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NCAA Nixes Tourney Expansion

USCHO Staff Report
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At its meetings in Chicago last week, the NCAA Championships Cabinet rejected a proposal to expand the NCAA men’s Division I championships from 12 teams to 16.

The proposal, brought by the newly-formed MAAC, would have taken effect either next season or possibly for the 2000-01 tournament, and would probably have required a move to four regionals of four teams apiece, rather than the current two.

As well as increasing tournament opportunities for all D-I programs, the proposed expansion would likely have made it easier for the MAAC, currently in its first year of existence, to obtain an automatic bid for its conference champion to participate in the tourney.

Autobids are currently in place for the four previously-existing conferences: the CCHA, WCHA, Hockey East and ECAC. Each of those leagues automatically sends both its regular-season and playoff champion to the NCAA tournament.

Although men’s hockey has added several Division I teams recently, including the advent of the MAAC, and expects several more in the next couple of years as Division II programs move up, the cabinet felt that trend was not sufficient to warrant immediate expansion.

“We looked at their sponsorship trends and we really felt that right now they’re pretty flat,” cabinet chair Jean Lenti Ponsetto, senior associate athletic director at DePaul University, was quoted in the online edition of the Ann Arbor (Mich.) News Friday. “Having 12 spots for 52 members gives people a pretty good opportunity to participate in the championship.

The door, however, was left open for future efforts.

“We’ll invite men’s ice hockey to come back to us again if their numbers start to move,” Ponsetto said. “Right now, with 12 teams of 52 getting a chance, that’s close to one-in-four.”

This Week in Hockey East: February 5, 1999

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Can it get any better than No. 2 Maine and No. 3 New Hampshire on Sunday, followed by the Beanpot championship on Monday? Get them VCRs running….

And speaking of the Beanpot, is there any better way to spend the first Monday in February than watching two overtime games in the Battle for Boston? Writers mindful of their deadlines groaned over the extra sessions — a blowout by either team would be preferable since the game story would be all but completed by the second intermission — but the fans and purists got their money’s worth and a whole lot more.

With a plethora of awards this week, let’s get right to the envelopes, please.

Player of the Month: Jason Krog (F, New Hampshire) takes this award for the second straight month. Krog ranks as the nation’s top scorer, while leading the country in both points-per-game (2.00) and assists (34).

Rookie of the Month: Barrett Heisten (F, Maine) posted a 6-5–11 scoring line for January, including three game-winners.

Heaton Goalie of the Month: Sean Matile and Ty Conklin (New Hampshire) both posted great numbers while leading UNH to a 9-1 January record. Conklin (1.60 Jan. GAA, .922 Jan. Sv%) and Matile (1.80, .918) split the 10 games.

KOHO Player of the Week: Jayme Filipowicz (D, New Hampshire) scored both game-winning goals against Northeastern and Providence, while totaling a 2-3–5 scoring line.

KOHO Rookie of the Week: Ales Dolinar (F, Boston College) registered three assists in two games against UMass-Amherst.

Heaton Defensive Player of the Week: Anthony Cappelletti (D, UMass-Lowell) led the resurgent River Hawks over BU and Merrimack, complementing his strong play in his own zone with a goal and an assist. Cappelletti (11-17–28), one of the league’s most underrated and underrecognized performers, shares the Hockey East scoring lead among defensemen with Maine’s David Cullen.

Hockey East Standings

Record in picks last week: 5-4 (include an oh-fer in the Beanpot as several readers have gleefully pointed out)

Season’s record in picks: 99-53, .651

The Beanpot: Championship Game

Northeastern (9-13-3, 4-10-2 HEA, 8th) vs.

Boston University (9-14-2, 5-9-2 HEA, T-5th)

Monday, 8 p.m., FleetCenter, Boston, MA WABU-TV68

Who’da thunk it?

Boston University hadn’t won a game since Dec. 27. The Terriers had lost to UMass-Lowell, 4-1, on Friday, a game in which coach Jack Parker sent Russ Bartlett, Chris Heron, Juha Vuori and Colin Sheen to the stands as healthy scratches.

So what happens against No. 7 Boston College, the only nationally ranked team in the tournament? Not only does BU win in overtime, 3-2, but Vuori and Sheen earn Parker’s praise while Heron and Bartlett collaborate on the winning goal.

"There were a number of guys that played extremely well," said Parker after the dramatic win, "but a couple that really stood out were two defensemen who didn’t play the last game, Colin Sheen and Juha Vuori. They both played extremely well.

"We got steady performances from [Joe] DiPenta and Danny Ronan. Pat Aufiero gave us a great game for a freshman. He played really well. I was really pleased with our defense overall. That was the difference in the game.

"The difference in our team over the last few weeks is that we’ve been real sloppy defensively and we haven’t played that hard defensively and been really jumpy with the puck. We were none of those things tonight. In an area where we could have been real nervous, we were as poised as we’ve been all year.

"And obviously we had a chance to win because [Michel] Larocque did what he usually does for us. He had a terrific game. When they had a few flurries, he stood tall for us. Especially in the overtime when they had a couple chances, he really looked sharp."

The win extended BU’s Beanpot dominance over BC to a stunning 11 straight games dating back to 1982. When Parker arrived on campus as a player in the sixties, the Terriers had lost six of the eight head-to-head Beanpot clashes. Since then, BU has posted a shocking 19-2 record in the match-up.

So what is the secret?

"Boston College has always brought out the best in us," said Parker. "The 1976 Beanpot final… the 1981 first-round game… those were the two times BC has beaten us and I remember those two games and it’s [still] hard to swallow. BC is our biggest rival and vice-versa. We have been very fortunate against them in this tournament, there’s no question about it."

Although any win over BC is savored by the Terriers, especially those in the Beanpot, Parker found this one particularly special.

"This was really satisfying because we have been struggling so badly in areas where there was no way we were as bad as our record was showing," he said. "It had a lot to do with our poise and how hard we were playing. And we played hard tonight and played with a lot of poise tonight."

One advantage BU did have in the semifinal contest, however, could turn against them in the championship game against Northeastern.

"The pressure was on BC," said Parker. "As much as we’ve been successful [in the Beanpot,] if we didn’t win it, well, we’ve won it four years in a row. There was a lot more pressure on BC just to get into the final. I thought we had an advantage there."

Against Northeastern, however, that same pressure of expectations could work against BU. BC was the nationally-ranked powerhouse, but the Huskies and Terriers share more than just canine nicknames. There is little to separate the two teams in the standings. But as the de facto owner of the Beanpot in recent years, BU will be a heavy favorite to take a fifth-straight title. Whether that becomes a Terrier advantage or disadvantage remains to be seen.

Northeastern, on the other hand, will be making only its second title appearance since 1988, when it last won the Beanpot. As much as BU has dominated the tournament, the Huskies have been its doormat. They’ve won it only four times and finished last more often than the other three schools combined.

"It’s great to be playing in the late game next week," said coach Bruce Crowder, who had wondered aloud at the Beanpot luncheon about his program’s continued ghettoization to the early game in the first round.

The Huskies will be playing second fiddle to no one next Monday, though.

"We’ll have to get some extra sleep next week," quipped Crowder.

Northeastern got to the championship game by rebounding from Harvard’s tying goal with 4.5 seconds left to win it in overtime. Brian Cummings became the Huntington Hounds hero with help from Ryan Zoller and defenseman Jim Fahey.

"Any time you can come into a tournament like this and especially win in overtime, they don’t really get much better than that," said Crowder after the thriller. "I told the kids between the third period and overtime, ‘This is what dreams are made of. You’ve got a great opportunity to be skating out there and be a hero. You dream about that and a lot of times it doesn’t come true, but now you’ve got it at hand. Take advantage of it.’"

And take advantage they did.

The game-winner, not to mention the entire box score, fit the team profile to a T. The Huskies typically don’t play a single senior and consist of only four juniors to complement the 11 sophomores and nine freshmen. Other than junior Billy Newson’s second-period goal, all the other points went to underclassmen. Freshmen Leon Hayward and Willie Levesque scored and assists went to rookies Fahey (2), Rich Spiller (2) and Zoller.

