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Juniors — Not ‘Canes — May Be Tanabe’s Destination

USCHO Staff Report
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Wisconsin blueliner Dave Tanabe has turned down the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes’ contract offer, the Raleigh-Durham News & Observer reported Tuesday.

Tanabe, the team’s first-round (16th overall) draft pick this year, rejected a three-year deal including a $500,000 signing bonus, which was reportedly roughly half the value of the contract signed by 17th pick Barret Jackman with the St. Louis Blues.

“I was a little taken aback by the offer the team made,” Tanabe told the News & Observer. “You come in and have a good camp and you expect the team to make a better offer.” The 19-year-old was widely anticipated to make Carolina’s opening-day roster.

Unfortunately for Wisconsin hockey devotees, a return to the Badgers is not in the cards. Tanabe is expected to join Kootenay of the major junior Western Hockey League if a deal is not worked out.

Spartans, Wolverines Split CCHA Preseason Honors

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Archrivals Michigan and Michigan State split the favorite’s role in the CCHA’s preseason polls, announced Tuesday. League coaches favored the Wolverines, while the media anointed the Spartans as the league’s best coming into the year.

In the coaches’ poll, Michigan received 10 of 12 first-place votes and 140 points to edge Michigan State, which garnered the other two first-place votes, by nine points.

Northern Michigan was third with 121 points, followed by Notre Dame with 104 and Ohio State with 93 to complete the top half of the conference.

Bowling Green (89), Ferris State (67) and Lake Superior (56) were the coaches’ final three playoff picks. Miami (53), Western Michigan (38), first-year member Nebraska-Omaha (25) and Alaska-Fairbanks (19) finished up the poll.

On the media side, MSU received 18 first-place votes and 462 points to finish ahead of Michigan’s 454 points and 19 first-place votes. NMU was third with three first-place votes and 389 points, while Ohio State took the remaining first-place ballot to finish fourth with 356 points.

Notre Dame (340) points, Bowling Green (263) points, Ferris State (213) and Lake Superior (201) rounded out the top eight, with Miami (188), Western Michigan (153), Nebraska-Omaha (97) and Alaska-Fairbanks (82) following.

Knights Tabbed Again In ECAC

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For the second year in a row, the Golden Knights of Clarkson were chosen as preseason favorites in the ECAC by the head coaches of the league.

Clarkson, with six of 12 first-place votes, gathered 138 points in the balloting. The Knights were also picked to finish first last season, and went on to prove the prognosticators correct by taking both the regular-season title and the ECAC tournament crown. In doing so, Clarkson became the first team since Harvard in 1994 to finish first after being picked tops in the preseason.

The Golden Knights were also the pick of the ECAC media, garnering eight of the nine first-place votes and 107 points.

Last season’s sleeper team, St. Lawrence, got four first-place votes and 125 points total to finish second in the coaches’ balloting, while the other two first-place votes went to Rensselaer and Colgate, third and fourth with 108 and 107 points, respectively.

Rounding out the top half of the coaches’ poll, at fifth and sixth, were Harvard and Cornell. Yale was next, while Vermont, Dartmouth and Brown followed as the coaches’ predicted playoff teams.

Princeton and Union brought up the last two spots.

The media poll was similar, with Rensselaer second, St. Lawrence third and Colgate fourth, Harvard, Cornell and Yale in fifth, sixth and seventh place, but Princeton in eighth, followed by Dartmouth, Brown, Vermont and Union.

Meanwhile, on the women’s side, defending AWCHA and ECAC champion Harvard was named the preseason favorite. The Crimson obtained nine of 13 first-place votes.

Last season’s pick, New Hampshire, got three of the remaining first-place votes and finished second, while Brown got the last first-place vote to take third.

Northeastern, Dartmouth and Princeton placed fourth through sixth, while Providence, Niagara, St. Lawrence and Cornell made up the rest of the top ten.

Maine, Boston College and Yale rounded out the poll.

In men’s Division III, the coaches picked Elmira, Norwich, Middlebury and Fitchburg State to finish first in the West, East, NESCAC and Northeast conferences, respectively.

Elmira finished atop the ECAC West poll with two of the four first-place votes, edging out RIT. In the East, NCAA tournament participant Norwich outdistanced second-place UMass-Boston by 117 points to run away with that preseason crown. Salem State was third, one point behind UMB.

