Home Blog Page 1483

Season Preview: Canisius Ice Griffs

By
-

It may be the start of a new hockey season, but there must be one thing fresh on the mind of Canisius College head coach Brian Cavanaugh — his early exit from last year’s MAAC playoffs. A 4-3 loss to eventual runner-up Iona brought a sad close to perhaps the finest season in Canisius hockey history.

But Cavanaugh only worries about in the past to learn from it. He approaches this season with plenty of optimism: returning to the club are all-league goaltender Sean Weaver and equally talented counterpart Stephen Fabiilli. With a top one-two punch in net alongside a returning class of 19 letterwinners, it seems a bit surprising that the MAAC coaches could vote Canisius seventh in the preseason poll.

"This is no longer a situation where every team has one line of good players. Most teams have three good lines, so it’s important to develop this to stay competitive."

— Canisius head coach Brian Cavanaugh

Cavanaugh, though, is quick to point out that Canisius is a talented team among many.

“I think if you look closely at the rankings, there are a number of teams that are within a vote or two from being in seventh or second or third,” said Cavanaugh, entering his 20th season behind the bench for the Griffs. “I think it speaks to the parity in our league.

“I can see that teams like Quinnipiac and Mercyhurst are teams that others will have to shoot for, but I think you’re going to see a lot of parity.”

Cavanaugh’s Griffs were in fact selected seventh in the preseason poll, but when the voting was tabulated, they finish just two votes behind Sacred Heart and UConn, who tied for fifth, and three points behind newcomer Army, who sits alone in fourth.

As the Griffs enter the third season in the MAAC, Cavanaugh notes that the evolution of the league has translated a lot into the evolution of coaches. As the talent pool has increased, so has what coaches do with the talent.

“You have to do your homework to be a good coach,” said Cavanaugh. “We were down at the bottom of the league last year on our power play, so we need to look at ways of being more opportunistic.

“This is no longer a situation where every team has one line of good players. Most teams have three good lines, so it’s important to develop this to stay competitive.

Canisius College itself has made more of a dedication to the sport of ice hockey. Under the direction of new Athletic Director Tim Dillon, Canisius has dedicated more funds to building up the program, and that begins with the head coach. For the first time in the program’s history, a head coach — Cavanaugh — has been retained full-time. The team also is rumored to be examining admission into the ECAC, along with crosstown rival Niagara University. That move will play out over the course of the season.

For now, though, Cavanuagh looks to the development of depth in his program to help pave a course to success in the upcoming year. With the realization that injuries cost the Griffs dearly last year, particularly with the loss of key forward Chris Duggan, Cavanaugh hopes to keep his team healthy.

“You’ve got to stay healthy — for us that’s a big thing,” Cavanaugh said. “When you stay relatively healthy throughout the course of a long season, you find yourself at the top of the standings. When you start to lose a key player here and there, it starts to affect your chemistry and the little things here and there that might mean a couple of wins.”

Boston College Edges Field in Hockey East Preseason Poll

USCHO Staff Report
-

Last season’s NCAA tournament runner-up, Boston College, has been tabbed by Hockey East coaches as the preseason favorite to capture the league’s regular season championship. The voting was one of the closest in league history, with four teams receiving first-place votes from the coaches.

The Eagles received three of a possible nine first-place votes and ranked first in the balloting with 72 points. Boston College finished third in 1999-2000 with a conference record of 15-8-1 (29-12-1 overall) before falling to Maine in the Hockey East Championship Game and to North Dakota in the NCAA Championship Game.

Three other teams also received first place votes, including 1999-2000 regular- season champion Boston University (69). The Terriers ranked second and garnered two votes for first, while 2000 tournament champion Maine (68) was close behind and received three first place-votes. New Hampshire (60) also received a vote for first and landed fourth in the balloting.

Northeastern (38), Providence (37), UMass Amherst (26), UMass Lowell (20), and Merrimack (15) rounded out the final five spots in the poll.

Predicted Order of Finish

1. Boston College (3)      72
2. Boston University (2)   69
3. Maine (3)               68
4. New Hampshire (1)       60
5. Northeastern            38
6. Providence              37
7. UMass Amherst           26
8. UMass Lowell            20
9. Merrimack               15

Season Preview: Minnesota State-Mankato Mavericks

By
-

It’s a new era for Minnesota State-Mankato, but one era may go out with another.

Longtime coach Don Brose finished his career at the end of last season with a fourth-place finish in the team’s first year as a member of the WCHA and with an appearance in the Final Five.

But Brose may have taken a lot of the success with him in seniors Aaron Fox, Tim Wolfe and Ryan Schrick, three of the top six scorers from last year’s team.

The cupboard isn’t necessarily bare for Troy Jutting’s first year as the chief of the Mavericks, but there appears to be less talent this year than last.

To be able to return anywhere near the finish of last season, when the Mavericks were probably the best team in the nation not to make the 12-team NCAA field, it’s going to take a lot of sparks on offense, a quick adjustment by the freshmen and for the returning players to remember what it took to get to that point last time.

“I think having the kids back from last year’s team that have been put in those situations will definitely help us in terms of leadership and what it takes to succeed at that level,” Jutting said. “And I think freshmen, as with all freshmen, they have to find their way a little bit and understand what it takes to succeed at the college level.

“No matter where you played or who you are, 99 percent of the time there’s an adjustment when you get into college hockey. We’re going to depend on our older guys to show the way and hope that our freshmen come along in a hurry and understand what it takes to be successful.”

Mankato has a proud tradition in hockey, mostly in the Division II ranks, but still one that has lasted longer than some imagine. The history of the program is something that surely went into Jutting’s hiring as Brose’s successor.

Jutting worked as an assistant for Brose for 10 years and played for him before that. And he knows how to continue the tradition.

“I was very fortunate to work for Don for 10 years in that he allowed us a lot of room and gave us a lot of responsibilities,” Jutting said. “He’s an educator and part of that was preparing us to be able to take the next step, also. I’m thankful for the opportunity I had with him because he was a great teacher and provided a lot of opportunities for me to make decisions and have responsibilities. I guess until you’re actually put in that situation and you’re under the gun, you don’t know how it will be. “I also played for Don for four years in the early ’80s and was a part of that history and tradition and there’s no question we will try to continue to build upon that. The goals of the program haven’t changed. We want to be a successful program, we want to be a program that continues to head in the right direction.

“And I believe tradition and history play a big part in a lot of programs, in the success they have.”

This year’s Mavericks club has questions up front. Without Fox, Wolfe and Schrick, the emphasis gets placed on T.J. Guidarelli, Jesse Rooney and Peter Holoien, the top three returning scorers.

“Those kids are going to have to shoulder a bigger offensive load this year, there’s no question about it,” Jutting said. “They all have made progress throughout their careers and I see them taking another step this year in that direction. We lost some kids who produced very well for us. I think in terms of depth, I don’t think we have a 55-point scorer, but I think we have five or six kids that have the ability to score 25, 30 points this year.”

And Jutting hopes names like Tyler Baines, Ryan Severson, Jerry Cunningham and others will become well-known around the league. If they are, the offense probably did its job. If Guidarelli, Rooney and Holoien are the only ones who provide scoring, the offense will likely stall.

If the Mavericks’ defense can provide the effort that kept opponents to three goals a game, they should do fine in the WCHA. And with five defensemen returning, that wouldn’t be too much of a stretch. Jutting said he would be more than happy with status quo on the blue line.

“We feel comfortable with the kids we have back there,” he said. “I don’t think we’ll have the flashy defenseman, but that hasn’t been our style. Our defensemen play defense and if they can contribute offensively that’s great. But their first responsibility is to their own end and to keeping the puck out of the net.”

"The goals of the program haven’t changed. We want to be a successful program, we want to be a program that continues to head in the right direction."

— MSU-Mankato head coach Troy Jutting

There’s little question who the leader of the defense is. Ben Christopherson, a senior, is one of the places Jutting will look for experience and leadership on the back lines.

“He’s been a very good player for us for three years,” Jutting said. “He’s had a good summer, he worked hard. We expect quite a bit from Benny.”

Then there’s Andy Hedlund, a junior who scored six points as a sophomore in a lesser role.

“He had a good freshman and sophomore season for us, where maybe he wasn’t counted on to be one of the top two, three guys,” Jutting said. “This year, he will be and I think he’s ready for that.”

In a league with quality goaltending nearly across the board, it’s essential to have someone worthy of the No. 1 moniker. Eric Pateman has been a workhorse for the Mavericks (he started 38 of 39 games last season) and is approaching the status of the better-known goaltenders in the league.

“One of his strong characteristics is Eric can play every night,” Jutting said. “He’s done that for us for two years; I see that continuing.”

But with a goaltender playing such a large number of games, one has to be concerned about burnout. Another concern is the power play, which finished last season eighth in the league at 15.3 percent.

“We definitely have to improve on the power play,” Jutting said. “If we want to get to the level we’d like to see ourselves get to, our power play definitely needs to improve this year. We did lose Aaron [Fox], who’s great power-play player, but we’ve got some kids that can get the job done and maybe we need to simplify things a little bit and make situations a little bit easier to understand.”

The Schedule

Jutting knows well the significance of the early part of the season. The Mavericks start with series against Colorado College, Wisconsin and North Dakota before playing Michigan Tech, Denver and Alaska-Anchorage.

Mankato then goes on an eight-game break from the league, nine if you include an exhibition against the Russian Red Army.

“It’ll all depend on how those first 10, 12, 14 games go in the beginning of the season,” Jutting said. “We’re going to be a younger team this year, we did lose a lot of experience, so those first four or five weekends are going to be a learning experience for our team. After we’ve had a chance to see how those go, we may have to make some adjustments.

“That middle part of the year will give us a chance either to step back and say ‘Here’s some of the things we need to do to compete for the top half of the league,’ or we feel pretty good where we’re at [and] we just need to keep improving on the things we’re doing.”

Season Preview: Michigan Tech Huskies

By
-

Where do you go from here? Nowhere but up, Tim Watters hopes.

The Michigan Tech coach endured his worst season in a four-year collegiate coaching career last year, going 4-34, the most losses in a season in college hockey history.

All the more reason to think there’s nowhere to go but up. The best thing for the Huskies this season is that they start with a clean slate. Zero and zero.

And the players are in good spirits, Watters said, ready to get the new season underway and put the past behind.

“The mood of the team is very positive and upbeat, which is very good at this time of year,” Watters said. “I feel as a coach that we’re a better team at this time this year than this time last year.”

But things are still shaky in Houghton, Mich. The outlook isn’t great, and the talent remains at about the same level, so don’t expect the Huskies to make a worst-to-first comeback this season. Success is measured in small steps right now at Tech.

But if you give Michigan Tech only one look this season, make sure it’s at Paul Cabana. The junior right winger made a good impression on WCHA officials during the league’s trip to Norway this summer.

He only managed 15 points (10 goals, five assists) last season, but may be able to take a bit of confidence from his development with the league team.

“Paul is one of our most skilled forwards,” Watters said. “He’s a right winger that skates well, shoots well and we’re going to look for him to create and provide some offense for us this year. The trip to Norway, I’d like to think, is going to be a big boost for his confidence. That’s going to be the key. I think if he has confidence early in the year and gets some early success, I think he’s going to surprise some people.”

The rest of the offense is a question. Sure, the Huskies have Jarrett Weinberger back after leading the team in scoring last year, but that was with 19 points.

"I feel as a coach that we’re a better team at this time this year than this time last year."

— Michigan Tech head coach Tim Watters

That ranked 61st in the league in scoring, behind eight North Dakota players and six Wisconsin skaters. The prospects for this year are nearly as limited.

