend in ECAC East conference play.

    Codfish Bowl

    Elmira continues to roll, scoring 18 goals on its way to the title. The Soaring Eagles have won five in a row after getting off to a 3-6 start.

    Elmira defeated St. Anselm 10-6 in the opening round, and then had an easy time with host UMass-Boston, 8-2, in the championship game.

    NEC Holiday Classic

    This one featured just three teams, and the host Pilgrims came out on top with a 2-0 record.

    The main event was the final game of the tournament, which saw New England upset seventh ranked Potsdam, 3-1. The Bears had won four straight going into the game.

    One more tournament

    The final tournament of the season takes place this weekend when Plattsburgh hosts its annual Pepsi Cardinal Classic. The Cards square off against Hobart in the first round, with RIT meeting Colby in the other semifinal.

    The Tigers have been in the tournament two of the last three years, losing to Plattsburgh in the championship game in 1998-99. Last season, the teams met and RIT blew a 4-1 lead in the third period, so revenge is on the Tigers’ minds. They haven’t won in Plattsburgh since 1996.

    Back to conference play

    With the holiday hoopla coming to an end, some conferences are back in action this weekend. Key contests in the ECAC East include the Trinity-Norwich matchup, and an important game between Amherst and Middlebury.

    Out west, first-place Minnesota-Crookston gets back into action after a month-long layoff. The Golden Eagles host Northland for a pair of games.

    Picks

    Last week: 2-1
    On the season: 24-11

    This week:

    Norwich at Trinity (1/5) – Upset special? The Bantams (4-0 in conference) almost beat the Cadets at home. Home ice might be worth a goal or two. Trinity 4, Norwich 3

    No. 1 Middlebury at Amherst (1/5) – Amherst always plays Middlebury close, but I expect the Panthers to rebound from their mild stumble on Tuesday. Middlebury 4, Amherst 1.

    No. 2 RIT vs. Colby (1/5) – The is a rematch of an 8-2 RIT blowout in Maine back in November. Expect this one to be closer. RIT 5, Colby 3.

    Concordia at No.4 Wis.-Superior (1/6) – The Cobbers are undefeated in conference, but 0-3-1 outside the MIAC. Superior is 9-0 in non-conference games, but just 1-3 in the NCHA. Gotta go with the trend. Superior 4, Concordia 2.

    This Week In The MAAC: Jan. 4, 2001

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    Suspensions Threaten Quinnipiac’s Chances Against Cornell

    Entering one of the bigger weekends of the year, it’s an obvious disappointment for Quinnipiac coach Rand Pecknold to be without Dan Ennis, who has been out with an injury since early in the season and is not expected to return, and Ryan Olsen, who broke his leg earlier in the year against RPI. But to make matters worse, the Braves will enter this weekend’s game against ECAC foe Cornell without five more players, all suspended for a violation of team rules.

    According to Pecknold, the actual players involved and the violation will not be discussed outside of the team. Pecknold identified the players only as “key” players. He also noted that this leaves the team with only four defensemen and 10 or 11 forwards.

    “Good teams battle through adversity and we’ll have to try to do that,” said Pecknold.

    Quinnipiac garnered its first win against a “Big Four” opponent when it defeated then-nationally ranked Union, 3-2, on December 3. One week following, the Braves were embarrassed by Minnesota, 11-2, bringing the club back to Earth entering the holiday break.

    This weekend’s matchup with Cornell would have been a good measuring stick of just how well Quinnipiac can match up against the rest of Division I. Though the team has shown some bright lights throughout the season, it has also struggled at times. This weekend’s being Quinnipiac’s final nonconference game, it is now more difficult to display to the voters why Quinnipiac may deserve to be in the national polls.

    Weekly Awards

    ITECH MAAC Hockey League Player of the Week:
    JOHN DIGENNARO, BENTLEY
    Jr., F, Amesbury, MA

    DiGennaro wins the award for his play in Bentley’s 4-1 win over Holy Cross on December 16, the Falcons’ first win of the season, scoring two goals and adding an assist. His first goal was the eventual game-winner late in the first period, and his second goal gave the Falcons a 3-1 lead in the third period. DiGennaro leads the team with seven goals and 11 points.

    Also Nominated: Nathan Mayfield , Jarrett Zielinski , Ciro Longobardi .

    ITECH MAAC Hockey League Goalie of the Week:
    STEPHEN FABIILLI, CANISIUS
    Sr., G, Sudbury, ON

    Fabiilli was outstanding in goal in leading the Ice Griffs to a 1-1 record last week. He stopped 41 shots in the 4-2 win over CHA member Alabama-Huntsville in the opening round of the SCI Holiday Shootout on Friday. In the 3-1 loss to CCHA opponent Nebraska-Omaha in the championship game on Saturday, he turned away 29 shots. In the two games, he saved 66 of 70 shots for a .943 save percentage.

    Also Nominated: Scott Hamilton , Ray DeVincent .

    ITECH MAAC Hockey League Rookie of the Week:
    SCOTT TRAHAN, BENTLEY
    Fr., F, Chelmsford, MA

    Trahan was a key factor in Bentley’s win over Holy Cross, tallying two assists in the victory. His first assist set up the eventual game-winning goal, and his second came on an empty-net goal to end the game. For the year, Trahan has four points on a goal and three assists.

    Also Nominated: Alex Rogosheske , Jason Carey .

    AIC Looking for the Wright Stuff

    First-half surprise AIC will return to action this weekend when the Yellow Jackets travel to Holy Cross on Friday before hosting Bentley on Saturday. The ‘Jackets, picked ninth in the pre-season poll, are off to a solid first-half start, compiling a 4-5-1 record in the MAAC, good for a tie for fifth place.

    But this weekend, a bit more will be on the line for the Yellow Jackets as head coach Gary Wright, a 16-year veteran behind the AIC bench, will go for win number 200. Entering the weekend, Wright has compiled a 199-239-28 record at AIC.

    Wright, who has spent his entire head coaching career at AIC, served as an assistant at the University of Maine in the pre-Shawn Walsh era prior to arriving at AIC. Though the Yellow Jackets struggled a bit last season, missing the playoffs by finishing in ninth, Wright guided AIC to a successful opening campaign in the MAAC in 1998-99. As a preseason eighth pick that season, Wright guided the Yellow Jackets to a fifth-place finish and earned himself the inaugural MAAC Coach of the Year award.

    No Holiday Hardware for the MAAC

    With only three of the 11 MAAC teams competing in holiday tournaments, I guess it was difficult to be too optimistic about the MAAC bringing home much hardware in the pre-New Year jamborees. But that’s not to say that two teams didn’t come close.

    UConn and Canisius both advanced to the championship games of their tournaments. UConn, the host school of the SNET/UConn Classic, knocked off league rival Holy Cross to advance to the finals against Wayne State. Canisius, playing in the SCI Holiday Shootout in Huntsville, Ala., knocked off the host school in the opener, defeating Alabama-Huntsville, 4-2.

    But for both teams, the result was close, but no cigar. UConn, leading in the final minute of the game, surrendered a goal to Wayne State with the goaltender on the pine and only 35 seconds showing on the clock. And then, this time with 25 seconds left in the first overtime, Wayne State completed the comeback when Maxim Starchenko buried the game-winner. The loss prevented UConn from winning the SNET/UConn Classic in back-to-back years. Last year, the Huskies defeated Sacred Heart in the championship game.

    Canisius’ championship game loss was not as dramatic as UConn’s, but difficult to swallow nonetheless. Though possibly a bit outmatched by CCHA member Nebraska-Omaha , the Griffs hung in the game late and trailed, 2-1, in the game’s closing minute. But even with the extra attacker, Canisius couldn’t manage the tying goal, and when UNO scored an empty-netter with 24 seconds remaining, that was all she wrote.

    Holy Cross, the third MAAC member playing in tournament hockey over break, finished fourth in the SNET/UConn Classic. After dropping the opener to UConn, Holy Cross lost to Queens College from Canada, 3-1. The game does not count toward the Holy Cross record, as it was not against an NCAA school.

    Pioneers’ Bourget Nominated for Humanitarian

    Sacred Heart University senior Eddy Bourget is one of 12 finalists for the Hockey Humanitarian Award, given annually at the Frozen Four in April. The award, presented by the Hockey Humanitarian Award Foundation, is now in its sixth year of existence. The candidates for the awards are chosen from both men’s and women’s college hockey.

    Bourget posted a career-high 17 points last season and has struggled a bit on the scoresheet this season, registering just three assists in 14 games. But one place Bourget has not struggled is in the classroom. Since arriving at Sacred Heart, Bourget has been on the Dean’s List every semester and was named to the MAAC All-Academic Team for the past two seasons.

    Around the League

    AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL

    The Yellow Jackets were idle last week… American International plays at MAAC foe Holy Cross at 7:00 on Friday, January 5… American International defeated the Crusaders 4-3 in overtime on November 10… Eight of the Yellow Jackets’ next nine games are against teams either tied or below them in the MAAC Hockey League standings… Nine of AIC’s final 15 games are at home, including five of seven during the month of February… Senior goaltender Chance Thede was ranked 15th in the nation in the NCAA’s first statistical rankings with a .919 save percentage. Thede has been a huge reason why the Yellow Jackets, picked ninth in the MAAC Hockey League preseason poll, are currently tied for fifth in the conference standings.

    ARMY

    The Black Knights tied Canadian institution Queens 3-3 in an exhibition game on Sunday… Army entertains Mercyhurst on Friday, January 5 at 7:00… Army is now 2-1-1 all-time against the Golden Gaels… The Black Knights extended their home unbeaten streak against Canadian teams to 23 games… Sophomore Joe Dudek scored a power-play goal with 2:46 left in the third period to salvage the 3-3 tie against Queens… Junior forward Nathan Mayfield scored twice for the Black Knights and senior Mike Fairman registered two assists in the victory. This was Mayfield’s first career multi-goal game… Junior Joe Carpenter missed the game with a sprained ankle, the first DNP of his career. He had played in 82 straight games.