Five-time defending NCAA champions Middlebury got the nod in the newly-reconstituted NESCAC, while in the ECAC Northeast, last year’s champions, Fitchburg State, edged UMass-Dartmouth by a mere six points.

Among the women, defending ECAC D-III champ Middlebury was picked to finish first again.

Bowdoin and Colby finished behind Middlebury, while Sacred Heart and Rensselaer were picked to finish fourth and fifth, respectively.

Brave New World, Part II

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It’s hard to believe, but it’s less than 50 days until they drop the puck on the 1999-2000 college hockey season. As outlined in Brave New World, Division III hockey will undergo a major overhaul in terms of automatic qualifiers for the NCAA tournament.

ECAC Commissioner Jeff Fanter added a few pieces to the puzzle in a recent interview. The major new chunk of news is that the NESCAC has been granted an automatic qualifier for this coming season.

“They didn’t meet the deadline the first time, but recently went before the board and got approval for an automatic bid,” said Fanter. “It’s uncertain at this time how they will select the team. It could be a playoff separate from the rest of the ECAC East or they could use some other method. This, along with the Division II playoff we will have this coming season, allows for an ECAC East automatic qualifier.”

Even though the conference will split in the postseason to crown separate champions, Fanter made it clear that the ECAC East will be around for the foreseeable future. “The NESCAC and the non-NESCAC schools still like the scheduling arrangement and want that to continue,” he said.

Don’t expect to see any major realignment for any of the ECAC D-III conferences for the time being. Fanter knows that the opportunity exists now more than ever, thanks to the ECAC Northeast being granted an automatic qualifier, for a geographical realignment. But there’s more to consider than just the proximity of schools.

“The conferences exist as they do for many reasons, including philosophical ones,” said Fanter. “It’s why Penn State went to the Big 10. They felt they had more in common with those schools than they did with those in the Big East. The same can be said for why Skidmore decided to join the ECAC East instead of the ECAC West. It’s nothing against the Big East or the ECAC West. It’s just that certain schools have things in common.

“One thing I want to make very clear is that the ECAC has no jurisdiction to place teams in conferences. That’s up to the conference members themselves. If a team wanted to move from one conference to another, they would have to make a proposal to the members and then be voted in.”

While the D-III men’s conferences will keep the status quo for the time being, Fanter says he expects the women’s league to undergo a major overhaul in the next few years.

“The women are still sorting things out,” he said. “We still have the cases of Division I schools having teams in Division III conferences, but we expect some change in a few seasons. We could have as many as four ECAC women’s leagues in a few years. The growth there is just explosive.”

Fanter couldn’t hide his optimism for the coming season for the ECAC. “Its going to be exciting,” he said. “We’ve unveiled a new logo and will soon launch a clothing line. Plus, the website will continue to grow and add new features. For example, there will be no more printed media guides. Everything will be available online.”

To summarize the changes in Division III, we now can expect the following:

  • There will be six automatic qualifiers, one each for the champions of the ECAC East, ECAC Northeast, NESCAC, SUNYAC, MIAC and NCHA
  • One “Pool B” slot is reserved for a team from either the ECAC West, MCHA or a D-III independent
  • One “Pool C” slot is available for a team from the ECAC East, ECAC Northeast, NESCAC, SUNYAC, MIAC or NCHA that doesn’t win the conference title

    That puts enormous pressure on most teams to win the conference championship. The new system will make the regular season more important because of the pressure to get the highest possible seed and the home ice advantage.

    It will make the conference playoffs more crucial than ever, since only one runner-up will still get a trip to the NCAA postseason tournament.

    It will make for some great Cinderella stories.

    What this new system will not do, however, is reward the best eight teams in Division III with an NCAA bid.

    Let’s drop the puck and see what happens.

    • Crowder Gets Contract Extension

    USCHO Staff Report
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    In a series of coaching moves, Northeastern University extended the contract of head coach Bruce Crowder through the 2002-2003 season, promoted Paul Cannata to primary assistant and recruiting coordinator and hired Jamie Rice as an assistant.

    Crowder earned Hockey East Coach of the Year honors in 1993-94 and 1995-96, leading UMass-Lowell to second-place finishes in the league and the NCAA quarterfinals both seasons. He took the same award in 1997-98 at Northeastern, when the Huskies finished fourth in Hockey East after being projected for last place. In 1996, he was also named the nation’s top coach, earning the Spencer Penrose Memorial Trophy.