“We didn’t have a lot of people that put up numbers last year, but I like to think we have some solid, hard-working forwards like Jarrett Weinberger, Tab Lardner and Matt Ulwelling,” Watters said, “three senior forwards that are capable of putting some decent numbers up for us.”

Part of the problem the last few seasons may have been a lack of good scoring chances, or even the capability to create those chances.

But Watters hopes this, finally, might be the year the Huskies at least have the chance of putting the puck in the back of the net.

“I like to think we should be able to provide some more offensive opportunities,” he said. “Whether or not we capitalize remains to be seen. But I do think we’ll have a skill level that we haven’t had in recent years and a little bit more balance in our lineup.”

It’s almost certain the Huskies won’t feature five players with 20 goals. But if they can get a good number with 10, they’ll be able to win their share of games.

One of the bright spots this season could be the incoming freshmen. The Huskies have 10 recruits listed to compete for positions this season, and Watters is excited about their abilities.

“I think the incoming freshman class is probably the most talented group of freshmen since I’ve been here,” Watters said. “I believe if you mix them in with highly motivated returning players that we’re going to have more depth and balance up and down our lineup. The freshmen, most of them are players I feel can step in and contribute and help us turn things around.”

But turning things around is a continuous process after a 4-34 season. It has to happen in the weight room, in dry-land training, and finally, on the ice.

And for Michigan Tech, it will have to happen by eliminating the gap between goals against and goals for. The Huskies were last in the league in both — scoring 1.79 goals per game while allowing 4.82.

In other words, the Huskies lost by an average of three goals per game.

“Your goals against average is a reflection of your whole team, not just your defensemen,” Watters said. “Our whole team is going to have to take responsibility to be a little more conscientious on the defensive side of the puck.”

The defense, though, will have to make quite an improvement for the Huskies to make waves in the WCHA. Mat Snesrud was also a member of the WCHA team that went to Norway and will have to draw from his experience to lead the defense through what could be another challenging season.

“We need some stability in our own zone and we like to think he’s going to come back off that trip with some renewed enthusiasm and confidence,” Watters said. “We’re going to rely on him and Clint Way and Adrian Fure to stabilize the defensive zone somewhat.”

In goal, a battle appears to be brewing between returners Jason Moilanen and Brian Rogers and newcomer Wayne Russell, all of whom have a legitimate shot at being the No. 1 goalie. Rogers tore an abdominal muscle in training camp last season and was lost for most of the season, or there may have been a better competition.

Whatever happens to the Huskies this year, it is essential that they have leaders to guide them through it, and Watters knows that.

“Leadership on the hockey club is especially important this year,” Watters said. “We’re going to have to work extremely hard for everything we get, and nothing’s going to come easy for us. If we have our leaders working as hard off the ice and on the ice to show the whole team this, I think we’ll show substantial improvement.”

And that’s what you hope for.

The Schedule

Good luck. And that would be the message to any team that has to both open and close the conference season with North Dakota and Wisconsin, back to back.

The Huskies probably deserves a better fate than this, and the coaching staff may wish they could hit fast forward and go right to Oct. 27.

It’s a mirror image at the finish. On Feb. 23 and 24, the Huskies host the Sioux; on March 2 and 3, they’re at Wisconsin. The Huskies will probably have to get their points somewhere in between.

“We’re going to have our hands full,” Watters said. “It’s going to give us a good measuring stick early in the season. Where there are challenges, there are also opportunities.”

Season Preview: North Dakota Fighting Sioux

By
-

Yes, North Dakota lost a few important players, and the Sioux are somewhat smaller this year, but Dean Blais may be looking at his team’s situation a little drastically:

“We’re rebuilding this year.”

Blais has a great poker face, but that’s line’s easy enough to see through. Offensively, Lee Goren, Jason Ulmer and Peter Armbrust are gone. OK. Defenseman Mike Commodore signed with the New Jersey Devils in the offseason. Fine.

But rebuilding? North Dakota doesn’t rebuild; it reloads.

And that appears to be the case again this year for the defending national champions. Despite losing three offensive stars, the Fighting Sioux have the capability to score more than four goals a game. Commodore’s loss leaves an open spot on defense, but Blais still has most of his corps back.

So the challenge is still there: repeat.

And if there’s a WCHA team used to the pressure of repeating, it’s North Dakota. The Sioux won three straight regular-season titles before Wisconsin broke their string last year.

But the Sioux actually played better when the pressure was off.

KARL GOEHRING

KARL GOEHRING

“They’re used to [the pressure]. I don’t think it was a real factor last year,” Blais said. “We chased Wisconsin and when we lost both those games in Madison, it took a little bit of wind out of our sails and it took us a while to recover. Once we knew we weren’t going to catch Wisconsin, we played better. The pressure was off. You look last year at all the teams that were No. 1 in the country and probably lost the next weekend.”

Despite all that talk of rebuilding, Blais can look realistically at his team this season.

“You can’t start thinking it’s going to be a down year, but we won’t have the explosiveness we had last year,” he said.

Without Goren (the goal scorer), Ulmer (the helper) and Armbrust (the leader), the Sioux offense may not have the firepower that carried them to so much success in the last half of the ’90s.

But Ryan Bayda, Wes Dorey, Jeff Panzer and Bryan Lundbohm will be more than happy to try and fill some pretty large skates.

“We had a lot of guys that weren’t 20-goal scorers but had real good years, especially as freshmen,” Blais said. “There probably wasn’t a corps of freshman that had as many goals. Some of the freshmen came on at the end of the year, when it counted.”

Maybe the biggest question on offense will be depth. Those freshmen that had good rookie seasons — Bayda, Ryan Hale, Jason Notermann, Tim Skarperud and others — will have to come through again as sophomores.

The Sioux have long been known as a team with scoring, no matter which line is on the ice. Some freshmen will have to play big on the third and fourth lines for that to continue.

"If you don’t have goaltending in Division I hockey, it doesn’t matter how good of a team you have in front of them. It’s like having a quarterback that can’t throw the football."

— North Dakota head coach Dean Blais

Commodore’s loss will take down the average height and weight of the team, plus decrease the experience on the blue line. But, with all apologies to 1990, it’s Hammer Time.

Trevor Hammer returns for his senior season in a potential leadership role on the blue line. Blais said his offseason workouts have reflected his desire to make his mark on the team.

“Trevor had a real good summer, he lifted weights and followed the off-ice training program to a T, kind of the same way [former Sioux defenseman] Tim O’Connell did between his junior and senior years,” Blais said.

“You look at Chad Mazurak, Aaron Schneekloth, Chris Leinweber and Travis Roche, those are four pretty good defensemen. And we’re counting on David Hale and Derrick Byfuglien to play a lot, two freshmen.”

But Commodore will be missed, if nothing else, for his ability to intimidate opponents with his aggressive play and 6-foot-4, 225-pound frame.

“He was a great leader for us,” Blais said. “You can have all the talent in the world but if you don’t have leadership, you have nothing. We lost five seniors last year and Mike Commodore, so not only did we lose some great players, we lost a lot of leadership and we lost a lot of size.”

There are questions at forward and some at defense, but the Sioux’s goaltending may be the most solid of any team in the nation. Karl Goehring and Andy Kollar make up one of the best goaltender combinations in the league today.

Blais probably won’t lose much sleep about his netminders unless injuries come into play — like the dueling concussions that plagued Goehring and Kollar last year. But the importance of having quality in the net every game isn’t lost on the coach.

“If you don’t have goaltending in Division I hockey, it doesn’t matter how good of a team you have in front of them,” Blais said. “It’s like having a quarterback that can’t throw the football.”

The Schedule

A defending champion should have a defending champion’s schedule. Fine with Blais.

The likes of New Hampshire, Maine, Boston University, St. Lawrence and possibly Colgate, Michigan and an extra nonconference game against Wisconsin are in the works.

The Sioux open the season at the Ice Breaker Cup in Ann Arbor, Mich., playing New Hampshire in the first round. UND was also a late addition to the four-team field at the Bank One Badger Hockey Showdown on Dec. 29 and 30, where they will try to become the first team beside host Wisconsin to defend the title.

But for the second straight year, the Sioux and the Badgers will play only one WCHA regular-season series, this year in Grand Forks, N.D. And it comes late in the season, Feb. 9 and 10.

“It’s probably the toughest schedule we’ve had since I’ve been here,” Blais said. “But that’s OK.”

Et Cetera

The new Ralph Engelstad Arena is on pace to open its doors in time for the start of the 2001-2002 season.

Season Preview: Colorado College Tigers

By
-

Scott Owens maintains this year is no more important than any other for his Colorado College program.

But after so much success under Don Lucia, there are now certain expectations of the Tigers. And two consecutive years of missing the NCAA tournament might be more than the Colorado College brass can take.

No pressure or anything.

“I think every year’s important for your program,” said Owens, starting his second year at CC. “We took a step back last year, but I don’t think it’s a trend. I think it [was] a little bit of a transition year. A lot of things that could go wrong went wrong. All that said, I think we were 14th overall in the [Ratings Percentage Index] in the end. So we weren’t that far away.

“I think we could be a much better team this year but because of the strength of our league, end up in the same standings spot.”

To avoid having that happen, to make a step toward the top of the league, the Tigers’ defense will have to make a stand, which means a number of key faces on the offense need to become leaders instead of followers.

Colorado College will build around its defense and goaltending. That is a necessity, caused by what could be viewed as a shortfall on the offensive side of the puck.

It’s also caused by the experience the Tigers feature on the blue line and in the crease.

“We played seven defensemen last year and we return six of them,” Owens said. “And we’ve got an incoming youngster named Andrew Canzanello that’s going to vie for some time. And then all three of our goaltenders are back.

“The second half of the year, we had outstanding goaltending. We return six defensemen and three goaltenders. We think that’s going to be the cornerstone of our team.”

"We return six defensemen and three goaltenders. We think that’s going to be the cornerstone of our team."

— Colorado College head coach Scott Owens

Paul Manning and Mike Colgan, as seniors, are the heart and soul of the Tigers’ defense. Manning had 17 assists last year and Colgan chipped in 16, but that isn’t where the pair has to make an impact.

They have to hold down the blue line, especially until the offense can gather some momentum.

“Manning’s 6-foot-4, a nice blend of offense and defense. Mike Colgan had a great year for us last year,” Owens said. “Very steady, very consistent, good, solid defensive defenseman. Those are two big horses that are going to log a lot of ice time.”

Meanwhile, sophomore Tom Preissing could pick up where he left off last year, when Owens said he was probably one of the three best rookie defensemen in the league, along with North Dakota’s Travis Roche and Wisconsin’s Brian Fahey.

Junior Mike Stuart and senior Brent Voorhees need to fill out the defensive roster so experience will dominate.

In goal, there appears to be a true competition — again — between Jeff Sanger and Colin Zulianello. Sanger is the returning starter, going 14-14-1 in 1999-2000. Zulianello was 4-4-2.

Owens said he thinks Sanger has the ability to become the No. 1 goalie again, but wasn’t quite ready to call it a closed competition. Zulianello lost 10 pounds in the offseason and looks ready to make a challenge.

The offensive outlook could be promising, with many ifs.

If Mark Cullen returns from injury with a productive year; if Justin Morrison finds the form of two years ago; if Noah Clarke doesn’t fall into a sophomore slump; if a few key newcomers fill some of the void left by the graduation of Toby Petersen and K.J. Voorhees.

If, if, if.

Cullen, who labored through last season with an injured wrist that forced him to play in a cast, could improve on his 11-goal, 31-point season if he stays healthy.

JUSTIN MORRISON

JUSTIN MORRISON

Morrison, who followed a strong, 23-goal, 38-point sophomore season in 1998-99 with a mediocre, seven-goal, 26-point campaign last year, needs to find a way to prove last season wasn’t indicative of how he plays.