    BENTLEY

    The Falcons were idle last week… Bentley goes on the road to play American International at 7:00 on Saturday, January 6… The Falcons went 2-1 against the Yellow Jackets last season with their one loss coming in overtime… Junior John DiGennaro, the ITECH MAAC Player of the Week, sophomore captain Marcus Willy and freshman Scott Trahan, the ITECH MAAC Rookie of the Week, have been playing well since becoming Bentley’s top line. In the three games that they have skated as Bentley’s top group, they have combined for 12 points. DiGennaro has four goals and one assist, Willy has a goal and three assists and Trahan has three assists. Bentley is 1-2 in those games with nine goals and 11 goals against . In action before the line was formed, Bentley was 0-9-1 with 17 goals and 63 goals against.

    CANISIUS

    The Ice Griffs defeated CHA member Alabama-Huntsville 4-2 on Friday in the opening round of the SCI Holiday Shootout… Canisius lost to CCHA opponent Nebraska-Omaha 3-1 on Saturday in the championship game in the first ever meeting between the two teams… Canisius next plays at Mercyhurst on Tuesday, January 9 at 7:30… Canisius now has an all-time record of 2-3-1 against Alabama-Huntsville… Junior forward Jarrett Zielinski scored three goals on the weekend and was named to the all-tournament team for his efforts… Senior goalie Stephen Fabiilli, the ITECH MAAC Goalie of the Week, made 41 saves in the win against Alabama-Hunstville and 29 saves against Nebraska-Omaha allowing only four goals on the weekend… Fabiilli’s 70-save performance also earned him a spot on the all-tournament team.

    CONNECICUT

    The Huskies defeated MAAC rival Holy Cross 4-3 in the first round of the SNET UConn Classic on Friday. Connecticut lost to CHA member Wayne State 5-4 in overtime in the championship game of the SNET UConn Classic on Saturday night… Connecticut travels out west to play CHA member Air Force on Friday, January 5 and Saturday, January 6. Both games begin at 9:05… Freshman goalie Jason Carey made a career high 39 saves in net in the loss to Wayne State. Carey holds an overall record 2-2-0 record and a 3.40 goals against average in 299:44 played… Senior forward Ciro Longobardi scored the game-winning goal with 38 seconds left in the victory over Holy Cross. Longobardi goal gave the Huskies their first lead midway through the second period in Connecticut’s loss to Wayne State… Senior forward Eric Goclowski recorded a goal and two assists in the two games.

    FAIRFIELD

    The Stags were idle last week… Fairfield goes on the road to faceoff against Holy Cross at 7:00 on Saturday, January 6… Fairfield went 1-2 against the Crusaders last season while being outscored, 15-12… Fairfield has defeated Quinnipiac, Iona, and Connecticut for the first time since joining the league… Sophomore Rae Metz has remained the Stags’ top offensive threat. In 14 games, he has 16 points and now sits in a tie for 10th place in overall scoring. He is also 2nd in the MAAC for power-play points and first in power-play goals with four… Freshman Craig Schnappinger has emerged as the starter in net for the Stags. He is 4-1-1 for .750 winning percentage in his six conference games, has a 2.30 goals against average and a .880 save percentage.

    HOLY CROSS

    The Crusaders lost to Connecticut 4-3 in the opening round of the SNET UConn Classic on Friday. Holy Cross lost to Canadian Queens on Saturday in the consolation, an exhibition game for both teams… Holy Cross hosts American International on Friday, January 5 with the faceoff at 7:00… Freshman goaltender Rick Massey set a career high with 33 saves in the loss to Connecticut… Freshman forward Steve Sullivan scored his first collegiate goal against Connecticut. The goal gave Holy Cross a 2-0 lead in a game eventually won by the Huskies… Sophomore Tim Bernstein has assisted on the first Holy Cross goal in the last three games… The Holy Cross power play unit, which is ranked first in the MAAC, has been kept off the board in the last two games … Freshman forward Jeff Dams leads the Crusaders in goals with seven, which places him tied for 11th overall in the MAAC and tied for second among freshmen.

    IONA

    The Gaels were idle last week… Iona travels to Alaska to play CCHA member Alaska-Fairbanks on Friday, January 5 and Saturday, January 6. Both games begin at 7:00 AT… These games will be the first ever meetings between the two teams… The Gaels boast the top five scorers in the MAAC and claim six of the top eight spots… Three of the top four MAAC goal-scorers and assist-makers play for the Gaels… Freshman Tim Krueckl tops all freshmen in points and is tied for the conference lead with four power-play goals… Freshman Joe Krmpotich leads the MAAC with three short-handed points … Through the first 17 games of the season, the Gaels are 9-6-2, 8-3-2 in the MAAC which is an improvement from their standing at this point last season when they were 7-7-3, 5-7-1 in the MAAC.

    MERCYHURST

    The Lakers lost 3-1 to CCHA member Bowling Green on Thursday… Mercyhurst goes on the road to face Army at 7:00 on Saturday, January 5… Mercyhurst was the first MAAC team to play a member of the CCHA this year and it was the first ever meeting between the two schools… The Lakers are now 0-4-1 against non-MAAC opponents this season and have been outscored 16-5 in those five games… Mercyhurst killed five of six penalties against Bowling Green and saw its top-ranked penalty-killing percentage fall from .951 to .940… Junior goaltender Peter Aubry’s top-ranked save percentage of .947 dropped a bit as well to .942… Mercyhurst has given up two or fewer goals in 10 of 13 games… Mercyhurst rallied for two third-period goals at Army December 9 to win the first-ever meeting between the two schools 2-1. Senior Jeff Gould scored the game-winner with 0.4 seconds remaining in regulation.

    QUINNIPIAC

    The Braves were idle last week… Quinnipiac finishes its eight-game road trip against ECAC opponent Cornell at 7:00 on Saturday, January 6… Quinnipiac will be the second MAAC team to face Cornell this season. Sacred Heart upset the Big Red 5-3 on November 4… Freshman goaltender Justin Eddy has registered at least 30 saves four times this season, including a school record 58 save effort in a 1-1 tie at St. Lawrence on November 3. Eddy broke the school record set by John Mattison, who stopped 57 shots in a 9-0 loss to Alabama-Huntsville on November 18, 1994… Senior Chris Cerrella leads the Braves and the MAAC with 22 points, senior Shawn Mansoff is second on the team with 17 points, and junior Ryan Olson is third with 16 points . Sophomore Matt Erhart is the Braves’ highest-scoring defenseman with 10 points … Olson is out for six weeks with a broken foot suffered on December 2 at RPI and junior Dan Ennis is out for the season with an MCL injury suffered on October 27 against Army.

    SACRED HEART

    The Pioneers were idle last week… Sacred Heart hosts Army at 7:00 on Saturday, January 6… Sacred Heart went 1-1 against Army last year with each team winning on its home ice. The Pioneers are now 1-4 all-time against the Black Knights… Sophomore Eddy Ferhi is ninth in the nation in save percentage; in eight games the sophomore netminder has turned away 266 of the 286 shots he has faced, for a .925 save percentage. Ferhi has a 3-2-2 record, with a 2.67 GAA and one shutout, a 6-0 win over Fairfield University on Dec. 8… The Pioneers are 19th in the nation in scoring offense with 48 goals in 14 games so far this season. Sacred Heart averages 3.43 goals per outing… Sacred Heart is ranked 13th in penalty-killing percentage with an .857 average… In the game against Army, head coach Shaun Hannah will be behind the bench for the 130th time as the head coach of the Pioneers… Three Pioneers are tied for the team lead in points with 14: junior assistant captain Lloyd Marks, sophomore Martin Paquet, and junior Chris Mokos.

    This Week In Hockey East: Jan. 4, 2001

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    Hockey East To The NFL

    Perhaps Hockey East can become aligned with the National Football League, where parity is in greater supply than dominance.

    Of the eight Hockey East teams in tournaments last weekend, all but Maine finished with exactly one win and one loss. Providence, Maine, Boston University, Northeastern and Merrimack all won their first-round games, giving hope of a banner weekend. In fact, by late last Thursday evening the league had raced out to a 3-0 start without its three nationally ranked teams — Boston College, New Hampshire and Providence — having yet played a game.

    The promise of Dec. 28, however, fizzled out. Other than Maine, all the opening-round victors failed to close out championship game wins. And the league’s bellwether teams, Boston College and New Hampshire, lost their opening-round contests, as did UMass-Lowell, albeit to rebound with consolation-game victories.

    All of which added up to Maine winning the Everblades College Classic with everyone else just treading water.

    (UMass-Amherst, the lone tournament holdout, defeated Brown, 4-1, on Tuesday in a contest shifted from Saturday because of the anticipated winter storm.)

    All of which confirms a contention of this space’s previous two columns. Namely, that Hockey East is uncommonly strong at the bottom, but not as dominant at the top as in recent years.

    Put another way, last year’s hourglass shape has given way to a pyramid.

    A Wild Weekend

    The second-half league action is starting with a bang. There are some great matchups on tap this weekend.

    BC vs. BU is a slugfest that needs no explanation unless you’ve just arrived from Pluto, Mars or Uranus. It’s no surprise that FOX Sports New England has chosen this rivalry to kick off its season.

    The same goes for Maine at New Hampshire, which will be fodder for enough USCHO Message Board vitriol to heat a modest-sized home for all of January. The two rivals have put on some great displays in recent years, climaxed, of course, by the 1999 NCAA championship game.

    It doesn’t stop there, however. UMass-Lowell vs. Northeastern has had a special edge ever since coach Bruce Crowder left the former for the latter.

    UMass-Lowell vs. Merrimack? A return to the Tong Wars of Merrimack Valley Division II battles of yore?

    Even Providence vs. UMass-Amherst, the one matchup that might seem to be lacking a little in the traditional grudge category, should still get the juices flowing. In case you haven’t noticed, the Minutemen have a five-game winning streak in this series.

    No, that is not a typo. Win number five kicked the Friars into the holiday break in a foul mood.

    As a result, this could be a very underrated matchup. Personally, I don’t see the streak going to seven. If it does, I promise to eat my “Nolan Schaefer For MVP” T-shirt.