"I don’t think there’s enough time," answered Crowder when asked to assess the impact of his freshmen. "They’ve been fantastic. They’ve come in and a lot of kids have really surprised us.

"With us being young, for us to be successful we’re really going to have to get a lot out of our freshmen. They were equal to the task tonight, especially in front of this type of a crowd and this type of environment. As a coaching staff, we were tremendously pleased."

The burden on the young defensemen could ratchet up yet again if the ongoing blue-line attrition claims sophomore Matt Brown. Brown suffered an injury in the game and was being X-rayed for a broken hand.

For those expecting a repeat of BU’s 11-4 shellacking of Northeastern in the 1996 title game, that wouldn’t appear to be in the cards. While BU struggled coming into the tournament, the Huskies have slowly been putting the pieces to the puzzle together, losing only to Providence and nationally-ranked UNH and BC since the holiday break.

PICK: This flies in the face of Beanpot history, not to mention all the BU fans who have chided me for incorrectly picking Boston College last week, but the hunch here is that Northeastern will win in overtime, 2-1.

The Beanpot Consolation Game No. 7 Boston College (16-9-2, 11-5-0 HEA, 3rd) vs. Harvard (8-10-1, 3-9-1 ECAC, T-10th)

Monday, 5 p.m., FleetCenter, Boston, MA

Will the Beanpot frustration never cease for Boston College?

Ask current Boston Bruin Steve Heinze, an All-American at Chestnut Hill almost 10 years ago when the Eagles also had great teams but couldn’t win the ‘Pot, and he almost winces.

"Those would be my worst memories of Boston College," he says. "We never won the Beanpot…. BU owned the thing and we couldn’t pull it out."

This time, the Terriers topped the heavily-favored Eagles in overtime, 3-2, marking BU’s eleventh straight Beanpot win in the match-up.

"I thought our team played very, very well," said coach Jerry York after the loss. "We played very hard. It was unfortunate in the OT that we gave up an outnumbered rush. It was something we’ve talked about and have tried to stay away from.

"We had good chances to score tonight, but the bottom line is that you have to convert good chances into goals.

"But I’m very proud of how we played. We played hard and well. Full marks go to BU."

So how are the Eagles to regroup from this unkindest cut of all?

"You go to the next game," said York. "There’s no option."

Lest BC fans grow too despondent, a recent history lesson is in order. Last year’s squad used a crushing overtime loss in the first round as a launching pad for its stretch run, going undefeated from that point until the national championship game.

Can the Eagles repeat that performance? It remains to be seen.

(For a detailed look at Harvard, see this week’s ECAC Preview by Becky Blaeser and Jayson Moy.)

PICK: In the game that no one wants to play, the Eagles dominate, 6-3.

No. 2 Maine (19-2-4, 11-2-2 HEA, 2nd) vs. No. 3 New Hampshire (21-4-1, 13-2-1 HEA, 1st) and

Northeastern (9-13-3, 4-10-2 HEA, 8th)

Friday, 7 p.m., Matthews Arena, Boston, MA

Sunday, 7 p.m., Alfond Arena, Orono, ME FOXSNE

Maine jumped in front of Providence last week, taking an early second-period lead of 4-0. PC rallied to make it 4-3 before the Black Bears pulled away to a 7-4 victory. The win gave Maine a sweep of the season series.

"We knew it was a game where we could gain on UNH and BC because both teams had lost to Providence and this was our third game [after two wins]," says coach Shawn Walsh. "So from the very start we were a very focused team."

Barrett Heisten earned Hockey East Rookie of the Month honors for his six goals and five assists in January. When he left for the World Junior Tournament, the freshman had yet to find the back of the net, perhaps making him the best forward in college hockey without a single goal. But he got the bung-puller first for Team USA and then in a collegiate sense against Boston College in his second game back. He’s been on a roll since.

"He’s a young freshman who was just getting used to college hockey and college life," says Walsh. "Clearly, once he scored a goal, he was much more relaxed.

"But Barrett Heisten doesn’t need to score goals to be a great player. He’s such an all-around, solid defensive forward that anything we get out of him in terms of offensive production is gravy."

With Sunday’s much-anticipated Clash of the Titans on deck, the Black Bears may be tempted to look past Northeastern and think only of New Hampshire. Walsh intends to dash any such leanings.

"The focus for our four days of preparation is Northeastern," he says. "We won’t talk about New Hampshire until after Friday’s game. Northeastern played us very, very well in the series up here [on Dec. 12-13.] That 7-7 tie showed how much strength they have offensively.

"I walked away from that series very, very impressed with that team. And last Friday, they had New Hampshire on the ropes and then won their Beanpot game. So they’re coming around."

Following that contest, the Black Bears will host New Hampshire in one of the marquee matchups of the year.

"I’d like to have more than one day to prepare for them," says Walsh, noting that the clash is UNH’s only one of the week. "That’s the difficult thing. But we’re at home.

"It’s clearly a game between two teams that have played very, very well. What’s a compliment to both teams is that in this day and age of a lot of parity in college hockey, these two teams have found a way to win.

"I’m really impressed with New Hampshire. They’re just an excellent club. Their overall speed is very good and they have a real commitment to defense. They’re the best opponent I’ve seen on film so far."

Special teams could be the deciding factor. The two teams rank one-two in the league in penalty killing, but while UNH is atop the league with a 24.03 power-play percentage Maine has struggled of late with the extra man. After leading the nation two years ago and trailing only Boston College last year, Maine’s power play has dropped from a superb 31 percent rate early in the season down to 21.40.

New Hampshire won its seventh and eighth straight games last weekend, squeaking past Northeastern, 5-4, and Providence, 4-2.

"We found a way to win," says coach Dick Umile. "I’m not surprised that the games were close. We were playing good hockey teams.

"Obviously, Northeastern is a good hockey team. They’re well-coached. The game became a power-play game. We got the last power play and ended up winning the game by executing on the power play.

"Against Providence College, Sean [Matile] kept us in it in the first period. In the first 10 minutes of the second period, we played well and in the last 10 minutes, they played well. But we played a good third period and gave ourselves the opportunity to win. It was a game that went back and forth. Providence played well, both goalies made some big saves, and we came out on top."

Jayme Filipowicz became one of the few defensemen to win league Player of the Week honors.

"He’s been playing well," says Umile. "We’ve got some great defensemen in the league and I’m not going to take anything away from the other ones, but Jayme and Stevie O’Brien are two very solid defensemen in the league. They’ve done a lot for our team. They lead our defensive group in general."

Along with Matile and Ty Conklin sharing the Goaltender of the Month award, Jason Krog took Player of the Month. As the nation’s top scorer, he’s getting a lot of UNH fans talking Hobey Baker Award.

"He’s a terrific candidate for it," says Umile. "I know it’s not on his mind 24-hours-a-day, but he’s doing everything he can possibly do to prove that he’s a strong candidate. "He’s the main reason that our team is where we’re at. We wouldn’t be doing what we’re doing without him, that’s for sure. He’s playing tough games: people are in his face, shadowing him, but he’s still finding a way to either set up a goal or score a goal for us. He’s having a terrific season so far and he’s a terrific person."

On Sunday, the Wildcats will be taking on the Black Bears in the first league match between Hockey East’s top two teams. The two titans did meet in the opening round of the Governor’s Cup, a contest won by Maine, 4-3, but that game did not count in the league standings.

"Right now, they’re playing a lot better than when we saw them in the Governor’s Cup," says Umile. "They’re a typical Maine team. They’re quick, they transition well, they do well in specialty situations, and they’re getting good goaltending.

"They’re number two in the country, not by mistake. They’ve earned it. They’re a real solid team. We’re going to go up there and hope we play our best and they play their best. It should be a great college hockey game."

Northeastern is profiled above in the Beanpot section.

PICKS: Maine defeats Northeastern, 4-2, prior to Sunday’s clash. Against UNH, the home ice advantage proves decisive, 3-2.

No. 7 Boston College (16-9-2, 11-5-0 HEA, 3rd) hosts

UMass-Amherst (6-16-2, 3-11-2 HEA, 9th)

Friday, 7 p.m., Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill, MA

Boston College is profiled above in the Beanpot section.

UMass-Amherst lost the first two of its three-game gauntlet against BC, 7-1 and 3-1.