“He had a great sophomore year, the second half of the year he really had all of his goals,” Owens said. “He had four his first year, 23 his second and seven [last] year. We think somewhere in the mid-teens to upper-teens is more likely for Justin. We’d be thrilled if he was in the 20s, but we’d just like to see him get back and be able to put up somewhere in the mid-teens.”

Among last year’s rookies, Noah Clarke was lost a bit in the excitement over Wisconsin’s Dany Heatley, and he deserved more attention for the 17 goals and 20 assists he accumulated.

“I think he was lost a little bit in that shuffle,” Owens said. “Heatley’s such a fantastic talent, but it isn’t very often a freshman leads your team in scoring by upwards of six points. He’s a pretty dynamic player.”

Owens pointed to Peter Sejna, a high-scoring recruit from Des Moines of the United States Hockey League, and Alex Kim, a transfer from Miami, as newcomers to watch.

But it’ll take more than just one player or one group to bring this offense together.

“We think offensively, it’ll be more than incoming freshmen or one guy bouncing back,” Owens said. “We hope there’s a whole different assortment of people that are going to help improve our production.”

The Schedule

The Tigers announced they were backing out of the Denver Cup last season, apparently upset with the tournament’s move to the Denver campus and Magness Arena.

But no tournament doesn’t necessarily mean no tournament-like opponents. CC plays Providence, Boston University, Air Force, Bemidji State and a series with Harvard, all at the World Arena in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Season Preview: Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs

By
-

In a sense, former Minnesota-Duluth coach Mike Sertich picked a good time to retire and look out for the future of the program simultaneously.

Scott Sandelin was looking for a head coaching job. With Sertich’s retirement after 18 years with the Bulldogs, Duluth was looking for a coach.

And the rest is history.

Duluth grabbed one of the hottest coaching prospects in college hockey in Sandelin, a former assistant to Dean Blais at North Dakota.

If only the news on the ice were better.

The Bulldogs lost their top two scorers — from a team that had plenty of trouble scoring in the first place. Jeff Scissons and Colin Anderson accounted for over one-third of the team’s scoring last year and their punch will be missed.

Goaltender Brant Nicklin is gone, leaving only one player who’s seen a decent amount of ice time, Rob Anderson.

The defense is mostly back, but, with all apologies, is that a good thing or a bad thing for a team that allowed 3.95 goals per game last year, ninth in the league?

Sandelin doesn’t give a rip about what’s happened in the past; it’s the present and the future on which he’s focused.

“I didn’t watch any tape,” said Sandelin, who spent six seasons with the Sioux. “I did not care what they have done in the past. I look to the future and what they’re going to do now. They’re all going to get an opportunity to show what they can do and show they belong here. I didn’t want to go back and look at things and draw opinions on certain players based on what they did or didn’t do in the past. That’s fair to them.

MARK CARLSON

MARK CARLSON

“What I’ve been most impressed with with this group is there’s a lot of tremendously good kids. They’re excited about getting this year going. They’ve worked hard and they’ve showed a lot of enthusiasm and a lot of team camaraderie. We’ve gotten better each day, and that’s kind of what I’m trying to stress as the year goes on, that we do get better each day.”

Things will have to get better on a daily basis if the Bulldogs are going to climb out of the bottom part of the league, starting with the offense.

UMD scored 2.51 goals per game last season — 93 goals in 37 games — the lowest per-game average in team history. And that was with Scissons and Anderson.

“Our problem here in the past was scoring goals, but hopefully that trend is going to change too,” Sandelin said. “I think there is the ability to score goals. Are we going to score five, six goals a game? I don’t know. I’m not banking on that, but I think we can increase our goal production and make sure we take care of the other end of the ice.”

To remedy the situation, Sandelin wants to stress creativity. Not the creativity of one player taking the whole team in his hands and trying to do it all, but of players willing to take a few chances in the offensive zone.

“I believe in allowing the players to play the game,” he said. “There’s going to be some responsibilities that they have to be accountable for, obviously defensively. But they need to be a little creative, them having the confidence to go out and try some things and not be afraid to make some mistakes that way, I think is a way to improve in that area.”

Without Scissons and Anderson, the offense will probably be more balanced. Derek Derow, Judd Medak and Ryan Homstol may prove to be the leaders, but there’s no question that improving this part of the Bulldogs is going to be a team effort.

Sandelin, a former North Dakota defenseman who worked with the Sioux’s blue line for most of his time as an assistant coach, can bring experience on working with one of the best defensive corps in the nation.

So expecting the entire team to focus on defense is a given. And Sandelin has some players with WCHA experience to work with. Seniors Ryan Coole and Jesse Fibiger will join juniors Mark Carlson and Andy Reierson to hold down the blue line.

“In this league, it’s very important to have some experience back there,” Sandelin said. “It doesn’t mean you have to have six guys, but we have five guys returning that played. I won’t say just because of that, we’ll be great, but I think it helps because they’ve been around the league and they know. Our game is maybe going to revolve around that back end. You go where your experience is. ”

"I didn’t watch any tape. I did not care what they have done in the past. I look to the future and what they’re going to do now. They’re all going to get an opportunity to show what they can do and show they belong here."

— Minnesota-Duluth first year head coach Scott Sandelin

In that case, goal will not be the center of the universe as far as Duluthis concerned. With Nicklin — the school leader in appearances, save percentage and shutouts — gone, Anderson, who had a 5-6 record last year, and Jason Gregoire, who played seven minutes, will battle for the top spot. Adam Coole will also work into the mix.

“Maybe our goaltending isn’t quite as experienced as it was with Brant leaving, but there’s going to be a good battle and we have three pretty good goaltenders,” Sandelin said. “Who is going to emerge, I don’t know. Is one of them going to be the guy that carries us? Maybe, but I think that remains to be seen. It starts there and works out. If we can play well there and do the job to create offensive chances up front, I think we’ll be all right.”

Sandelin’s experience at North Dakota might help with the special teams as well. The Bulldogs were seventh in power play at 17.2 percent; they were ninth in penalty killing at 77 percent.

A team doesn’t win many games with those kinds of percentages, as the Bulldogs learned last year.

“If you do well in those areas, you can win some games,” Sandelin said. “A lot of times, that’s the difference in games right now because the goaltending is very good and the league has great depth, and to be able to convert on the power play or kill off a shorthanded chance or maybe get a shorthanded goal a lot of times is the difference in our games.

“Who’s going to be on there? It’s kind of a work in progress and we’re going to find out. Hopefully we get the best people for the job.”

The Schedule

Call this the Year of the Tournaments for the Bulldogs. Over Thanksgiving weekend, UMD will play New Hampshire and Vermont in the Sheraton/Howard Bank Hockey Classic in Burlington, Vt., and the Bulldogs face Merrimack and Colgate in the Silverado Shootout in Duluth at the end of December.

Plus, Duluth is the opponent for Michigan Tech’s Winter Carnival on Feb. 9 and 10.

“We’re playing some pretty good teams outside (the league) and I think it’s very helpful,” Sandelin said. “Looking at our league schedule, we don’t have an easy start. We’re on the road a lot, which I don’t mind, being new to the situation. You find out a lot about your team on the road.

“We’ve got 21 home games so hopefully we can take care of that. But in this league, you have to win on the road. We’re going to find out early what kind of character we have, starting at Minnesota, we have to go into Colorado [College] and go into North Dakota in the first month and a half of the season.”

Poll: NCAA Champion Sioux Top Pick In WCHA

USCHO Staff Report
-

The defending NCAA champion North Dakota Fighting Sioux have been tabbed by the coaches of the WCHA as the conference’s preseason favorite.

The Fighting Sioux received six first-place votes and a total of 77 points in the annual polling.

Last year’s regular-season champions, the Wisconsin Badgers, got three first-place votes and 70 points to finish second in the poll. St. Cloud State received one first-place vote for 61 points and finished in a tie for third place with Minnesota.

Colorado College (54 points) was fifth, followed by Denver (37) and Minnesota State-Mankato (35) in sixth and seventh.

Alaska-Anchorage and Minnesota-Duluth each received 23 points to tie for eighth place, while Michigan Tech earned nine points to finish 10th.

WCHA Preseason Coaches Poll

 1. North Dakota (6)     77
 2. Wisconsin (3)        70
 3. St. Cloud State (1)  61
    Minnesota            61
 5. Colorado College     54
 6. Denver               37
 7. MSU-Mankato          35
 8. Alaska-Anchorage     23
    Minnesota-Duluth     23
10. Michigan Tech         9

WCHA coaches also voted Wisconsin sophomore Dany Heatley as the Preseason Player of the Year. The No. 2 pick by Atlanta in this summer’s NHL Entry Draft received 5 1/2 votes to finish one vote ahead of North Dakota senior forward Jeff Panzer.

The coaches also named their choices for Preseason Rookie of the Year. Connor James, a forward for Denver, and Minnesota forward Troy Riddle each received three votes. Peter Sejna, forward for Colorado College, received two votes, while defensemen David Hale (North Dakota) and Jeff Finger (St. Cloud State) received one vote each.

Season Preview: St. Cloud State Huskies

By
-

After finishing third in the WCHA, the expectations were set high for St. Cloud State:

Do better.

And if there ever was a Huskies team that could be up to that challenge, it may be this year’s. With plenty of scorers back, with the top goaltender back, with a team eager to prove last season wasn’t a career year and with a great foundation on which to build, this is the time St. Cloud has to take another step.

“Everybody’s a year older and with a year more experience, so that usually bodes well in our league,” SCSU coach Craig Dahl said.

“We’ve always said this is a junior-senior league; juniors and seniors are usally the ones that lead you where you’re going to go, to the NCAAs and that.”

And the juniors and seniors on the Huskies’ roster show plenty of potential to make a big impact in the WCHA.

Goaltender Scott Meyer was a second-team all-league selection last season and will be pushed by the backups; Keith Anderson, Brandon Sampair, Tyler Arnason, Nate DiCasmirro, Mark Hartigan and company made their marks last year and could do the same this year; and Brian Gaffaney, Ritchie Larson and Duvie Westcott will bring a knowledge of what it takes to win in the league to the blue line.

All in all, things are pretty good in St. Cloud.

But the Huskies will have to keep an eye on their defense. During the offseason, All-American defenseman Mike Pudlick signed with the Los Angeles Kings of the NHL. Combine that with the graduation of Geno Parrish, Bryce Macken and Tom Lund and there’s going to be a significant turnover.

MARK HARTIGAN

MARK HARTIGAN

“I think we’re going to be OK back on defense once we get a few games under our belts,” Dahl said.

But how many is a few? Will it take two weeks? Three weeks? Two months? The Huskies can afford to take a bit of time because of strong goaltending, but the newcomers will need to become a functional part of the team quickly.

And using the forwards’ experience will be crucial.

“I’ve already been talking to our guys about playing great defense and our forwards are a very strong part of that,” Dahl said. “From what I understand, our captains’ practices have been very low-scoring affairs, from the standpoint of not allowing a lot of great chances. I like that idea.

“I’m not too worried about our defense, to tell you the truth. I like our recruits, I like what our defensemen did in the offseason. We’re going to be OK back there.”

One recruit who received significant attention was Jeff Finger, a hardnosed defenseman from the Green Bay Gamblers of the United States Hockey League. The Huskies may need a player that’s going to make opponents afraid to take the play into the corner, but Dahl doesn’t want to push Finger into any particular role.

“The roles players find themselves in evolve over time,” Dahl said. “I’m not going to tell him he has to be any way. We have to wait and see how he plays and let him play to his strengths. He’s a big kid, he’s strong and he’s physical. I don’t think anybody’s going to push him around.”