    The Curse of Jerry York

    Did someone give Boston College coach Jerry York a set of voodoo dolls in commemoration of his 600th win? Why was it missing one member? And why are the dolls’ effectiveness diminishing?

    Let’s take an (obviously tongue-in-cheek) look at how the coaches ahead of York in career wins have fared since York got no. 600 on Nov. 4.

    Career Wins (As of Nov. 5)
    869Ron Mason
    740 Bob Peters
    674 Len Ceglarski
    624 Jeff Sauer
    618 Jack Parker
    600 Jerry York

    Clearly, York’s set of voodoo dolls never included one for Michigan State coach Ron Mason. The Spartans have gone 10-0-3 since York’s 600th and are solidly ensconced as the nation’s top team.

    Bemidji State coach Bob Peters, however, has posted a 1-12-1 record in that same time span. Of course, one might dismiss that as the growing pains of a program moving up to Division I. In that case, let’s move past retired BC coach Len Ceglarski since no voodoo dolls were needed to keep him stuck at 674 wins.

    Which brings us to the case of Wisconsin coach Jeff Sauer. At the time of York’s 600th, the Badgers had only recently been knocked off from their perch as the country’s number one team. They held a 7-2 record. After the addition of one Jeff Sauer voodoo doll to the Chestnut Hill scene, however, Wisconsin lost six out of its next seven.

    As they say in the conspiracy business, Coincidence? I think not!

    And how about that cross-town rival, BU coach Jack Parker? Assuming that his win over Merrimack on the same evening of York’s 600th occurred just minutes earlier, then we have an even more convincing case. What followed for Parker was a six-game losing streak, the longest of his career!

    Coincidence? I think not!

    Of course, this piece of tongue-in-cheek tomfoolery must note that Wisconsin and BU are now rebounding with winning streaks, blowing major holes in an already ridiculous theory.

    Nonetheless, let’s just chalk that up to voodoo dolls that are just plain tired. They did their trick for as long as they could and now they’re spent.

    You know, I’m suddenly feeling a very sharp pain in my own neck.

    Around the Arenas

    Boston College‘s defensive rankings took a beating at the Great Lakes Invitational. The Eagles had led Hockey East with 2.25 goals against per game, but fell to fourth after surrendering nine goals total in the 4-1 loss to Michigan State and the 8-5 win over Michigan.

    Of course, it didn’t help that they were without J.D. Forrest and Billy Cass. Even though Forrest is only a freshman, he has quickly established himself as one of BC’s best blueliners. He was competing for Team USA in the World Junior Tournament. Cass, a sophomore, has been sidelined with a knee injury.

    The Eagles also entered the tournament ranked atop Hockey East offensive rankings, but struggled against MSU. In particular, they failed to score on any of their six power-play opportunities.

    They burst out against Michigan, however, led predictably by Hockey East’s number one scorer, Krys Kolanos (15-16–31), as well as Ales Dolinar (6-6–12), both of whom scored twice. The league’s top scoring freshman, Chuck Kobasew (10-10–20), added a goal and two assists. As a whole, the Eagles’ fabulous freshmen totaled seven points.

    Between Kobasew in a tie for eighth in league scoring and Kolanos at the top, BC adds Brian Gionta (11-11–22) and Mike Lephart (9-13–22), both tied for fourth.

    Small wonder the Eagles are easily the most explosive club in the league.

    Boston University defeated third-ranked North Dakota, 4-3, to open the Bank One Badger Hockey Showdown. Jason Tapp and Gregg Johnson, two Terriers who struggled mightily during parts of the first semester, were heroes.

    Tapp stopped 66 of 72 shots on the weekend, getting both starts. His biggest save, however, came on a penalty shot by North Dakota’s Paul Murphy that arose after Dan Cavanaugh covered a loose puck in the crease. At the time, BU already trailed by a goal.

    Murphy deked Tapp to the ice, but the junior snared the shot with his glove anyway.

    “Since it was a tight ballgame, they take the game away by going up by two,” said coach Jack Parker. “That was a huge save.”

    Johnson, a freshman, had scored only one goal in his first collegiate semester. Against the Sioux, however, he scored twice, including the game-winner with 37.6 seconds left.

    With Terriers John Sabo and Fred Meyer participating in the World Junior Tournament, some forward line and defensive pair juggling was required. The end result was moving Johnson alongside Cavanaugh, perhaps BU’s best playmaker.

    “[Johnson] has been real tentative,” said Parker, “… but I think he’s found a home with Cavanaugh.”

    The Terriers’ four-game win streak, however, ended in the title game against Wisconsin, 3-2. A second period in which they were outscored 3-0 proved fatal. They fought back with two third-period goals, but it was too little, too late.

    “We were horrible in the second period,” said Jack Parker. “Wisconsin really came at us in the second period and we couldn’t keep them off the scoreboard. …

    “We had a chance to win it at the end. We had a chance to stay close and jump on them, and that was nice, too. The fact that we kept working and we outshot them 19-4 in the third and came at them pretty good were pretty good signs for us.”

    Maine claimed the lone tournament championship among Hockey East teams with wins over Clarkson, 4-2, and Cornell, 2-1. Not surprisingly, defense was the key. The Black Bears assumed the top defensive ranking in the league by allowing two goals or fewer for their 12th and 13th time in just 19 games. They own a 9-1-3 record in such games, but are 0-5-1 otherwise.

    Ironically, the offense in the Clarkson game came from a line comprised of Robert Liscak and two defensemen, Kevin Clauson and Francis Nault. That trio played a part in three of the goals prior to a final empty netter.

    “I thought Liscak was the key guy,” said coach Shawn Walsh. “He was on for all three goals. He scored our second goal. He made that great pass from behind the net for the third one.”

    Maine’s team defense cranked it up in the title game, holding Cornell to only 12 shots while taking 33. Cornell managed only three shots in the first period, four in the second and five in the third.

    Not coincidentally, Walsh had benched Niko Dimitrakos, who can be a force offensively, but tends toward indifferent (critics might say invisible) defensive play.

    “We were bees on honey tonight,” said coach Shawn Walsh. “Shots on goal show that. It was the most thorough team effort we’ve had this year. Interestingly enough, we sat out our top offensive player, Dimitrakos, because we thought he wasn’t playing hard enough and the team got the message.”

    There was a small measure of controversy, however, when a Cornell shot found the back of the net just after the second-period buzzer.

    “Well, the green light went on, so I knew right away they were going to have a hard time justifying it was a goal,” said Walsh. “The way we were playing, though, the right team won. When you dominate a game like this, you deserve to win, and our kids deserved to win.”

    Walsh, as is his wont, added a unique local flavor — this time Floridian — to his commentary.

    “We kept our streak intact,” he said. “We’ve won five tournaments in California and now one in Florida. We’re the opposite of the [Tampa Bay] Buccaneers. When the weather gets warm we’re really good.”

    The tournament Most Valuable Player was Peter Metcalf. He recorded a plus-three ranking against Clarkson with two assists and scored a goal in the title tilt. Additionally, defenseman A.J. Begg and goaltender Matt Yeats were named to the all-tournament team.

    UMass-Amherst bypassed the tournament scene and instead hosted Brown. In a game postponed to Tuesday after weather threatened the original Saturday date, the Minutemen posted a convincing 4-1 win.

    They outshot Brown, 42-17, en route to their first nonconference victory. Tim Turner and Martin Miljko each scored twice.

    It further marked the return of stellar defenseman Toni Soderholm from a knee injury. When he was sidelined, UMass stood at 3-3-1. In his absence, however, the Minutemen posted a dismal 1-8-1 mark. There’s certainly a healthy dose of coincidence in there, but not all. Soderholm can play.

    UMass-Lowell lost to Nebraska-Omaha, 5-2, but rebounded with a 5-1 win over Alabama-Huntsville. The River Hawks were missing three players. Top defenseman and scorer Ron Hainsey was representing the United States at the World Junior Tournament. Top forward Yorick Treille remained out due to a concussion suffered on Dec. 9 against Colgate. No. five scorer Mark Concannon is sidelined for four weeks with a separated shoulder.

    Goaltender Jimi St. John saw his first action since Nov. 12 and recorded a win. Darryl Green subbed for Hainsey as power-play quarterback and recorded a goal and an assist against Alabama-Huntsville.

    The River Hawk penalty kill, which languished near the bottom of Hockey East ratings just a short time ago, allowed only one goal in 13 chances on the weekend. It has now successfully killed 29 of the last 31 opposing power plays.

    Merrimack defeated Minnesota-Duluth, 4-2, but then fell hard to Western Michigan, 8-1. The loss kept the Warriors from winning their first Division I tournament.

    Super soph Anthony Aquino scored twice against Duluth, earning Player of the Game honors. His shorthanded tally early in the third proved to be the game-winner; it was his fifth such goal, tops among D-I players. Aquino (9-14–23), who also recorded Merrimack’s lone tally against Western, now ranks third among Hockey East scorers. Additionally, even though he has only played in 57 games, he still trails only senior John Pyliotis in career points among active Merrimack skaters.

    Goaltender Joe Exter also starred against Duluth, earning his sixth win in his last seven starts by stopping 14 third-period shots.

    “I’m not sure we deserved to win this one,” said coach Chris Serino. “Our goaltender stole some good scoring chances from them tonight. He took the game away from them on some shots.”

    However, things fell apart early and often in the game against Western Michigan. Before the first period was over, the Warriors trailed, 3-0; before the second had ended, 6-0.

    “We got down by a couple of goals and a little panic set in,” said Serino, whose club fell back to the .500 mark (10-10-1). “We started running around and getting away from our game. Our two games here might be the worst defensively we’ve played all year.”

    The game set the three-year-old Silverado Shootout tournament record for most penalties (25) and penalty minutes (99). Joe Gray was assessed a game disqualification and as a result will miss Saturday night’s matchup against UMass-Lowell.

    On a positive note, backup goaltender Tom Welby stopped 24 of 27 shots in relief of Exter.

    New Hampshire suffered a disappointing loss to Granite State rival Dartmouth, 6-3, in its Auld Lang Syne Tournament opener.