    “For me, it’s a great opportunity to stay at Northeastern and obviously they like what I’m doing or else they wouldn’t have made the offer,” said Crowder.

    Many observers had thought that the former Boston Bruin and Pittsburgh Penguin was destined for the NHL at the end of his original contract.

    “I like the college game,” he said. “I’ve also got two boys and the youngest will be in grade 12 when this contract ends. At that time I might consider options at another level or I may just continue here.”

    The promotion of Cannata and hiring of Rice followed former top assistant Mark Carlson’s departure for the Cedar Rapid Rough Riders in the United States Hockey League.

    Cannata joined Crowder at Northeastern in his inaugural 1996-97 season and has been involved with area hockey programs for over 20 years.

    Rice joins the Husky program after eight seasons at Brown University and Dartmouth College.

    “When Mark told me he was leaving,” said Crowder, “I asked him who was out there who he liked and respected. He came back with Jamie. Paul said the same thing about Jamie so I figured I should talk to him.”

    The Huskies will be looking to rebound from an 11-20-3 season, 6-16-2 within Hockey East.

    Wolverines Lose Third Blueliner

    USCHO Staff Report
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    The Michigan Wolverines will be short another defender for at least part of the 1999-2000 season after rookie Matt Bannon was declared academically ineligible by the NCAA.

    The ruling came one day after junior-to-be Mike Van Ryn announced his plans to leave Michigan for the Canadian national team. The Wolverines also lost blueliner Scott Crawford, who told head coach Red Berenson during the offseason that he would be transferring to another Division I school.

    The NCAA cited Bannon’s poor grade-point average during his senior year as the reason for his ineligibility. Bannon may be eligible to play at the start of Michigan’s winter term.

    Quoted in the Michigan Daily, Berenson said that although the Wolverines are down to six defensemen, “We’ve got size, character and toughness.”

    Van Ryn Departs Michigan For Canadian Nationals

    USCHO Staff Report
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    Michigan defenseman Mike Van Ryn announced Tuesday that he will forego his final two years of collegiate eligibility to join the Canadian national team this fall.

    “I am disappointed in his decision,” said head coach Red Berenson, “but hope he does well in his hockey future. I am also disappointed academically, since he will not graduate.”

    In his 75 games as a freshman and sophomore for the Wolverines, Van Ryn tallied 14 goals and 41 assists, with 96 penalty minutes. The London, Ont., native was named to the CCHA All-Tournament Team in the spring of 1999 and played for the Canadian squad at the 1998 and 1999 World Junior Championships, serving as the team’s captain the second year.

    Van Ryn had made no secret that he was considering a jump to the pros, openly discussing with the Canadian press his negotiations with the New Jersey Devils. New Jersey drafted the defender in the first round (26th overall) of the 1998 NHL entry draft.

    Former RIT Coach Hoffberg Joins BGSU

    USCHO Staff Report
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    Bowling Green coach Buddy Powers announced Tuesday that Eric Hoffberg, former head coach at RIT, has accepted an assistant coaching position with the Falcon hockey program.

    Hoffberg’s move reunites him with Powers, under whom he served as an assistant coach when Powers was head man at RIT. Ironically, Hoffberg replaces Wayne Wilson, who left to accept the vacant head coaching job at RIT.

    Hoffberg compiled a 188-88-22 record in 10 years with the Tigers, including six trips to the NCAA tournament, the NCAA finals in 1996 and semifinals in 1999. He guided the Tigers to three ECAC titles, nine ECAC tournament appearances as well as coaching 11 All-Americans and 27 ECAC all-league honorees; served on the NCAA Division III championship committee the last seven years; and served as the national chair in his final year on the committee.

    The native of Rochester, N.Y., graduated from Elmira (N.Y.) in 1986 with a double major in marketing and English. Hoffberg served as team captain his senior year, leading the Soaring Eagles into the NCAA tournament.

    He was the assistant coach at Elmira during the 1986-87 campaign, then took the same position at RIT under Bruce Delventhal before serving as Powers’ assistant for the Tigers during the 1988-89 season.

    Badger Defenseman Tanabe Turns Pro

    USCHO Staff Report
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    Following a freshman season in which he was named to the WCHA’s all-rookie team, Wisconsin defenseman Dave Tanabe has opted to sign with the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes, the school announced.

    In doing so, Tanabe becomes the first true freshman to leave the Wisconsin program and the second to leave after one year of play. The other was current NHL goaltender Curtis Joseph, who left in 1989.