"The first night down at BC we had a lot of guys with no legs," says coach Joe Mallen. "It got to be a long night.

"But the game back here [at the Mullins Center], I thought we played very well. We were beaten by a couple of great plays by two real good players. Bobby Allen jumped down on a power play and scored a real nice goal and Jeff Farkas just had a great individual effort to score the third goal.

"No matter how you slice it, we’re heavy underdogs in those games. But we stuck to our game plan that second night… and we were right in it the whole night.

"Now we have to just see what can happen three times in a row."

Following that third game against the Eagles, UMass-Amherst will be one of the few teams with no games left against Hockey East’s three nationally ranked powerhouses. The Minutemen close with two league games each against Merrimack, UMass-Lowell and Providence plus a singleton vs. Northeastern.

"We’re real excited about the last part of the schedule," says Mallen. "In the past years within the league, it always seemed to have been two at Maine, two at UNH and two at BU. It just seems that this year, if the Hockey East schedule can give us a break, this is the break.

"This is the time we have to make a move."

PICK: How will BC react to its Beanpot frustration? Look for a 4-1 win.

Providence College (13-12-0, 8-8-0 HEA, 4th) vs.

UMass-Lowell (14-12-0, 6-10-0 HEA, T-5th)

Friday, 7 p.m., Paul E. Tsongas Arena, Lowell, MA

Saturday, 7 p.m., Schneider Arena, Providence, RI

Providence’s bid to crash the party of the league’s blue-blood trio — UNH, Maine and BC — fell short last week when the Friars lost to Maine, 7-4, and New Hampshire, 4-2.

"We played well in the second and third periods against Maine, but got down too much," says coach Paul Pooley, whose Friars trailed 3-0 after 20 minutes.

"I thought we played a solid game at UNH, controlled the play a lot, but missed some chances. [Sean] Matile made some big saves for them…. They’re a team that has obviously won a lot of games in the third period. They’re a solid club."

PC now takes on a Lowell team that has posted an 8-3 record since the break and is only four points behind the Friars and fourth place.

"BC, Maine and UNH are the three top teams in the league and for everybody else it depends on who gets playing well at the right time," says Pooley. "Lowell is coming on, so it’s going to be a big weekend for us, as it is for them."

Coming off games against the league’s top two offensive teams, will the Friars be approaching the River Hawks any differently?

"Against Maine, you have to try to take away their transition game because they just come, come, come," says Pooley. "And UNH, [too]. But Lowell is a very good transition club as well with [defenseman Anthony] Cappelletti joining the play. They give the guys the green light to go, especially in the offensive zone. So it’s a matter of executing and taking care of the puck, making sure it gets in and trying to dictate what we’re going to do with them."

UMass-Lowell vaulted from a share of the cellar to a tie for fifth place with wins over BU, 4-1, and Merrimack, 4-3.

"It was an important weekend for us, but so is this weekend," says coach Tim Whitehead. "The way the standings are now… teams can make a jump like we did and leapfrog us as well. Our goal is just to continue to chip away at the standings and work our way up."

Here’s a pop quiz. What league defenseman is tied with David Cullen for the blue-liner scoring lead?

The answer is one of Hockey East’s most underrated players, Anthony Cappelletti. The senior, the Defensive Player of the Week, now totals 11 goals and 17 assists.

"We’re real proud of Anthony and how he’s developed here," says Whitehead. "He got some ice time as a freshman, but the end of that year was the first opportunity he had to really make an impact. He really stepped it up during the playoffs after not playing a lot of games. In his sophomore year, he made a big improvement and again in his junior year and this year, too.

"It’s nice to see a guy improve like that and come from a humble start and really make a name for himself. He’s a very underrated defensemen…. There are some others too, but he certainly deserves everything he gets, because he’s worked so hard to get it.

"The interesting thing about him is that he does not look like the smoothest player out there, but then he’ll amaze you with the smooth plays that he makes. He’s really a very composed competitor out there."

The River Hawks were 6-9 before the holiday break, but have posted an 8-3 record since. And two of those losses were to No. 3 UNH. What has been the key to the turnaround?

"As a team, we’re playing more conscientiously defensively and our goaltending has been more consistent," says Whitehead. "Scott Fankhouser has made a tremendous improvement this year.

"We had to be patient with him going into this year because he didn’t have a lot of experience, but I’m just proud of the improvement he’s made and the consistency he’s shown.

"He’s still working at it. There’ll be some ups and downs, but he’s given us the opportunity to win some games."

Lowell is now a sweep of this weekend away from a share of fourth place. Even a split, however, won’t be easy against the Friars, who won the first game in this series three weeks ago, 5-2.

"They’re a very dangerous team," says Whitehead. "They can be very explosive on the special teams, both on the power play and shorthanded. They’re a very balanced, hard-working team that I’ve been very impressed with. They’re a tough team to beat. They certainly handled us last time in our rink.

"They’re a team that I don’t feel has any weaknesses. You can’t look at them and say that this is what you can exploit. They’re a very sound team. They’ve got good leadership back at the blue line, they’re getting solid goaltending and they’ve got some offensive threats that you really have to respect.

"They’re a well-rounded team. We’re certainly going to have our hands full."

PICKS: The teams split, with each taking 4-3 wins on the road.

Merrimack (9-15-1, 5-9-1 HEA, 7th) at

Boston University (9-14-2, 5-9-2 HEA, T-5th) and

UMass-Amherst (6-16-2, 3-11-2 HEA, 9th)

Friday, 7 p.m., Walter Brown Arena, Boston, MA

Saturday, 7 p.m., Mullins Center, Amherst, MA

Merrimack lost its fifth and sixth straight games, falling to Brown, 3-2, and Lowell, 4-3. Against Brown, the Warriors outshot the Bears, 42-18, but Brown goaltender Scott Stirling stole one with his spectacular play.

"I thought we played real well, but we had major breakdowns," says coach Chris Serino. "It’s not like they just threw some pucks on the goal, they earned the goals that they got. So I’m disappointed that we didn’t play a full game."

Hosting the River Hawks, Merrimack bounced back from a 2-0 deficit to lead, 3-2, with four minutes remaining. A power-play goal tied the game, however, and UML got the game-winner with 1:15 left.

"We started slowly, but we played well and did a lot of good things," says Serino. "But we’ve got to do away with the major breakdowns because, right now, every time we have a major breakdown it’s going in the net."

Despite the losing streak, Serino is still encouraged by some aspects of his team’s play.

"I went back a reviewed film from us earlier in the year and we’re playing much better," he says. "We’re just not getting the results that we got early. That’s what we’re trying to impress on the kids, that if we keep getting better things will come our way."

Serino recognizes, however, that as much as wins can create positive momentum, losses can begin to snowball, making it all the tougher to right the ship.

"We held Lowell to six shots in the first period and seven in the second period," he says, "but they got 13 in the third. I thought we played the third period not to lose rather than to win. That’s where we’re at right now. We’ve got to start playing to win and not to not-lose."

Boston University is profiled above in the Beanpot section.

UMass-Amherst is profiled above in its game against Boston College.

PICKS: Merrimack gets back on track, topping BU, 4-3, and UMass-Amherst, 4-2.

This Week in the ECAC: February 5, 1999

By Becky Blaeser & Jayson Moy
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It’s heating up now.

With only five weeks left in the regular season, the jockeying for positions to get into the ECAC playoffs has already begun. After this weekend, every team will have eight games left with which to determine their postseason fate.

Speaking of weekends, the last one was huge for four teams. St. Lawrence and Princeton swept series this past weekend to move into a first-place tie in the ECAC standings, while Clarkson’s sweep enabled the Golden Knights to slip into third and Yale’s pushed the Bulldogs into a fifth-place tie.

It was not good news for Union, Rensselaer, Colgate and Cornell, which were swept by the above four teams.

Vermont moved up to eighth place with an overtime victory over Dartmouth, leaving the Big Green tied with Harvard for the last playoff position.

