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The Right Choice

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North Dakota coach Dean Blais didn’t have to say much to sum up his team’s 2-0 national semifinal victory over Maine Thursday.

His goaltender, Karl Goehring, did most of the talking with his play on the ice.

Goehring, who missed the Western Collegiate Hockey Association Final Five and the quarterfinal round of the NCAA tournament with a concussion, and who didn’t know if he would return for Thursday’s game, made it look like he was never gone, stopping all 30 shots he faced.

But the decision to start Goehring was tough. Andy Kollar, who led the Sioux to wins in their last three games, made a good case for starting in his fourth straight.

After the game, though, there was no question.

“I guess we chose the right one,” Blais said.

A situation like this could be construed as a challenge for a goaltender coming off an injury. Thrusting Goehring, who was 0-2 in NCAA tournament games coming in, into a game of such magnitude is almost like putting a pitcher into Game 7 of the World Series on two days’ rest.

Goehring, who found out at 9 a.m. Thursday that he would lead North Dakota onto the ice five hours later, played up to the challenge by putting together a solid performance despite Maine’s intentions toward crashing the net.

“I was just trying to keep my focus,” Goehring said. “This is too much fun right now to get worried about stuff like that.”

Goehring and the Sioux were able to kill off two Maine five-on-three chances, the second helped by a penalty to Maine’s Brandon Walsh that negated part of the power play.

“There were a few scrambles right away on the power play where I don’t know how the puck ended up underneath,” Goehring said. “I’m just thankful that it did.”

Luck aside, Goehring had to work for his career-high eighth shutout of the season. He showed quick reflexes on a handful of occasions, denying Maine chances from the slot and clearing out rebounds.

The Black Bears, who said they were aiming high on the goaltender and subsequently missed the net occasionally, were turned away time and again.

“Karl, if he can see it, he’ll stop it,” said North Dakota’s Bryan Lundbohm, who scored the Sioux’s first goal of the game.

Goehring, who improved to 18-6-4 this season, had to endure a tough two weeks of waiting. Waiting to get his next chance.

He suffered a concussion in practice the week before the Final Five and was sidelined for more than a week with headaches.

On a day when the rest of the Sioux took a break from practice this week, Goehring was given permission to take to the ice with the puck-shooting machine to get back in game shape.

It apparently worked.

“I just got prepared the last two weeks the best way I knew how — by working hard,” Goehring said. “I just stuck to my game and fortunately I got an opportunity to play.”

Now, he’ll play for the national championship on Saturday. Not bad for a 5-foot-7, 160-pound kid who’s been told he’s too small to play goaltender for a major college.

“I’ve heard that all my life and it’s been a big motivation for me,” Goehring said. “I’ve kind of used those comments to motivate me to work harder.”

Pucks In Providence

By Paul Burton
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Welcome back, old friend! Haven’t seen you in five years.

For the first time since 1995 and the seventh time overall, Providence, R.I., is the host for the NCAA Hockey Championships — the Frozen Four. And with all due respect to Colorado Springs, Detroit, Milwaukee and Albany, to name a few, there is no better gathering place for college hockey’s best.

The games are now televised, tickets are $40 and $35, the event is sold out months in advance and fans in the East have had to scrounge the Internet for ticket brokers in America’s heartland. It was a lot simpler in 1965, when Brown University hosted the event at its cozy Meehan Auditorium — so low-key that legendary Coach John “Snooks” Kelley simply had Boston College commute by bus to and from both games that year.

We’ve witnessed the surreal, ranging from triple overtime to a Zamboni in city streets. We have seen future Hall of Famers and Olympic heroes.

As Providence VII beckons, let’s give the kaleidoscope a good shake, sit back and enjoy flickering images from the past:

1965

BC’s upset of North Dakota in the Thursday night game was a stunner, for sure. Back when the Frozen Four was the Only Four, East victories over the West in tournaments were a rarity. But the Eagles, sparked by future NHL coach John Cunniff, current Eagles coach Jerry York and a spunky goalie in Pat Murphy, held off the Fighting Sioux. While this week’s games are televised nationally, fans back then who didn’t make the trip from Boston settled for the radio voice of Fred Cusick, who went on to become the legendary Boston Bruins’ TV broadcaster.

One night later, host Brown, which qualified by upsetting BU in the ECAC semifinals at Boston Arena, was no match for Michigan Tech, falling 4-0. There was no ESPN or ESPN2, but if you lived in Boston and had a good antenna, you could pick up Channel 10 in Providence and ignore your mother’s pleas not to watch television through such a snowy reception.

BC, likewise, was a notch below Michigan Tech; head coach John MacInnes’ Huskies, with future NHL Hall of Famer Tony Esposito in the net, prevailed 8-2.

1978

As residual snow from the Blizzard of ’78 was heading for the exits, there was a storm of controversy.

BU, which had lost but once in the regular season, fell 5-1 to Providence in the ECAC semifinals. After BC beat the Friars in the league title game, the second East berth was in question. What evolved was an additional outbracket game — the WCHA and CCHA already had one — between BU and Providence, this time at Providence College’s Schneider Arena. BU won 5-3, drawing Wisconsin in the Final Four.

The defending champion Badgers’ trip East both tickled and concerned hotel operators. Wisconsin, which won the nationals in Detroit a year earlier, always travels well, but their fans are more than a tad raucous. Holiday Inn’s Detroit people called their Providence managers to say, in effect, “bolt down everything, Wisconsin’s coming.”

The best hockey Wisconsin played was the foot variety in hotel lobbies; the Badgers fell to BU 5-2 and lost the consolation game to Bowling Green, which was making its first Final Four appearance.

On Saturday night, it came down to the championship of an avenue — Boston’s Commonwealth, as BU, saddened during the ECAC playoffs by the cancer death of coach Jack Parker’s wife, beat BC by a cosmetic score of 5-3. It was the Terriers’ fourth victory of the season over the Eagles, prompting defenseman and tournament MVP Jack O’Callahan to say: “Heck, we shouldn’t have to beat BC for the national championship. We can do that anytime.”

Little did we realize that two years’ hence, the likes of BU’s O’Callahan, Jim Craig and Dave Silk, Wisconsin’s Mark Johnson and Bowling Green’s Ken Morrow would join their U.S. Olympic teammates at a gold medal ceremony in Lake Placid.

1980

Northern Michigan carried the banner of the CCHA, becoming the first team from that league to reach the title game, but favored North Dakota had too much Doug Smail and Phil Sykes. Smail scored four goals and Sykes had four assists as the Fighting Sioux avenged their loss by a goal to Minnesota in the previous year’s showdown game.

The Sioux survived a scare in the Thursday semifinal, scoring four goals in the last 10 minutes to turn a 1-0 deficit into a 4-1 victory over Dartmouth. Bob Gaudet, the current Big Green coach, played admirably in defeat for the Big Green. Cornell, which fell 4-3 to Northern Michigan, has yet to return to the semifinals.

The consolation game between league rivals Cornell and Dartmouth had everyone in a testy mood. “The only people who show up for the consolation games are the reporters,” Cornell coach Dick Bertrand said.

1982

A half-hour after the championship game ended, red-clad fans were on the ice, clapping, cheering, singing the Bud Song and chanting “sieve” after kicking milk cartons into the net.

This, after their team lost by three goals.

Yes, Wisconsin fans were their usual entertaining selves, but North Dakota stole the show, scoring three third-period goals to break a 2-2 tie and prevail, 5-2. The Sioux, in winning, avenged a 9-0 loss to the same Badgers in the WCHA playoffs. Sykes, the erstwhile setup man for Smail, took his own bow this time, grabbing the MVP honors.

Two years after the Miracle On Ice at Lake Placid, NHL scouts were there en masse, having begun to take college hockey more seriously. And whom they saw included the likes of Wisconsin’s Chris Chelios and Bruce Driver (the latter was the only Badger to wear “ski pants”), and North Dakota’s James Patrick and Troy Murray. It marked the collegiate finale for the late Wisconsin coach “Badger Bob” Johnson, who left for the NHL.

Northeastern made its lone appearance in the Frozen Four, New Hampshire its third in six years. Both lost routinely in the semifinals.

1986

Fans had a one-hour wait between the first and second periods of the championship game between Michigan State and Harvard. As it turned out, the Zamboni was broken and they had to borrow one from Brown. The driver had to negotiate hilly streets down from the College Hill neighborhood, then drive through downtown, drawing attention from gawkers, as though they were watching plodding circus elephants.

Not even a one-hour intermission could keep Harvard fresh. The Crimson could not hold leads of 2-0, 3-1 and 4-2; despite HU tying the game 5-5 on Andy Janfaza’s tally with about 12 minutes remaining, the Spartans won it on Mike Donnelly’s one-time off a faceoff with three minutes left in regulation. Cries of “Fight, fight, go green white!” reverberated through the Civic Center. The win more than atoned for State fans’ disappointment earlier in the evening, when they assembled in the Civic Center’s bar, the Royal Roost, to watch the basketball team lose an NCAA tournament game on a disputed call.

Harvard, fatigued from having played the Friday night game — there were separate semifinals on Thursday and Friday back then — would compete in three title games in seven years, finally winning the championship in 1989. In all three games, the Thursday night winner beat the Friday night winner. The NCAA dropped the Thursday-Friday setup after 1989.

1995

Several media members were assembled in the interview room deep in the Civic Center’s bowels, and the Maine-Michigan game lasted 4 hours, 45 minutes, so late that they began serving the pre-game meal for the night game. Finally Dan Shermerhorn ended it in the first minute of the third 20-minute overtime.

Before coach Red Berenson and the Michigan entourage could come in, Providence College sports information director Tim Connor got everyone’s attention. “ESPN lost the feed,” he said, to no one in particular but loud and clear enough for all. “They missed the winning goal.”

Jolly broadcaster Bob Norton, in between ESPN assignments, had a mouth full of spaghetti, but his Boston accent still rang clear. “They went out to Phoenix to get an update on the golf,” he said. ESPN during the overtime had switched coverage to “The Deuce,” ESPN2, then got tangled on a feed and missed the end of a game which had become surreal.

One coach, an assistant from Division III Trinity in Hartford, Conn., killed time before the BU-Minnesota night game by sleeping on a park bench downtown.

In the end, it was BU’s turn. The Terriers, who outscored their foes 11-3 in the third period of three tournament games, dumped Minnesota 7-3 and weary Maine 6-2 for their first championship in 17 years and second under Parker’s tenure — both in Providence.

Paul Burton is news editor for the Parsippany (N.J.) Daily Record. He has written for Rinkside magazine in New York City as well as covering the NHL’s Hartford Whalers and doing broadcasting and commentary work for high school and college hockey.

Legacy Denied

By Adam Wodon
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Another year, another champion.

While college hockey’s fraternity of teams is a select few compared to many other NCAA sports, the task of repeating as champion is among the most difficult.

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With Maine’s semifinal loss to North Dakota, another chance for it to happen — for the first time in 28 years — went by the boards. In fact, in only three of the last 25 years has a team returned to the final game the season following a championship, the last coming in 1993 when defending champion Lake Superior was eliminated by the heroics of Maine’s Jim Montgomery.

We don’t yet know who the first champion of the new millennium will be, but it won’t be Maine.

Part of the problem with repeating is that, inevitably, every year, every other team is gunning for you. Then, also inevitably, if a team gets close to repeating, the media asks them about it, and players are forced to talk about how badly they want to do it.