    Tanabe, who scored 10 goals last season, was picked with the 16th selection of the June draft.

    “Dave feels this is the best situation for him and the quickest way to get to the next level,” Wisconsin coach Jeff Sauer said. “This has been an extremely difficult decision for both Dave and his parents.

    “We are disappointed he isn’t returning because we felt he had the ability to be one of college hockey’s outstanding defensemen.”

    Wisconsin was apparently prepared for Tanabe’s decision, however. According to an earlier report in the Madison Capital Times, the Badgers recruited Canadian defenseman Mark Jackson to fill Tanabe’s vacated scholarship. Jackson had turned down a scholarship from UMass-Lowell to wait for Wisconsin’s offer.

    Merrimack Unveils Rink Renovation Plans

    USCHO Staff Report
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    Merrimack College has announced a three-phase, $7 million renovation of its S. Peter Volpe Physical Education Center, originally constructed in 1972. The project, slated for completion in late 2001, includes a major overhaul of the rink portion of the facility.

    Describing the renovation as part of a $40 million expenditure to improve and construct buildings on campus, Merrimack president Richard J. Santagati said, “We think this will be a very special facility that we’ll be able to use for a number of things, as part of a much larger master plan.” Head hockey coach Chris Serino described the to-be-completed facility as “a building that will be unique in Hockey East.”

    Athletic director Bob DeGregorio explained the three phases of construction, illustrated by architectural drawings supplied by Sasaki Associates of Watertown, Mass.:

  • Phase One: Renovation and expansion of existing Volpe lobby and weight room, as well as additional office space and the creation of a cardiovascular/sports medicine rehab suite. Work is slated for completion in fall 1999; the lobby and weight room are already finished.
  • Phase Two: Two-level addition to west side of rink. The first level will contain a new men’s hockey locker room, players’ lounge, training room, and a locker room eventually to be converted for women’s hockey. The second level will become the concourse and open after completion of Phase Three. Work is slated to begin in spring 2000 and be completed in fall 2000.
  • Phase Three: Conversion of existing rink into 3,000-seat wraparound arena. Existing bleachers will be removed and replaced with a poured concrete foundation and permanent backed seating, with the ice surface relocated farther out to make room for the wraparound foundation. An upper concourse will serve spectators and include a 3,000-square-foot VIP lounge, 8-10 private boxes, three press/media boxes, concessions and restrooms. A new two-story lobby will be constructed on the parking lot side of the rink. Work is slated to begin in spring 2001 and be completed by the end of 2001.

    • According to DeGregorio, Merrimack is looking into off-campus practice facilities for the beginning of the 2001-02 season and will likely play a majority of its early-season games that year on the road, with some home games possibly to be hosted at the Tsongas Arena in Lowell.

    “It’s safe to bet we will not be in the new rink before Dec. 1, 2001,” said DeGregorio, who added that the ice surface will remain at 200×85.

    DeGregorio also noted the locker room to be converted for use by women’s hockey and said that Merrimack, which does not currently have a women’s program, is in the middle of discussions to add one “in a minimum of two years.”

    Rensselaer Inks Fridgen To Extension

    USCHO Staff Report
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    Rensselaer head coach Dan Fridgen has signed a three-year contract extension which will keep him at his current post through the 2002-03 season, athletic director Bob Ducatte announced Tuesday.

    “Dan has done an outstanding job during his five years as our head coach,” Ducatte said. “His coaching style, personality and recruiting experience fits in well with our overall goals and objectives. I believe he will get us to the top level in the very near future.”

    Last season, Fridgen, 40, led the Engineers to a 23-12-2 record, their most victories since the 1985 national championship team went 35-2-1. In his five years, Fridgen has compiled a 90-73-17 overall record. His teams have won one ECAC tournament (1995) and appeared in the NCAA tournament once (1995). He led the Engineers to 20-win seasons two of the past three years.

    A 1982 alumnus of Colgate University and a three-year captain as a left wing for the Red Raiders, Fridgen played briefly with the NHL’s Hartford Whalers before beginning his coaching career at Union as an assistant. Fridgen next spent five years as an assistant to Buddy Powers before being named RPI’s head coach in July 1994.

    Miami’s Kim And Bowen To Take Year Off

    USCHO Staff Report
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    Junior forward Alex Kim and freshman netminder David Bowen will take a year off from hockey with the Miami RedHawks, assistant coach Dave Smith announced.