    The Wildcats rebounded, however, one night later with a convincing 4-0 whitewashing of Miami. Surprisingly, it was only senior goaltender Ty Conklin’s fourth career shutout, but second in five games.

    Lanny Gare scored his 10th goal of the season. Last year, as a freshman, he recorded only six.

    The Wildcats now have six players at or above the 15-point mark: Darren Haydar (12-15–27, second in the league), Gare (10-12–22, tied for fourth), defenseman Garrett Stafford (3-16–19, tied for 10th), Colin Hemingway (6-10–16, tied for 18th), David Busch (6-9–15) and Matt Swain (7-8–15).

    That’s a nicely balanced scoring attack.

    Northeastern opened the Rensselaer/HSBC Holiday Hockey Tournament in fine fashion, topping the host team in overtime, 3-2, on a goal by Scott Selig.

    Goaltender Mike Gilhooly was instrumental in the win. In particular, he stopped what ECAC Correspondent Jayson Moy called “a mini three-on-one in front” that came with under three minutes to go in regulation.

    “He is really playing well,” said coach Bruce Crowder. “These last four games have been excellent and he was equal to the task. For the last month and a half we thought he wasn’t playing with confidence, and he wasn’t cocky. Any goaltender that I’ve ever dealt with that has been successful has been cocky and aggressive.”

    Any win over a nationally-ranked opponent is a good one. This one was even more so given that it came in a hostile barn.

    “This was a very big win,” said Crowder. “We’re trying to find a little bit of identity for ourselves. The last three games we played extremely well and to come in here in this type of environment, it’s a big win.

    “The (RPI) kids were a little more tense. RPI was in their building and in overtime, and we had nothing to lose. A lot of guys were pretty loose, and we wanted to play with emotion.

    “When we got to overtime I liked our chances.”

    The win, which put the Huskies over .500, also set up a rematch against St. Lawrence. The Huskies had opened their season against the Saints, defeating them, 4-3. This time, however, the tables were turned with SLU getting of win of that same score.

    After taking a 2-0 first-period lead, the Huskies were outshot, 20-9, and outscored, 3-0, in the second period. Although taking back the play with a 20-5 third-period shot disparity, they could only match goals and walked away with a loss.

    “We got off to the kiss of death — a 2-0 lead — and thought it was going to be easy here,” said Crowder. “We let the kids know about it, but we came out in the second period flat. They got three goals behind us and we battled back in the third, and then it was a strange goal for them to win it, but I don’t think we deserved the win. We didn’t play well enough for it.

    “We had some glorious opportunities and we had a chance to end it before we got to overtime, but we’re a team that just keeps trying to make the next step. We hoped to win the championship and get a little momentum, but we’re right back to .500 again.”

    Providence knocked off Ferris State, 4-2, in the Wells Fargo Denver Cup opener, getting good goaltending from Boyd Ballard and two goals by Devin Rask.

    One night later, however, the Friars ran into a buzzsaw. Denver, which has posted a 9-0-2 record since Nov. 18, topped them, 2-1.

    Ironically, they had five-minute-major power plays both nights. Not coincidentally, they converted in the win, but couldn’t in the loss.

    Matt Libby had a big weekend, earning Hockey East Defensive Player of the Week honors by leading a 12-for-13 penalty kill unit, a defense that allowed only two goals both games as well as adding two goals and two assists on the offensive end.

    The Friar defense has now moved into a ranking short of only Maine with 2.39 goals against per game. When the offense produces, they win. PC is 9-0-2 when it scores at least three goals.

    This weekend, Providence will be looking to end a who-would-have-thunk-it five-game losing streak with UMass-Amherst.

    Trivia Contest

    Last week’s question offered a change of pace in that it had nothing to do with hockey. Sir Isaac Newton lived to be 85 years old. A year or two before his death, he announced what he considered to be his most impressive achievement. What was it?

    When you hear the answer, you’ll understand why no one answered correctly. Did Newton think that the universal law of gravitation was his most impressive achievement? Surprisingly, no. His monumental work in mathematics? No. His work in optics? No.

    Sir Isaac Newton considered his most impressive achievement to be … lifelong celibacy.

    I won’t even dare add a punch line to that one.

    I will, however, issue a cheer of my own, since I’ve finally stumped all of you. It is:

    “USCHO Rules!”

    For those who might be offended at that, may I wish you a Newtonian love life.

    This week’s question seeks to be a great deal easier. It looks back to the 1988 NCAA tournament when the field was expanded to 12 teams. Four teams currently in Hockey East were selected. Which four?

    Also, which two advanced to the next round. And which two played each other?

    Send your solid answers and wild guesses to Dave Hendrickson and take your shot at the first fan cheer of the New Year.

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

    My hat is off to Detroit Red Wings owner Mike Ilitch. According to a story in the New York Post, Ilitch challenged Boston Bruins carpetbagger Jeremy Jacobs to (in so many words) stop sucking money out of his franchise and put something back in an attempt to actually make his team better.

    I have only thrown something at my TV on two occasions. One was after the ball bounced between Buckner’s legs. The other was the Bruins’ too many men on the ice call against the Canadiens.

    Jeremy Jacobs and his hired Scrooges, however, have torn what was once a passion for the Bruins into shreds. Are Harry Sinden or Mike O’Connell coming on the radio for an interview? Time to click that dial. I can’t even stand to listen to them.

    So here’s a big cheer for Mike Ilitch, an NHL owner who cares. Now that’s a novel concept.

    Thanks to Paula C. Weston, Kevin Conway, Todd D. Milewski, Jayson Moy and Eric J. Habermas.

    This Week In The ECAC: Jan. 4, 2001

    By Jayson Moy and Becky Blaeser
    -

    Happy New Year to all and for some ECAC teams, the new year is a chance to turn things around or to try to keep the momentum going. At this point in time, let’s take a look at the 12 ECAC teams as 2001 hits.

    Harvard (6-7-1, 5-3-1 ECAC, 1st)

    The Crimson seems to be transforming into a competitive squad under Mark Mazzoleni’s tutelage. Despite the two recent losses to Colorado College over holiday break, Harvard has shown marked improvement both defensively and offensively through its first 14 games. The freshmen class, highlighted by Tyler Kolarik, Rob Fried and Tim Pettit, has already made an impact and will only get better over time.

    Veteran players such as Chris Bala, Steve Moore, Peter Capouch and Dom Moore have also returned to the lineup stronger and quicker than ever before. The only drawbacks for the Crimson at this stage are health and depth — especially on the defensive end.

    Limitations such as these can be overlooked against weaker teams, but the Colorado series made it very clear that Harvard, although getting closer each season, is still a few years away from being a real powerhouse.

    First Half MVP – Oliver Jonas. After three years of patiently waiting in the wings, Oliver Jonas took over between the Harvard pipes this season. With a depleted defensive corps returning for the Crimson and not really knowing what to expect from Jonas, the senior netminder has more than proven his importance to this team. Jonas has posted a 2.83 goals-against-average, .920 save percentage and is averaging 33 saves per game. To put his numbers in perspective, if he plays in 13 more games, at the same pace, he will break the single-season record (844 by J.R. Prestifillippo in 96-97).

    Surprise of the First Half – The penalty kill. The importance of the Crimson’s shorthanded unit cannot be overstated. The team has not only neutralized its opponents advantage (as of December 17, the Crimson’s penalty kill was ranked fourth in the nation with a 91% success rate), but it has turned its shorthanded unit into an offensive weapon with four shorthanded tallies to its credit.

    High Point of the First Half – Breaking into the national rankings. The Crimson achieved that feat after knocking off Clarkson and Brown over a two-week period.

    Low Point of the First Half – Blowing a three-goal lead late in the game to Vermont and losing in the waning seconds of regulation. The Crimson had played a great game for 60 minutes before falling victim to tired legs and a pumped up UVM squad. With only five healthy defensemen on the ice (Graham Morrell left the game midway through the second period after reinjuring his shoulder), the Crimson allowed four unanswered goals in final period. The team has dropped three in a row since that loss.

    Vermont (9-4-0, 5-0-0 ECAC, T-2nd)

    A little less than a year ago at this time, the Vermont players were cleaning out their lockers and heading into one of the most trying spring semesters of their lives. Fast forward and you’ll find a bunch of jubilant young players who are enjoying hockey more than ever before.

    Defying all the critics, the Catamounts have bounced back from their controversial 1999-2000 season to rise into the national rankings. It has been consistent hockey which has allowed Vermont to post nine wins thus far, including five in ECAC play. We figured that redemption for a season lost would keep this team alive for the first half of the year. In the midst of another winning streak, it appears that redemption has been replaced by sheer momentum.

    First Half MVP – J.F. Caudron. Vermont head coach Mike Gilligan says that Caudron has “offensive flair.” Whatever you choose to call it, the senior forward has picked up the scoring reigns for the Catamounts and currently leads his team with nine goals and 10 assists. More importantly, Caudron has proven to be an offensive stalwart as he has figured into the scoring in all games thus far.

    Surprise of the First Half – A 9-2 record over the past two months. No one really figured that Vermont would be a contender, let alone a midseason favorite for regular season champion. The Catamounts have single-handedly proven that the ECAC is once again the most unpredictable conference in the country.

    High Point of the First Half – The 5-3 come-from-behind victory over Harvard in front of a sold-out Gutterson Fieldhouse. Following that victory – one in which the team scored four unanswered goals in the third period — the Vermont players were partying as if they had just won the national championship. That celebration was not only about a fifth conference win. It was also affirmation for the players and coaches that they were a legitimate contender. That contest was one of the first in which the players were forced to dig deep and find a way to win down the stretch.

    Low Point of the First Half – Facing the rowdy crowds and inquisitive media this season was perhaps the most challenging and intimidating experience for the Vermont players. The anxiety over returning to the ice after having a season suspended increased exponentially by sarcastic jeers from opposing crowds and the multitude of questions asked by the media each day. Unlike the other players in the league, the Catamounts were not always allowed the luxury of looking forward, for they were always drawn back into the past.