“Maine was talking about repeating, and that gave the guys even more motivation,” said North Dakota coach Dean Blais after the Sioux won Thursday, 2-0.

But as Maine senior Ben Guite pointed out, players are savvy enough these days not to slight their opponents, who will hang their hats on any possible comment.

“It’s hard not to think of it because we want it, we want to win it all,” said Guite. “When you only have two games left to that goal, one of the ways to put it is to say we want to win it. But in no way does that take away from North Dakota. It’s just something we want to accomplish.”

Wisconsin is certainly one team that’s been in position to repeat, most recently in 1991, only to come up short.

“The psychological part of things at this time of the year is big,” said Wisconsin coach Jeff Sauer. “The teams are pretty even, so every little thing that goes on matters. North Dakota, I think, had a better team last year. But they lost, so this year, they’re coming in more hungry. Maine won [last year], so maybe they’re not as hungry.”

“I don’t think it’s something as a team we talked about,” said Maine senior Jim Leger. “It’s something that fans talked about it. Whatever fuels [North Dakota], that’s their business, but we didn’t look at it like that. It just didn’t work out.

Maine coach Shawn Walsh, however, downplayed any idea of pre-game repeat chatter as motivation for the Sioux Thursday afternoon.

“I don’t think any talk was any factor in the game,” Walsh said. “Early in the year, it’s a factor. For some teams, it makes their seasons to beat you. Their student body shows up. But that’s good, because it makes you tougher.”

Walsh says the biggest difficulty to winning back-to-back titles is simply the difficulty in winning a title at all. One championship is hard enough, so purely by odds, winning two has to be extremely difficult.

“The No. 1 reason is parity: it’s having [just] 18 scholarships,” said Walsh. “It’s a buyer’s market. There’s so many players, even though a Maine or North Dakota can get good players, there’s so many other good players, and it’s become even more so with expansion into Europe and teams recruiting in Western Canada — even Eastern teams — there’s so many players, you can stock a pretty good club.

“And the coaching in college hockey has improved dramatically. And you don’t have the firings you have in the NHL, so you have a real consistency there.”

Nonetheless, seniors like Leger leave school with something most players never get: one championship.

“In this day and age with the parity, it’s definitely harder,” said Leger. “It’s going to take a lot. But we made a good run at it.”

Great Players, Great Plays

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Sometimes games come down to Xs and Os. A brilliantly designed faceoff play. A game plan that strikes at an opponent’s Achilles’ heel. A power play that breaks down a penalty kill with the precision of a Swiss watch.

Blake Bellefeuille rose to the occasion in the semifinal against St. Lawrence, sending the Eagles to the final game once again.

Blake Bellefeuille rose to the occasion in the semifinal against St. Lawrence, sending the Eagles to the final game once again.

But other times games are won and lost on raw talent. And Boston College’s 4-2 win over St. Lawrence served as Exhibit A for such cases. Great individual efforts by Blake Bellefeuille and Jeff Farkas proved to be the difference between advancing to the national championship game and breaking out the golf clubs.

“Like most coaches, I’ve been in the game a long time,” said BC coach Jerry York. He then added with a grin, “I can actually take chalk and put it in my left hand and describe plays.

“There’s not a lot of science to it. What we have to do to be successful is to recruit quality young guys who are good hockey players who have a good work ethic and want to fit into a team situation. I think we’ve done that.”

Down 1-0 in the second period and killing a penalty, Bellefeuille gave the Eagles a major lift by outracing a St. Lawrence defender to a loose puck behind the net and then roofing it for a game-turning shorthanded goal.

“I gave him a little tuck-and-go when I was skating back with him and tried to get in front of him,” said Bellefeuille. “I got some body position on him when I checked him against the boards. The puck squirted free and I wheeled around the net and just got it upstairs. Fortunately, it found the right post.”

The Eagles found themselves down again entering the third period, 2-1. Mike Mottau almost scored a goal with some flash after stepping around one defender, but his shot clanged the post. Within seconds, however, he had tied the game on that most workmanlike goal, a shot from the point through a screen.

“I just wristed it through and the puck had eyes,” he said.

With the season hanging in the balance, Farkas painted his piece de resistance to win the game with 1:57 remaining in regulation. On the verge of just dumping the puck in after crossing the blue line, he beat first one defender one-on-one and then another. The final brushstroke was a rocket roofed into the top corner.

“That was an NCAA highlight-type goal,” said York.

Brian Gionta, who has scored more than a few of those himself, added, “That goal was unbelievable. Sometimes with this team, you just sit back and watch in awe.”

Even in defeat, St. Lawrence coach Joe Marsh could appreciate Farkas’ masterpiece.

“It was a goal-scorer’s goal,” he said. “A great goal by a great player.”

Marsh then spread the praise around to BC’s other top guns.

“Bellefeuille, Mottau and Farkas scored their three goals [before Gionta’s open-netter,]” said Marsh. “They’ve done it all year long. Their big-name players came up big.”

BC will need strong play from its stars, like Hobey Baker finalist Mike Mottau, to win the title.

BC will need strong play from its stars, like Hobey Baker finalist Mike Mottau, to win the title.

With three Hobey Baker finalists in Mottau, Farkas and Gionta, Boston College has the raw talent that is difficult for any team to match up with. And that’s before considering the oft-overshadowed Bellefeuille, who always seems to deliver in the postseason.

“Good players play well in big situations,” said York. “They thrive on pressure. We’ve got a lot of talented offensive players, but they play with a lot of grit and determination and they make me very, very proud.”

For their parts, the BC stars who could become distracted by individual honors are focused only on the right things.

“This is what it’s all about, winning a championship,” said Bellefeuille. “The best thing about this team is that those [Hobey Baker finalist] guys don’t even care about individual awards. The only thing they’re focused on is winning this Saturday night.”

They’re also quick to spread the credit around to their teammates.

“Coach York recruits the right guys — the skill guys, the character guys,” said Mottau. “We push each other in practice and that translates into the game: Blake beating the guy down the ice and coming around and firing top shelf and the same with Jeff fighting through two checks and roofing the puck himself.

“Both were great individual efforts. I attribute that to hard work and the players that they are.”

Farkas seconds that emotion.

“Going against the players that we have on our team day in and day out in practice [makes the difference,]” said Farkas. “Going against Mike every day is going to make you a better player. We practice like we play.”

In which case Friday’s free practice at 1:45 should be in front of a full house.

AHCA Honors Aronson As D-III Player Of The Year

USCHO Staff Report
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Steve Aronson capped off his storied St. Thomas hockey career by being named the American Hockey Coaches Association’s NCAA Division III Player of the Year.

Aronson, a senior from Minnetonka, Minn., becomes the first MIAC player to receive the elite award, which was announced Thursday at the Frozen Four in Providence, R.I. Aronson was also selected Division III Player of the Year earlier this week by U.S. College Hockey Online.

Aronson

Aronson

“Steve is the finest player that I’ve ever coached, bar none,” said UST coach Terry Skrypek, whose 30-year coaching career includes 17 seasons at Hill-Murray High and 13 at St. Thomas. “I think he’s the best college hockey player in Division III, and I’d put him up against many Division I players. He’s very unselfish, and has worked hard to have a complete hockey game. I think he has the mental toughness to play professionally.”

A two-time MIAC Player of the Year and three-time first-team All-America, Aronson broke several records in his four seasons at UST, including Andre Beaulieu’s 35-year-old MIAC scoring record. Aronson surpassed Beaulieu by nine points, finishing with 244 career points (104 goals, 140 assists).

Aronson’s career totals also rank him first on UST’s career list for goals, assists, and points.

While leading his team to a runner-up finish at the NCAA tournament and 27-4-2 overall record, Aronson led all Division III scorers this season, averaging 2.76 ppg. His 91 points (38 goals, 53 assists) broke UST’s single-season mark of 83, set 20 years ago by Mark Hentges. He was a member of three Tommie teams that won MIAC hockey championships, and played in the NCAA playoffs twice.

Aronson is also a starter on the St. Thomas baseball team that was the NCAA Division III runner-up last season. He has a 3.38 grade-point average in business, and is an Academic All-America candidate.

Aronson was selected USCHO’s Division III Player of the Year by Division III coaches and media who participate in USCHO’s weekly national poll, the Division III reporting staff at U. S. College Hockey Online, and by the combined vote of fans.

Top To Bottom

By Becky Blaeser
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St. Lawrence head coach Joe Marsh once said that he believes the key to any championship-caliber team is the play of its third and fourth lines. When the game is on the line and the stakes are higher than ever, the balance of power shifts from top to bottom. That’s when the real heroes emerge, and that’s where the St. Lawrence story begins.

As the team heads back to the North Country following its eighth trip to the Frozen Four, marquee names such as Brandon Dietrich, Erik Anderson and Derek Gustafson will be thrown around at will … that is, until you take a closer look at the game sheet.

Jason Windle

Jason Windle

Robin Carruthers, Jason Windle, Charlie Daniels, Jim Lorentz, Jack O’Brien, Sean and Mike Muir? Who are these guys?

They are the unsung heroes who have been an integral part of St. Lawrence’s dominating run to the Frozen Four, and part of the reason why this year’s Saints team should be compared to some of SLU’s best.

“You’re not going to have every guy score 15 to 20 goals. I don’t even think that we had a guy who scored more than 20 goals this year, and I think that’s a great tribute to how hard this team competed and how they’ve relied upon one another and not on just one or two guys,” said Marsh. “I think that’s so important. Any year that we have gotten to this point or close to this point and have had a championship-caliber team, we’ve been fairly balanced. We’re a team that if we were going to beat teams we had to do it differently. Maybe we don’t have a marquee guy every year, maybe we rebuild from a different point, like from the third or fourth line.”

During last Saturday’s historic marathon contest against Boston University, there was a subtle yet telling shift of power. Dietrich, a First Team All-ECAC selection and the Saints’ top scorer, gave his team the early 1-0 lead. The next two goals came from less likely sources. First it was sophomore Jack O’Brien, a consistent fourth-line player all season long, who broke down the ice early in the second period and deposited the Saints’ second goal off a feed from linemate Sean Muir. It was a critical goal for a guy who isn’t a prolific scorer. In fact, he has only scored four goals this season, and two of those tallies came in the postseason during a 3-2 overtime win over Cornell in the ECAC semifinals.

Then, with the score deadlocked at two goals for nearly 72 minutes, it was neither Dietrich nor Anderson who donned the hero’s cap. It was a third line player, Carruthers, who gutted out a final burst of speed down the left wing and slammed home his own rebound to give his Saints the semifinal victory at the 1:27 mark of the fourth overtime period. To say it was the biggest goal of the sophomore’s career is a colossal understatement. Carruthers entered that contest with four goals and eight assists, but like O’Brien, he tends to save his best play for the post season. At last year’s ECAC Championships he posted a goal and three assists; this season was no different, as he produced eight points in his last 16 games this season.

Jimmy Lorentz battles during St. Lawrence's 5OT win in the Regional last week.

Jimmy Lorentz battles during St. Lawrence’s 5OT win in the Regional last week.

“They worked to get to that point,” said Marsh of his third- and fourth-line players. “A guy like Jimmy Lorentz is a freshman who had a great game tonight. Jack O’Brien had seven or eight goals huge goals for us this season. Carruthers … that was the biggest goal of the year for us. They don’t have to have a lot of them, but they keep working and they keep plugging and they do other things. They’ve worked harder at their defensive games and they have been willing to contribute in other areas to where they got a chance to play. Then, anything can happen.”