Meyer knows his role, and he wants to solidfy it.

Not satisfied with just being the No. 1 goaltender for the Huskies, Meyer is pushing himself this fall, according to Dahl, to keep working on things he thinks he needs to improve.

“His attitude this year has been one of not sitting back — ‘I’m just going to be good,'” Dahl said. “He’s working on things he needs to improve on. He’s saying, ‘I’m not going to sit back, I’m going after it.’ I think he has things he wants to prove, that last year wasn’t a career year.”

Meyer may even want to prove that he belongs among the top three goaltenders in the WCHA. He, Karl Goehring of North Dakota and Wisconsin’s Graham Melanson were the goaltenders for the league’s summer trip to Norway. But Meyer, a senior, needs another outstanding year to cement his place among the best in the league.

He might have the No. 1 job wrapped up … or maybe not. Dean Weasler and Jake Moreland worked hard in the offseason, Dahl said, to be able to compete for time.

“Dean, I’ve been especially happy with because he’s lost 20 pounds,” Dahl said. “He’s not willing to sit back and say, ‘We’ll see what happens.’ He’s preparing himself like he’s going to be the No. 1 guy and as a coach you like to see that.”

Meanwhile, the offense is in good hands, provided the top names produce as expected and some youngsters chip in.

Arnason, Sampair and DiCasmirro have to provide the leadership by example as veterans. Nine of the team’s top 10 scorers from last year are back (Pudlick is the only one missing). But the difference may be made by players like Ryan Malone and Matt Hendricks.

Malone had nine goals and 21 assists in his freshman year, attracting some attention. Dahl doesn’t see a sophomore slump happening.

“He really worked hard this summer,” Dahl said. “He was such a late developer anyway. Last year was significantly better than his year in juniors — he really exceeded a lot of people’s expectations and I really expect him to do quite well this year.”

"I’m not too worried about our defense, to tell you the truth. I like our recruits, I like what our defensemen did in the offseason. We’re going to be OK back there."

— St. Cloud head coach Craig Dahl

Hendricks, the MVP of the Minnesota high school tournament last season at Blaine, could be one of the top freshmen in the league this year, provided he recovers from a broken leg suffered in the offseason.

A lot of this season for the Huskies could depend on how the special teams fare. St. Cloud was tops in the league in penalty killing last year at 86.7 percent, thanks to the strong defense. But the power play struggled to maintain consistency, something Dahl hopes to change.

“I expect our penalty kill to be very good again this year; we’d be disappointed if it wasn’t,” he said. “We need to see some dramatic increase in the production on the power play. That’s where you can win games. You go on the power play and you’re deadly on it, you can win games with your power play.”

The Schedule

If the Huskies are involved in the race for the WCHA title in February, they will probably have to make a strong push at the finish. One stretch stands out — the Huskies host Colorado College, go to Anchorage and then have to turn around and go to Wisconsin.

“By any stretch, that’s a very difficult stretch and it’s going to be important that we are well rested,” Dahl said.

Et Cetera

Some season ticket holders at the National Hockey Center can expect to be a bit more comfortable in the seats. A renovation added backs in the three middle sections across from the bench.

Season ticket sales have increased, Dahl said, so only 700 tickets were available for each game.

“It’s just been somewhat gratifying to watch the development of the program from the standpoint of fan support and media support and the types of players you recruit,” Dahl said.

Season Preview: Denver Pioneers

By
-

You think the stock market fluctuates too much? Try being George Gwozdecky.

The last seven years have been like a cruel roller coaster ride for the Denver coach, who has watched his team look like it’s going to be a force in the WCHA for years to come, only to drop seven or eight places the next season. In even-starting seasons — 1998, 1996 and 1994 — the Pioneers have made the NCAA tournament. Otherwise, well … don’t ask.

But, this season at least, there’s a bright note for a team that finished ninth in the league last year: If you go by history, the roller coaster is up.

But that won’t guarantee the Pioneers much success this year — they’ll have to work for pretty much anything they get.

There’s good and bad for Denver.

The good is that the Pioneers have an improved second half of last season to work from, and the players appear to have taken it upon themselves this summer to make improvements.

“The first half [last year], we just buried ourself,” Gwozdecky said. “We put ourself in a position, especially with the league as difficult as it was, even though we were a much better team in the second half of the season, everyone kept beating everybody so we couldn’t gain any ground.

“Judging from the way our players worked this summer and the number of players who remained on campus to train and work and go to school, this should be a big improvement.”

The bad news is that they’ll have to improve while facing a tremendously difficult schedule: “Maybe one of the toughest schedules in the country,” Gwozdecky said.

Boston College, Boston University and Providence are some of the nonconference opponents on the schedule for the 2000-2001 season. In the league, the Pioneers start at St. Cloud State and then host North Dakota.

“We’ve got our plate full, but if you’re going to be a top program in the country, you’ve got to schedule that way,” Gwozdecky said.

Early in the season, the Denver defense will have to be aware of a new face in its net. Stephen Wagner is gone, leaving Wade Dubielewicz as the only returner with college experience.

Adam Berkhoel, who led the Twin Cities Vulcans of the United States Hockey League to the Junior A national championship last season and was named USA Hockey’s goaltender of the year, will make for a good competition for the top spot.

“Wade’s the leader in the clubhouse,” Gwozdecky said. “If you have that experience like Wade does, he’s going to have the first start and he’s going to get the majority of the playing time early in the season.”

But Berkhoel should see his share of time, though the team’s not counting on experience in juniors to translate into success in college.

“We were very pleased that Adam had the kind of finish he did to the season,” Gwozdecky said. “He really put the Vulcans on his back and was a major reason they were able to win the championship. We feel very good about his future here. He’s going to give our goaltending situation a tremendous 1-2 punch with Wade coming back.

“I really believe our goal situation is in as good a hands as it’s been for a number of years, dating back to the years (Sinuhe) Wallinheimo and (Jim) Mullen were with us. I think these guys are going to be a critical factor in our play this year and a critical factor in our success. I think both are going to get a chance to play and hopefully both get a chance to develop quickly so they can do their jobs.”

The Pioneers’ goaltending situation is critical also because of the penalty killing, which was eighth in the league last year at 81.5 percent.

Just add some more pressure onto a position in transition.

“Special teams are critical and penalty killing is a direct result of how your goaltending is,” Gwozdecky said. “If your goaltending is strong and makes some great saves, your penalty killing percentages and numbers look good.”

"I really believe our goal situation is in as good a hands as it’s been
for a number of years."

— Denver head coach George Gwozdecky

The defense will be counted on early to make that transition smooth. Last year, that may have been a problem, and who knows, it may be this year. But Gwozdecky knows why last year’s defensive corps had problems.

Yeah, they were inexperienced and such. But that’s not it.

“We weren’t very mean,” Gwozdecky said, “and we weren’t very nasty.”

So count on players like Judd Stauss, Bryan Vines and Jesse Cook to make some waves on the blue line. Junior Chris Paradise, who moved from defense to forward last season, started training camp at center.

One thing Gwozdecky said he knows he can count on is Stauss playing hard at all times. He was named the team’s defensive player of the year after scoring career highs in goals (four) and points (11).

Judging from his statistics, the fact Stauss is a defensive defenseman comes as no surprise.

“He’s our captain and not only does he know his role, but he plays his role extremely well,” Gwozdecky said. “There’s nobody that wants to win any worse than Judd does. It’s exciting to see the team respond to him and how he’s training and practicing. He plays his best game from our red line back. That’s his strength and it will remain his strength and hopefully a strength of our team as we move on in the season.”

The biggest player opposing defenses will have to key on is Kelly Popadynetz. The senior led the team with 40 points last year and may have to repeat his 15-goal output to give the Pioneers’ offense some punch.

Gwozdecky doesn’t doubt Popadynetz has that ability.

“Kelly’s capable of doing that and far more,” he said. “There’s not going to be the expectation that Kelly has to lead the way with a bushel of points. I think there are other guys that are going to support Kelly and put up some numbers.”

Kevin Doell led DU’s rookies with eight goals last year and Greg Barber added seven. If Paradise continues to play offense, he should be able to set up some plays. As a junior, David Neale needs to put up more points than his nine from last season.

And senior Bjorn Engstrom has to duplicate his 30-point season of last year.

“These are guys that are going to be pitching in and supporting us offensively,” Gwozdecky said.

And if Connor James, the Alberta Junior Hockey League’s rookie of the year last season with 93 points for the Calgary Royals, can make an impact even remotely like Wisconsin’s Dany Heatley did, the Pioneers may have found a gem.

If all this doesn’t happen, the Pioneers’ roller coaster ride could take a turn for the worse.

Et Cetera

The Pioneers’ home-and-home series with Colorado College takes on a different twist this year. They play Jan. 5 and 6, but the other series is split — DU hosts on Jan. 19 and CC hosts on Feb. 10.

Season Preview: Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves

By
-

Dean Talafous thinks the Gap is closing.

But don’t run out to grab trendy-yet-overpriced clothes. He’s not talking about that Gap.

The Alaska-Anchorage coach said the gap between his team and the league’s elite has dwindled. And, judging from last year’s results, he may be correct.

The Seawolves were poised to host a first-round league playoff series for the first time until the bottom fell out. So is this the year?

Talafous doesn’t expect the rest of the coaches to think so.

“We’ll probably be picked last again, but that’s OK,” said Talafous, entering his fifth year in Anchorage. “We expect that. I don’t know what we’d do if we weren’t. If they pick us ninth and not 10th, I’m not going to tell the team. I think I’m going to go in and tell them it was 10th anyway. They just expect it.”

Interesting motivational tools aside, the Seawolves show signs that the power structure of the WCHA is, indeed, shifting a bit their way. A trip to Anchorage used to be viewed as tough solely because of the trip to Anchorage; the opponent didn’t cause much of a concern for the top teams in the league.

But when the Seawolves beat Wisconsin 4-1 in Madison, Wis., last year, heads turned. Once heads don’t turn at a score like that, Talafous’ job may be complete.

Don’t expect that to happen just yet, though. The Seawolves could be a quality team this year, but they have a number of things to improve.

Namely, the offense and a disparity in talent. The only way to make up for the latter, Talafous said, is to keep working.

“Probably game in and game out, we’re not going to match up man for man talent-wise,” Talafous said. “I think we have enough talent, if we do all the other things right, to win hockey games. And one of the things you have to do right is you have to play in both ends of the rink.”

The offense has seen some progress, but still lags behind most of the rest of the league. The Seawolves can make up for a bit of that with a stifling defense, but to become one of the elite teams in the league, UAA needs to convert on its scoring chances.

But Talafous is happy with the way things have come along.

"Probably game in and game out, we’re not going to match up man for man talent-wise."

— Alaska-Anchorage head coach Dean Talafous

“We doubled our power-play output, we improved our overall goal output quite a bit, we outshot 70 percent of our opponents,” Talafous said of last year’s team. “Three years ago, we were ranked 60-something [in the nation], [were] outshot every game, scored about a goal a game playing 0-0 ties and couldn’t score on the power play. We play very aggressive now and we’ve changed our whole look.”

Anchorage’s top line again looks promising but needs help. An all-junior trio — Steve Cygan, Mike Scott and Gregg Zaporzan — could make opponents take notice, but they might not even stay together.

If the Seawolves don’t form a solid second line, the top line may be split apart to try to spark some offense and create balance.

“If we can somehow create another line that can score as often, it might make it more difficult on teams to just watch one line,” Talafous said. “The only other possibility would be to split them up if we’ve got a couple other guys ready to step up and create two lines that can create scoring opportunities when they’re on the ice and then have a third line that at times can pitch in, too. That way it makes it a little more difficult for other teams to throw a blanket over one line.