This week’s ECAC honors: ECAC Player of the Week — Jason Windle, St. Lawrence ECAC Rookie of the Week — Shawn Grant, Clarkson ECAC Goaltender(s) of the Week — Eric Heffler, St. Lawrence and Scott Stirling, Brown

ECAC Standings

This weekend is pivotal, as there should be tremendous movement in the standings with three ties for positions, two points separating first place from fourth, four points separating fifth from eighth and six points separating fifth from 11th.

Last Week: 7-7 Season To Date: 86-61, .585

Princeton (14-4-1, 9-2-1 ECAC, T-1st) and Yale (8-10-1, 6-5-1 ECAC, T-5th) at Colgate (11-8-3, 6-5-1 ECAC, T-5th) Friday – Saturday, 7:30 pm – 7:00 pm, Starr Rink, Hamilton, NY Yale (8-10-1, 6-5-1 ECAC, T-5th) and Princeton (14-4-1, 9-2-1 ECAC, T- 1st) at Cornell (8-8-3, 5-4-3 ECAC, T-5th) Friday – Saturday, 7:30 pm – 7:00 pm, Lynah Rink, Ithaca, NY

Previous Meetings This Season: January 29 — Princeton 3, Cornell 2 and Yale 5, Colgate 1 January 30 — Princeton 2, Colgate 1 and Yale 4, Cornell 2

What’s that saying about good teams finding a way to win? Well, as trite as the cliche may be, that was the way of the Princeton Tigers last weekend. With heavy legs, and still trying to recover from a 19-day layoff, the Tigers fought back from a 2-0 deficit against Cornell on Friday night to claim their 14th victory of the season and retain a piece of first place in the ECAC hunt.

The heroes of the weekend — senior defensemen Steve Shirreffs, Jackson Hegland, and Michael Acosta — have been relatively silent offensively throughout the season, but chose an opportune time to dust the cobwebs off their sticks. After accounting for only two goals combined in the first 17 games of the season, each of three blueliners found the back of the net against Cornell.

"Every game you are going to have different guys contributing to the team," Acosta said. "Having the defense do it is just to our advantage, that we know that we can depend on the defense for a goal or two or sometimes even three."

Colgate, still smarting over a 5-1 pounding from Yale the night before, entered Hobey Baker Rink the following night with a much-improved game plan against Princeton. This time, the Tigers fell back upon old, reliable offensive guns as Jeff Halpern (18-11-24) and Scott Bertoli (7-10-17) scored the only goals they would need in the 2-1 victory which sealed the four-point weekend.

One of the brightest spots for Princeton was the play of its rotating netminders, senior Nick Rankin and freshman Dave Stathos. A source of worry at times for head coach Don "Toot" Cahoon, the two goalies turned in similarly-impressive performances, registering 29 and 30 saves, respectively, to give the Tigers a chance to come away with the two victories.

"Dave is a 20-year-old freshman. He has played at a real high level of junior hockey and that shows," Cahoon said. "He competed against (Cornell’s Matt Underhill) who is a pretty good goaltender. Dave is a good one but it is a day-to-day process. That position is so fragile and you have to stay with it."

The goaltending rotation will in all likelihood continue this weekend when, for the second straight week, Princeton takes on Colgate and Cornell. This time, however, the Tigers will play the role of the visitors, and they will also be carrying the weight of being frontrunners. Precariously tied atop the league with St. Lawrence, which is again playing solid hockey, Princeton will have to continue to find a way to win in order to be in the driver’s seat come March.

One week ago, Yale head coach Tim Taylor declared that the first two weekends in February would dictate the direction his team was heading.

In clutch fashion, his players responded with two huge victories over Colgate and Cornell to move into a three-way tie for fifth place. In addition, the Bulldogs’ struggling offense was resuscitated (at least for two games) as the first line received some much-needed help. Even the special teams play showed signs of depth, taking pressure off Jeff Hamilton, who had been acting as Yale’s sole lifeline.

On Friday night against the Red Raiders, Yale produced its most decisive win of the season, jumping out to a 4-0 lead after two periods and then holding on for the 5-1 victory. After collecting only one assist against Colgate, Hamilton took charge the following night with two crucial goals, including the game-winner, in the first period to ice the Big Red.

"I think the special teams’ play was the key," said Taylor, whose team scored four power-play goals in the weekend sweep. Our second power-play unit did a great job of maintaining pressure and we had an awful lot of chances."

The story of the game, however, was senior netminder Alex Westlund, who not only finished with 31 saves, but became Yale’s all-time career saves leader. It was appropriate that Westlund placed his name in the Yale annals against Colgate, a team he has traditionally dominated. In his last four starts against Don Vaughan’s squad, the Bulldog goalie has allowed only two goals.

Westlund, last year’s ECAC Goaltender of the year, has been particularly affected by his team’s recent growing pains. Last weekend was perhaps the breakthrough he needed, as it marked one of the first times all season that the Yale defense was able to hold its own, perhaps finally letting the Bulldog faithful ask, "Ray who?"

"It was nice to break the record in front of the home crowd, but it was great just to win," said Westlund following the game. "We seem to play solidly against Colgate over the past couple of years. Our defense always seems to limit the quality shots against them."

Coming off such a successful weekend against Colgate and Cornell, Yale will have a chance to repeat its four-point performance as it heads North for the ECAC’s version of a home-and-home series.

"This is what we expect from ourselves every time we take the ice," said Yale senior captain Keith McCullough, who collected a goal and three assists in the two games.

"People try to tell us that last year was the exception, and that we can’t do it again, but my answer to that is no. We have basically the same personnel, and to say we’re not contenders to take the ECAC is crazy. I’m just proud as hell about these guys. We’re just tapping, just beginning to find out what we can do. We’re not going to be taken lightly anymore."

Things have not gone well as of late for Colgate. The Red Raiders are coming off a weekend in which they were swept by Yale and Princeton and have not won a game since a 4-3 overtime victory over Clarkson, a span of five games and have dropped three of those five.

In addition the Red Raiders have gone into an offensive funk. They have scored 13 goals in the last eight games, going 1-5-2 in that span.

"I am worried about our offense, mostly about the power play," head coach Don Vaughan said. "Our special teams are making the difference at this stage. Because we’ve been struggling, we’ve been pressing too hard at times. We have to be patient."

The Red Raiders have scored four power-play goals in 45 attempts in those eight games.

On Friday evening, the Red Raiders fell behind 4-0 after two periods of play and never recovered in the 5-1 loss. The next night against Princeton, the Tigers took a 2-0 lead before Colgate scored in the 2-1 loss.

"We got behind early and didn’t play particularly well after that," Vaughan said of Friday’s game. "When you’re already struggling with your offense and then you fall behind quickly, things get really tough.

"We actually played really well [Saturday]. We haven’t had much success there in the past and we fell behind early, but we battled back and probably out-chanced them on the night. The puck just didn’t bounce our way."

With the same set of teams this weekend, the Red Raiders are looking to right the ship.

"This kind of thing is a challenge every team faces at some point, but we know if we can take care of business at home it will pick us up," Vaughan said. "We just need to go out there and work really hard, stay patient but also take some chances. One thing’s for sure, though, we’ll be ready."

It was a lost weekend for the Cornell Big Red. The Big Red were swept by Princeton and Cornell. Before the weekend even began, Jeff Burgoyne was lost for the weekend with a case of the flu. Things did start well though for the Big Red as they took an early 2-0 lead on Princeton, but the second period saw two Tiger goals in the span of two minutes before the Tigers won it in the third period, 3-2.

"We’ve got to look at ourselves," Cornell head coach Mike Schafer said. "We’re the ones who made the mistakes in the second period to let them get back in the game. So, it was a frustrating night from that standpoint."

The next night the Big Red fell behind 3-0 in the first period, never were in the game and lost 4-2.

"It was a real disappointing weekend in the sense that I thought we got away, a couple of weeks ago, from making mental errors that were going to cost us games," Schafer said. "And we did the same thing [Saturday] and gave them a three-goal lead.

"Our guys were physically and mentally ready to play, but give Yale some credit, the first few chances they get to score, they score. Our guys don’t execute, and they put the puck in the back of the net.

"You can look back and say, `Yeah, we did a good job as far as trying to get back into the game.’ But you don’t get points for getting back into games, you get points for winning games and we didn’t do that [last weekend]."