    Princeton (5-7-3, 4-4-2 ECAC, T-2nd)

    The Tigers weren’t strapped with high expectations this season and perhaps that’s the reason why some are surprised to see the team’s name amidst the top the ECAC standings right now.

    The key has been that where they have faltered, they have also managed to stay on their feet. Want some evidence? Home ties against St. Lawrence and Clarkson; a home and home split with Yale; weekend splits with Dartmouth/Vermont and Colgate/Cornell. They still aren’t the best team in the league, but they have managed to pull out a positive every weekend. And considering how tightly contested this league is year-in and year-out, that may count for something down the line.

    First Half MVP – Kirk Lamb. There is no denying that Kirk Lamb has played true to his billing. Two years ago, Lamb suited up midway through the season and showed signs of offensive potential. Princeton faithful promised that he would emerge as the Tigers offensive weapon. As a senior captain, Lamb is certainly leading the way for the Tigers and proving himself a consummate playmaker. Lamb currently leads all teammates with 18 points, including three power-play goals. More importantly, Lamb continues to be the emotional leader for this squad.

    Surprise of the First Half – The goaltending tandem of Dave Stathos and Nate Nomeland has proven to be an effective combination for Quesnelle. Stathos came out this year as the starter and quickly showed that he was capable of having a strong year as evidenced by the 77 saves he made en route to a two-point weekend against Clarkson and St. Lawrence. As a sophomore, Nomeland has come up big at times as well. As you may recall, Nomeland was the man between the pipes during Princeton’s victories against Dartmouth and Colgate. They may not be in the same category as the Roy-Hughes combo of ECAC past, but they have kept Princeton afloat so far this season.

    High Point of the First Half – Hanging on in the third period to beat Yale, 3-1, in front of a rowdy sold-out crowd at the Whale. Heading into that contest, the Tigers had lost three games in the previous two weeks in the final minutes of regulation. That crucial league win against their travel partner helped the Tigers shrug off what had been their third period curse.

    Low Point of the First Half – Unfortunately for the Tigers, the low point has to be the team’s current non-league slide. The consecutive third period losses earlier this season were tough, but the team has given up 23 goals in the last four games. Most recently, the Tigers were pounded with 60 shots by North Dakota en route to a 5-4 loss in the consolation game of the Badger Showdown. In-league games have never looked so good.

    Cornell (6-4-2, 4-1-1 ECAC, 4th)

    The Big Red went down as the first “Big Four” school to lose to the MAAC, but that is now in the distant past. At 4-1-1 in the ECAC and allowing the fewest goals, the Big Red are poised to take the second half by storm and move back to the top of the ECAC.

    First Half MVP – The goaltending trio of Ian Burt, Matt Underhill and Chris Gartman. Burt has a 1.79 GAA and a .922 save percentage, Underhill has a 1.96 GAA and a .919 save percentage and Gartman has a 2.79 GAA and a .900 save percentage. Those three have allowed the Big Red to work through scoring difficulties and pushed the Red to wins. In six ECAC games, the trio has allowed seven goals, Burt’s GAA is 0.48, Underhill’s 1.34 and Gartman’s 2.00.

    Surprise of the First Half – A pretty consistent three-goaltender rotation. It hasn’t been a perfect rotation, but Burt, and Gartman have all gotten at least two starts on the season. Lately Gartman looks like the possible man out, so we’ll see if the second half continues with the time-sharing.

    High Point of the First Half – A home sweep of Yale and Princeton at the beginning of December. The sweep set the Big Red up nicely in the ECAC at 4-1-1 and with games in hand, the Big Red can go get the others in the league in the second half.

    Low Point of the First Half – The opening game of the season and the 5-3 loss to Sacred Heart. The Big Red became the first “Big Four” school to lose to a MAAC school and will forever go down in the annals of college hockey for it.

    Yale (6-6-0, 4-6-0 ECAC, 5th)

    It’s sort of been up and down for Yale thus far in the season. The season opened with wins over nationally ranked Boston College and New Hampshire, and then a four game tailspin ended with the last game before the break and a win over Union. The Elis went into the break on a high note and are hoping to capitalize on that, but they face Michigan State to open up the second half. Talk about daunting.

    First Half MVP – Jeff Hamilton. Is there any other choice besides Jeff Hamilton? The senior forward returned to college hockey as if he never lost a step. Hamilton leads the league with 22 points as he anchors one of the best offensive lines in the league. Hamilton is averaging 1.83 points per game and has scored in all but two games this year. Those two games also happen to represent two ECAC losses for the Elis against Cornell and Vermont. It’s the same story as two years ago, Hamilton is the lynch pin for the Elis. As Jeff Hamilton goes, so goes Yale.

    Surprise of the First Half – The fact that Dan Lombard has played every single game and that no one else has seen action between the pipes for the Bulldogs. We guess he’ll be the stalwart back there and right now he’s got a 6-6-0 record, a .881 save percentage and a 3.89 GAA.

    High Point of the First Half – A nice 5-2 start to the season with wins over Boston College and New Hampshire to start out the season. The Bulldogs cracked the polls and were exceeding everyone’s predictions. But that was followed by a four game losing streak.

    Low Point of the First Half – That four-game losing streak — all within the ECAC. The Bulldogs lost the back end of a home and home, at home, against Princeton, then got swept at Cornell and Colgate, and dropped a game to Rensselaer in which they were leading 3-1 headed into the third, tied it at 4-4 in the third, but lost it with 1:06 remaining. The Bulldogs did rebound the next night with a 4-3 win over Union.

    Union (6-5-3, 3-2-1 ECAC, T-6th)

    The Dutchmen moved as high as No. 11 in the USCHO.com poll in November, but right after that, the Dutchmen have only won one game. They have gone 1-4-3 since that No. 11 ranking and were winless in December and are now searching for the answers that seemed there in November.

    First Half MVP – Brandon Snee. If it wasn’t for him, no one knows where the Dutchmen would be. Despite the 6-4-3 record, he has a .920 save percentage and a 2.49 GAA. He has stood on his head and given the Dutchmen a chance each and every night. Note that the Dutchmen’s last four losses have all been by one goal.

    Surprise of the First Half – The 6-1-1 start. No one expected the Dutchmen to have six wins before December. But it happened and it made believers out of fans, observers and most importantly the Dutchmen. The Dutchmen are hoping to get back to that point in the second half.

    High Point of the First Half – Killing off three five-on-three power plays in the third period and scoring twice to break a 2-2 tie in defeating Rensselaer to open up the ECAC season. The Dutchmen showed grit and determination as they opened up the ECAC on a high note.

    Low Point of the First Half – The recent 1-4-3 streak. Sure the Dutchmen lost 8-0 to Providence, but the inability to win lately and four one-goal losses are giving the Dutchmen an ill feeling right now.

    Rensselaer (9-4-1, 3-2-1 ECAC, T-6th)

    The Engineers started out the season up and then down and then up and then down. The Engineers started the season at 3-3 before putting together their most recent string of 6-1-1 heading into 2001. Despite the loss this past week in their own tournament, the Engineers are coming together.

    First Half MVP – Matt Murley. Murley has put together a fantastic season thus far, gathering 13 goals and 10 assists. His 13 goals surpasses last year’s goal total of nine and he remains the major offensive threat on the number one line with Nolan Graham and Carson Butterwick.

    Surprise of the First Half – Jim Vickers. Vickers has come out of nowhere to lead all Engineer defensemen in scoring (4-10– 14) after finishing his first two seasons with a total of six assists. A pleasant surprise for the Engineers back on the blueline.

    High Point of the First Half – A four goal comeback in the third period to defeat Yale, 5-4. Matt Murley’s goal with 1:06 left in the game gave the Engineers the win after entering the third period down 3-1 and looking left for the dead. The Engineers went on to explode for four goals in the first period the next night against Princeton for a ECAC weekend sweep heading into the holidays.

    Low Point of the First Half – The inability to convert on three separate five-on-three oppportunities in the third period and then allowing a power play goal in that third period to lose to Union, 4-2, after a 2-2 tie going into the third period.

    St. Lawrence (5-7-3, 2-1-2 ECAC, 8th)

    The first half of the season saw the Saints take on a murderous schedule with only four games at home and games on the road at powerhouses Maine, North Dakota and Michigan. The Saints though, are 2-1-2 in the ECAC and that’s where it will count in the second half of the season. The Saints are getting great play from their upperclassmen and the underclassmen are starting to contribute and the Saints should be a force in the second half.

    First Half MVP – Erik Anderson. The senior captain leads by example. He makes those around him better and he makes the team gel. He can take over a game and he can get the Saints to where they want to be. He is the man in Canton right now.

    Surprise of the First Half – There were no real big surprises for the Saints in the first half. Perhaps the biggest “surprise” would be that those wondering who would fill the shoes of Derek Gustafson have seen that Jeremy Symington is up to the challenge.

    High Point of the First Half – Winning the Rensselaer/HSBC Holiday Hockey Tournament. The first semester of games was tough for the Saints, but the two wins in Troy show that the Saints will be a force come the second half of the season.

    Low Point of the First Half – Getting pasted by Clarkson, 7-2, at home in November. The Saints were in this game early, but it went south from there. The Saints are looking at a certain Tuesday night in February to exact revenge.

    Clarkson (5-5-3, 1-2-2 ECAC, T-9th)

    The Golden Knights are young and learning as the season goes on. They’ve been up and down all season showing signs of brilliance and signs of youth at the same time. They are a hard team to judge right now, but as everyone knows, the Knights will be there in the second half.

    First Half MVP – Kent Huskins. He leads by example on the blueline. He leads the team in scoring (2-11–13) and has held his team through each game this season.

    Surprise of the First Half – The emergence of Dave Reid as an offensive force from the blueline. The sophomore is tied with defense-mate Huskins for the lead in points in the season.

    High Point of the First Half – Going over to the barn of arch-rival St. Lawrence and spanking them, 7-2. The Knights led 3-1 after one period and never looked back with Shawn Grant playing marvelously in goal.

    Low Point of the First Half – A one point home weekend at the beginning of December where the Knights tied Brown and lost to Harvard.