“We always know they play well together. Maybe there’s three other guys that can create a scoring line by themselves and we won’t have to split them up.”

Senior captain Reggie Simon isn’t much of a candidate to be a big scorer, but he has another role with the team.

“Reggie’s just kind of a leader, a plugger,” Talafous said. “I don’t consider him an offensive threat, although he’ll chip in. Reggie’s just our leader and an inspiration because he’s such a hard worker and gets it done with very marginal talent at this level. Reggie’s going to be somewhere in the lineup and be a valuable part of it.”

Goaltending could be an interesting position this year, especially since no one is guaranteed a thing at the start of the season.

Cory McEachran left the team in the offseason, marking the second year in a row a goaltender left the Seawolves after the season. That leaves Corey Strachan, who had a 9-10-1 record and a 2.89 goals against average last year while splitting time with McEachran.

But the job isn’t going to be his without a fight. The Seawolves brought in rookies Chris King and Kevin Reiter to compete for the job. Sophomore Kurt Johnson is also listed on the roster.

“I told [Strachan], ‘If you’re a better goaltender, you’re going to play. If you’re not better, I think someone else is going to play for you because the two we brought in are pretty good goaltenders,'” Talafous said. “It’s hard because you like kids but you also know what it takes to win in the WCHA. You challenge them to get better but you bring in competition.

“Corey’s very athletic. He had some good games last year and he had some very average. If he takes all that freshman experience and comes back more determined and more confident and more consistent, he can be a good goalie. But that was three ifs, so that’s why you bring in a guy like Chris King. He’s a very, very confident kid. So if Strachs comes back a more confident, more consistent goalie, I think he’s going to play some. But if he doesn’t, Chris King will take the job from him.”

The Anchorage defense isn’t in much question, especially with Matt Shasby back after a strong freshman season.

“He meant as much to our team as a freshman as any freshman in the league,” Talafous said. “I’m not saying he was the best freshman defenseman, I’m just saying what he did for us was significant. I don’t know if there was another freshman defenseman that did more for their team than Matt Shasby did for us. We expect him to come back as a sophomore and really be one of the better veteran defensemen in the league.”

The Schedule

The Seawolves are a candidate for this year’s “Toughest Self-Inflicted Start” award. By scheduling Michigan State, Michigan and Merrimack in the Johnson Nissan Classic at Sullivan Arena, UAA has nowhere to hide in the season opener.

The Seawolves open with Michigan State on Oct. 13 and play Michigan the next night.

“We want to play some of the teams our fans never see, and we want to have the premier matchups in the evening,” Talafous said. “I just believe if you play the best often enough, you’ll figure it out and one day, you’ll start beating the best.”

Season Preview: Wisconsin Badgers

By
-

Everything else could wait. There was one bit of news the Wisconsin hockey program wanted to hear over all others.

Dany Heatley is coming back.

So they waited, the Badgers did, months after finishing one of the most successful campaigns on record, yet without a national championship to show for it. They waited to hear whether Heatley, the No. 2 pick in this year’s NHL draft, would return to school or sign with the Atlanta Thrashers.

The Badgers could be good without Heatley, the runaway choice for WCHA rookie of the year last season, when he scored 28 goals and had 56 points. But there were questions as to if the Badgers could once again make a run for the MacNaughton Cup.

No bother. Heatley’s back. And so are the Badgers’ chances for the league’s regular-season championship.

“It’s good for all of college hockey, not only for Wisconsin,” Wisconsin coach Jeff Sauer said, apparently forgetting the other nine coaches in the WCHA, who again have to find a way to shut him down.

“To have a player of this caliber to come back to our game and not sign a pro contract is a real plus. We’re real pleased that he’s back.”

But simply having Heatley back for at least one more college campaign isn’t going to be enough for the Badgers to win back-to-back MacNaughton Cups for the first time in school history.

Nor will the combination of Heatley, David Hukalo and centerman Brad Winchester. Wisconsin needs to utilize its depth and show it’s not going to be a team dominated by the top line.

“We’ve got good depth at forward; we’ve got mature depth at forward,” Sauer said. “Dany just adds to that by returning. He gives us a bonafide goal scorer and hopefully we can take advantage of it.”

One of the knocks on Heatley last season was that he was too dependent on centerman Steve Reinprecht, who graduated as the runner-up for the Hobey Baker Award. Of course, the knock on Reinprecht in his campaign for Hobey was that he leaned too much on Heatley.

Without Reinprecht on the top line, we’ll see very quickly if those claims were true.

“I think that’s one of the reasons [Heatley] decided to come back — improvement, not only from a physical standpoint but maturity-wise,” Sauer said. “Now it’s a situation where he doesn’t have Steve working for him in the middle so I think he looks at that as a challenge. He’s a confident kid that’s ready to play and once we get going, things will be fine.”

Winchester was a late addition to the Heatley-Hukalo line. Kent Davyduke and newcomer John Eichelberger were also candidates, Sauer said. But that line will need help from other lines being able to score some goals when opposing defenses key on them.

“We need four or five guys to come through with 10 or more goals, and I think we have people that are capable of doing that in our lineup,” Sauer said. “I don’t want to sit back, and I thought at times last year we got into a mold, ‘Reino’s line’s going to score, so we don’t have to score on this shift.’

“It’s our job as a staff this year to get that intensity going with each line that goes on the ice.”

GRAHAM MELANSON

GRAHAM MELANSON

Second-line anchor Dustin Kuk has graduated as well, which could mean the Badgers will need a shot of intensity now and then. Kevin Granato, Matt Doman and Matt Murray all could provide the spark needed in lines two through four, but they can’t get caught up in Heatley-watching.

Still, Sauer is happy with the depth at forward.

“If we played a game tomorrow night,” Sauer said at the start of training camp, “we could put people on the ice on all four lines that have played three and four years in the WCHA, and I think that’s a real positive.”

The Badgers’ defense has two of the best defensemen in the league at the top, Jeff Dessner and Alex Brooks. Each has a good story, redshirting the freshman year because of back injuries, being prone to mistakes as newcomers, but expecting strong seasons as seniors.

“The thing people forgot about Alex Brooks and Jeff Dessner, they’re fifth-year seniors, both of them had back problems and Jeff had two surgeries on his back his freshman year,” Sauer said. “We always knew he had this ability but I think he has really matured last year and now going into this season and he’s healthy again.”

Wisconsin’s top defensive pairing is strong, but while experience is present further down the list, there are questions about quality.

Brian Fahey was named to the league’s all-rookie team last year after tying for the rookie defenseman goal-scoring title (six). But the others — Rob Vega, Mark Jackson, Jason Reimers and Rick Spooner — need to show they can compete at the level at which Wisconsin wants to compete.

"We need four or five guys to come through with 10 or more goals, and I think we have people that are capable of doing that in our lineup."

— Wisconsin head coach Jeff Sauer

Rookie Dan Boeser should be able to fill the role of the graduated Dan Bjornlie, Sauer said, that of a solid defensive defenseman.

“We’ve got eight solid defensemen that I have confidence in playing any of them,” Sauer said. “We didn’t have that a year ago. We had bodies, but we didn’t have mature bodies. This year we’ve got some maturity there.”

Speaking of maturity, Graham Melanson enters his third full season of being the story in goal for the Badgers after splitting time his freshman season with Mike Valley.

Without question, Melanson is among the top three goaltenders in the league. But he played 41 games and started 40 last season. The year before, he played in 38. Fatigue could be a factor down the stretch.

“You’re always concerned about that position and maybe getting stale,” Sauer said. “But Graham’s a senior, he won 31 games for us last year. He’s a workhorse — he’ll be the first to tell you he wants to play every night.

“There may be some points where he gets mentally tired but hopefully we can work around that. He’s been durable — knock on wood — I hope he continues to be very durable for a guy that’s not very big physically.

“I think Graham is out to prove to people he’s a pretty good goaltender. I wouldn’t trade him for another goaltender in the country. He’s capable of playing really well for us and I expect that again this year.”

The Schedule

It’s been a long time since the Badgers scheduled a nonconference series out East — the 1988-89 season, to be exact. This year, the Badgers scheduled one to highlight on the calendar: at Boston College, the team that knocked them out of the NCAA tournament last year, on Oct. 27.

Wisconsin plays Northeastern the next night.

“We’d like to do that more often,” Sauer said of the team’s trip out East. “We entered into an agreement with Northeastern and Boston College and I’d like to continue this. BC will come back to us a year from now. It’s always fun to go play hockey in Boston and playing Boston College, the guys are already looking forward to that game, especially with the fact that they got us at the end of the year last year.”

2000-01 WCHA Season Preview

By
-

The theme song for the WCHA this season might as well be the Police’s signature tune, “Roxanne.”

You know: “You don’t have to put on the red light.”

With such stars as Karl Goehring, Graham Melanson, Scott Meyer, Jeff Sanger, Andy Kollar and company returning to their teams this season, the story of the season is unquestionably going to be goaltending.

<center>KARL GOEHRING</center>” /></p> <div class=
KARL GOEHRING

Isn’t it?

That would make sense, right? Goals are going to be at a premium, so may the best goaltender win.

“I can’t think back to when there’s been a stronger group of goaltenders in this league in a long time,” said Colorado College coach Scott Owens, himself a WCHA goaltender in the 1970s.

“That’s why we brought in two more, because we realized we didn’t match up well enough even though we got decent goaltending,” Alaska-Anchorage coach Dean Talafous said.

Not so fast.

"I believe that you’re going to see one of the strongest years in goaltending in the league in a long time."

— first-year Minnesota State head coach Troy Jutting

A counter theory suggests that because goaltending is strong around the league, no one team will gain that much of an advantage, leaving it probably up to the forwards to decide the league.

In other words, may the team with the most depth up front win.

“If everybody’s getting quality goaltending, then I think it’s going to turn more to the kids that can get the job done in scoring the goals, because I believe that you’re going to see one of the strongest years in goaltending in the league in a long time,” said Minnesota State-Mankato’s Troy Jutting, entering his first year as head coach of the Mavericks.

No matter the year, the situation or the dominant area, expect North Dakota to be in the mix for the MacNaughton Cup. The Fighting Sioux’s three-year reign as WCHA regular-season champions was broken by Wisconsin last season, but UND got the big prize — the national championship.

Wisconsin got good news when Dany Heatley elected to return for his sophomore season instead of signing what certainly would have been a lucrative pro contract as the No. 2 selection in the NHL draft. But will that translate into wins?

<center>SCOTT MEYER</center>” /></p> <div class=
SCOTT MEYER

The Badgers and the Sioux might be the favorites for the league championship, but teams like St. Cloud State, Minnesota and Colorado College will be happy to make a run.

Elsewhere, it’s time to start over. Minnesota State-Mankato (Jutting) and Minnesota-Duluth (Scott Sandelin) have new coaches. Alaska-Anchorage wants to keep improving an already-improving team. Denver looks to prove last season wasn’t indicative of the program. And Michigan Tech has to put one of the worst seasons in college hockey history behind.

“Maybe this year more than ever, it’s going to take a team that just has everything,” Talafous said. “Teams have some real talented players, special teams are going to be sizzling, goaltending is going to be stellar, there’s lots of depth and experience, so you’re going to see a lot of great hockey games.”

Buckle up.

A quick look at the WCHA’s teams follows. Click on a team’s name to see its preview. Teams are listed in their predicted order of finish.

North Dakota
Coach: Dean Blais, seventh year overall and at UND
1999-2000 overall record: 31-8-5
1999-2000 WCHA record: 17-6-5
1999-2000 WCHA finish: Second, 39 points
2000-2001 predicted finish: First
Quick hit: Surprise, surprise. Despite losing a firm grip on the MacNaughton Cup last season, the Sioux came back to win the national championship. Despite Blais’ claim that the Sioux are rebuilding this year, expect them to stay near the top.