On Thursday night against Boston College, St. Lawrence was led by yet another unlikely duo. Jason Windle (22 goals in his four-year career) and fourth-liner Charlie Daniels (4-9–13) supplied the offensive spark and almost led the Saints to their third NCAA Championship appearance.

Unfortunately it was not enough as the Saints saw their 1999-2000 take its final breath on Thursday night. The Saints’ regular record of 22-7-2 will go down as the third-best in program history, trailing only the 1988-89 team (25-5-0) and the 1987-88 squad (23-7-0). Its home mark of 16-1-0 also tied the record for most home wins in a season.

Perhaps Marsh summed up the season and his attitude the best when he talked about the intangible contribution of two of his fourth-liners, Sean and Mike Muir.

“To give you an idea, these kids have had their own landscaping business since they were 13 years old. These kids just work so hard. They never miss a class … they give it everything they’ve got. They’re constantly in the weight room. They’re zero maintainence kids. They don’t have a ton of points.

“But I am not trading them for anybody because they make everyone around them better. They make Dietrich and Anderson better because they play the same way on Tuesday as they do on Friday and Saturday night. You can’t imagine how hard they work and that’s why they are here and that’s why we don’t hold our breath while they are out there with a minute to go in the game like this. We have to find players like that in order for us to be a successful program.”

So although the team may not be competing on Saturday night for the championship, St. Lawrence has certainly proven its coach right.

The Arrival

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Twenty-four hours before Niagara upset New Hampshire in the Western Regionals, Purple Eagles head coach Blaise MacDonald delivered two sentences that poked fun at a collective college hockey community that had yet to learn that the CHA team deserved its first-ever NCAA playoff berth.

“I’m a little disappointed we’re not the number-one seed. I’m very happy to be here–that’s a standard line,” he said.

If MacDonald sounded a little defensive about his team’s trip to Minneapolis, his quips and occasional jabs at the press were understandable, given that the Purple Eagles had to justify their postseason presence, prove their worth as a team, and fight a lot of stereotyping about programs that are not affiliated with one of the “big four” established conferences.

But MacDonald himself is the first to admit that, just as many people found it hard to believe that Niagara not only participated in the NCAA Tournament but also advanced, the Purple Eagles themselves exceeded their own expectations.

“It’s been a dream come true–it’s been a dream fulfilled to be here, I should say,” said MacDonald after the 4-1 loss to North Dakota.

MacDonald said that the dream itself began because of ties maintained from his days as a player at RIT. Someone phoned MacDonald in Boston–where he was an assistant at Boston University–to tell him that Niagara was starting a program.

“I had heard about it…so I contacted Niagara to find out what they really planned on with the program,” MacDonald said.

MacDonald was enticed to return to western New York from his native New England because of the chance to put his own “fingerprint on the program” and “create the high-performance culture” he says is necessary for a winning tradition.

“It was a tremendous professional challenge.” he averred. “When I showed up the first day, there was no manual telling me how to build a hockey team.

“I didn’t get here until mid-January of 1996. There were no assistant coaches and no 26 players for the following season.” To recruit, MacDonald says with the inflection only he can give a phrase, “I was in Toronto–a lot.”

GREG GARDNER

GREG GARDNER

The fruits of his initial labors not only led his team to the NCAA Tournament in just its third season of play, but resulted in a week-long game of speculation about whether MacDonald would leave the program he built from scratch for a chance to work the same magic closer to home, in Amherst, Massachusetts. After some admitted “sleepless nights,” MacDonald withdrew his name from consideration for the UMass job.

In a statement issued by the Niagara University athletics department, MacDonald said, “It has been a privilege for me to be part of building the Niagara University hockey program. It has taken a lot of hard work, dedication and pride from everybody involved and I want to continue to be involved in this project.”

Just four years after MacDonald began the Niagara project, the coach will find himself facing a different challenge as he and the program say goodbye to 15 seniors, the pioneering class that included goaltender Greg Gardner, forwards Mike Isherwood, Kyle Martin, and Mikko Sivonen, and defenders Chris MacKenzie and Nate Handrahan.

And MacDonald says there’s more to it than losing talented players. “It’s like all of a sudden your family–it’s like you live on the East Coast and your whole family packed up and moved to California.”

It is, in fact, this senior class and the real affection among the entire Niagara squad that was as captivating as the team’s play in Minneapolis.

MIKE ISHERWOOD

MIKE ISHERWOOD

Said Isherwood, “Chris [MacKenzie], Nate [Handrahan], and I came from the same home town. Nate and I grew up together, played hockey together all of our lives.”

“Our legacy to the program and the underclassmen,” said Gardner, “is that beyond everything, beyond the 5,000 fans, beyond the fancy jerseys, the sticks, the fringes that come along with playing hockey, you have to play for each other, you have to enjoy the game itself. You have to realize that there’s a bond between teammates…and nothing else matters.”

“That vacuum and void of losing these men here–we can’t replace that,” said MacDonald. “But we relish the challenges and opportunities to come.”

MacDonald likes that already people are talking about his team’s chances next season after graduating such a large and talented senior class.

“That speaks to a little bit of respect, and I know that we’ve earned that respect,” he said.

MacDonald talks about respect a lot, necessarily so. Perhaps after this season the coach won’t have to justify Niagara’s mere existence, but he was deft at doing so in Minneapolis.

“The question,” he noted, “is, ‘Are we worthy?’ Given the road that we had to take to get here, I truly believe we deserve to be here. You know, we had one opportunity–one slim opportunity–to make the tournament, and that was an at-large bid.

“If we had played in a major conference–to which we have made a couple of presentations– you’re given three opportunities to get into the NCAA tournament: win your league, win the tournament, and also vie for an at-large bid.”

MacDonald joked about the team’s travel schedule that included 28 road games–“…this is our 18,000th mile of travel this year…”–and said that the priests at Niagara “have had to take up a few extra collections for our team travel budget.”

About the progress of the program in such a short period of time, he said, “It’s a dream come true for these kids, as we were two years ago playing in a league where one of our member schools had an outdoor rink.”

And while MacDonald’s sense of humor carried him through many questions about Niagara’s worth, he made it quite clear that the Purple Eagles were and are no joke.

“We beat the defending national champ [Michigan, in 1998] on their own ice surface after losing to them with 1.7 seconds left in overtime,” he reminded. “This year I think our team knew the implications of every game we played from January on in terms of our ability to get into the NCAA tournament. That puts a lot of pressure on every single game–it’s like a 60-minute season.

“We go out to Colorado College, which is a pretty good ballclub, and on an Olympic sheet play them, beating them 3-1. Going into the last game of the season, playing a good Nebraska-Omaha team that was in the CCHA Championship game and get three out of four points–I think was terrific.

“That’s a lot of pressure, and you can say, ‘Well, you only play X amount of games against big-time programs. Maybe it’s easy for you to get up for those games.’ I would argue that it’s more difficult, because we only get one at-bat as opposed to four at-bats, so you can argue that point either way.

“Also, in terms of us having victories against the Air Force Academy, for example, correct me if I’m wrong, but I think every conference in the country has a last-place team. I think if you historically look at our team and our program, I think we’ve proven that we’re pretty good.”

After the burden of proof had been lifted with a win over New Hampshire, even the Purple Eagle players admitted that the figurative distance the team had covered was more than they had ever imagined it would be. Said Gardner, “I don’t think any of the guys would have expected how far we’ve come and how close we came to the Frozen Four, if you’d asked that question at the beginning of the year.”

Martin echoed his teammate’s sentiments. “It’s a dream come true. If someone would have said to me in my freshman year we’d be in the NCAA tournament, I would’ve laughed at them, quite frankly. Fifteen of us seniors started off as pioneers, and it’s very special.”

Says MacDonald, “This will never end. This is something we will relive because of the human relationships that we’ve developed and the experiences we’ve had, and the journey will continue.

“And the journey will continue to be a benchmark for Niagara University hockey for years and years to come. Truly, as we talk about with the team, success has no destination.”

Maybe so, but Niagara hockey has certainly arrived.

The Nightmare

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The nightmare started last Sunday with 1:16 remaining in Maine’s game with Michigan. The Black Bears led, 4-2, and were headed back to the Frozen Four with dreams of becoming the first team to win back-to-back championships since Boston University in 1972.

"I was pinching myself, hoping it was a bad dream."

— Cory Larose

For Cory Larose, however, the dream became a nightmare when referee Mike Schmitt assessed a butt-ending major penalty and game disqualification, sidelining Larose for Maine’s semifinal game against North Dakota.

“There was no intention to injure,” he said. “All I was trying to do was hold [Mike Comrie] back. He had a step on me. If he was on the other side of me, I would have been hooking him. I was just hooking him with the other side of my stick. He embellished it a little bit and it caught the referee’s eye.

Cory Larose will miss the National semifinal after being tagged with a game disqualifcation late in the Regional win over Michigan.

Cory Larose will miss the National semifinal after being tagged with a game disqualifcation late in the Regional win over Michigan.

“I really don’t think it warranted a game suspension, especially at this time of year. Maybe if I was the type of player who was getting suspended five or six times a year and I was trying to hurt guys on a shift basis, [I could understand it. But] that’s just not the way I play. It’s not what I believe in.

“Hey, if I could rewind time, I definitely wouldn’t do it.”

But Larose couldn’t rewind time. He was the winner of the Len Ceglarski Hockey East Sportsmanship Award and a player that one person close to the team called “one of the classiest kids I’ve ever been around.” But he would be sitting the game out because of the major and game DQ.

“This is my senior year and this is the Final Four,” he said with a pained look on his face.

But a game DQ is a game DQ. And that means a one-game suspension.

So Larose spent the next 10 days practicing as hard as he always did, not varying his routine, all the while hoping that his teammates would come through and he’d get one more game — one for a national championship.

In his mind, he knew he’d be sitting out one of the biggest contests of his career. He knew the stark reality. It was inescapable. But it didn’t really hit him in that visceral between-the-eyes fashion until he walked into the Providence Civic Center.

“The toughest part was when I walked in the rink and saw the guys warming up,” he said. “It really hit home. All week I’d been thinking about it, but I’d been able to get on the ice every day. I had practiced with the team and dressed with the guys. I’d conversed with them and did everything I’d done all year.

“When I went out there and saw the warm-up, it was tough on me…. The only other games I’ve missed, I’ve been in the hospital for. Just sitting and watching is just excruciating.”

Of course, many a player has had to sit out a key game because of an injury. But this was different.

“No doubt it’s worse,” he said. “If I were injured, that would be out of my control. But to be suspended… definitely wasn’t the way I saw my college career ending.”

It didn’t get any easier when the Black Bears went on two power plays before the game was even five minutes old. As a fixture on the Maine man advantage, he could see himself out there doing things to help his team. Except he wasn’t out there. He was in the stands wearing his warmup suit.

“I saw a couple situations unfold where I just wished I could have been out there and try to make a play,” he said. “In a game like this, one or two plays is the game.”

Larose sat with a couple former Black Bears, Jason Vitorino, a captain on last year’s national championship team, and Shawn Mansoff, who played two years for Maine before transferring to Quinnipiac. When Larose commented about how badly he felt not being able to help his teammates, Vitorino offered some words of wisdom.

“You know, Cory,” said Vitorino, “every year good players leave and every year good players get hurt in different situations. Other guys step in and play well. The Maine team is the focus point.”