One of the worrisome items for the Big Red has to be their lack of production. The Big Red have not scored more than four goals since Dec. 4, and have only tallied 26 goals in the 11 games since that date. In fact, the Big Red have scored four or more goals just three times this season.

"I asked some guys to start to step up their production because we’re depending on certain guys to carry the workload," said Schafer.

One of those "certain guys" has been the captain of the Big Red, Kyle Knopp. Knopp leads the team with 27 points, but only seven of those points have been goals. Freshman Denis Ladouceur has 10 goals to lead the team, while Doug Stienstra has seven goals on the season.

The Big Red will once again face off against Yale and Princeton this coming weekend — an oddity of the schedule, to say the least.

"It’ll be great to see the things that worked and didn’t work on video," said Schafer. "Obviously, it’s a great opportunity to get back and redeem ourselves after dropping two in a row down there.

"We didn’t play that well last weekend. You’ve got to give them credit — they played well against us. But the chance to play them again right off the bat is what we wanted. These are teams we feel we can beat. They’re good clubs, but so are we.

"I think it comes down to work ethic. If we work a little harder, we hustle after the puck and do the little things, it will lead to success this weekend."

Picks: Princeton at Colgate — The Princeton attack is still looking for consistent performances from both its offense and defense corps. As it stands, Colgate isn’t playing well enough to handle one or the other — let alone both at the same time. Princeton 4, Colgate 2. Yale at Cornell — The Big Red cannot be kept down for long. But then again Yale is one of the hottest teams in the league right now. But not at Lynah. Cornell 3, Yale 2. Yale at Colgate — The best news for Yale is that Colgate has entered the heart of its annual mid-season slump. After the Bulldogs dominated the Red Raiders at Ingalls Rink last Friday night, morale and confidence levels can’t be very high in Hamilton, N.Y. Yale 6, Colgate 1. Princeton at Cornell — The Big Red drop the season series to the Tigers, who actually win by more than one goal. Princeton 4, Cornell 2.

Dartmouth (7-11-1, 3-8-1 ECAC, T-10th) and Vermont (10-10-1, 4-7-1 ECAC, 8th) at Clarkson (12-9-1, 9-3-0 ECAC, 3rd) Friday – Saturday, 7:30 pm – 7:00 pm, Cheel Arena, Potsdam, NY Vermont (10-10-1, 4-7-1 ECAC, 8th) and Dartmouth (7-11-1, 3-8-1 ECAC, T-10th) at St. Lawrence (14-9-1, 9-2-1 ECAC, T-1st) Friday – Saturday, 7:30 pm – 7:00 pm, Appleton Arena, Canton, NY

Previous Meetings This Season: January 15 — Clarkson 4, Vermont 2 and St. Lawrence 4, Dartmouth 3 January 16 — Clarkson 6, Dartmouth 1 and St. Lawrence 6, Vermont 0

The deciding battle between travel partners last Saturday night could not have been more fitting. After Vermont and Dartmouth split their first two contests of the season, the showdown for bragging rights came center stage in Burlington, Vt.

And the winner? Following 64 minutes of hockey in which the teams registered 32 shots on net, Stephane Piche let loose the game-winning shot to give the home team the 3-2 overtime victory, its fourth of the ECAC season. It also delivered the Big Green a crushing blow as Dartmouth’s hopes to move into the heart of the playoff race continued to slip by the wayside.

"We wanted to prove that we’re a better hockey team than they are," said Dartmouth head coach Bob Gaudet. "They’re starting a line of seniors and we’re playing a bunch of freshmen, but our kids played hard. I’m disappointed in the loss."

Disappointment and near-misses have been the story of the 1998-99 season for Dartmouth, which continually battles with its youth across the board. A seemingly revitalizing three-point weekend against Yale and Princeton three weeks ago, for example, was quickly negated by two losses to St. Lawrence and Clarkson and then again by the heartbreaking defeat at the hands of the Catamounts on Saturday.

Goaltender Eric Almon has posted solid numbers — allowing only three goals per league contest — but can’t make up for the defensive breakdowns and lack of consistency on the offensive end by the skaters in front of him. Admittedly, with each contest Dartmouth has taken strides, but as is the case with all young teams, each time on the ice is still a lot like a game of Russian roulette.

"I thought we outplayed UVM in the third period, but they came back and played really well in the overtime," said Gaudet, who did get a two-point performance from freshman Dan Casella against Vermont. "Our kids played hard and we had excellent goaltending, but we just couldn’t do it in overtime."

The road does not get much smoother for the Big Green, who heads north to take on two of the hottest teams in the ECAC — St. Lawrence and Clarkson. The last time these teams met, Dartmouth came close to upsetting the Skating Saints the first night, but fell short. That blow was too much for the Big Green as the next night ended in a disastrous 6-1 embarrassment to Clarkson. Gaudet just hopes that his team will show more mental durability this time around.

To say that the overtime win over Dartmouth was needed is an understatement for Vermont. After coming close to upsetting Clarkson a few weeks ago, the Catamounts lost to St. Lawrence and Dartmouth and were starting to free-fall in the league standings.

The Cats had gone winless in the ECAC since November, and were winless in 1999 (0-6-1, all ECAC games), plummeting from fourth in the standings to ninth.

There is still a great need for the Cats to get some wins and to get some points. The Cats can now move all the way into sixth place with two wins and some help from other teams.

Don’t look now, but the Clarkson Golden Knights are making a statement. After a weekend sweep of Union and Rensselaer, the Knights are sitting in third place, just one point behind leaders St. Lawrence and Princeton. That’s a move you might not have seen coming if you only looked at Clarkson’s 1-6-0 start to the season.

"We had a nightmare of a start to the season — we had a lot of quality teams right out of the chute and we weren’t quite ready to play those teams, and it affected our confidence quite a bit," said head coach Mark Morris. "We have a lot of young guys in the lineup and it’s taken them some time to mature. It’s encouraging to know they are getting more experience and some of our more notable players are starting to play the way we know they can."

But then again, those around ECAC hockey know that the Golden Knights are always a second-half team. It looks like no exception this year.

"I wish I knew," joked Morris about the second-half runs. "There’s always room for improvement, but we’re making progress. Our guys are starting to become believers as to what we are after and it’s a learning process for all of us to find the pieces of the puzzle."

The learning has helped his team and helped them to this point in the season where the Knights are poised to take a run at the regular season title.

"I think that we demand a lot of our players and we’re willing to sacrifice wins for eliminating undisciplined play," said Morris about his formula. "Anytime you make a decision for the sake of winning a game you are sending the wrong message. When a kid needs to be disciplined he needs to sit out or to be sat out. Our team has had a lot of learning to do in the first half.

"We’ve got a lot of battles left to play yet, but to know that we’re inching towards the top is encouraging."

After a weekend sweep of Rensselaer and Union, the Saints of St. Lawrence are back into first place.

"It was a good way to come off of an emotional loss to Clarkson," said head coach Joe Marsh after Friday’s win over Rensselaer. "We worked hard and the guys know that Heffler is capable of big saves. It’s a big win for us but tomorrow is just as big right now and the thing with this team is the ability to stay focused, especially on the road. It was a good experience, especially for the younger guys, and we’re fortunate to get the two points."

The last-second win over the Engineers was followed up by a 4-0 defeat of the Dutchmen.

"The Union game wasn’t the prettiest thing you’ll ever see, but we’ll certainly take the result," said Marsh. "They are a scrappy team, and it is one of those games that scares you coming off a big win on Friday, but once again we played a solid second period and the special teams got the job done."

The Saints have done it from all facets of the game — goaltending, special teams, offense and defense.

"We had a number of guys step up and contribute this weekend, which is really nice to see," said Marsh. "Unfortunately, we did have some injuries on the road trip. But thanks to being able to play a lot of guys early, we do have people who can step in and contribute, and that showed on Saturday. Hopefully we’ll get everyone back in short order, but we do have the depth to allow the injured guys to get 100 percent healthy before they get back into the lineup."

This has been quite the turnaround for the Saints, who last season needed a last-minute goal in order to make the ECAC playoffs.

"I give this team a lot of credit, this is a team that has worked hard," said Marsh. "It was a real good response and it’s a long season and they’ve been able to keep the straight and narrow."