    Fullerton, Calif., native Kim, a former CCHA all-rookie honorable mention and the team’s fourth-leading scorer a year ago with 11-9–20, cited personal reasons for his absence, after which a decision on a possible return will be made.

    Bowen, who redshirted the 1998-99 season, is leaving to play for the Sioux Falls Stampede of the United States Hockey League (USHL). If, as expected, Bowen returns to Miami for the 2000-2001 season, he will have four years of eligibility left.

    “For David, this is an opportunity for him to gain more valuable playing experience and to develop his physical strength,” said Smith. “It’s our feeling that with two senior goaltenders returning, this can only be a win-win situation for both sides.”

    Both players’ decisions were made in late July, before the hiring of new head coach Enrico Blasi.

    Blasi Named Head Coach At Miami

    USCHO Staff Report
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    Denver assistant coach Enrico Blasi will return to his alma mater as the fifth head coach of the Miami RedHawks.

    Blasi is a 1994 graduate of Miami, where he was a two-time captain. As a junior, the former center (55-68-123) captained the team to its first-ever NCAA tournament appearance.

    After his career at Miami, he spent a season as an assistant coach with the Wexford Raiders before moving to Denver to join his former coach at Miami, George Gwozdecky, as a graduate assistant in 1995-96. The following year he was named a full-time assistant at Denver.

    Blasi replaces Mark Mazzoleni, who resigned on July 18 to take the head coaching position at Harvard.

    He takes over a program that was 11-20-5 and finished in ninth place in the CCHA with a 9-17-4 conference record, missing the playoffs for the first time since 1991.

    New UND Arena Plans Unveiled

    USCHO Staff Report
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    If there’s a glow coming from Grand Forks, N.D., it’s probably from the smiles of everyone connected to the University of North Dakota and its hockey team as the university released plans for the new Ralph Engelstad arena, an 11,406-seat complex scheduled to be completed for the 2002-03 season.

    The arena will replace the current Engelstad Arena, which seats 6,067, and compared to the current arena, which is strikingly devoid of amenities, the new arena will be something of a paradise.

    There will be 40 luxury suites and two rental rooms capable of holding 140 people each. In a double-decked shape, the arena will hold 5,586 spectators in the lower level.

    Plans also call for four elevators and four escalators, a pro shop, training facilities, at least eight locker rooms, 12 concession stands and an eight-sided scoreboard with replay screen.

    Engelstad, a former UND goaltender and a Las Vegas hotel and casino owner, donated $100 million in December — half of which is going to fund the construction of the second arena that will bear his name.

    The UND arena is the latest in a series of facility improvements in the WCHA. Colorado College opened the Colorado Springs World Arena in the 1997-98 season, Wisconsin made its debut in the Kohl Center last season and Denver will christen the Magness Arena in October. In addition, Michigan Tech’s MacInnes Student Ice Arena underwent a facelift in the offseason, including the construction of a new hockey education center adjacent to the arena.

    Deraney Tabbed to Coach Providence Women

    USCHO Staff Report
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    Providence College assistant vice president for athletics John Marinatto has announced the appointment of Bob Deraney as head coach for the women’s ice hockey team. Deraney replaces Tom Sheehan, who had served as interim coach since January.

    Deraney, a 1987 graduate of Boston University, played hockey for four seasons at BU, helping the Terriers capture two Beanpots (1986 and 1987) and one Hockey East title (1986).

    The former Terrier netminder began his coaching career with the BU men’s junior varsity team in 1987, then served as men’s assistant at Northeastern, Dartmouth and UMass-Amherst. Deraney also assisted head coach Ben Smith with the USA Women’s national camp in Lake Placid, N.Y., in 1998.

    “I’m very excited to be coaching a hockey program with such a great tradition,” Deraney said. “Our goal is to help Providence College hockey continue as one of the top women’s programs in the country and challenge for the ECAC crown.”

    Guelph’s Muylaert To Lead UW-Eau Claire

    USCHO Staff Report
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    Marlin Muylaert will leave a successful program at the University of Guelph to assume the head coaching position at the Wisconsin-Eau Claire, director of athletics Marilyn Skrivseth announced.

    Skrivseth said the university is “exceptionally fortunate to attract a person of Marlin’s calibre to join our staff.”

    Muylaert takes over for Ian Perrin, who resigned after nine seasons as Blugold head coach. He becomes the sixth head coach in the 23-year history of Blugold hockey. The Blugolds were 10-15-2 this past season in NCAA Division III.