The words hit home, despite the disappointment of the eventual 2-0 loss.

“It’s a team game,” said Larose. “It always has been for four years here. That was the bottom line today. Guys went out there today and they [played] their hearts out. It’s just unfortunate that bounces didn’t go our way. All it takes is a bounce or two and we’re right in that game. We were always just an inch away.”

Would Larose have provided that inch?

“It’s easy to say that, but who knows?” he said. “If I’d been out there, I might have made a couple mistakes and it would have been 4-0. Maybe I might have helped out the guys. It’s tough to say.”

His teammates certainly missed him.

“I don’t want to say that because Cory wasn’t here we lost,” said Ben Guite. “But obviously he has more than one point a game over the season and that’s obviously going to help you in tough situations against good teams. [His absence] did hurt us, but we can’t blame [the loss] on that.”

Brendan Walsh specifically pointed to Larose’s contribution on special teams, where North Dakota scored on one power play and added a shorthanded goal against a Maine man advantage that went 0-for-7.

“Special teams play was a big part of our success this year and he was a big component of our penalty killing and power play,” said the senior captain. “That was a definite factor. But we’re a team of interchangeable parts.”

Maine coach Shawn Walsh, however, would have nothing to do with any comments that might be interpreted as diminishing North Dakota’s win.

“The Cory Larose Issue is not an issue,” said Walsh. “That would simply detract from North Dakota. North Dakota played a great hockey game. They beat a very good team. I don’t think Larose’s absence is an issue one bit. The Fighting Sioux won the game and are moving on. I don’t want to say anything that detracts from their performance.”

Almost to the final buzzer, Larose kept the faith that he would play one more game.

“I never say die with these guys,” he said. “We’ve done it all year. We’ve come from behind so many times. Right up until a minute left, I was crossing my fingers. We had chances, we just didn’t bury them.”

Finally, however, the buzzer sounded and the scoreboard clock read 0:00.

Cory Larose — owner of 61 goals and 119 assists for 180 points over four years — had finished his collegiate career watching from the stands.

The nightmare was over. But the nightmare had been real.

The Quiet One

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There are times in life when people are pleasantly surprised. Rensselaer fans have been pleasantly surprised over the last four years by a quiet young man from Saskatchewan.

Joel Laing came to Rensselaer from Maryfield, Saskatchewan, and has played his way into being one of the ten best players in Division I college hockey.

Laing was named one of the ten Hobey Baker finalists on March 16, a distinction that really was a pleasant surprise.

“Not realistically, no,” said Laing about his chances at being a Hobey Baker finalist. “I didn’t think it would be feasible, with the situation that I was in, I didn’t expect to get the ice time to get there. I was expecting to go from game to game. The situation is strange, and I don’t think it has hit me. I never get too high or too low. I’m not too excited that I am one the finalists and if I never played a game I wouldn’t be disappointed. I don’t let those emotions gather too much except for game day.”

That statement says a lot about Laing. An even-keeled type, Laing came to Rensselaer at the last minute in 1996 — a decision which has changed his life.

“I’m kind of surprised it worked out as well as it did,” he said. “Coming in here my expectations weren’t too high. The only thing I knew was there were two freshman goalies and I thought I could play right away or at least get a look. But as far as the school, I didn’t know too much about it, I didn’t get a chance to fly down, I just took a gamble. I based the decision on the tradition and recognition of RPI through the hockey ranks. I took a gamble and I am real happy with how things turned out.”

Laing was with a junior team in Minot, North Dakota, in 1996, when he was traded to the Melfort Mustangs. There he was the backup to Scott Fankhouser (who went on to UMass-Lowell), but when Fankhouser was injured in the first game of the Royal Bank Cup, Laing found himself thrust into the center ring, as the goaltender for Melfort in the Tier II championships.

“I knew that I was going into a role where I was there for insurance purposes,” he said. “But I also knew that I might have the opportunity to be put in the position to show off my talents to recruiters at the next level and it just so happened that in the first game of the tournament Fankhouser got hurt and I played the entire tournament and won the Goaltender of the Tournament Award. We lost in the final, 2-0 to Vernon, BC, but it was a great experience for me.

“After that nothing was looking promising and I decided that I was going to school in Canada. RPI was still looking for a goalie in July; I got a call and they said there was some money available and I said I was in. It was a no-brainer for me. It wasn’t like I had a lot of other options. They took a gamble on me and I took one on them.”

Without visiting the campus or seeing it, Laing came in with classmate Scott Prekaski, and the two immediately got their chances on the stage of the Houston Fieldhouse ice. The two freshmen played as a duo and continued to throughout their four years. Something special was brewing in Troy, and it became evident the first weekend of the ECAC regular season in 1996.

Joel Laing is trying to become just the second goalie ever to win the Hobey Baker Award.

Joel Laing is trying to become just the second goalie ever to win the Hobey Baker Award.

The Engineers were playing Martin St. Louis, Eric Perrin, Tim Thomas and the number-one ranked Vermont Catamounts in the Gut. Laing got the start and Engineers upset the top team in the nation in their own barn.

“It was my first college win ever,” reflected Laing. “To go into Vermont when they were ranked number one, and I played one of my better games that night. It was so exciting to play in that action and environment. It elevated my level of play and it made the game that much more enjoyable.”

From there the Engineers began to ride the coattails of Laing and Prekaski. The Engineers made it back to Lake Placid that season, but fell in the semifinals and narrowly missed the NCAA tournament.

The next season the Engineers were picked to finish first in the ECAC, wound up third and were eliminated in the ECAC quarterfinals, putting an end to their season. Through it all the two goaltenders continued to alternate.

“We’ve been able to feed off one another and we’ve had a healthy relationship,” said Laing about Prekaski. “When one of us is playing well and when things go a little wrong, we lean on one another and bank on one another’s experiences. Through all the turbulence it makes it a lot easier for us and had made us stronger over four years.”

During the middle of the 1998-99 season, Laing started to get more ice time. One major reason was that he was just incredibly hot on the ice. After the holiday break Laing shut out Yale at home, allowed one goal against Princeton, and then shut out Brown and Harvard on the road. Then next game was against Union, and Laing fell 1:13 short of tying Trevor Koenig’s mark for most consecutive shutout minutes in ECAC competition. Laing also garnered five shutouts that year, tying him with Bobby Fox for the most shutouts in a season at Rensselaer.

colorscans/archives/rpi_j_laing2.jpg

The Engineers made it to Lake Placid, but lost in the ECAC semifinals and narrowly missed the NCAA tournament once again.

This past season, Laing was given most of the load on the ice and he responded. He put up a 17-7-2 record, had a GAA of 1.82 and a save percentage of .947. Numbers that goaltenders dream about.

The Engineers made it to the ECAC championship game, but fell to St. Lawrence and were left out of the NCAAs, ending Laing’s college career.

“I was real proud of how our team played in Lake Placid,” he said. “We gave ourselves a chance to win each night and I will always remember that: when we went up there we played hard and it was a battle each night,” he said.

“I’m not really a sentimental guy. I knew it was over and it was the last game I had played, but it’s out of your control. I have no regrets and knowing that I see all the guys every day helped out. It will be something that you miss. You’re part of a family.

“It’s not that often that a small-town guy from Saskatchewan gets to move to the big city, Troy,” he continued with a laugh. “It’s a long way from home and it’s real good that I had the chance to get an education and a chance to play.

“I am grateful for it.”

In his career, Laing set shutout marks at Rensselaer both for a single season, six, a career, 13.

But Laing does have one more thing to shoot for in his college career — the Hobey Baker Memorial Award. And when one looks at the criteria, one can’t help but be impressed and think that perhaps Laing fits the mold of your model Hobey Baker candidate.

1. A candidate must exhibit strength of character on and off the ice.

Laing was named assistant captain this season and has shown why. Even though he won’t be on the team next year, his leadership may be. He offered the following words of advice for Rensselaer’s incoming goaltenders, Kevin Kurk and Nate Marsters.

“They’re coming into a great opportunity. They’ll battle for ice time and if they come into camp in good shape and in the right mindset, they’ll be great. They have to have the attitude that they have to earn their time. That’s something that always drove me — every day I felt that I had to prove myself, and every week I had to prove that I deserved a chance to play.

“Even though I got two shutouts in a row, in the back of my mind, I didn’t know that I would play. I would go out in practice and get lit up, and that would drive me to play that much better in practice. If they take that attitude of battling every week for what they deserve, and not that it’s handed to them because they are two freshmen and one of them has to play, they’ll both have a chance to show what they can do. They have four years ahead of them; if they come in with a good attitude and a good work ethic then they can break any record that they want.

“Everybody’s replaceable. There is always somebody better than you, and that’s what I truly believe. That’s how I try to keep level-headed, because I know there is somebody better. You can always find somebody to fill a role at any time.”

2. Candidates must contribute to the integrity of the team and display outstanding skills in all phases of the game.

Laing’s numbers speak for themselves, and his skills as a goaltender have improved from year to year. He explained:

colorscans/archives/rpi_j_laing3.jpg

“I don’t know if I have a style. I’m more of a positional goaltender — they always have trouble finding saves from me for the year-end highlight film for the banquet. I always try to put myself in the position where the puck is going to hit me right in the chest, and if I’m not in that position I probably won’t make the save. The keys for me are reading the play, being aggressive and taking away the angles.

“When I was in junior I was more dependent on two-pad stacks and flaring glove saves, but now I keep those to a minimum. They’re fun, but it’s not something you want to depend on.

“Every goaltender plays the give-and-take game. A guy at the side of the net doesn’t have a lot of angle so you open your legs wide, and when he doesn’t have a lot of time to think, he sees it and he shoots and you know where the puck is going.

“It’s been the mental perspective where I have seen it make the difference in the game. One of the things that I have done is not let in the late goal. It’s the mental preparation, visualizing and constantly being on the ball when you’re on the ice. If you’re not focusing on it, then you’re going to be slow to react. That’s one of the differences in goaltending; it’s that for a goaltender the game is 80 percent mental.”

3. Consideration should be given to scholastic achievement and sportsmanship.

Laing has gathered a 3.97 GPA over the course of seven semesters at Rensselaer, as a management major concentrating in finance and information systems.

“I approach [school] in the same situation that any student approaches college. I’m just another student going to school. I play hockey on the weekends and in the afternoons, but other than that, when I am off the ice I am off the ice. I’m in class, contributing to group projects, and in clubs around campus. I take that just as seriously as someone who is in the same situation, as someone who is trying to better themselves for a career after their college years are over.

“I’ve been fortunate to be in a curriculum that I enjoy, surrounded by faculty that are cooperative and have been a lot of help in the classroom. They make it enjoyable to go to class day in and day out. As long as the interest is there and the motivation is high, you are going to be successful.

“When I sit down to do homework, I enjoy doing it. It doesn’t matter whether it’s investments, systems analysis and design or geometry, I enjoy seeing new things and gaining new knowledge. I think if you take that attitude it makes it more enjoyable. Whereas if you’re going into class and saying, ‘Ugh, I’m in class until two, then I have to go the gym’, once you take that mindset you’re going to wear yourself out. It will take out a lot of the joy out of the educational experience. I have been able to enjoy myself and apply myself to my utmost abilities.”

There is no doubt that Laing has all the qualifications. Now he sits and waits for the Hobey winner to be announced. With the above going his way, Laing certainly has a decent shot at getting enough votes to be the recipient.