Picks: Dartmouth at Clarkson — The Golden Knights are on a roll, in which case their home ice is not someplace you want to be. The Big Green find that out. Clarkson 6, Dartmouth 1. Vermont at St. Lawrence — A pivotal point in the season for both teams. The Saints are trying to stay up top with Princeton; the Cats are trying to find themselves. St. Lawrence 4, Vermont 2. Vermont at Clarkson — Now what did we say about Cheel Arena? Clarkson 5, Vermont 1. Dartmouth at St. Lawrence — It would be too much to ask of Dartmouth to upend St. Lawrence in Appleton Arena. The Skating Saints will also be looking for revenge after barely escaping Hanover with a win. And there is also that little matter of Eric Heffler. St. Lawrence 5, Dartmouth 1.

Harvard (8-10-1, 3-9-1 ECAC, T-10th) and Brown (6-8-5, 2-6-4 ECAC, 9th) at Union (3-17-2, 1-10-1 ECAC, 12th) Friday – Saturday, 7:30 pm – 7:00 pm, Achilles Rink, Schenectady, NY Brown (6-8-5, 2-6-4 ECAC, 9th) at Rensselaer (15-7-1, 8-4-1 ECAC, 4th) Friday, 7:30 pm, Houston Field House, Troy, NY Beanpot Consolation Harvard (8-10-1, 3-9-1 ECAC, T-10th) vs. Boston College (16-9-2, 11-5- 0 Hockey East, 3rd) Monday, 6:00 pm, Fleet Center, Boston, MA

Previous Meetings This Season: January 8 — Brown 3, Union 3 January 9 — Rensselaer 2, Brown 0 and Harvard 4, Union 3 January 12 — Harvard 3, Boston College 1

For the second straight year, Harvard added a dramatic touch to the annual Beanpot tournament when junior defenseman Matt Scorsune scored the game-tying goal with a mere 4.2 seconds left on the clock to send the first-round contest against Northeastern into overtime.

However, for the second straight year at the Beanpot, it was not meant to be for the Crimson, who watched as Huskies sophomore Brian Cummings knocked home a rebound 4:35 into the overtime period to prevent Harvard from advancing to the coveted championship game on Monday night.

"A little deja vu did cross my mind," said Harvard head coach Ronn Tomassoni, alluding to last year’s semifinal, in which Harvard was able to defeat Boston College in overtime after similar regulation-time heroics. "We all felt good heading into overtime, it just wasn’t in the cards. I thought the third period was really ours. Our team is in really good condition and we had lots of opportunities to score."

Despite the obvious skating advantage — due to the likes of Steve Moore, Chris Bala, and Craig Adams — over Northeastern, Harvard was unable to take advantage of the larger FleetCenter ice surface and had difficulty adjusting in the early going. A back-checking miscue and then a defensive breakdown at the Harvard blueline led to the first two Huskies’ goals and it wasn’t until the third period when the Crimson began to generate its best offensive opportunities.

"We were sluggish at the start of the first period and we were sluggish at the start of the second," Tomassoni said. "For some reason it took us a while to find our legs in each period. We certainly had our opportunities, though. Our power play really hasn’t clicked for us lately and we had difficulty setting up."

None of that mattered, however, when Scorsune one-timed a Ben Storey feed into the lower left-hand corner near the end of regulation. Ironically, however, it was Scorsune who was unable to control the lobbed puck into the Crimson defensive zone which led to Cummings’ game winner.

Before Harvard serves out its fate by playing in the consolation game against Boston College on Monday night, the team must travel to Union to take on the Skating Dutchmen in a crucial ECAC contest. Harvard has made a valiant move up the league ladder after its disastrous 0-8-1 start, but it will have to lift its chin out of its navel following the loss to Northeastern in order to stay in the playoff hunt.

The Scott Stirling that everyone at Brown knew and loved has made a return to the Bears lineup. After struggling through a series of losses the past couple of months and actually losing the starting position for a few games, the Brown netminder delivered his best performances of the year this past weekend in his team’s two victories over MSU-Mankato.

On Saturday night, Stirling was phenomenal as he knocked away a game-high 40 saves for his first shutout of the season. The next afternoon, he wasn’t able to repeat the shutout feat, but he did play well enough to although his team to post four goals before allowing two Mankato goals in the third period. By that time, however, the game had been sealed and delivered as Brown cruised to an easy 8-3 win over the host team.

Offensively, the Bears saw an even scoring attack as eight different Brown players scored on the weekend, including two-goals a piece from Mike Bent, Paul Giblin, and Josh Barker. The team also notched three power-play goals on the weekend, which drew a sigh of relief from Brown head coach Roger Grillo, who had seen his special teams struggle during its recent non-league stretch.

Now that Brown has found a way to knock off non-league opponents, it has to return to league play as it travels to RPI and Union this weekend. The Engineers were the last ECAC opponent the Bears faced, but that was a month ago before Brown embarked on its seven- game non-league stretch.

Union College had just gotten a few monkeys off of its back with its first win since November, but was brought rudely back to the losing trend by Clarkson and St. Lawrence.

A 5-3 loss to the Knights was followed up with a 4-0 loss to the Saints. The losses continue to leave the Dutchmen in last place in the ECAC, four points out of a playoff berth.

"It’s been a frustrating year," said head coach Kevin Sneddon. "We’re in a situation where we have a fear of failure. We see ourselves playing with the attitude of going out there and playing and it’s just a matter of time before something is going to happen to make us fail. We’re playing not to lose right now.

"It’s all attitude. The next thing is getting the experience that we need. We need the experience in how to win close games. I had thought that the RPI game back in November when we won in overtime would kickstart us in that direction, but it just didn’t happen."

It has been hard for the Dutchmen. But with ten games left in the season, that is plenty of time for a turnaround and plenty of opportunity to make the playoffs and make some noise.

"Even though we lost two this weekend we had some good moments," said Sneddon. "The guys came into practice this week with a great attitude and what we have done is reevaluate our goals for the last ten games and what to do with those ten games. Right now we’re in 12th place, we can’t go any lower and we’ve got nothing to lose."

The Rensselaer Engineers’ winning streak of nine came to a screeching halt this past weekend with losses to St. Lawrence and Clarkson. A last second loss to the Saints was followed by a loss in which the Engineers never held the lead against the Golden Knights.

"You’re going to have ups and downs in a season," said head coach Dan Fridgen. "All of a sudden you’re on a nine-game winning streak and you’re the heroes. Lose a couple and you’re back to reality, you’re bums again. Such is life."

The Engineers fell from first place to fourth in the standings after the weekend, and with one fewer game to play than ten other ECAC teams, it might have been the biggest weekend of the season.

"When you look at this weekend as far as coming out with two victories, [that] would have put us in exceptional shape," said Fridgen. "But we’re in good shape. I’m not saying that losing is something you accept; yeah, we’re hurting because of the two games, but there are still points to be had.

"We’re faced with a little adversity and the sign of a good team is how you handle that adversity. Do you pack your bags and go home or do you accept the challenge? We’ll see what we’re made of. This is the bigger challenge — what we face this weekend."

Picks: Harvard at Union — Kevin Sneddon vs. Ronn Tomassoni. It will be the student vs. the mentor for the second time. Sneddon has done some good things with the struggling Union program, but the talent factor rests on the side of his alma mater. Harvard 4, Union 2. Brown at Rensselaer — This is an important game for both teams. The Bears are looking to move up and the Engineers are looking to regroup. With Stirling hot, this game is going to be closer than the last one between these two. Rensselaer 3, Brown 2. Brown at Union — Brown has an uphill road in its quest for decent playoff position, but with Stirling finally finding his rhythm, things should only get better for the Bears, who cap off another zero-point weekend for Union. Brown 5, Union 2. Harvard vs. Boston College — Harvard has already beaten Boston College this season and should repeat the feat. Unfortunately, consolation games in front of approximately a dozen fans in the FleetCenter bring out a depressing quality in the Crimson skaters. A meaningless game for both teams, it will be a yawner. Boston College 3, Harvard 2.