    Muylaert has coached the past 11 seasons at Guelph, in Ontario, where his team won the Canadian University national championship in 1997; this season he was named 3M Ontario Coach of the Year. His overall 13-year head coaching record is 229-127-20, a .635 winning percentage.

    Harvard Tabs Mazzoleni

    USCHO Staff Report
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    Harvard University athletic director Bill Cleary named Miami head coach Mark Mazzoleni as the new head man of the Crimson on Sunday. Mazzoleni will be formally introduced in a press conference on Wednesday.

    Mazzoleni will take over a Harvard program that has not had a winning season since 1993-94 — the year of Harvard’s last ECAC Championship. Over the course of the last five years, the Crimson have a record of 66-85-10, have appeared in two ECAC semifinals and one ECAC final.

    Mazzoleni will replace Ronn Tomassoni, who resigned on May 14 after nine years at the helm of the Crimson compiling a 140-115-26 record.

    “Mark’s background at outstanding schools, his long track record of success, and his enthusiasm for the sport and the way it’s meant to be played were key factors in his selection,” said Cleary, who chaired the selection committee and himself coached the Crimson hockey program between 1971 and 1990.

    “I was very honored first to be considered and then to be offered the hockey coaching position at Harvard,” said Mazzoleni. “I have great respect for the program’s rich history, and was drawn to the school because it is so consistent with my beliefs philosophically. It needed to be a perfect fit for me to leave Miami.

    “The job ahead is both a tremendous challenge and a great opportunity. The commitment to building and maintaining a successful program here is evident, and I am confident in my abilities to lead Harvard hockey to this success.”

    Mazzoleni has compiled a 85-83-20 record at Miami, a school-best winning percentage-wise, over the course of five seasons. Last year the Red Hawks were 11-20-5 and missed the CCHA playoffs by one point in the standings. In 1996-97, Mazzoleni was named the CCHA Coach of the Year after guiding the Red Hawks to a 27-12-1 record, matching a school record for wins, and a second NCAA tournament appearance after a second place CCHA finish.

    “We would like to thank Mark for all of his hard work here at Miami,” said Joel Maturi, Miami director of athletics. “It is very evident from his record and all the accolades he has received why he is such a highly sought after head coach. In his time at Miami, he has enhanced his outstanding reputation as head coach not only in the CCHA but nationally. We wish him the best as he takes over the head coaching position at Harvard.”

    “Miami has lost another valued member of its prestigious ‘Cradle of Coaches’,” said Steve Cady, associate director of athletics for ice hockey and former Miami head ice hockey coach. “Mark has done a terrific job building on the tradition of hockey we have here at Miami. We would like to thank him for all the hard work and dedication he has given to the program and Miami. He has helped Miami move into the national spotlight with his efforts the last five years.”

    Before guiding Miami, Mazzoleni was an assistant at Minnesota for four seasons. Prior to that he was the head coach at Wisconsin-Stevens Point for six seasons. While at Stevens Point, he coached three consecutive Division III NCAA Champions, the first time that a team had done that at the Division III level.

    Mazzoleni was one of three finalists reported to be on the final list that Cleary had. The other two were Yale’s Tim Taylor and St. Lawrence’s Joe Marsh. Taylor withdrew his name on July 15 and Marsh withdrew on July 10.

    Mazzoleni becomes just the tenth head coach in Harvard hockey history and fourth since 1950. The Crimson recovered from a 2-8-1 start last season to finish 14-16-2. The Crimson also started the ECAC season with an 0-8-1 record to finish 8-12-2 in the league and finishing eighth.

    Meanwhile, Miami will begin its search for a head coach immediately.

    Report Compiled by Becky Blaeser, Jayson Moy and Paula C. Weston

    Taylor Withdraws From Harvard Race

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    Yale head coach Tim Taylor announced today that he will remain in New Haven and has withdrawn his name from consideration for the head coaching vacancy at Harvard.

    Taylor, who has led Yale for 21 of the last 23 years, was captain of Harvard’s ECAC Championship team in 1963 as a senior. He spent seven years as an assistant at his alma mater before becoming Yale’s head coach in 1976. He is a three-time ECAC Coach of the Year, and he was the head coach of the 1994 US Olympic Team in Lillehammer, Norway.