He has already won USCHO’s Vote For Hobey.

“I was real excited to see that,” he said. “Just to see the pride and enthusiasm of the RPI fans. It’s something that shows the kind of program that there is here, and the following that we have is all quality fans. They’re willing to go that extra mile for you and that helps us on game days — we feel that the fans need to see our best effort, game in and game out. It’s not only coaches and players, but it’s fans that make a lot of sacrifices that come to see us, and they deserve the best.”

The next step for Laing will be a shot at the professional ranks, something that he is looking forward to.

“It’s a progression — you can’t stay in college forever. It’s one of the best times in your life and I have no regrets at all.

“I’m hoping that things work out and I hope that I get an opportunity where I have a chance that will prove that I belong. I think I have to go and take the same attitude and…prove that I belong there, and that everything I get is earned. Never expect that anything is given to you — you’re not better than the next guy unless you prove it. There’s a lot of growing that needs to occur, and I’m ready for that.”

But whether or not Laing walks away with the prize on Friday, or the hefty professional contract, the Rensselaer community will be grateful that Joel was a part of their lives.

“I hope that they say that [I] was a nice guy. Not only a good player on the ice, but a quality guy off the ice. I try to do things that are not only right for the hockey program but for other programs around the school. It’s something that I have taken some pride in trying to fit in as a student, and not just as a hockey player.

“I walk around here and no one knows who I am. That’s how I want to be remembered, not somebody that walks into a room and has all the focus. That’s not what I want. When I go somewhere I would rather not be noticed. I don’t mind that someone talks to me, but I feel that when I walk into the room, I want to be a regular student. That’s who I feel I am — Joe Schmoe, the management student at RPI.”

Frozen Four Notebook: Wednesday

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St. Lawrence coach Joe Marsh referred to his team as being “absolutely giddy” after the third overtime of his team’s NCAA quarterfinal game against Boston University in Albany, N.Y.

Apparently, the giddiness hasn’t exactly left Marsh just yet. Just another one of the repercussions of the longest NCAA tournament game in history.

Marsh took the unofficial prize as the comedy relief of the Wednesday news conference at the Frozen Four, cracking jokes on just about everything.

Among the best…

On the aftermath of the NCAA quarterfinal: “A small school like ours, to be on CNN Play of the Day the next day is probably akin, for all you photographers, to getting a real good snapshot of the Loch Ness Monster.”

On his team heading to Providence: “It’s a little tough to leave on a Tuesday. Some of the professors are maybe not big hockey fans and wonder why the guys are gone. I think they knew after we had a rally at the school.”

Responding to a question about the debate about width of rinks, North Dakota coach Dean Blais had just mentioned his school’s new building: “Well, St. Lawrence is not going to build a new rink unless, of course, we get another ice storm and we can practice on the football field.”

DUELING GOALIES: The Karl and Andy show will continue for one more day.

North Dakota coach Dean Blais didn’t tip his hand as to who would start — Karl Goehring or Andy Kollar — in goal for his team in its semifinal matchup with Maine at 2 p.m. ET on Thursday.

His reason for not divulging that information was the man sitting two chairs to his right.

“My decision between now and (Thursday) at 2 is which goaltender to start,” Blais said. “And I’m not going to tell Shawn (Walsh, the Maine coach) because I know he has something up his sleeve.”

Goehring went down with a concussion the week before the Western Collegiate Hockey Association Final Five, and Kollar led the Sioux to wins over St. Cloud State and Wisconsin at the Final Five and the win over Niagara that sent the Sioux to the Frozen Four.

Goehring appears to be back to where he was before the concussion, Blais said, whereas Kollar still has some neck pain from being hit in the game against Niagara.

“We’ve seen both of them play and they have a very similar style and they both win a lot, so it’s doesn’t really matter (which one plays),” Walsh said. “If you look down the stretch, Kollar played well against Wisconsin and Niagara, so he’ll be ready. Either way, they will be real strong.”

CONFERENCE PRIDE: You have to give credit where credit is due. And, according to Walsh and Boston College coach Jerry York, credit is due to Hockey East, which prepared its teams well for the NCAA tournament.

“I really think our league prepares you well,” Walsh said. “Last year, the last regular-season weekend we got swept at New Hampshire and it was probably the best thing that could have happened to us heading into the NCAA tournament.

“This year, we played Providence our last four games prior to the Hockey East Final Four, and believe me, those games could have gone either way. They just toughened us up, they exploited our weaknesses and showed what we needed to improve on.”

For York, it helped in facing the best of the West.

“People ask me about Wisconsin and Michigan State, and those are two great programs, how did you rise up to that level?” York said. “Well, that level has existed in Hockey East. Our competition between Maine, New Hampshire, BU, Northeastern, really prepared us to go to the Western Regional.”

SECOND TIME AROUND: Maine is looking to become the first repeat national champion since Boston University did it in 1971 and ’72.

A little added pressure, maybe?

“I think it’s an opportunity at this point,” Walsh said. “In the middle of the year, it might have been a hurdle, that can put a little bit of pressure on you, especially when you’re not playing up to expectations…. You compare this year’s team to last year’s quote-unquote perfect team, well last year’s team got swept on occasion, too. It ended up with a perfect ending, and one of us is going to have a perfect ending this year.”

ON THE RADIO: Stuck in Honolulu with no place to listen to the Frozen Four? Not anymore.

KGU radio in Honolulu is one of 78 radio stations in 31 states set to broadcast college hockey’s showcase event this season. Boston University broadcaster Bernie Corbett will provide play by play for the event, distributed by the Continental Sports Network.

YOUR PASS, PLEASE: Evidence of college hockey’s popularity may be best evidenced in the number of media personnel credentialed for the event.

According to John Painter of the NCAA, there were more than 300 media members credentialed for the Frozen Four.

2000 All-America Teams Named

USCHO Staff Report
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Rensselaer goaltender Joel Laing, the winner of this year’s U.S. College Hockey Online Vote for Hobey contest, leads the list of 24 players selected to the 2000 Division I All-America teams, as selected by the American Hockey Coaches Association.

Laing, who had a 1.82 goals-against average and a .947 save percentage in the regular season, was named East First Team goalie, while teammates Brad Tapper and Brian Pothier were named to the Second Team. Other schools with three selections were Boston College (Jeff Farkas, Brian Gionta, Mike Mottau), North Dakota (Karl Goehring, Jeff Panzer, Lee Goren) and Wisconsin (Jeff Dessner, Steve Reinprecht, Dany Heatley).

North Dakota’s junior netminder Goehring was named to the West First Team after helping to lead the Sioux to a WCHA Tournament championship and a trip to the Frozen Four. Junior Ty Conklin of New Hampshire and junior Jayme Platt of Lake Superior were East and West Second Team picks, respectively.

The East defense is dominated by seniors, including First Team selections Mottau and Justin Harney of St. Lawrence, whose teams will square off Thursday in one of the national semifinals, and Pothier, who was a Second Team pick. Boston University sophomore Chris Dyment rounds out the East Second Team defense. It was the second straight First Team honor for Mottau, who, along with Conklin, was this year’s co-Hockey East Players of the Year.

In the West, the First Team defense contains underclassmen Dessner and Jeff Jillson of Michigan. St. Cloud sophomore Mike Pudlick, who recently signed a free agent contract with the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings, was named to the Second Team along with Michigan State senior Mike Weaver, who was also a Second Team pick a year ago.

The First Team forwards include four seniors and two juniors. Colgate senior Andy McDonald joins the senior Farkas and junior Gionta in the East, while senior Reinprecht is joined by Michigan State senior Shawn Horcoff and junior Panzer. Reinprecht led the nation in points during the regular season (61).

The East Second Team forwards include Hockey East top scorer Cory Larose of Maine, St. Lawrence sophomore Brandon Dietrich, and Tapper, who led the nation in goals (30) and game-winning goals (seven) during the regular season. In the West, Second Team picks were Michigan sophomore Mike Comrie, Goren and Heatley, the only freshman on this year’s team.

2000 JOFA/AHCA Division I All-America Teams

First Team

West                                     East
F Steve Reinprecht, Wisconsin    SR   F Andy McDonald, Colgate         SR
F Jeff Panzer, North Dakota      JR   F Jeff Farkas, Boston College    SR
F Shawn Horcoff, Michigan St.    SR   F Brian Gionta, Boston College   JR
D Jeff Dessner, Wisconsin        JR   D Justin Harney, St. Lawrence    SR
D Jeff Jillson, Michigan         SO   D Mike Mottau, Boston College    SR
G Karl Goehring, North Dakota    JR   G Joel Laing, Rensselaer         SR

Second Team

West                                  East
F Mike Comrie, Michigan          SO   F Brad Tapper, Rensselaer        JR
F Dany Heatley, Wisconsin        FR   F Cory Larose, Maine             SR
F Lee Goren, North Dakota        SR   F Brandon Dietrich, St. Lawrence SO
D Mike Pudlick, St. Cloud        SO   D Chris Dyment, Boston U.        SO
D Mike Weaver, Michigan State    SR   D Brian Pothier, Rensselaer      SR
G Jayme Platt, Lake Superior St. JR   G Ty Conklin, New Hampshire      JR

UMass-Amherst Names Princeton’s Cahoon New Head Coach

USCHO Staff Report
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Don Cahoon, who revitalized the Princeton hockey program during a nine-year stint, was named head coach of the University of Massachusetts Wednesday at a press conference in Providence, site of this year’s Frozen Four.

“I think I can speak for my family and all my good friends in Massachusetts and say it’s an honor and a privilege to coach and lead the UMass hockey program into a new chapter,” said Cahoon. “I’m looking forward to getting the program headed in the right direction.”

“We’re pleased to have a person of Coach Cahoon’s stature in the hockey world as a part of our program,” said UMass athletic director Bob Marcum. “He has a proven record of success everywhere he has coached. We had several outstanding candidates for the position, so it’s evident that the head coaching job at UMass is a very desirable one. We feel confident Don is the person who can instill the winning tradition of UMass athletics to the hockey program.”

Cahoon, a 1972 graduate of Boston University, won 102 games at Princeton since taking over in 1991-92, guiding the Tigers to their only four winning seasons since 1967. Included were three 18-win campaigns, a 20-win season, and, in 1998, Princeton’s only ECAC Championship and trip to the NCAA Tournament.

Princeton had never been to the final four of the ECAC tournament until Cahoon came along. He then led the Tigers to four trips there in five years, never losing a quarterfinal series until this season’s two-game sweep at Clarkson.

A 1972 graduate of Boston University, Cahoon was instrumental in winning three national championships with the Terriers. He played left wing on BU’s 1971 and 1972 championship teams and served as an assistant coach when the club captured the title again in 1978. Cahoon returned to his alma mater as an assistant on three occasions — 1974-79, 1987-88 and 1990-91.

As a player, Cahoon represented the United States at the 1972 World Championships in Bucharest, Romania, helping the national team to the silver medal. He also signed a contract to play professional hockey with the New England Whalers of the World Hockey Association after graduation.

Cahoon also held the position of head coach at Norwich University (1979-82) and Lehigh University (1973-74). At Norwich he posted a 48-39-1 record and qualified for the ECAC Division II playoffs all three years. In 1974 he led the Lehigh Engineers to the Mid-Atlantic Conference title with a 10-5-2 mark.