Next Week in the ECAC Friday, February 12 Rensselaer at Clarkson Union at St. Lawrence Princeton at Harvard Yale at Brown Colgate at Dartmouth Cornell at Vermont

Saturday, February 13 Union at Clarkson Rensselaer at St. Lawrence Yale at Harvard Princeton at Brown Cornell at Dartmouth Colgate at Vermont

Thanks to Jay Wang, Michael Sharp and Steve Marsi for their contributions to this preview.

All photographs used by permission of the appropriate Sports Information Departments. Any reproduction without authorization is prohibited.

Becky Blaeser and Jayson Moy are ECAC Correspondents for U.S. College Hockey Online.

Copyright 1999 Becky Blaeser and Jayson Moy. All rights reserved.

This Week in the CCHA: February 5, 1999

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Recently, the sparring on the USCHO Message Board among college hockey fans has reached an all-time high–or low, as the case may be. The flip side of such animosity is sportsmanship, even friendship.

As CCHA Correspondent for U.S. College Hockey Online, I’ve met my fair share of poor sports; however, the majority of people I’ve met through college hockey have run the gamut from friendly to wonderful.

In your opinion, what team other than the one you personally root for has the nicest fans? What is the nicest or most polite fan behavior you’ve witnessed from people whose team is not your favorite?

Let me hear from you. Give me your opinion about the nicest fans you’ve encountered, and feel free to include fans from other conferences. If you have a specific story, share it with me, and I’ll share it next week in this column.

Just email me at [email protected]. Please include your full name and email address, and tell me what team you root for yourself. Any stories received may be used in next week’s column, so be clear about what’s on the record and what’s not, and whether or not you want your name used when your story is told.

Thanks for reading, and happy hockey! Paula

For the first time since the season began, there are no ties in the CCHA standings.

The No. 4 Michigan State Spartans continue to hold at first place with 33 points. Last weekend Michigan State tied No. 6 Michigan 3-3. This weekend, the Spartans travel to South Bend for their first meeting of the season with the No. 9 Notre Dame Fighting Irish before meeting the Lakers in Joe Louis Arena Saturday night.

No. 6 Michigan is just two points out of first place. After the 3-3 draw with the Spartans last weekend, the Wolverines lost to No. 9 Notre Dame 3-2. This weekend, Michigan hosts Lake Superior Friday and Ohio State Saturday.

Nipping at the heels of the Wolverines, Ohio State remains in third place with 39 points, two points behind No. 6 Michigan. Last weekend, the Buckeyes beat Western Michigan 3-2 before shelling the Broncos 8- 0. Ohio State faces Bowling Green for the first time this season Friday before heading up to Ann Arbor.

No. 9 Notre Dame is three points behind Ohio State in fourth place in the CCHA. Last weekend, the Irish beat No. 6 Michigan 3-2. This weekend, Notre Dame hosts Alaska-Fairbanks on Saturday.

With a 3-2 win and 2-2 tie in Fairbanks last weekend, the Northern Michigan Wildcats gained three points for a total of 25, one behind the Irish and good enough for fifth place. The ‘Cats are idle this week.

One point separates sixth-place Ferris State (24 points) from Northern Michigan. Last weekend, the Bulldogs lost 5-1 to Miami before tying the RedHawks 2-2–both games at home. Ferris State sits out this weekend.

Ferris State’s weekend off could be good news for the seventh-place Bowling Green Falcons, who are in position to gain some ground this weekend. Bowling Green, in seventh place with 19 points, split with Lake Superior last weekend, winning 3-2 before losing 4-3 in overtime. The Falcons host the Buckeyes and the Broncos this weekend.

It seems the Miami RedHawks have done some growing up. The ‘Hawks beat Ferris State 5-1 and tied the Bulldogs 2-2 on the road last weekend. With 14 points, Miami will try to hold on to eighth place while taking this weekend off.

Since there’s no preview for Miami this week, now is the time to mention the honors two RedHawks earned last weekend with their play in Big Rapids. Sophomore RedHawk Jason Deskins is this week’s CCHA Offensive Player of the Week for his three goals and one assist against Ferris State. Deskins scored both goals in the 2-2 tie, one of which was his first career shorthanded tally.

Senior Miami goaltender Andy Marsch made 60 saves and allowed only one even-strength goal in his 125 minutes in net against Ferris State last weekend. For his outstanding play, Marsch was named CCHA Defensive Player of the Week and the USCHO/CCM Defensive Player of the Week.

Congratulations to the RedHawks!

Lake Superior State, in ninth place with 12 points, split with Bowling Green at home last weekend, losing 3-2 and winning 4-3 in overtime. The Lakers travel to No. 6 Michigan before hosting No. 4 Michigan State.

Alaska-Fairbanks is tenth in the league with 11 points. The Nanooks lost to Northern Michigan 3-2 before tying the Wildcats 2-2 at home. UAF travels to Western Michigan and No. 9 Notre Dame this weekend.

With 10 points, the Western Michigan Broncos anchor last place in the league this week after 3-2 and 8-0 losses to Ohio State last weekend. Bronco head coach Bill Wilkinson was relieved of coaching duties at the start of this week. Western hosts Alaska-Fairbanks and travels to Bowling Green this weekend.

Last week’s record in picks: 5-5 Overall record in picks: 85-61

So flip a coin already!

No. 4 Michigan State (20-3-5, 14-2-5 CCHA) at No. 9 Notre Dame (15-7-3, 12-6-2 CCHA) Friday, 7 p.m., Joyce Center, South Bend, IN No. 4 Michigan State (20-3-5, 14-2-5 CCHA) vs. Lake Superior (6-17-3, 5-13-2 CCHA) Saturday, 7 p.m., Joe Louis Arena, Detroit, MI

No. 4 Michigan State vs. No. 9 Notre Dame

This is the first game of the season between these two teams, and the first game to be played within a 15-day span. Each team had at least some success against the same top-ten team last weekend; Michigan State tied Michigan 3-3, while Notre Dame beat the Wolverines 3-2.

"Our kids played pretty well in the third period," says Michigan State head coach Ron Mason, whose Spartans had to come from behind to tie the game. "They got the first goal, and it was a bit of a fluky goal, so we had to catch up."

Everyone is trying to catch up with the Spartans, who hold tight to first place in the league. It’s unlikely that Notre Dame, a full seven points behind Michigan State in the standings, can move up to the top spot in the league, but the Irish are fighting hard to host a playoff series.

The Spartans lead this overall series 41-28-4, but trail in South Bend 15-16-3, but are 6-0-3 in the Joyce Center in their last nine trips. Notre Dame is undefeated at home this season, compiling a 9-0-1 record there so far.

The Spartans took two of three from the Irish last season, and the loser scored just one goal in all three contests. Notre Dame beat the Spartans 6-1 in East Lansing on November 1, 1997, snapping a 17-game winless streak against MSU. The Spartans won the other two games 5-1 and 3-1.

This game pairs up the best power play in the league with one of the worst. Notre Dame’s power play has been converting at over 20% all season–and it’s the fourth-best in the nation– while Michigan State’s power play slumbers at about 12%. Of course, the Spartan penalty kill is the best in the league, effective about 93% of the time. Notre Dame’s PK is about 85%.

Statistics can, however, be misleading. Lest you think of MSU’s special teams as unproductive offensively, remember that the Spartans can be deadly on the PK. Michigan State has scored 10 shorthanded goals while coughing up just 11 power-play goals this season. Rustyn Dolyny (10-8–18) and Shawn Horcoff (9-14–23) share the national lead with three shorthanded goals each. The Spartans’ overall PK (.919) leads the nation.

This game also matches one of the league’s top lines with the absolute, bar-none, best defense in the country.

Ben Simon (12-16–28), Brian Urick (10-16–26), and Aniket Dhadphale (11-7–18) have combined for 33 of Notre Dame’s 72 goals this season. Both the Irish and the Spartans are averaging more than three goals per game in arguably the toughest defensive conference in the country.

The Spartan attack is led by the incomparable Mike York (9-18–27) followed by Horcoff, Bryan Adams (12-6–18), Dolyny, Damon Whitten (7-4–11), and defenseman Chris Bogas (1-9– 10). The Spartans are 9-0-1 when Whitten registers a point.