    “It is the right thing for me to remain at Yale,” said Taylor. “So much of my coaching life has been committed to this program. I guess it could be said that the Yale hockey program bears a stamp of my coaching style, personality and efforts over the past 22 years.

    “I have worked with tremendous student-athletes, both of great skill and character here in New Haven. Thanks to the never wavering support of the Yale community, student body and most recently Athletic Director Tom Beckett, President Richard Levin and Dean Dick Brodhead, Yale Hockey has never been healthier or more vibrant.

    “We have been able to build a great collegiate franchise here at Yale. To be able to combine hockey and academic excellence at the same institution has been a unique and ever so rewarding coaching experience. How could I ever leave this environment?”

    Taylor becomes the third person to publicly take his name out of the running for the Crimson head coaching position. On July 12, St. Lawrence head coach Joe Marsh announced that he would not seek the position. Earlier in the month, Bill Beaney, who has won five straight Division III National Championships at Middlebury (Vt.) College, withdrew his name from consideration, citing the length of the process as a concern.

    Harvard’s coaching search now turns its attention to the only remaining candidate among the three finalists listed in published reports last week — Miami head coach Mark Mazzoleni. Mazzoleni could not be reached for comment.

    The opening was created on May 14, when Ronn Tomassoni resigned after nine years as head coach of the Crimson.

    Mazzoleni just completed his fifth season as head coach at Miami. He is a 1980 graduate of Michigan State. Mazzoleni has already compiled over 225 wins in 11 seasons as a head coach overall. In 1996-97 he was named the CCHA Coach of the Year after guiding the Red Hawks to a second place finish in the CCHA and an NCAA Tournament berth.

    With so many top candidates withdrawing their names from consideration, Harvard could return its attention to former captain Kevin Sneddon, who just completed his first year as head coach at Union. Or the Crimson could turn to assistant Jerry Pawloski, who also interviewed for the position.

    6 LSSU Players Suspended

    USCHO Staff Report
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    Six Lake Superior State players have received two-game suspensions as a result of participation in a hockey tournament in Ontario last April, according to LSSU athletic director Bill Crawford.

    In addition, the four seniors, one junior, and one sophomore were each docked an equal percentage of scholarship money.

    “They didn’t take any money or compensation,” said Crawford, who declined to name the players. “And no one was kicked off the team. We doled out the punishment, and the NCAA said, ‘OK.'”

    Crawford said that the six will sit out LSSU’s two-game series with Ferris State on October 7 and 8.

    “It will be obvious who is sitting. All six of these guys probably would have played,” he said.

    “It’s unfortunate. We have a coaching staff going into the last season of its contract.”

    Club Champ Iowa State Stripped Of Title

    USCHO Staff Report
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    Iowa State, which defeated Penn State for the ACHA collegiate club-level championship in March, has been stripped of its title by the organization’s sanctioning body for using an ineligible player.

    Considered a strong candidate for an eventual upgrade to the NCAA Division I level, ISU received two years of probation, leaving its future cloudy. The 1999 title will be listed as “vacated.”

    The player in question, Darcy Anderson, enrolled at Iowa State for the 1994-95 season, then took the next year off. During that season, he appeared in 10 games for the Saginaw Wheels of the professional Colonial League (now the United League) in 1995-96, then returned to ISU for the next three seasons. He scored 57 goals this past year. Anderson also played two games for Memphis of the Central League in 1997-98, and 14 games in a pro league in England.

    Iowa State head coach Al Murdoch contended that Anderson actually dressed for only three games with Saginaw, and that in his time with the two pro teams he was paid little more than expenses. Murdoch also claims to have appealed the ACHA for, and gotten, approval of Anderson’s eligibility following his stint with Saginaw. The ACHA denies any such appeal ever took place.

    Murdoch, a vice-president of the ACHA who recently had the championship trophy named after him, has been coaching at ISU for 29 years while amassing over 600 wins. A founder of the ACHA, he has been leading the charge for development of a new ice arena at ISU with the hopes of upgrading to NCAA Division I.

    Despite assurances from ACHA president Josh Brandwene, the head coach at Delaware, that the appeals process has been exhausted, Murdoch indicated ISU may take the case to court.

    The ACHA generally adheres to NCAA eligibility guidelines, but typically does not have resources to track every player. Under NCAA rules, one game of pro hockey is considered cause for ineligibility, though players are allowed to attend tryout camps.

    Murdoch says he has had no indication from the ACHA hierarchy that his position as vice-president is in jeopardy.

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