    Colgate (3-11-3, 2-4-0 ECAC, T-9th)

    It has been a rough first half of the season for the Red Raiders. It started out great as the Red Raiders tied Michigan in the Ice Breaker and then were tied with New Hampshire through two periods of play and then things started to fall apart. Colgate has won three times this season, wins coming over Sacred Heart, Brown and Yale. The Red Raiders know that things can only go up in the second half.

    First Half MVP – Sean Nolan and Cory Murphy. The two lead the Red Raiders and if not for them, things might even be bleaker for the Red Raiders at the present moment.

    Surprise of the First Half – Scooter Smith. He didn’t make a huge impact last year as a freshman, but this year he has seven goals and 10 assists and is third on the team in scoring. The Red Raiders have come to rely on him and his future continues to look bright.

    High Point of the First Half – A 6-2 win over Yale at home to close out the ECAC season in the first half. The Red Raiders badly needed to recover and found themselves scoring in bunches as they bested the Bulldogs at Starr.

    Low Point of the First Half – After gaining momentum with the 6-2 win over Yale, the Red Raiders were shellacked at UMass-Lowell, 7-2.

    Dartmouth (4-7-0, 1-3-0 ECAC, T-11th)

    It hasn’t exactly been the dream season that Dartmouth was hoping for back in September. For the first time in years, the Big Green finally appeared ready to break into the top echelon of the league. Four months later, the team has only two points, sits at the bottom of standings alongside Brown and is wondering what happened. Despite the record, the team has shown signs of marked improvement over the past few weeks. Head coach Bob Gaudet possesses the ingredients of a solid team — it’s just taking longer to mold the pieces together. Look for the Big Green to dig itself out of its first half hole come 2001.

    First Half MVP – Trevor Byrne. The sophomore defenseman is probably the main reason that the Big Green can do what they do. He controls the blue line and in turn controls how the Big Green attack. Case in point, Byrne made the play that set up the overtime goal against Maine.

    Surprise of the First Half – The team’s record. The coaches predicted that Dartmouth would finish seventh, while we said that they had a decent chance to steal the title. No matter what side of the fence you were on back in September, no one expected the Big Green to struggle as they have through the 2000 portion of their season.

    High Point of the First Half – The 2-1 overtime win over Maine. The Big Green were 1-5 heading into this game and played marvelously on their own ice. Pete Summerfelt scored the goal and with that game, the Big Green are 3-2 since then and starting to find their rythym. A great win, especially coming off of the …

    Low Point of the First Half – The 6-0 loss to Princeton. That defeat capped off a 0-for weekend for the Big Green and dropped them to 1-3 in league games and 1-5 overall. The most frustrating part of that game was that Dartmouth didn’t play that badly. They simply got behind early and started pressing. It was a clear sign that the Big Green players were reeling, and much like their fans, could not understand why they were struggling so much.

    Brown (1-8-2, 0-6-2 ECAC, T-11th)

    The Bears are tied for last place in the league standings. The team had two moments in which it looked like it may break through and start winning some games, but to no avail. With almost half of the season gone, the Bears are staring at a 0-6-2 league record. The team isn’t loaded with talent, but they are certainly a better team that they have shown thus far. Do or die time has come about quickly for the Bears. With four straight ECAC games coming up in January, the team will have to make a move quickly or else kiss good-bye its chances of making the playoffs.

    First Half MVP – Matt Kohansky. He’s the only Brown player who has broken double digits in scoring.

    Surprise of the First Half – After opening the season with a disappointing 3-0 loss to Harvard, the Bears turned around and beat nationally ranked Providence the next evening. A victory for Brown is always welcome, but one against a cross-town rival is even sweeter. The five-goal output also gave the team some hope that its offense could finish — something which was a huge question mark for Grillo entering this season.

    High Point of the First Half – Going to the North Country and gaining two points on the road from Clarkson and St. Lawrence was a huge boost for Brown. It’s not often that a team can walk away from the North Country with six goals and two ties.

    Low Point of the First Half – Not capitalizing on the momentum generated by the Providence win. Since that 5-0 win over the Friars, the Bears are winless in their last nine games and have been outscored by their opponents, 39-20.

    If It’s So Easy, You Try It

    The contest is back. Try and beat us — three have tried, three have failed.

    The contest thus far:

    Becky and Jayson d. Vic Brzozowski (10-2-2) – (8-5-1) Becky and Jayson d. Tayt Brooks (7-7-1) – (5-9-1) Becky and Jayson d. Michele Kelley (5-4-3) – (2-7-3)

    If memory serves us right, there is a school in New Jersey with fans and players who want to make Hobey proud. This week, the challenger is a fan of the Princeton Tigers, C.J. Poux, and he steps into USCHO Stadium to try and defeat the Iron Columnists.

    The Picks

    Friday, January 5

    Rensselaer at Brown
    C.J.’s Pick – My daughter and money went to RPI now they start paying me back. Rensselaer 4, Brown 2
    Becky and Jayson – Rensselaer 5, Brown 2

    Union at Harvard
    C.J.’s Pick – Union not scoring well on the road. Harvard 3, Union 2
    Becky and Jayson – Harvard 5, Union 1

    Vermont at Dartmouth
    C.J.’s Pick – Revenge factor … Nah! Vermont 3, Dartmouth 2
    Becky and Jayson – Dartmouth 4, Vermont 2

    Clarkson at MSU-Mankato
    C.J.’s Pick – MSU-Mankato makes it six straight. MSU-Mankato 4, Clarkson 2
    Becky and Jayson – Clarkson 5, MSU-Mankato 2

    Yale at Michigan State
    C.J.’s Pick – MSU lost its only game before Yale’s season started … Yale hasn’t played in almost a month. Michigan State 4, Yale 1
    Becky and Jayson – Michigan State 5, Yale 2

    Bowling Green at Princeton
    C.J.’s Pick – If my Tigers can only get through the first period! Princeton 4, Bowling Green 3
    Becky and Jayson – Princeton 5, Bowling Green 4

    Saturday, January 6

    Rensselaer at Harvard
    C.J.’s Pick – What a weekend to watch college hockey at Bright! Rensselaer 4, Harvard 2
    Becky and Jayson – Rensselaer 3, Harvard 0

    Union at Brown
    C.J.’s Pick – Brown’s woes continue. Union 3, Brown 1
    Becky and Jayson – Union 4, Brown 2

    Dartmouth at Vermont
    C.J.’s Pick – Third game between these teams in a row … Hat trick in games for Vermont … Who scheduled this? Vermont 3, Dartmouth 1

    Becky and Jayson – Vermont 6, Dartmouth 2

    Clarkson at MSU-Mankato
    C.J.’s Pick – Is Clarkson starting the usual second half of the season run? Clarkson 3, MSU-Mankato 2
    Becky and Jayson – Clarkson 4, MSU-Mankato 2

    Yale at Michigan State
    C.J.’s Pick – Yale comes close to another big scalp. Michigan State 3, Yale 2
    Becky and Jayson – Michigan State 4, Yale 1

    Bowling Green at Princeton
    C.J.’s Pick – Needed sweep for Tigers. Princeton 5, Bowling Green 2
    Becky and Jayson – Bowling Green 4, Princeton 2

    Mercyhurst at Colgate
    C.J.’s Pick – Lakers play another ECAC team well. Mercyhurst 3, Colgate 2
    Becky and Jayson – Colgate 4, Mercyhurst 1

    Quinnipiac at Cornell
    C.J.’s Pick – Cornell has played 10 of 12 at home … Quinnipiac is playing its eighth straight road game. Cornell 2, Quinnipiac 1
    Becky and Jayson – Cornell 3, Quinnipiac 1

    Tuesday, January 9

    UMass-Lowell at Union
    C.J.’s Pick – Union is back home! Union 4, UMass-Lowell 3
    Becky and Jayson – UMass-Lowell 4, Union 2

    And remember that if you are interested in putting your money where your mouth is, drop us an e-mail to be eligible to be chosen when C.J. bites the dust.

    This Week In The CCHA: Jan. 4, 2001

    By
    -

    Nobody Does It Better

    Congratulations to Western Michigan’s Mike Bishai and Michigan State’s Ryan Miller for being the first USCHO National Players of the Week for the 2000-2001 season. Thanks for doing the conference proud, boys.

    And, no, I didn’t stuff the ballot box.

    More From The Commish

    Last week, CCHA Commissioner Tom Anastos shared his thoughts on penalties and the cluster schedule. This week, Anastos talks a little about something that hasn’t quite caused a buzz yet in college hockey, but may before all is said and done.

    The ECAC has proposed a more uniform D-I men’s college hockey schedule across the board, from conference to conference. This would include not only a common starting date, but regulation of number of games played season.

    Currently, teams in the CCHA play a 28-game schedule against conference opponents, and may play as many as 38 games against Division I opponents, as well as a couple of exhibitions against Canadian college teams or teams in the U.S. Developmental Program.

    A quick look at the schedule for St. Lawrence shows the Saints with a 32-game Division I schedule, with 22 games against ECAC opponents. Cornell has 29 D-I opponents scheduled, with a preseason exhibition against Waterloo. Harvard also has 29 D-I games scheduled with a mid-season exhibition against New Brunswick.

    Anastos is vehemently opposed to making each individual league conform to one league’s idea of how a season should be scheduled, and he’s not shy about saying so.

    “The ECAC, with the Ivy League in particular, really shortens their season. I think it’s fine, but they choose to do that. But our schools and many of our peers don’t choose to do that. We like things as they are.”

    Anastos points to the geographic limitations of the CCHA and WCHA, where mid-week games are difficult if not impossible. He also likes the autonomy each league has in deciding its own schedule.

    He does think, however, that creating a common starting date for college hockey “isn’t a bad idea. This big crescendo to the start of college hockey — that might be a good thing.”

    One aspect of the CCHA schedule that Anastos is loathe to change is the way in which the season begins. “I like that we start practice in late September and our season starts at the beginning of October. It’s kind of in concert with when the NHL season starts. And frankly, a lot of the players we recruit — which is very important to keep in mind — they’re used to starting at the end of August. So we’re competing for players who end up coming to school or make a decision coming to school, we get beat up all the time about the length of our season.