Following his stint at Norwich, Cahoon joined the Austrian Ice Hockey Federation as the director of hockey operations and head coach of the Vienna Ice Club, guiding the team to a 23-13-2 record in 1982. He returned to the United States the following year as an assistant at the University of Lowell, remaining there until 1986.

New Hampshire coach Dick Umile and Niagara coach Blaise MacDonald, who were also considered for the UMass post, took themselves out of the running after further consideration.

“It has been a privilege for me to be part of building the Niagara University hockey program,” said MacDonald in announcing his withdrawal from the field of candidates early on Wednesday. “I am looking forward to the future at Niagara and especially next season.”

Umile, meanwhile, pulled out of the field last week, citing a desire to finish out his career at New Hampshire.

“I am very excited that UNH has made the commitment to me personally and to the hockey program,” Umile said. “I have every intention of completing my coaching career here at UNH.”

The UMass job was opened when the school opted not to renew the contract of head coach Joe Mallen after his seven-year stint with the Minutemen.

MacDonald Withdraws Name From Consideration For UMass Position

USCHO Staff Report
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The Niagara University athletic department announced today that Niagara University men’s hockey head coach Blaise MacDonald has withdrawn his name for consideration from the head coaching vacancy at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.

“It has been a privilege for me to be part of building the Niagara University hockey program,” said MacDonald. “It has taken a lot of hard work, dedication and pride from everybody involved and I want to continue to be involved in this project. There has been a terrific amount of commitment shown to the hockey program and to athletics by the University. We are very grateful for all their efforts to allow us to continue to dream big and realize our dreams. I am looking forward to the future at Niagara and especially next season.”

“We have a great admiration for Blaise and the program he has built at Niagara,” said Niagara President Father Joseph Levesque, C.M.. “We are very pleased that he has chosen to stay with the Niagara family.”

Earlier, UNH head coach Dick Umile withdrew his name from consideration for the position. The short list for UMass reportedly has Maine head coach Shawn Walsh, Princeton head coach Don “Toot” Cahoon, Merrimack head coach Chris Serino, Boston University assistant coach Brian Durocher, and former Lake Superior head coach Jeff Jackson.

Cahoon was interviewed on Monday by the chairman of the Hockey Coach Interview Committee, Thorr Bjorn, and UMass athletic director Bob Marcum.

The head coaching vacancy was created when Joe Mallen’s contract was not renewed.

2000 Frozen Four Preview

By Dave Hendrickson, Todd D. Milewski, Jayson Moy, Becky Blaeser and Scott Brown
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We’re down to four.

Thursday in Providence, R.I., championship contenders North Dakota, Maine, Boston College and St. Lawrence meet to decide the participants in Saturday’s title game — the culmination of another season of college hockey.

Without further ado, the national semifinalists:

North Dakota (29-8-5) vs. Maine (27-7-5)
Thursday, 2:00 p.m. ET, Providence Civic Center, Providence, R.I.

North Dakota Fighting Sioux

Dean Blais may know who his starting goaltender is going to be when his Fighting Sioux play Maine in a national semifinal on Thursday. If he does, he has quite a poker face.

The North Dakota coach said he won’t be tipping his hand until Wednesday, the eve of his team’s first appearance in the Frozen Four since it won the national championship in Milwaukee in 1997.

But that won’t stop people from guessing.

The Grand Forks (N.D.) Herald conducted an online poll, inviting readers to vote for whom they feel should be between the pipes against Maine. The results didn’t tell much, except that both Karl Goehring and Andy Kollar have a fan base. Goehring edged out Kollar 52 percent to 48 percent.

The goaltending question has been a weekly feature for the Sioux since the Western Collegiate Hockey Association Final Five. The week of the tournament, Goehring suffered a concussion during practice and hasn’t seen action since.

He came close in the national quarterfinal game against Niagara in Minneapolis, when Kollar got hammered by a Purple Eagles player. Goehring hopped off the bench and started stretching, but Kollar stayed in the game.

But this week, the tables may have turned. Blais said Goehring is the one that’s at 100 percent and Kollar is the one coming off an injury.

“It looks like both are ready to go now,” Blais said. “Andy … had a little stiff neck and everything, but he practiced (Thursday) and was OK. Karl, we were supposed to take the day off (Thursday) and he was out with the puck-shooting machine. It looks like he’s 100 percent now.

“They’ve kind of traded off, back and forth with their health.”

The fact that Kollar got hit against Niagara probably wouldn’t concern Blais all that much if it was the first time it happened this year. Instead, both Kollar and Goehring have received their share of hits this season, despite the implementation of a point of emphasis in the rules that players are supposed to avoid contact with the goaltender.

“You want to coach players to go to the net, but you don’t want ever to touch the goaltenders,” Blais said. “We’ve had four or five cases this year of both our small goaltenders getting run over. During the regular season, if I was out there and ran a goaltender, I’d really be worried about a defenseman clunking you.

“They’re well-padded and everything, but they’re so vulnerable. They’re looking at the puck and someone comes in and cheap shots them, well, usually the defenseman’s the closest guy, is going to pound knots on their head. You can’t with the fighting rule the way it is.”

Pounding knots into an opponent’s head, of course, is frowned upon by officials, to say the least. But playing against Lee Goren in a tournament is enough to give an opponent a pain in the neck.

Goren’s play in tournaments this season has been phenomenal. He had a goal against Niagara, two goals and an assist in each of his two games in the Final Five, two goals and an assist in Game 3 of the first-round series against Denver and three goals in two games at the Badger Showdown in December, including the game-winner in overtime in the championship against Wisconsin.

He was the most valuable player of the Final Five and the Badger Showdown. He has 32 goals and 60 points. What more can you say about the guy?

Blais found another honor to place upon the senior’s shoulders after the win over Niagara. He dubbed the forward “Scorin’ Goren.”

“He sat up in the stands and watched us three years ago win the national tournament because he had to sit out because he played major junior,” Blais said. “He knows how awesome it was and he’s one of our captains and he’s done everything he’s capable of doing to get us back there.”

Goren is one of five seniors on the team. He, Tim O’Connell, Jason Ulmer, Peter Armbrust and Brad DeFauw were a part of the national championship team in 1997 and bring a knowledge of the Frozen Four to a team that, otherwise has no experience in college hockey’s biggest event.

“We have five of them that know how it feels,” Blais said. “Not that they’re our best players because it’s spread throughout the lineup, the contributions. They’ve been there, they know what it takes. If you have no leadership, you have nothing.”

Goren may be Mr. Tournament, but Jeff Panzer has been the consistent presence the team has needed throughout the season. He scored three assists against Niagara to bring his point total to 63 this season (19 goals, 44 assists).

Then there’s Goren’s center, Ulmer, who has 11 points in his last four games. Put them together and you have a potent offense that has led the Sioux to an 11-1-3 record in their last 15 games and has them playing their best hockey of the season.

“I think we’ve peaked at the right time,” Blais said. “Certainly, it all has to do with intensity and we’re intense.”

Experience on the blue line is what separates this North Dakota team from the ’97 squad. Whereas the ’97 Sioux defensive corps was full of veterans, this year’s group is dominated by freshmen and sophomores.

In the WCHA final against Wisconsin, Blais sent out two freshmen (Travis Roche and Chris Leinweber), two sophomores (Chad Mazurak and Aaron Schneekloth), a junior (Mike Commodore) and a senior (O’Connell) to the blue line.

And that defense will be put to the test against Maine. Blais predicted it would be a “skater’s game,” matching the fastest team in the WCHA with the fastest team in Hockey East.

“It’s not going to be like the game against Niagara, where there was hardly any checking,” Blais said. “That was more of a game of puck possession and movement and trying to get to the net because they’re real defensive. With Maine, it’s going to be all the little battles. Faceoffs, cycling of the puck, getting the puck to the net, all those things are going to come into play to beat Maine.”

Maine Black Bears

In the East Regional, Maine trailed Michigan, 1-0, heading into the third period before exploding to a 5-2 win. Perhaps more impressive than what the Black Bears did was how they did it. They scored one power-play goal and added one more tally from each of their four lines.

“That’s our team,” says coach Shawn Walsh. “We don’t have one guy who is a go-to guy or one guy who is a Hobey Baker finalist. We don’t have anybody like that. We’re more of a four lines and six defensemen team. That’s carried us all year.”

That and some very much underrated goaltending by Matt Yeats.

“Since we made the decision to make him our number one goaltender, he’s given us terrific goaltending down the stretch,” says Walsh. “He’s exactly what you want as a coach. He’s got a calmness that is tremendous.

“He’s right on top of his game. Our last three games were against teams that were in the Final Eight at least — [Boston University, Boston College and Michigan] — and he’s given up a total of five goals in those three games.

“His goalie mask depicts him as a person. He has nothing painted on it, and he doesn’t want anything painted on it. That’s the way he is in the net.”

Maine’s depth, however, will be sorely tested by the absence of leading scorer Cory Larose. In the final minutes of the game against Michigan, Larose was assessed an agonizing game disqualification for butt-ending. As a result, he will be sidelined for the North Dakota contest and must hope that his collegiate career doesn’t end with a whimper in the stands, but rather a bang on the ice in the championship game.

When asked about the fairness of the game DQ, Walsh says, “If I did touch upon it, I might get in trouble.”

Having spoken volumes with that non-answer, Walsh explains how he plans to adjust for Larose’s absence against North Dakota.

“What we have to do is replace his 20 minutes of ice time,” says Walsh. “The guy who comes into the lineup will probably get about eight minutes and then we’ll have to make up the other 12. I think we can handle that.

“[Ben] Guite can handle another minute or two. [Barrett] Heisten can handle another minute or two. Brendan Walsh can handle a minute or two. Tommy Reimann, who is really coming on for us now, is definitely going to handle it with a few more minutes. That’ll be fine.

“Balance is the nature of our team and I’m a big believer that [one] individual’s misfortunes are another individual’s opportunity. That’s exactly how we’ll represent it.”

In particular, Reimann will move into Larose’s spot on the left wing alongside Guite and Niko Dimitrakos. Freshman Mike Schutte, an offensive defenseman who spent some time up front in his 22 games, will take Reimann’s place on Maine’s “Blue Line” with Lucas Lawson and Matthias Trattnig.

Reimann amounts to the wild card in the reshuffled deck. He redshirted last year as a result of eligibility problems and then missed three months this season because of a concussion.

“In essence, he’s playing his 18th or 20th game in two years and he’s just getting into game shape,” says Walsh. “He set up two beautiful goals in the game against Michigan. Just great plays.

“He’s got tremendous sense for the puck and a real jump to his step…. He’s become a major league factor for us in the playoffs.”

In fact, Maine’s record with Reimann in the lineup is 17-1-2 compared to 10-6-3 without him. Almost certainly, a good chunk of that is coincidence. Maine opened 6-0-1 (with Reimann) and is now on a 12-1-1 tear (of which he missed one game). But his return certainly has had a very positive impact on Maine’s impressive stretch run.

However, the Black Bears are far from the only hot team.

“Looking at the way these four teams have played since early- or mid-February on, you have the four best teams [in the Frozen Four],” says Walsh. “[If you look at] their records and who they’ve beaten and how they’ve played, all four teams are on a major roll coming into the tournament. That makes for excitement and you always want the best field when you get to this level.”

What does separate Maine from the other three contenders, however, is that the Black Bears are the reigning champions. They’re looking to become the first team since Boston University in 1971 and 1972 to win back-to-back titles.