Wisconsin
Coach: Jeff Sauer, 30th year overall, 19th at UW
1999-2000 overall record: 31-9-1
1999-2000 WCHA record: 23-5
1999-2000 WCHA finish: First, 46 points
2000-2001 predicted finish: Second
Quick hit: Boston University coach Jack Parker put the pressure on the Badgers, saying they were the team to beat nationally this year. Tough to argue with him, but time will tell. “I could make the same statement about his team,” Sauer said. “I suspect that we’re going to be rated fairly high nationally to start the season. Now we just have to go out and stay on top of it.”

St. Cloud State
Coach: Craig Dahl, 20th year overall, 14th at SCSU
1999-2000 overall record: 23-14-3
1999-2000 WCHA record: 16-9-3
1999-2000 WCHA finish: Third, 35 points
2000-2001 predicted finish: Third
Quick hit: This is what happens when you raise the bar: You’re expected to do it over and over again. If things work out right for the Huskies, including staying healthy, that bar may not look too high. “Everybody’s a year older and with a year more experience, so that usually bodes well in our league,” Dahl said.

Minnesota
Coach: Don Lucia, 14th year overall, second at UM
1999-2000 overall record: 20-19-2
1999-2000 WCHA record: 13-13-2
1999-2000 WCHA finish: Sixth, 28 points
2000-2001 predicted finish: Fourth
Quick hit: Lucia said he thinks his team is better than it was last year, when it slipped down the stretch to lose a home-ice playoff spot. “I look at ourselves and I think we’re going to be better,” he said, “but who are we going to be able to bypass? That’s a scary thought.”

Colorado College
Coach: Scott Owens, second year overall and at CC
1999-2000 overall record: 18-18-3
1999-2000 WCHA record: 14-11-3
1999-2000 WCHA finish: Fifth, 31 points
2000-2001 predicted finish: Fifth
Quick hit: Is Owens on the hot seat? Not if the Tigers come back with a strong season this year. If they do, it’ll probably be because their offense came through in the clutch. They’ll have plenty of time at home to build a good record. “We do have a lot of home games this year, so we need to improve our home record,” Owens said. “That was one of the things I was disappointed with last season.”

Denver
Coach: George Gwozdecky, 15th year overall, seventh at DU
1999-2000 overall record: 16-23-2
1999-2000 WCHA record: 9-18-1
1999-2000 WCHA finish: Ninth, 19 points
2000-2001 predicted finish: Sixth
Quick hit: It’s been an up-and-down, topsy-turvy ride for Gwozdecky, and he knows a ninth-place finish last year means work ahead this year. “When you finish in ninth place, I think there’s more than one question mark that you have to answer,” he said.

Alaska-Anchorage
Coach: Dean Talafous, 12th year overall, fifth at UAA
1999-2000 overall record: 15-18-3
1999-2000 WCHA record: 11-14-3
1999-2000 WCHA finish: Seventh, 25 points
2000-2001 predicted finish: Seventh
Quick hit: The Seawolves may have turned a corner last year, but they’ll face a tough schedule in an effort to take it up another notch. They kick off the season with Michigan and Michigan State. “I’m 47 and I’ve done this all my life, play the best,” Talafous said. “I would rather have a .500 record and play every good team in the country than hand-pick seven teams you’re pretty sure of beating so you six or seven wins. What good does that get you?”

Minnesota-Duluth
Coach: Scott Sandelin, first year overall and at UMD
1999-2000 overall record: 15-22
1999-2000 WCHA record: 10-18
1999-2000 WCHA finish: Eighth, 20 points
2000-2001 predicted finish: Eighth
Quick hit: It’s a new beginning for the Bulldogs with one of the top new coaches in the league. But Sandelin has an uphill climb if he’s going to bring UMD back to the top of the league. “We’re going to stumble a little bit like everybody does, but we just want to be consistent and be competitive and give ourselves a chance to win every game,” Sandelin said.

Minnesota State-Mankato
Coach: Troy Jutting, first year overall and at MSU-M
1999-2000 overall record: 21-14-4
1999-2000 WCHA record: 15-10-3
1999-2000 WCHA finish: Fourth, 33 points
2000-2001 predicted finish: Ninth
Quick hit: It’s a new beginning in Mankato, but with a familiar feel. Longtime assistant Jutting takes over, but without a lot of the firepower that helped the Mavericks come close to an NCAA bid in their first year in the WCHA. “We want to be a successful program, we want to be a program that continues to head in the right direction,” Jutting said, “and I believe tradition and history play a big part in a lot of programs, in the success they have.”

Michigan Tech
Coach: Tim Watters, fifth year overall and at MTU
1999-2000 overall record: 4-34
1999-2000 WCHA record: 2-26
1999-2000 WCHA finish: 10th, four points
2000-2001 predicted finish: 10th
Quick hit: Well, the good thing for Michigan Tech is that it’s going to be difficult to slip any further than last season’s finish. The Huskies have a large incoming class that could breathe some new life into the program, but it could be another tough year. “I feel as a coach that we’re a better team at this time this year than this time last year,” Watters said.

Season Preview: Minnesota Gophers

By
-

There was a point last season where Minnesota found out, all too clearly, that it may have been leaning on goaltender Adam Hauser.

That’s when it all came crashing down.

The Golden Gophers, on their way to home ice in the first round of the WCHA playoffs, got smacked square in the face when they learned Hauser had mononucleosis four games from the end of the regular season. The goaltender missed all four games.

The result? Loss, loss, loss, loss and a trip to Colorado Springs for the playoffs.

This year, Minnesota coach Don Lucia is vowing that won’t happen again — the leaning on Hauser, not the mono. That responsibility won’t just fall on the defense.

“It has to be a team effort,” said Lucia, entering his second season in Minneapolis. “We gave up far too many shots on goal last year. We have to cut that down.”

The Gophers allowed 32.5 shots per game, two-plus more than they unleashed.

The defense won’t be competely responsible for seeing through a reduction in shots, but the corps will have a lot of eyes on it. Glaring mistakes at crucial times cost Minnesota last year, and Lucia hopes a new addition and the maturation of the returners will stabilize things on the blue line.

Freshman Paul Martin, a 6-foot, 171-pound 19-year-old, will probably come into the season among the top six defensive players, Lucia said. But no spot appears safe on the Gophers’ blue line.

“All of a sudden, somebody who played regularly at the end of last year gets moved out of the lineup, so I think that’s going to put more pressure on some people to perform,” Lucia said. “We were young back there (last year). We were playing a lot of times three sophomores and two freshmen. You hope that experience they were able to get last year, and they’re bigger and stronger after a summer in the weight room, will pay off into playing better this year.”

Lucia said he expects Martin, Jordan Leopold, Dylan Mills and Matt DeMarchi to be the top four on defense. From there, it’s open. While Mills, the lone defensive senior on the team, has a lot of the leadership load on his shoulders, his biggest impact might be felt on the power play.

The Gophers were first in the league at 27.3 percent last year and had three of the top four power-play scorers in the league. Mills was tied for fifth in the league with 18 power-play points.

And the man advantage is an area the Gophers need to carry over from last year’s team.

“If the power play can be as good as last year, I’ll be happy,” Lucia said. “If we can lead the league again, that’s a good thing.”

But they lost Nate Miller, who tied for the team lead with 10 power-play goals.

“I think we have to find somebody to [fill] that spot in front of the net, that’s going to take a beating and go get some loose pucks,” Lucia said. “It’s not a glamorous role, but [Miller] was very effective last year in that position and once we put him there, our power play got better.”

Five on five, the offense has a number of familiar names — Aaron Miskovich, John Pohl, Erik Westrum, etc. — but Lucia is more concerned about the players without the name recognition.

"It’s just easier in year two because I now have a better sense of what the players are all about, and they probably have a better sense of what I’m all about."

— Minnesota head coach Don Lucia

You know: Pat O’Leary, Nick Anthony, Stuart Senden. Don’t feel too bad if those names are new to you. Lucia just hopes they won’t be by the time the year is over.

“For us this year, it’s not just a core seven guys. To me, it’s that next tier that’s ultimately going to determine what kind of year we have,” Lucia said. “I’m confident that Adam [Hauser’s] going to play well and we’re going to get a good year from Jordan [Leopold] and Dylan Mills and Pohl and Westrum and Miskovich.

“It’s who’s going to be in that next tier of players that’s going to score 10 or 12 goals for us. We have to score five on five; our specialties were real good last year; now can some guys take a jump in their development and go from scoring a half dozen goals to 12 goals?

“I think Senden can do a little bit more — he scored some big goals last year. I think Nick Anthony can take another jump. Pat O’Leary had six goals and showed promise; now he’s a junior and it’s make-or-break time.”

Is it make-or-break time for Lucia? Minnesota fans have a bit of patience, but it does wear thin quickly when they see rivals like Wisconsin win all five games in the season series, like the Badgers did last year.

But Lucia said he’s more comfortable starting this year than the last.

“It’s just easier in year two because I now have a better sense of what the players are all about, and they probably have a better sense of what I’m all about,” he said. “You just don’t have a sense to put people in certain positions and it takes a while to figure out what the guys are all about.

“I know the routine now. The first half of last year, I felt like I was being tugged in a million directions, not only at work but at home, trying to get your wife and kids adjusted to a new area. For them, the transition is over and I understand the demands. There’s no question the demands here are greater than what they were when I was at CC.”

The Schedule

Minnesota will get an opportunity early to show how serious it is about winning the MacNaughton Cup this year. After series with Minnesota-Duluth and Alaska-Anchorage, the Gophers host Wisconsin, travel to North Dakota and have a home-and-home with St. Cloud State.

We will probably know then if Lucia’s second year will go better than his first. If the Gophers show their strength during this period, they could put themselves near the top of the league to stay.

“We’re going to find out where we’re at in a hurry in the month of November,” Lucia said. “We have to do better against the teams that are ahead of us. Last year against North Dakota, Wisconsin and St. Cloud, between them I think we only won one game. [The Gophers beat North Dakota but also tied the Sioux and St. Cloud.] And that’s kind of why we finished where we did. We beat the teams below us and didn’t beat the teams in front of us.”

Et Cetera

One of these things is not like the other. That’s Grant Potulny, the lone non-Minnesotan on the roster. He has the potential to be a story before he steps on the ice for his first game, but Lucia is trying to prevent that.

“I’m not going to make it a story,” he said. “Maybe for some people it’s a bigger issue than it is. To me, he’s just a hockey player at the University of Minnesota.

“It’s a team deal and I don’t want to pull any one person out. Grant’s no different than any other player. I’ve always said that I want people to cheer for the University of Minnesota. And once you put the sweater on, that’s who you are. There’s been a lot of great players here, some of our All-Americans, that have been Canadians and there’s nothing wrong with that.”

But talk about adding fuel to the rivalry fire? Potulny, the first non-Minnesotan to play for the Gophers since before the Doug Woog era, is from Grand Forks, N.D. That’ll be quite a homecoming on Nov. 10 and 11.

Season Preview: Cornell Big Red

By Becky Blaeser & Jayson Moy
-

“There are a lot of things going on,” said Cornell Big Red head coach Mike Schafer, reflecting on a summer that just passed.

“We had all those thoughts throughout the summer, [of] how your team is going to progress and how the guys coming back are going to get better and step up, and you better hope so because you recruited them — and then you look at your recruits and hope they make the transition to college hockey.

“We all have high hopes at this time of year, but there is also a lot of anxiety.”