    “There are people in college hockey who think that the season is getting long, but I’m not one of them.”

    Anastos said that the first proposal he saw to regulate the scheduling of the season pointed to the NCAA’s pushing back the Frozen Four one week, thereby “extending” the season, but he points out that the argument doesn’t hold water. “The extension is not real. Most of the schools are done. So for four schools, the season’s extended a week. I didn’t really see the logic in that rationale.

    “We like where it is now, although we’re open-minded. If a certain conference wants to restrict itself even more, that’s fine.”

    On another topic, early in the season many people — myself included — predicted that the CCHA wouldn’t fare well out of conference, that the league wasn’t as tough as the league itself was saying. Perhaps that was a fair assessment given the league’s nonconference play during the past two seasons, but this year the CCHA is 43-30-7 against the rest of D-I, and three teams have held spots top-ten spots in the USCHO.com Poll for a long time. And after finding the No. 1 spot, the Spartans haven’t let go, remaining the only team in the country to retain that position for more than one week running.

    Anastos is pleased to see the league get some respect, but his feet are on the ground where polls are concerned.

    “From my perspective I think polls are great because they keep the fans engaged. But the reality is, until the end of the year, it’s really hard to say what it is because there isn’t that much cross-conference play.

    “I love the polls, because I think they generate a lot of interest for the game.”

    We’ll check in with the Commissioner from time to time, and we’ll keep you updated about the scheduling issue.

    Ganga Watch

    Our hero, Nick Ganga, has so far been true to his word, playing cleaner hockey and scoring more. Ganga (5-4-9, +7) has now totaled more goals in one half of his junior year than he did in both his rookie and sophomore seasons, and he’s tied with Dave Steckel for second on the Buckeye squad in goal production.

    At the start of the year, Ganga promised us that he’d have 50 or fewer minutes in the box this season, as opposed to his 112 last year. So far, he’s on track, with 12 penalties for 24 minutes, in spite of two calls in Kalamazoo in OSU’s series against Western in mid-December, and two calls in Florida during the Everblades College Classic.

    Nick, we believe.

    Games of the Week

    The CCHA regular-season championship seems to be an annual Michigan-Michigan State competition, with a little Northern Michigan or Lake State thrown in for variety. What a yawn. For the real drama in this league, you need to go downstairs to watch the battle for that last playoff spot.

    This week, two surprising teams are meeting in a two-game series that may have playoff implications — if you’re interested in the team that wins the privilege of traveling to East Lansing in the first round of post-season play.

    Ferris State 5-11-4 (1-8-3 CCHA) at Notre Dame 4-14-3 (2-8-2 CCHA)
    Friday and Saturday, 7:05 p.m., Joyce Center, South Bend, Ind.

    This season hasn’t exactly gone as planned for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. “Every aspect of it has been difficult,” says head coach Dave Poulin. It’s the most difficult time I’ve had as a coach, especially given the expectations you naturally have.

    “From a learning standpoint, it’s phenomenal. Everything’s been going on a sweet curve since I got here, until this season.”

    The team that went to The Joe last season went 1-7-0 in December, further deepening a hole from which it was already pretty tough to see daylight.

    Ever the teacher and public optimist, Poulin sees this as a learning experience for his players as well as the coaching staff. “This is an adverse situation and many of them [players] haven’t dealt with adversity before.”

    Poulin says he knew that the team was starting with a young defensive corps, but injuries to that inexperienced defense haven’t helped.

    Defenseman Tom Galvin is expected to return to the lineup soon, in spite of suffering a severe injury in practice Nov. 2. Poulin says that Galvin’s arm was “stepped on,” and the blueliner severed seven tendons in his left arm. Galvin’s successful surgery and speedy recovery is one of the few bright spots in recent memory for the Irish.

    Another bright spot, according to Poulin, has been the play of rookie Brett Lebda (3-10-13). Lebda is another Irish defender who has had to overcome injury, having shattered his ankle in November of his last year in juniors. Poulin attributes Lebda’s speedy recovery to the freshman’s devotion to another sport. “He’s a high-caliber water skier, competitive on a national level,” says Poulin.

    Along with an injured defense, the Irish have an offense that has been decidedly low-powered this campaign. Dan Carlson (6-13-19) leads Notre Dame in scoring, followed by Ryan Dolder (8-9-17), who leads the Irish in goal production. Notre Dame has been without Connor Dunlop (4-5-9) and Rob Globke (7-4-11) for the past four games. Both are playing with the U.S. National Team, and Dunlop is serving as the squad’s captain.

    Then there’s the goaltending. Kyle Kolquist has an overall save percentage of .924, but he’s played just four games. He and teammates Tony Zasowski (.870 SV%) and Jeremiah Kimento (.883 SV%) have combined for an overall team save percentage of .884.

    “We’re playing poorly,” says Poulin. “At key times, just when we’re getting ready to get going, we lose a kid. Our goaltending has struggled all year, flat-out. Is that the reason? No. It’s a combination of things.”

    Poulin says that this season has reminded him that “there’s a hard-work element to this game that never goes away.”

    The Ferris State Bulldogs fared slightly better than Notre Dame in December, compiling a 2-4-2 record before the year ended. And while Ferris State’s offense isn’t exactly tearing it up, the Bulldogs do have a bit more consistency up front. Kevin Swider (10-10-20) leads the team in scoring, followed by Rob Collins (8-9-17) and Chris Kunitz (8-7-15).

    In goal, the Bulldogs have been about effective as have been the Irish. Phil Osaer and Vince Owen have combined for an .870 overall team save percentage.

    Defensively, Ferris State certainly has an edge in experience, but the Bulldogs are dead last in the league in goals allowed per game (4.00).

    Each team is tied for last in league scoring, averaging 2.08 goals per game. Notre Dame’s power play (.129) is slightly better than Ferris State’s (.121), which may be good for the Irish, given how much time the Bulldogs spend in the box (28.25 minutes per game, bolstered by the brawl with Michigan).

    Notre Dame’s penalty kill isn’t bad, effective 83.9% of the time, fourth in the league. Ferris State’s PK (.772) is 11th in the conference.

    Poulin says he expects “the same Ferris State team we see all the time.” Ferris State leads this series 26-11-3, and the Bulldogs are 13-5-2 on the road against the Irish. Since 1992-93, when Notre Dame returned to the CCHA, the ‘Dogs have edged the Irish 15-9-2.

    Poulin allows that the intensity of play between these two squads is “magnified [because] the teams have seen each other in the playoffs.”

    Ferris State head coach Bob Daniels says, “We realize the importance of this series, as does Notre Dame I’m sure. We need to start off the new year on a positive note and try to build momentum for the second half of our season.”

    Pick: Ferris State 4-2, 4-3

    Grudge of the Week

    These two teams last met just before their respective holiday tournaments, when they split a pair in Kalamazoo. Western Michigan has a machine-like offense, while Ohio State is surprising in its discipline and tenacity.

    No. 5 Western Michigan 14-3-2 (7-2-2 CCHA) at Ohio State 10-7-1 (7-4-1 CCHA)
    Friday 7:35 p.m. and Saturday 7:05 p.m., Schottenstein Center, Columbus, Ohio

    Evident in those games in Kalamazoo was a complete lack of love between these two teams, in spite of the regard their coaches appear to have for each other. In Ohio State’s 5-2 win Dec. 14, the Broncos and Buckeyes combined to earn — and I mean earn — 106 penalty minutes. Ohio State had a season-high 50 minutes, while Western was assessed the other 66.

    In Western’s 5-4 win the following night, Ohio State had nine penalties for 18 minutes and Western Michigan had 11 penalties for 22 minutes.

    The “grudge” of this match goes back a ways, but particularly poignant was the 8-0 beating Ohio State delivered the Broncos two seasons ago, after which then-head coach Bill Wilkinson was fired. Western Michigan leads this all-time series 54-45-8, but the Buckeyes hold a one-game edge in Columbus.

    The Broncos begin the Second Season as the Silverado Shootout champs, having beaten Colgate 2-0 before trouncing Merrimack 8-1. Forward Mike Bishai (12-30-42) was named the tournament MVP, and fellow Broncos Jeff Reynaert (.903 SV%, 2.85 GAA), David Gove (16-23-39) and Steve Rymsha (16-16-32) not surprisingly received all-tourney honors.

    The Buckeyes entered the first-ever Everblades College Classic the only ranked team and return home the only team not to have won a game in the tournament. The good news is that the Buckeyes scored 11 games Florida. The bad news is that they gave up 13. OSU lost to Cornell 6-5 in overtime, then blew a healthy lead against Clarkson to lose the consolation game 7-6. Paul Caponigri (6-11-17) was the only Buckeye named to the all-tourney team.

    In their win over Western on Dec. 14, Ohio State relied heavily on the talents of R.J. Umberger (8-10-18) and Andre Signoretti (3-10-13). This weekend, Umberger will still be off with the U.S. National Team, and unless he has sway none of us knows about, Signoretti will be in the stands for the remainder of his senior year.

    In their 5-4 loss to the Broncos, at least Dave Steckel (9-9-18) notched a couple of goals. This weekend, Steckel and Umberger are teammates, but not in Columbus.

    Earlier in the season, it might have been said that these two teams were battling to finish in or near the same spot in league standings. Now, with the Buckeye goaltending shaky and Ohio State missing three key players, the Buckeyes are probably just going to be battling to keep their heads above water.

    Pick: Western Michigan 5-4, 5-4

    This Week In The WCHA: Jan. 4, 2001

    By
    -

    The Near Impossible

    This was a story so big, so unfathomable, that coaches hundreds of miles away played it as bigger than their own games.

    And just imagine the reaction if Michigan Tech had won the Great Lakes Invitational.

    When Wisconsin coach Jeff Sauer entered the media room at Milwaukee’s Bradley Center after defeating Princeton on Friday, he opened his post-game news conference by saying it was great that his friend Mike Sertich and Michigan Tech defeated Michigan.

    Indeed, it was the story of the weekend, a “Hoosiers”-esque run to the championship game over two days.