“The experience of last year will certainly help us,” says Walsh. “The issue of repeating can sometimes be a difficult thing during the course of the season when you’re in the dog days of January or even December and you don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel.

“[But] once you get to this time of year, it’s an excitement thing. We like to be looked on as special. We’d love to have the opportunity to leave a legacy.

“We’re fully aware that we’re going to have to play three great periods to have a chance to play the last three periods.”

Boston College (28-11-1) vs. St. Lawrence (27-7-2)
Thursday, 7:00 p.m. ET, Providence Civic Center, Providence, R.I.

Boston College Eagles

If Boston College plays the way it did against Michigan State in the NCAA tournament’s first round, the Eagles will probably leave Providence disappointed. Many title-winners dodge one bullet; fewer survive two. If, on the other hand, they play the way they did against Wisconsin in the second round, look for a BC national championship.

The Eagles became the only team to reach the Frozen Four without a bye, but not without a major scare against the Spartans. BC fell behind, 2-0, and needed a six-on-four goal in the final minute of regulation to tie it. In overtime, the Eagles then capitalized on an MSU five-minute major to score the game-winner.

“Our season was going to end if we couldn’t tie it [in regulation],” says BC coach Jerry York, “but Mike Mottau made an unbelievable play to bring it back out front to Mike Lephart, who scored. It went into overtime and Jeff Farkas, who has been one of our key players all year, deposited an overtime goal.”

In all, the Eagles scored five goals on eight power-plays. That showed great strength against one of the nation’s top penalty-killing teams, but BC can’t count on duplicating that in Providence.

What would make for much better odds at winning it all would be a repeat of the defensive performance the Eagles displayed against Wisconsin. In particular, they shut down the Badgers’ vaunted top line of Steve Reinprecht, Dany Heatley and David Hukalo, holding the trio to just one shot.

“Our forwards did a good job of trying to contain on the forecheck and kept pucks in their end,” says York. “[That] limits the times that [our opponents] will handle the puck. And we got a tremendous job out of our five defensemen.

“Mike Mottau played 32 minutes and was instrumental in breaking the puck out of the zone and defending. And we got some bounces, too.”

That defensive strength could be the big difference between this year’s Eagle squad and the last two which advanced to the Frozen Four but lost in overtime (to Michigan in the 1998 title game and to Maine in the 1999 semifinal).

“This particular team is better than the last two teams just because of our defense,” says York. “We’ve always been noted as an offensive get-up-and-go club, but this particular year we’ve been a little inconsistent on offense, but very, very consistent defensively.

“In our league, we played 24 games and gave up 50 goals. That was 17 less goals than we did last year in the same amount of games against the same opponents.

“So I feel very good about our club. We’re better defensively from the goaltender out to the forwards.”

That goaltender, Scott Clemmensen, has been red-hot since almost losing his spot in the rotation in mid-January. At the time, freshman Tim Kelleher was outplaying the junior by a good margin. After Kelleher won the first of a two-game set at Maine, York considered coming back again with him in the second contest. Instead, York stuck with Clemmensen and the veteran responded with a shutout.

And then another shutout. And then another. The three consecutive blankings propelled Clemmensen into a torrid stretch run in which he took over the number one job and then proved his mettle in the postseason.

“During his first two years, his save percentage hovered around 87 or 86 percent, yet he was able to win hockey games,” says York. “This particular year, he’s well into the low 90s. I credit that with the real good competition from our freshman Tim Kelleher.

“They alternated most of the season. They were good for each other. It’s a healthy competition to push Scott.

“Right now he’s playing as well as he ever has in the three years with us. I feel very, very good about him.”

York also has to feel good about the advantages inherent in returning to a third straight Frozen Four.

“Experience certainly is a factor,” he says. “The more big games you play in national tournaments, [the more] it helps your team with poise and handling distractions better.”

While holding all the experience cards against St. Lawrence, however, the Eagles won’t have that trump in the title game, if they advance. Maine is the defending national champion and North Dakota still has some seniors who were freshmen when the Sioux won it all in 1997.

Even so, the Eagles look like the complete package: offense, defense and experience. No one else has quite as good a combination.

St. Lawrence Saints

It’s been years in the making for the St. Lawrence. Years in the making to get back to the Frozen Four.

Back in 1988, in Lake Placid — the land of American heroes — the Saints lost the NCAA championship game to Lake Superior State in overtime. It has taken 12 years for the Saints to make it back to the big stage.

The Saints had a chance in 1992, after they won their last ECAC championship prior to this season. But it didn’t quite work out as the Saints lost to Wisconsin in the quarterfinals. It’s taken this long. Years in the making.

This season, though, the Saints captured a bye in the ECAC championship by exorcising the ghost of Lake State, winning the title in Lake Placid to go along with the regular-season championship. This year, the Saints took advantage of the bye and are now back in the Frozen Four.

An unbelievably classic national quarterfinal against Boston University sent the Saints to the Frozen Four when Robin Carruthers knocked his own rebound past Rick DiPietro to send the Saints on to Providence after 123:53 of playing time.

“The last time we had an opportunity in 1992, we had a bye and we lost to Wisconsin, and from there on we never felt we took advantage of the bye,” said Saint head coach Joe Marsh. “We said that we wanted to make it a factor in the game — and we thought that fatigue could be a factor, and let me tell you that it certainly was.

“Both teams played unbelievably well, I thought, and just so hard. Chances on both sides. It was one of the greatest games, maybe the greatest game, I’ve ever been associated with.

“I guess it’s just a feeling of relief to come out on top. It’s too bad anybody has to lose that game. I just couldn’t be prouder of all of our guys. They’ve worked so hard. They’ve worked so hard and had such a high agenda this year. Every single guy, whether they were dressed for this game or not, has contributed so much to this team that it’s unbelievable.

And that is the key to the Saint team. The Saints run deep up front with four lines and six outstanding defensemen.

“We try to play a well-balanced attack with four lines, and we have had contributions from a load of guys. The young guys have stepped up and the role players played their roles,” said Marsh.

The top two lines for the Saints can be explosive and they came together in mid-January when the Saints were mired in a slump that saw frustration and questions about what was wrong with the Saints. After a loss and a tie to Wisconsin, the Saints went on a roll. Since that point, the Saints are 18-1-0 — some of which has to do with the adjustment that Marsh made to his top lines.

Marsh initially started the season out with Erik Anderson and Brandon Dietrich on the same line, but then shifted them. Anderson went to center Jason Windle and Al Fyfe, while Dietrich centered Mike Gellard and Andy Marchetti. Moving Marchetti to Dietrich’s line helped out both, and splitting the two centers helped out the entire team.

But what may make the Saints special are the third and fourth lines. Early on in the season, Marsh knew that it would take four lines.

“When we’ve had teams that have won championships we’ve always had above average third and fourth lines to where it makes the job as a coach easier,” Marsh said before the season began. “We have a lot of confidence in them. We’ve platooned a lot of kids last year and they have experienced. We have a bunch of guys that have played 18-20 games. There are some younger players that are working their way in there.”

And those players have stepped up. The Muir twins — Sean and Mike — along with Charlie Daniels or Blair Clarance have formed a line, and Jim Lorentz with Robin Carruthers and Jack O’Brien have given the Saints that depth they were looking for.

Back on defense the Saints are rock-solid. Led by co-captains Justin Harney and Dale Clarke, the Saints possess one of the best group of blueliners in the country, offensively and defensively. Matt Desrosiers, Kevin Veneruzzo, Josh LeRoy and Ray DiLauro comprise the most often played six-man unit for Marsh.

“We’ve got two premier defensemen and I like the defensive mentality and they are led by Harney and Clarke,” said Marsh. “Those two guys are very hard workers and can log a ton of ice time. They can work both ends, and Justin is one of the premier offensive defensemen in the league. Both of those guys give us a chance to play a high-tempo transition game.”

The biggest question mark was in goal coming into the season, but ECAC Rookie of the Year Derek Gustafson has made it an exclamation point instead.

“We’ve got two juniors (Sean Coakley and Jeremy Symington) that we were confident in, but we just figured for our third goalie we were just going to bring in the best guy possible,” Marsh said of “Gusto.”

“I guess we didn’t realize that he was going to elevate his game to this point. He just kept progressing.

“We really went with three guys through the 15th or 16th game of the season and they all did a great job. Their numbers are good, but this guy just kept progressing and his numbers were that much better, and [he] played in some bigger games. I think the team developed the chemistry around him.”

Up and down the line the Saints are formidable in any game. But this next game is not just a game, it’s the national semifinal.

“I guess I’d be lying if I told you that there was always that thought, ‘Are we ever going to get back to that point?'” said Marsh about the Frozen Four. “My brother said after we lost that game to Lake State in ’88 in overtime, ‘Geez, will we ever get a chance to do that again?’

“You figure BU and Michigan and Maine. For us, it’s a long time coming. We just hope we can go in there like we did in this stage of it, just go in and put our best foot forward.”

In 1992, the Saints were the favorites. In 1988, the Saints were not the favorites, but they got there to that championship. This year, the Saints certainly are not the favorites, and it will take everything they have to move on when they face Boston College on Thursday evening.

“I don’t know who the favorite is, but I know who the underdog is,” stated Marsh. “We have tried to impress on the guys that we could take the experience we had last year. [The other teams have] been there and they certainly have a nucleus of players that have been there and won National Championships.

“For us it’s real important to play as much of our game as possible. [Boston College is] a team that’s difficult to match up against. They have great special teams and they have all the components of a championship team.

“The big thing for us is the mental preparation to go in and draw off the energy of a tournament like this. It will be the biggest tournament anyone has ever played in. We have to stay focused on what we have to do. We have a lot of preparation to do, but the mental part of it is to prepare, to enjoy, but not to get our heads into the clouds.

“The most important thing is how we approach this thing mentally.”

The time is nearing for Marsh and his Saints. The former chair of the NCAA Championship Committee has his team in the tournament for the second year in a row, and have advanced to the Frozen Four for the first time since 1988. It’s something special and something that was years in the making.

“To finally get back and be part of this, the last time we were in this was in Lake Placid and we lost the national championship game in overtime to Lake State,” reflected Marsh. “We had some down times there and some years that it takes to rebuild. My feeling is that this team just worked so hard and stayed on such a high agenda, avoided distractions and stayed disciplined. They did everything we asked them to do. There’s a feeling that they deserve to be part of something special and get to go to this. It’s a great feeling.

“I think these guys are going to probably realize the significance of this season and what they’ve accomplished through such hard work. It’ll probably take a few months to sink in, but right now I really want them to enjoy it and appreciate every second of this. This is tough to do. That’s why winning championships mean so much — it’s so hard to do. I think all of our guys have a good consciousness about how special this is because they did it together.”