Adding to the anxiety is a nod from the coaches of the ECAC. The Big Red were picked to finish second in the coaches poll — a pick that not many people find surprising. There are a lot of expectations from the college hockey world on the Big Red.

“There’s a lot of expectations within our program too,” said Schafer. “The most important is that we want to finish in the upper echelon, and our guys realize even more, the motivation to finish in the top three. [They saw] the overtime in the semifinal last year and how important it is to get into the top three.”

Last season the Big Red finished tied for fourth and advanced to Lake Placid. The Thursday play-in game win over Clarkson was followed by an overtime loss to St. Lawrence the next evening and then a 4-0 defeat at the hands of Colgate in the consolation game. A finish in the top three, and that Thursday game would have been avoided.

This season the Big Red look to remain in the upper half of the ECAC. As they do, what you notice right away is the amount of players on the roster. There are a lot of players on this team.

“We have a lot of depth on our hockey team and that’s something that we’ve strived for,” said Schafer. “And that’s to make sure we had a lot of competition. If we’re going to compete at a national level and in this league, we had better have a lot of competition and a lot of depth. A lot of times a superstar just doesn’t get it done for you. We have a lot of depth up front, on defense and competition between the pipes.

“It’s important to realize that whether you’re in sports or not, that competition brings the best out of people and elevates your ability to produce. A lot of people look at it as fearful of losing their job, but I look at it from the other perspective, that competition brings the best out of people and it brings the best out of people if they weren’t pushed.”

Look no further than in goal for the depth Schafer talks about. Ian Burt, Matt Underhill and Chris Gartman are all back there. And, even though Burt and Underhill got most of the time last season, there will be a race.

“The three goalies will compete to see who takes the job and see who runs with it for the season,” said Schafer.

Then in front of the goaltending is a very strong defensive corps that has elements of everything one would want from a defense.

“[Our defense] represents our whole team and that’s depth,” said Schafer. “We’re looking for offensive production from [Larry] Pierce, [Doug] Murray and [Mark] McRae, and we’ll get solid defense from [Brian] McMeekin, [Travis] Bell and [Danny] Powell and other guys will compete for time. We have the nice complement back there.”

And up front, Schafer also likes his depth and what they will bring to the table.

“A sign of a good team is that we don’t really know where our scoring is going to come from,” he said. “We’ve worked for balance and goal scoring from all aspects of our forwards. Denis Ladouceur and David Kozier coming off of an injury, and [Matt] McRae, but we have a lot of other guys that produce offense for us. Andrew McNiven and Dan Svoboda started coming into their own as players late last year.”

Adding to that depth will be another nice recruiting class that Schafer has brought to Ithaca.

“I am happy with our recruiting class and in terms of how they complement our team,” he said. “We have smaller guys like Ryan Vesche and Jason Kuczmanski, and we also brought in guys like Kelly Hughes and Greg Hornby, who is one of the guys that people will come to fear very quickly and he’s probably going to be the hardest hitter in the ECAC. He’ll turn heads very quickly.”

"There’s a misconception that we’re big and play a defensive style."

— Cornell head coach Mike Schafer

And with all that depth, the Big Red are certainly looking to play a type of game, but not what your typical person may think.

“There’s a misconception that we’re big and play a defensive style,” said Schafer. “The style that we like to have is to have the puck in the offensive zone, protect it and take the puck to the net and be strong physically that way. We’re one of the most aggressive teams in the league in that we bring two guys to forecheck all night long.

“People think of us a big team that hangs back and plays a defensive style and that’s not the way it is at all. We’re aggressive with our forecheck and when we have the puck, and that takes depth, because it’s very tiring.”

So the key theme for the Big Red this year is not who will be the superstar, but what the Big Red as a team can do to take them to the championship.

“We have a lot of different players that can have breakout years,” said Schafer. “But I’m not concerned with who does it — I am sure that someone will. I’m more concerned that we have the depth to do it.”

Season Preview: Vermont Catamounts

By Becky Blaeser & Jayson Moy
-

The last nine months will not easily be forgotten in the State of Vermont, or around college hockey, or around the nation. In a nearly unprecedented move, the Catamounts suspended their men’s hockey season after an internal investigation into hazing allegations brought by walk-on goaltender Corey LaTulippe.

Nine months later, the Catamounts are back on the ice.

“I’m just happy to be alive, to tell you the truth,” joked head coach Mike Gilligan. “Last year was a pretty tough thing to go through. But what it did do was show our great fans in Burlington how important hockey is to the community and the University.

“And the kids are dying. They’re hungry to play and I’m hungry to coach. The fans are hungry to get back in the building so we’re very excited about what’s going to happen. We sure are itching to get going. Myself, the players, the staff, the community. It was an awful thing to go through, and I think we should be a pretty motivated group.”

With the events of the 1999-2000 season now in the rear-view mirror, the focus turns to the product on the ice. First off, the Cats’ placing in the preseason polls — eighth and ninth — certainly brought a reaction from Gilligan.

“I didn’t agree with the coaches poll and I didn’t agree with the media poll,” he stated emphatically. “I think UVM will be better off than that, I think we’ve got a real solid group that is motivated because of some of last year’s stuff.

“Ninth is low, and I personally think we should be in the top four or five. But I understand, we’re an unknown. I’ve got a feeling that with three freshmen coming in that I am happy with, and the competitive nature of our goaltending situation, that we’ll be a pretty good club.”

Adding to the picture, the Cats return a talented defensive squad from which they do not lose a single player.

Andreas Moborg

Andreas Moborg

“(Mark) Gouett is tough, (Martin) Wilde has had some foot problems, but I think he’s over them and he’s a solid stay-at-home defenseman,” said Gilligan. “But (Andreas) Moborg, he is one of the best offensive defenseman in the league and he’s a pretty well-kept secret right now. He can dance on the blue line, he can move the puck and we have to get him to shoot the puck a little bit more. We have seven character kids back there.”

The defense will be playing in front of senior Andrew Allen.

“He’s a good one and his best days are ahead,” said Gilligan. “He hasn’t played with the confidence that we have expected but this is his year. The Senators wanted him to go to training camp but he couldn’t go because school was in session — and I think he’s going to have a fabulous year.

"I didn’t agree with the coaches poll and I didn’t agree with the media poll. I think UVM will be better off than that, I think we’ve got a real solid group that is motivated because of some of last year’s stuff."

— Vermont head coach Mike Gilligan

“Hot on his heels are Tim Peters and Shawn Conschafter, so we feel great about what’s behind Andrew.”

The Cats have also been known for great forwards and Gilligan thinks he has a good bunch this year too.

“(J.F.) Caudron is our most skilled forward and I am looking for a huge year out of him,” he said. “And on the other side I think (Graham) Mink can get 15 goals if he has a good year and there is good balance up front. We only have 25 bodies right now, but we should have four good lines.”

Despite the desire to put aside the past, one can’t help but be reminded that something did happen in Burlington last year — and that something may provide a distraction as the Cats return to the ice in 2000-01.

“They have to pay attention to hockey and pay attention to their schoolwork and whatever happens on the outside because of last year is going to happen,” said Gilligan. “I think there is a certain amount of maturity with the boys right now, and we certainly spent an awful lot of time together since the events of last year preparing for what would happen when we traveled. What might occur, and what fan behavior might be like, but I think we can handle it.”

There is the potential for anything but hockey to be the focus of this upcoming Catamount season, but there are two sides to that coin.

“They better be motivated,” said Gilligan. “Nobody can sit through what we sat through last year and experience what we experienced and not come out and make the best opportunity every night they play, so I am expecting a highly motivated group.”

The Catamounts are indeed a wild card in this year’s ECAC race. No one really knows what to expect from this team, but if the on-ice effort tells the story, Gilligan could be right when he says that ninth is low.

“As last year ended for us I thought we were going in the right direction,” he said. “This year will be exciting and I think we’ll end up in the top half and challenge everyone in Lake Placid.”

Season Preview: St. Lawrence Saints

By Becky Blaeser & Jayson Moy
-

One word described the St. Lawrence Saints of 1999-2000.

“Magic.”

The 1999-2000 season was one of wonder for the Saints. An outright ECAC regular-season title, their first ever; the ECAC tournament championship; a bye in the NCAA tournament; a thrilling overtime victory in the quarterfinals there and a trip to the Frozen Four.

The Saints didn’t capture the NCAA championship, but they certainly set the table for the 2000-01 season.

On the down side, lost to graduation are Jason Windle, Kris Margherio, Ryan Ward, Dale Clarke, Justin and Jake Harney. Worse, gone as underclassmen are the last two ECAC Rookies of the Year, Derek Gustafson and Brandon Dietrich.

The Saints still return a lot, as evidenced by a first-place polling in both the coaches and media preseason polls.

“We’ve got some outstanding players, I feel,” said head coach Joe Marsh. “We were pretty well-balanced last year and relied on the third and fourth line and a second set of defensemen. And the guys that stood out deserve a lot of credit — they stood out so well that two of them left early. It wasn’t any surprise that they left early.

“Last year will be a year I will always remember, not so much as to the finish, but the process. It was such a low-maintenance team and there wasn’t a lot of babysitting. It was a great group.”

“Everybody contributed in different ways. The Muir brothers are unheralded, but they’re good, clean, hard players and reliable guys. I use them as examples because we have a lot of guys in that role. We have to play to our strengths, rely on our balance and play all of these guys and develop that depth by increasing the players’ roles. At the end of it, that every player thought they had something to do with it.”

"You have to caution guys not to be looking at polls — ever. Our guys have been through enough to have what it takes."

— St. Lawrence head coach Joe Marsh

The key to the Saints, as Marsh mentions, is the ability to rely on third and fourth lines. That looks to be the same this year, losses or not.

“It will afford some people to have some more significant roles,” said Marsh. “(BU transfer Russ) Bartlett is a quality player with good offensive skills, and he’s pretty hungry to get going. He’s anxious to play. I try not to predetermine things in terms of who should be where; I want to focus on getting guys ready.”

In the nets, the loss of Gustafson could mean a lot, but remember that the Saints started last season with a three-goaltender rotation, and two of those three are back.

“There wasn’t any question that when Gusty left we felt that we were fine,” said Marsh. “(Sean) Coakley and (Jeremy) Symington did a great job for us last year. They did a great job when they were in there, and when they weren’t. They were supportive and when they started they were quality starts. I was impressed with what they did for our team.

“There was no question in my mind that we were going with those guys, and I felt it was unfair to them to then introduce somebody else. They’ve earned this. Right now we’ll start with a tandem and maybe we go with a rotation, or maybe not. I love what those two guys did for our team, and all the other guys on the team recognize that too. You love Gusty and you hate to see him go, but we have two quality guys here.”

Matt Desrosiers

Matt Desrosiers

In front of Coakley and Symington, the defense loses Clarke and Harney, but should be led by Matt Desrosiers.

“Matt played in the shadow of Clarke and Harney last season,” said Marsh. “He leads a group which is still outstanding,” including Josh LeRoy, Kevin Veneruzzo and Ray DiLauro.

Up front, the loss of Dietrich means that others have to step up, but Marsh feels that there are some underrated guys in his forward group.

“I really feel (Erik) Anderson, (Mike) Gellard and (Al) Fyfe, our big three line, they are underrated a little bit in that they just a lot for you,” he said.

“They are special team players, all around guys, but well balanced and intelligent and coachable players. All three of those guys have had major roles.”

The captain of the Saint team will be Anderson, who Marsh leans on.

“He’s a great two-way player and a quiet leader,” said Marsh. “He’s a guy that gives you so much. He does so many of the little things.”

With nine seniors on this Saint squad, a return to the NCAA tournament is definitely not out of the question.