    First, the Huskies ran all over Michigan, 7-3. A four-goal third period did the trick and Matt Ulwelling was the star, scoring two goals and assisting on another.

    The ending didn’t mirror “Hoosiers,” though. After Michigan Tech’s Jeff Keiver scored his first goal of the season to tie the game in the third period, Michigan State’s John Nail scored the game-winner 19 minutes into overtime.

    “Nobody knew how good they were,” Michigan State coach Ron Mason said. “They made us play their game.”

    It’s becoming apparent that Sertich is having an impact on Michigan Tech’s game. With Sertich’s systems in place, there’s really no telling what’s in store for the second half of the season.

    Will they be content just to do damage to other teams? Something tells me no. That doesn’t mean they’re going to finish any higher than eighth or ninth in the league, but the grit they displayed last weekend indicates they’ll be ready for the second half.

    New Title for Hakstol

    North Dakota head coach Dean Blais this week reworked assistant Dave Hakstol’s title. Hakstol, in his first season as a Sioux assistant, became the associate head coach.

    Blais’ daughter, Mary Beth, remains in a hospital in Rochester, Minn. The coach left the Bank One Badger Hockey Showdown in Milwaukee last Friday to be with his daughter after she was transported from a hospital in Grand Forks, N.D., with an undisclosed illness.

    The possibility that Blais would be gone for an extended period of time prompted the change in Hakstol’s title. Hakstol was in charge of the team when it finished third in the Showdown.

    Blais, in Grand Forks on Wednesday, said he planned to return to Rochester on Thursday. The players have Friday off practice because they play an exhibition game against Manitoba on Sunday.

    “I’ll go back and forth as much as I can and if I have to bail out, [Hakstol] will take the team,” Blais said. “My intentions right now are to go back and forth as much as I can. And the team’s fine with it.

    “They were a little bit in shock [Tuesday] because I told them everything that went on. But I also said it’s not going to affect my ability to coach. And after I started yelling at them, they were fine: ‘He’s back, he’s normal.’ ”

    Blais said the trip to Rochester takes about six hours, but he said it’s fortunate that the largest aviation school in the country is in town to offer some relief from the driving grind should he need it.

    Hakstol is the Sioux assistant with the most recent head coaching experience. He was the coach and the general manager of the Sioux City Musketeers of the United States Hockey League last season. Hakstol, a former UND defenseman, was the USHL’s coach of the year for the 1997-98 season.

    Brad Berry, also in his first year as a Sioux assistant, was an interim assistant coach for the Michigan K-Wings of the International Hockey League last season.

    But jumping from an assistant spot to being the chief man behind the bench is not the easiest thing to do, especially in the middle of the season.

    “This is [Hakstol’s] first year and it’s something to be an assistant coach but another thing to be a head coach with all the pressures,” Blais said. “Look at Scott Sandelin, who was here for six years and then to jump over to Duluth and be the head coach and make all the decisions and be responsible for everything that goes on.

    “Sometimes the best position in hockey is the assistant coaching job. You don’t feel the pressure; you feel the responsibilities but not the pressure of the head coach.”

    The Sioux could probably use the week off from NCAA competition right now. Besides the unknown state of the coaching staff, they had trouble getting into Milwaukee last weekend and missed their practice before the tournament.

    So when they stepped on the ice for Friday’s 4-3 loss to Boston University, they had practiced once since returning from the holiday break.

    “I wasn’t expecting great things out of the Badger Showdown,” Blais said, given the situation. “But now I’m expecting great things in the next two weeks of practice. I’ve got to be here and I want to get the team back to where we were before the layoff.”

    North Dakota’s 5-4 victory over Princeton in the third-place game gave the Sioux something on which to build.

    “It’s a big win for us because we wanted to start the second half on a positive note,” Sioux goaltender Andy Kollar said after Saturday’s game. “Losing [Friday] night with the lead going into the third kind of broke our backs. We just wanted to come back and play a solid game. It’s a good feeling because we’ve been off for so long. Now we’re back on track hopefully for the next few games.”

    Winter Wonderland

    They won the Badger Showdown, and then they had to practice outside. How’s that for appreciation?

    Wisconsin players took to the frozen pond on Monday, thankful it wasn’t overly cold or overly snowy in Madison, Wis.

    But with the heaping of snow the upper Midwest has received, there was more than enough snow around the outsides of the rink to keep the pucks on the ice, which is more than could be said for last season’s foray outdoors.

    Last year, a puck apparently left the ice surface and hit a nearby bus. Now that’s accuracy.

    Speaking of accuracy, success in the Showdown has been an accurate predictor of success down the stretch for the Badgers.

    They have made the NCAA tournament every time they won the Showdown title. That’s six times in the last 11 years.

    Rocky Mountain Rivalry

    The parties involved in scheduling the first half of this season’s Denver-Colorado College series did a heck of a job in timing.

    With the championship at the Wells Fargo Denver Cup last weekend, Denver is 9-0-2 in its last 11 games.

    With a sweep of Harvard last weekend, Colorado College is 7-1-1 in its last nine.

    Ring the bell. Round 1 is Friday night.

    “As far as the ticket managers are concerned, they’re assured of sellouts,” Pioneers coach George Gwozdecky said. “That’s a perfect time for the ticket managers, that’s for sure. It’s the hottest ticket in town, or in the area perhaps.

    “If you love college hockey, or if you love hockey in general, this should be a great, great series.”

    And for the Pioneers, it should be a great way to gather more exposure. Now that the Denver Broncos are done, here’s a chance to catch the attention of the media in a tough market to crack.

    “No matter what market you’re in, if you’re successful you’re going to draw attention and coverage from the media in general,” Gwozdecky said. “I think with our success over the last month and a half, we’ve been able to gather a lot more attention. Obviously, with CC being successful as well, I think this becomes a very high-profile series in this area.

    “And nationally as well, there’s some very interesting ramifications. Both teams are ranked in the top 15, at least in the popularity poll. At this point of the season, it makes for some very interesting arguments and discussions. When these two schools get together, there’s always a little bit more coverage and attention.”

    This series could draw comparisons to the 1995 Denver Cup final, the only time Denver and CC met in that tournament. With both teams highly successful, a capacity crowd watched DU win 3-2 at McNichols Arena.

    “There was an awful lot of interest because of how successful both programs were at the time,” Gwozdecky said. “This is kind of a similar situation. Although we haven’t played this year yet, I think both teams have played real well. They started their season a little stronger than we did, but there’s no question I think both teams are playing well right now, and I think it should be a real good series.”

    No More Classes, No More Books…

    If you’re a hockey player wanting to avoid distractions, this is the time for you.

    No classes, no exams, no homework. The student part of student-athlete is gone for the next few weeks.

    St. Cloud State coach Craig Dahl’s team has operated best this season, it appears, when distractions are limited. They’re 7-1 on the road, where it’s easier to focus on hockey because you’re usually staying in a hotel and are away from most of the world as you know it.

    “I think what happens when you go on the road, there’s nothing to worry about but playing hockey,” said Dahl, whose team is 13-4-1 after the first half and plays at Minnesota-Duluth this weekend to open the second half.

    “You don’t have, ‘I have to meet my parents after the game or see them before the game,’ ‘I have to be getting more tickets’ and all that kind of stuff. It seems right now, when we go on the road, it’s just us. We do stuff together and it seems like this team has bonded very well.”

    Dahl is fortunate that his team came back from break in good shape, he reported. After playing the Russian Select Team on Dec. 18, the team practiced during finals week and the players went home on Dec. 22.

    They came back together on Monday and didn’t seem to lose a step, Dahl said.

    “I told them they needed to do something while they’re at home because you can lose three weeks of conditioning in a week of doing nothing,” Dahl said. “They must’ve done something because they did a real nice job and I was really happy with what they did.”

    The Huskies probably could have played in any number of holiday tournaments this year. That’s one of the perks of being one of the top teams in the WCHA.

    But Dahl is adamant that he won’t give up the time off his players get during the break.

    “I’ve found that we take that break at Christmas and it renews them mentally and keeps them fresher,” Dahl said. “As I’ve gotten older, I’ve found that sometimes quality is better than quantity. Our practices have gone from being 2 1/2, 2 hours, 45 minutes when I started to an hour and a half. I’ve cut the length of our practices down and really stress the quality of them. It seems to be a better fit with today’s athlete.”

    He Said It

    “We played very well down there. A lot of people didn’t give us a chance. But that was not an aberration. We played well going into the [holiday] break and carried that over.”

    — Sertich, to Gregg Wong of the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

    News And Views

  • Minnesota State-Mankato will play the 1,000th game in school history on Saturday against Clarkson. Here’s hoping the Mavericks players feel privileged to take the ice for that game.
  • Next year’s Denver Cup is scheduled to feature Harvard, Bowling Green and UMass-Lowell. Set for the 2002 tournament are Clarkson, Miami and New Hampshire. It’s good to see the four-conference setup has remained.
  • Colorado College coach Scott Owens and Sally Thornton of Des Moines, Iowa, were married on Sunday, a day after the Tigers completed a sweep of Harvard. Gee, if I went to a hockey game the day before my wedding, my fiancee would kill me.
  • Speaking of the Tigers, goaltender Jeff Sanger recorded his seventh career shutout on Saturday, defeating Harvard 3-0. The junior took over the top spot on the CC shutouts list, surpassing Judd Lambert.
  • Each time Minnesota has won the Mariucci Classic, the Gophers have defeated a team from the CCHA in the championship game. This time it was Lake Superior State, 5-4 on Saturday.
  • In his last five games, Minnesota-Duluth goaltender Rob Anderson has a 2.11 goals against average and a .933 save percentage. The bad part? He’s 1-2-2 in that time.

    On The Docket

    It’s back to the conference grind for everyone next weekend, with the featured series being North Dakota at Minnesota.

    Mariucci rocks when the Sioux come to town; don’t expect anything less this time.

    Depending on this weekend’s results, next weekend’s Denver-Wisconsin series at the Kohl Center could be essential for the Badgers to stay in the thick of the top-five race and for Denver to stay near the top.

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