Todd D. Milewski’s Picks:

North Dakota-Maine: This game pits two of the hottest teams in college hockey against each other, with speed against speed. Maine may take advantage of the North Dakota defense, but the Sioux can outgun the Black Bears. UND 6, Maine 5

Boston College-St. Lawrence: For the second straight year, BC has knocked out the WCHA regular-season champion in the NCAA quarterfinals. They have proved time and again they deserve to be in the Frozen Four, and they’ll prove they deserve to be in the national title game. Boston College 4, St. Lawrence 2

Championship: Back in 1997, the Sioux downed Boston University to win the title. I’m sure they won’t mind doing the same to the Terriers’ crosstown rival. North Dakota looks extremely impressive at this time of the year, and that makes them my favorite to win the title. UND 5, BC 4

Dave Hendrickson’s Picks:

BC-St. Lawrence: The Saints are very, very good. The Eagles are even better. Boston College 3, St. Lawrence 1

Maine-North Dakota: The absence of Cory Larose looms pivotal. It not only takes Maine’s top scorer out of the lineup, it strikes a blow at the depth that has been the Black Bears’ biggest strength. North Dakota 3, Maine 2

Championship: BC haters will have to send that “1949!” chant to the dump. Boston College 4, North Dakota 2

Becky Blaeser/Jayson Moy’s Picks:

St. Lawrence-Boston College: This is a tough one. The Eagles are on a roll, but then again, so are the Saints. The difference will probably come down to which defense will play better. In other words, Mottau and Orpik against Harney and Clarke. The Saints are a little deeper on defense than the Eagles, and experience could be a major factor. Strong goaltending and good offense from both sides will make this an exciting one. St. Lawrence 4, Boston College 3, 5OT

North Dakota-Maine: Both teams can sure light the lamp from all angles. Two good goaltenders and two good defenses. How much the absence of Larose hurts Maine could be a key question, but this battle comes down to Goehring and Yeats. North Dakota 3, Maine 2

Championship: We’re predicting a North Dakota-St. Lawrence final. Both teams grind it out, but in the end the men from Grand Forks skate away with the title. North Dakota 4, St. Lawrence 2

Pudlick Signs With Kings

USCHO Staff Report
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After a highly successful sophomore season in which he was named to the all-WCHA First Team, St. Cloud State defenseman Mike Pudlick signed a contract with the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday.

Pudlick became the second WCHA player to sign with the Kings in two days. On Friday, WCHA player of the year Steve Reinprecht, who recently completed his senior season at Wisconsin, inked a deal with the team.

“Mike is a very skilled defenseman,” Kings general manager Dave Taylor said. “He is a great skater with a big shot. He is young and has a tremendous upside.”

Pudlick led WCHA defensemen with 30 points this season and helped the Huskies to their first NCAA tournament appearance since 1989. A news release from the Kings said Pudlick will remain at SCSU for the remainder of the semester to complete his classes. His contract begins next season.

Terms of the deal were not announced.

UMD Names Sandelin Head Coach

USCHO Staff Report
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Scott Sandelin finally got the head coaching job he’s been looking for.

Sandelin, who for the last three seasons has been an associate head coach under Dean Blais at North Dakota, was named the new coach at the University of Minnesota-Duluth on Friday.

He will replace Mike Sertich, who resigned after 18 years with the Bulldogs.

“We are extremely fortunate to have Scott bring his talent, energy and experience to UMD,” athletic director Bob Corran said. “He has learned his craft under one of the finest head coaches in college hockey and we know he’s ready for the challenge our head coaching role has to offer.

“He is a winner in every sense of the word and we look forward to having him and his family join us.”

Sandelin, 36, a native of Hibbing, Minn., was a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award at North Dakota in his senior season of 1985-86. He was an All-American defenseman who went on to play six years of professional hockey.

He was also a finalist for the head coaching position at Minnesota State before Troy Jutting got the job.

BC’s Mottau Wins Second Walter Brown Award

USCHO Staff Report
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Bob Weiss, president of the Gridiron Club of Greater Boston, announced today that Boston College senior Mike Mottau has been named the winner of the 48th Walter Brown Award, given annually to New England’s outstanding American-born college hockey player. The award will be presented to Mottau at the New England Hockey Writers’ Dinner on April 11 in Saugus, Massachusetts.

Mottau, a defenseman from Avon, Massachusetts, is the 18th Boston College athlete to receive the Walter Brown Award and only the fourth player in history to be named the recipient for a second time. Bob Cleary of Harvard won it in 1957 and 1958; Tim Sheehy of Boston College was the recipient in 1968 and 1970; and Chris Drury of Boston University received the honor in 1997 and 1998. Mottau was co-winner in 1999 along with Mike Omicioli of Providence College.

“The selection committee takes many factors into consideration,” said Ned Cully, Gridiron Club first vice president and committee chairman. “Athletic ability and achievement, sportsmanship, personal character, leadership and consistent contribution to the team’s success over a period of years are all factors. Mike is the captain and acknowledged leader of this BC team that has made it to the final round of the NCAA Tournament for three consecutive years. He also holds a number of individual records, and he is very highly esteemed by officials, coaches, competitors, fans and everyone else in the college hockey community.

“There were a number of superbly qualified candidates for this year’s award. Ty Conklin, the New Hampshire goalie, and Jeff Farkas, Mottau’s BC teammate, had particularly strong support from the committee as well,” added Cully.

Enrolled in BC’s College of Arts and Sciences, Mottau leads an Eagle defensive corps that has allowed only 2.09 goals per game this year, third best in the country, while also being a significant component of its fourth-best offense, 3.97 goals per game. During his four years at Boston College, he has been instrumental in the school’s return to national prominence. He holds the record for most games played (161), most assists (130) and most points by a defenseman (156). He was also named the best defensive defenseman in Hockey East and earned a berth on the HEA all-league squad.

“I’m very excited that Mike has been given this honor, because he is a real ambassador for all that’s good about college hockey,” said Eagles coach Jerry York, who was the Walter Brown Award winner in 1967. “Walter Brown was such a legend and he did so much for our sport.

“I believe that Mike is the best all-around player in college hockey. He plays about 30 minutes of every game for us, and they are hard minutes because he hits hard, he’s always up and joining the play, and he contests things every minute he’s on the ice. He returned to this team for his fourth year this season and he became an even better player. He’s everything you’d ever expect in a student-athlete.”

Umile Turns Down UMass, Will Stay At UNH

USCHO Staff Report
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University of New Hampshire athletic director Judy Ray announced Wednesday that coach Dick Umile will remain at UNH, and that the university is working out arrangements that will allow Umile to finish his coaching career with the Wildcats. The announcement came one day after he interviewed for the vacant coaching position at UMass-Amherst.

“I am very excited that UNH has made the commitment to me personally and to the hockey program,” Umile said. “I have every intention of completing my coaching career here at UNH.”

A 1972 graduate of UNH, Umile has compiled a 228-120-28 record in 10 years and has guided the Wildcats to the Frozen Four twice in the past three years, including the school’s first-ever national championship game in 1999. In addition, Umile has been named Hockey East Coach of the Year three times and was named the Spencer T. Penrose recipient last year as the nation’s most outstanding college hockey coach.

“We are very excited that he has decided to remain at his alma mater and continue to be the head coach of the UNH Wildcats,” said Ray.

Despite his decision to stay with the Wildcats, Umile was nonetheless impressed with the commitment to the Minuteman hockey program.

“The UMass-Amherst program has every opportunity to be successful,” he said. “They have all the right things in place and I’m sure they will be very competitive.”

Sources indicated that the UMass coaching position — vacated when the school opted not to renew the contract of head coach Joe Mallen — was in fact offered to Umile. With his departure from the field, the remaining candidates reportedly include Blaise MacDonald of Niagara, as well as Jeff Jackson of USA Hockey and Maine’s Shawn Walsh.

Rosters Set For 2000 Eastern College Division Senior All-Stars

USCHO Staff Report
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Team rosters for the sixth Eastern College Division Ice Hockey Senior All-Star Game were announced today by the ECAC College Division coaches. The game is set for April 1, 7:00 p.m., at the Ronald B. Stafford Ice Arena on the campus of Plattsburgh State.

The hockey all-star game will feature the best college seniors from the ECAC East/NESCAC versus the best college seniors from ECAC West/SUNY teams. All five previous All-Star games have been hosted by Plattsburgh State University, after he idea for the game originated from
discussions between its eventual co-organizers, Colby head coach Jim Tortorella and Plattsburgh head coach Bob Emery.

Tickets for this year’s game will go on sale at the door.

EAST ROSTER

Goal: Judd Brackett, Connecticut College; David Haimson, Williams
Defense: Paul Delaney, Bowdoin; Ross Dufresne, Wesleyan; Ben Barnett, Middlebury; David Bracken, Middlebury; Michael Ludwar, Norwich; Jason Lumsden, Norwich
Forward: Robert Starke, Bowdoin; John Farni, Bowdoin; David Garafalo, New England College; Chris Baudo, Hamilton; John Giannacopoulos, Middlebury; Dan Lyons, Trinity; Matt Anthony, UMass Boston; Scott Richardson, Colby; Curt Healey, Norwich; Jim Nagle, Norwich; Marc
Bellemare, Norwich; Casey Beaulac, Norwich; Bryan Grady, Hamilton

Head Coach: Bill Kangas, Williams
Assistant: Brian Putnam, Colby
Assistant: Pat Norton, Norwich

WEST ROSTER

Goal: Gabe Accardi, Oswego; Brad Erbsland, Plattsburgh
Defense: Wes Blevins, RIT; Adam Driscoll, RIT; Tom Master, Oswego; David O’Hearn, Elmira; Shawn Lindsay, Elmira; G.T. Keenan, Elmira
Forward: Pat Staerker, RIT; Mike Gargiles, RIT; Adrian Saul, Elmira; Andre Krivokrasov, Elmira; Bryan Murphy, Oswego; Travis Finkle, Hobart; Jason Doell, Geneseo; David Insalaco, Brockport; Joe Sucher, Fredonia; Jay Bartle, Cortland; Pat Holden, Buffalo State; Jeff Paluseo, Plattsburgh; Eric Seidel, Plattsburgh

Head Coach: Wayne Wilson, RIT
Assistant: Jim Fowler, Buffalo State

NCAA Issues Apology, Clarification to Miffed BU-SLU Fans

USCHO Staff Report
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On Wednesday, the NCAA issued a clarification and apology to viewers of Sunday’s Boston University-St. Lawrence game whose broadcast services cut away from the matchup during overtime.

Television broadcasts of both the East and West Regionals are produced and syndicated by the NCAA, which sells broadcast rights nationwide. Both Fox Sports New New England and Midwest Sports Channel-Wisconsin left the six-hour BU-SLU matchup — the longest in NCAA tournament history, eventually won 3-2 in four overtimes by St. Lawrence — to broadcast a previously-contracted NBA game between the Milwaukee Bucks and the Boston Celtics.

Chris Farrow, NCAA Productions’ assistant director of broadcast services, issued the following statement:

“We certainly understand [viewers’] frustration in having one of the most exciting hockey games in NCAA championship history interrupted in the middle of overtime action.

“NCAA Productions has no air time available to it. We produce the coverage of a number of NCAA championships not covered by our contracts with CBS or ESPN and provide that coverage to local, regional or national networks for airing. All networks have a number of pre-existing contractual arrangements that they must honor. Such was the case, Sunday, March 26 …

“We apologize to all the loyal fans of those two universities who wanted to see the end of the game, and we recognize that our apology may not ease your frustration. NCAA Productions is pleased that we can produce and deliver all games of the tournament without overlap. Unfortunately, we have no control over local programming.”

Farrow also stressed the NCAA’s strong ties to both networks, noting that “over the last two NCAA hockey championships, both MSC and FSNNE have aired 13/16 (81%) of the NCAA regional hockey games live. No other station or network has expressed as much interest as these two regional sports networks. … FSNNE and MSC should be applauded for their continued support of NCAA college hockey.”

The NCAA national semifinals will be broadcast Thursday, April 6, on espn2, and the championship Saturday, April 8, on ESPN.

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