“Our seniors are guys that we’ve counted on since they were freshmen,” said Marsh. “We’ve built the team around them, along with the class last year. We’re seeing the development of the grant-in-aid scholarships, and these are guys we have been able to get into St. Lawrence and have done a great job for us and justified us taking that path.”

The Saints will have that number-one bullseye on their backs this season, something that could be a distraction or a motivating factor.

“We tell our guys not to make a big deal out of polls,” said Marsh, “But I think it does change in how you approach things a little bit. You have to caution guys not to be looking at polls — ever. Our guys have been through enough to have what it takes.

“The leadership, the camaraderie, the work ethic will be there every day.”

QU’s Mansoff MAAC Preseason Player of the Year

USCHO Staff Report
-

Quinnipiac’s Shawn Mansoff and Canisius’ Sean Weaver headline the preseason All-MAAC First Team. Mansoff enters his senior season as Preseason Player of the Year, while Sean Weaver gets the nod as Preseason Goalie of the Year.

Mansoff, a 6-foot, 205-pound forward, burst onto the scene in 1999-2000 by scoring 29 goals and 27 assists for 56 points in just 35 games. Nationally, he ranked third in points per game (1.60) and second in goals per game (0.83). In MAAC league play, Mansoff was first in goals (26), third in assists (24), and first in points (50).

Quinnipiac won its second consecutive regular season title and Mansoff was named 1999-2000 MAAC Offensive Player of the Year, and was a member on the All-MAAC First Team.

Weaver, a 6-1, 190 lb. junior, had a breakthrough season in 1999-2000. He appeared in 23 games posting a record of 11-7-4 with a league-leading 2.37 goals against average, and helped lead the Ice Griffs to a third place finish in league play. His .927 save percentage ranked him sixth in the nation. For his efforts, Weaver was a 1999-2000 first team All-MAAC selection and the 1999-2000 MAAC Goalie of the Year.

Pre-Season All-MAAC First Team

Ryan Carter, Iona           F
Shawn Mansoff, Quinnipiac   F
Eric Ellis, Mercyhurst      F
Steve Tobio, Bentley        D
Nathan Lutz, Iona           D
Sean Weaver, Canisius       G

Pre-Season All-MAAC Second Team

Martin Paquet, Sacred Heart     F
Louis Goulet, Mercyhurst        F
Rae Metz, Fairfield             F
Anthony DiPalma, Quinnipiac     D
Les Hrapchak, Sacred Heart      D
Alexis Jutras-Binet, S. Heart   G

Iona junior Ryan Carter garnered a first team selection at forward. Carter is coming off another big season for the Gaels, finishing third in the league with 24 goals, including six game-winning goals. He helped Iona advance to the MAAC Championship Game and was a first team All-MAAC selection in 1999-00 for the second straight year.

Mercyhurst senior Eric Ellis rounded out the first team selections at the forward position. Last season, Ellis was second on the Lakers with 40 points and was second in the league with three shorthanded goals. His team-leading 28 assists were a big reason why Mercyhurst finished in second place during the regular season and why he earned a spot on the All-MAAC Second Team.

Bentley junior Steve Tobio secured one of the defensive positions on the All-MAAC First Team. Tobio finished the 1999-2000 season tied for third among defensemen with 29 points while being named 1999-2000 MAAC Co-Defensive Player of the Year. He also earned a spot on the 1999-2000 All-MAAC First Team.

Iona sophomore Nathan Lutz also joins the first team defensive unit. Lutz had a successful freshman year with nine goals and 11 assists in helping the Gaels advance to the MAAC Championship Game. His efforts earned him 1999-2000 Defensive Rookie of the Year honors.

2000-01 ECAC Season Preview

By Becky Blaeser & Jayson Moy
-

Listening closely to the movers and shakers around the ECAC, three themes are heard again and again.

The first deals with the ECAC on a national level. The ECAC champion St. Lawrence Saints made an appearance in the Frozen Four, a welcome emotional boost for the league’s pride.

Indeed, that pride echoed throughout the league as the Saints took it to the third period against Boston College and fell just short of the national championship game. This season, there is a lot more optimism and a lot of talk about the ECAC and the national perspective.

“The league has strengthened as a whole, and building on the great performance of what (St. Lawrence) did on the national landscape last year, the ECAC is poised to really make some noise nationally,” said Yale head coach Tim Taylor.

The second is the effect that professional hockey has had on some of the league’s peak performers.

Juniors Erik Cole and Brad Tapper, sophomore Brandon Dietrich and freshman Derek Gustafson all signed professional contracts during the offseason, giving up their collegiate eligibility.

In fact, looking at last season’s All-ECAC team, four of the 12 members graduated (Andy McDonald, Joel Laing, Brian Pothier and Justin Harney) and the four mentioned above left early for the pros. That leaves four returning for this season (seniors Kent Huskins, Cory Murphy, Kirk Lamb and Erik Anderson).

Not only were the All-Stars signing early, European skaters were returning to their home countries and signing pro contracts. Mikko Ruutu and Erkki Rajamaki are two examples.

"In our league it’s so difficult to pick who is going to win … [The ECAC] will have great parity again."

— Colgate head coach Don Vaughan

“Pro hockey has wreaked havoc with our program and in Division I,” said Clarkson head coach Mark Morris. “It seems that if you land anyone over six foot, then you have a chance of playing for a living, so money talks right now and it’s tough to keep your players.”

The last theme running rampant involves the word parity. To some it’s ugly, to others beautiful. To each his own, we guess.

Last year, you couldn’t help but put that label on the ECAC. Going into the final weekend, there were four teams tied for third place and six teams within one and a half games of third place. Now that is parity.

Heading into this season, there’s little reason to believe that things will change, as ECAC coaches agree.

“They have to challenge themselves and play the iron out there, and there’s a lot of iron in our league,” said St. Lawrence head coach Joe Marsh.

“We’ll have another strong season with a lot of parity. Every night you have to come to play,” added Rensselaer head coach Dan Fridgen.

“Our league is tremendous,” said Brown head coach Roger Grillo. “There are a lot of close games and there will be a lot of one-goal games.”

“In our league it’s so difficult to pick who is going to win,” said Colgate head coach Don Vaughan. “[The ECAC] will have great parity again.”

Each ECAC team has its strengths, weaknesses, sureties and questions, and each thinks — or at least hopes — it has what it takes to raise the Scotty Whitelaw Trophy in Lake Placid on March 17, 2001.

Only time will tell.

A drum roll please. Our grand predictions for the ECAC’s 2000-2001 version are here. You can laugh, you can scoff and as always, no wagering on our predictions.

1. St. Lawrence Saints
Despite the losses of Dietrich and Gustafson, the Saints remain the favorite in the ECAC. An experienced defense and great depth point towards a second straight ECAC Championship.

2. Dartmouth Big Green
Remember that this team was tied for third place going into the last weekend of the season and played two games per weekend when their opponents played one. Some losses, but the core of the team is back. We say “watch out.”

3. Cornell Big Red
Depth is certainly no problem as the Big Red sport a consistent collection of players that should produce every game: that’s what Mike Schafer has assembled in Ithaca. The Big Red are going to make waves.

4. Colgate Red Raiders
The Red Raiders return a lot of offense, but life will be different without Andy McDonald. One major question is whether or not a young defense can keep the Red Raiders from getting outscored.

5. Rensselaer Engineers
The Engineers lost scoring and goaltending, and until the young offense gels, for once people may be talking about how good a defensive team they are.

6. Clarkson Golden Knights
A mystery here. Will the Knights get goaltending, and will they find scoring? Who knows, but the Knights always seem to reload rather than rebuild.

7. Vermont Catamounts
Though last season’s abrupt finish remains in everyone’s mind, this team can be a wild card. The Cats return 21 players, but remember that this team was 5-9-3 when the season ended.

8. Harvard Crimson
We’ve been hearing it for a while. Harvard has the talent: they will go somewhere. The team is still young, the offense is set, but are the defense and goaltending enough? Maybe not this year.

9. Yale Bulldogs
Jeff Hamilton is back, so Yale should score more, but until this young team finds another sniper, teams will focus on Hamilton. If he is stopped, it could be a long year for the Bulldogs.

10. Union Skating Dutchmen
You read it here first: the Dutchmen will get into the playoffs, though not by much. Count on Union to play tough each night, but the talent level is not quite there yet.

11. Princeton Tigers
This Tiger squad will be tough, but in the end, youth may do them in. Inconsistency could make the first year for head coach Len Quesnelle could be a tough one.

12. Brown Bears
Last year, the Bears suffered through a season of plain misery. Unless there are some surprises awaiting us in the forms of Brown’s 10 freshmen, this season could be more of the same for Roger Grillo and his Bears.

Quinnipiac Picked as MAAC Preseason Favorite

USCHO Staff Report
-

MAAC coaches have chosen Quinnipiac as the preseason favorite to capture this year’s regular season championship. In the poll, the Braves received six first place votes and 113 total points. The 11 MAAC head coaches did the voting.

The Braves are coming off their second consecutive MAAC regular season title. Last season, Quinnipiac went 23-1-3 in league play and had an overall record of 27-6-3. The 27 wins set a single season Braves’ record.

Mercyhurst (105) and Iona (86) finished second and third, respectively, in the poll, while the MAAC’s newest member, Army (78), captured the fourth spot. Defending MAAC tournament champion Connecticut (77), and Sacred Heart (77), are tied for fifth in the poll, with Canisius (75) checking in at seventh.

Holy Cross (46), American International (28), Bentley (24), and Fairfield (17) finish out the preseason poll.

The MAAC enters its third season of play in 2000-01. The league has expanded for the third straight year with Army joining, raising membership to 11 teams. 2000-01 will be a landmark season for the MAAC; the winner of the 2001 MAAC Tournament receives automatic qualification to the NCAA tournament.

Predicted Order of Finish

 1. Quinnipiac (6)   113
 2. Mercyhurst (3)   105
 3. Iona              86
 4. Army (1)          78
 5. Connecticut       77
    Sacred Heart (1)  77
 7. Canisius          75
 8. Holy Cross        46
 9. AIC               28
10. Bentley           24
11. Fairfield         17
1...1,4821,4831,484...1,536Page 1,483 of 1,536

Latest Stories from around USCHO

Maine adds former Union head coach Bennett to Black Bears men’s hockey staff as new assistant coach

USCHO Staff -

Former Wilkes hockey star, USHL coach Gurska tabbed new assistant coach for Babson men’s hockey team

USCHO Staff -

Former Providence, St. Lawrence women’s hockey standout Tyo hired as new assistant coach with Canton

USCHO Staff -

Lindenwood names former Bemidji State assistant coach Magera to same job with Lions men’s hockey team

USCHO Staff -

Reigning Hobey Baker winner, Michigan State star Howard gives up senior season, signs NHL deal with Oilers

USCHO Staff -

McKenna, odds-on favorite as No. 1 pick in 2026 NHL Draft, announces commitment to Penn State for ’25-26 season

USCHO Staff -

Report: Tennessee State not fielding men’s hockey team for 2025-26, aiming to move start to 2026-27

USCHO Staff -

Former Western Michigan, Michigan goalie, NHL video coach Scarpace named new assistant at Michigan Tech

USCHO Staff -

Michigan State standout, 2025 Hobey Baker winner Howard earns USA Hockey’s Jim Johannson College Player of the Year award

USCHO Staff -

Seasoned junior, college hockey coach Bruneteau returning to Stevenson as head coach of Mustangs men’s hockey team

USCHO Staff -

Hobart men’s hockey assistant coach Kovachis heading back to Niagara as Purple Eagles’ new assistant

USCHO Staff -

UMass Boston women’s head coach Bradley hired as new assistant coach for Penn State women’s team

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