Several Irish players have been on the hot side lately. Simon has nine points in his last seven games; Chad Chipchase (8-3–11) has five points in his last six games; Benoit Cotnoir (4-9–13) has 10 points in his last eight games; Dan Carlson (5-14–19) has six points in his last seven games.

The Spartans have allowed one goal or less in 75% of their games (21 of 28), including nine of the last 11 games, and Michigan State is the only team in the nation allowing fewer than two goals per game (1.32).

By the numbers, Spartan goaltender Joe Blackburn is the best in the league. Blackburn leads the conference in goals against (1.40) and is second in save percentage (.930). Notre Dame’s Forrest Karr (2.26 GAA, .905 SV%) is hot, though, with a 1.71 GAA and .927 save percentage in his last seven games.

Pick

The Spartans are riding a 15-game unbeaten streak (12-0-3), the longest active unbeaten streak in Division I hockey.

A player for each team injured on the same day in separate games may return this weekend. Notre Dame’s Brian Urick has missed three games since January 16 because of a cracked bone in his hand. Urick had three straight two-point games before he was injured January 16.

Spartan defenseman Andre Hutchinson, whom Mason calls "essential," may return to play this weekend for the first time since spraining his knee on January 16.

This game is more of a test for Notre Dame than it is for Michigan State, in the sense that the Irish are trying to prove something this season. In spite of that great Irish first line and power play, the teams are essentially even offensively, as Mike York tends to be a one-man squad. Defensively and in net, the Spartans have a clear advantage.

That having been said, faith saw me through last weekend, and I’ve learned my lesson.

Notre Dame 2-1

No. 4 Michigan State vs. Lake Superior

Last weekend, the Lakers split with Bowling Green, losing 3-2 then winning 4-3 in overtime. The OT game began with the Laker power play after a scrum at the end of regulation. Lake Superior is 2-1-0 since losing 4-1 to Michigan State on January 22.

Tobin Praznik (9-5–14), Trent Walford (4-7–11), Mike Vigilante (2-9–11), and Fred Slukynsky (6-4–10) lead the Laker offense. Ben Keup (3-5–8) had the game-winning goal against the Falcons last weekend, and also tallied two assists for the series. As a team, the Lakers are -51 and are being outscored 48-63 by league opponents.

Former Spartan Mike Brusseau (3.08 GAA, .891 SV%) and Jayme Platt (2.86 GAA, .899 SV%) occupy the Laker net; Brusseau is capable of outstanding play.

Pick

The Lakers need points to make the playoffs, and unless MSU breaks down, it’s unlikely that Lake Superior will get what they need here.

The Spartans lead the series 42-27-8, and have won the two previous meetings this season. Michigan State is 5-4-0 against Lake Superior at The Joe. The Spartans have beaten the Lakers six straight, and are 6-0-2 in the last eight games against Lake.

The Spartans have won their previous two games at Joe Louis Arena, when they beat Northern Michigan and Michigan during the Great Lakes Invitational.

The venue gives Michigan State the edge. Michigan State gives Michigan State the edge.

Michigan State 4-1

Ohio State (15-10-4, 13-6-3 CCHA) at Bowling Green (12-12-3, 8-10-3 CCHA) Friday, 7 p.m., BGSU Ice Arena, Bowling Green, OH Ohio State (15-10-4, 13-6-3 CCHA) at No. 6 Michigan (17-6-4, 14-4-3 CCHA) Saturday, 7 p.m., Yost Ice Arena, Ann Arbor, MI

Ohio State vs. Bowling Green

The Buckeyes beat Western Michigan 3-1 last weekend before rolling over the Broncos 8-0. The Ohio State defense scored six of the 11 Buckeye goals in the two games.

Freshman defenseman Scott Titus had the game-winner in the first game, his first collegiate goal and his first of two on the weekend. Titus also finished the weekend +4, and earned CCHA Rookie of the week honors.

Titus’s partner, Ryan Skaleski, tallied his first goal and point of the season. Ryan Jestadt (6-2- -8) also notched two goals, just one week after tying Michigan with 1:10 to go in regulation.

The Buckeye offense also showed up to play. Hugo Boisvert (11-21–32) had his first four- point period with a goal and three assists in the first period of the second game. Boisvert now leads the league in both conference scoring and overall scoring.

One other player deserves mention for Ohio State. Senior Brian Morrison, who sat out as a healthy scratch for nearly a year before being inserted into the OSU lineup against Cornell in January, got his first point of the season with a sweet little drop pass to Eric Meloche (4-8–12) in the first game.

The shutout was Jeff Maund’s (1.87 GAA, .933 SV%) third of the year, third in the month January, and third in the Schottenstein Center. He must like playing there. Maund began the season giving up close to four goals per game. His save percentage now leads the league.

After such decisive play against Western Michigan, the Buckeyes face a big test this weekend with their first game of the season against Bowling Green. Ohio State has a tendency to show up for big games and let down for games against teams lower in the standings. Breaking that pattern against Western may be a good sign for OSU.

Head coach John Markell knows that he’s facing one of the best lines in the league when the Bucks head north to BG.

"We know we have to check their first line, and how we rotate our checking line will be a big part of this game," says Markell.

That checking line consists of the ever-underrated Chris Richards (5-14–19), J.F. Dufour (7- 7–14), and Neal Rech (3-2–5).

"The key for us may be the match-ups," says Markell. "While we have to check their first line, they have to check ours. It may come down to how well our fourth lines play."

Bowling Green is led by Adam Edinger (2-18–30), Dan Price (9-19–28), Ryan Murphy (6- 16–22), Mike Jones (5-14–19), Chris Bonvie (9-7–16), Craig Desjarlais (6-7–13), and Greg Day (4-7–11). There is no better one-two punch in the league than Edinger and Price, period.

Last weekend, the Falcons split with Lake Superior, and the manner in which the split occurred did not please head coach Buddy Powers.

"I thought in the first game, you could tell the Lakers were playing as though they have their backs against the wall," says Powers. "It was a close-checking game, they kept our power play in check. They obviously did a pretty good job scouting the power play."

The second game was a different story, says Powers. He says that with about 15 seconds to go in regulation, a Laker player ran BG goaltender Mike Savard, and a "chain of events" resembling a "circus" ensued.

"When the dust settled, Mike Jones got the only penalty. It should’ve been a major penalty, but it shouldn’t have been the only penalty," says Powers.

The Lakers began OT with the power play, and won the game.

In spite of the Falcon firepower, Bowling Green is -71 as a team, and is being outscored 68- 81. Powers says, "We’ve been close in games with a lot of teams in the top five in the league, but it’s getting over that hump that we can’t seem to do yet."

Senior Mike Savard is the starting goalie for the Falcons. Savard’s numbers have improved considerably this season, and he currently posts a 3.41 GAA and .881 league save percentage.

Pick

This game pits one of the league’s best power plays against a solid penalty kill. The Bowling Green power play is converting on 20% of its chances, while Ohio State is killing penalties at the rate of 93%. OSU killed all 40 opponent power-play chances in the Schottenstein Center in January. Good thing for the Falcons this one’s in BG.

Both teams can score goals, and Bowling Green outshoots opponents by a much wider margin than does Ohio State.

Ohio State has the advantage in net and defensively. The young Buckeye defense has solidified significantly since the first of the season, and Maund appears to be in a groove.

The one weakness OSU has is inconsistency. If Ohio State looks past this game toward Saturday’s finale with Michigan, Bowling Green will win. If the teams get into a shootout, it’s like Bowling Green will win. If penalties disrupt the flow of the game, Ohio State may lose its collective concentration and Bowling Green will win.

If the Buckeyes play their game, Ohio State will win.

Ohio State 4-3

Ohio State vs. No. 6 Michigan

The Wolverines can’t possibly be happy with their 3-3 tie in East Lansing and their 3-2 loss in South Bend last week. One point in two games is tough for Michigan to take.

On whom better to take out a little Michigan aggression than the Buckeyes, especially since Ohio State actually leads this season series 1-0-1. The 1-0 shutout over Michigan on January 2 was the first time the Buckeyes have ever blanked the Wolverines. Michigan has scored just one goal against Ohio State this season, in 125 minutes of play.

Can you hear the gallop of the Four Horsemen? Or is this like that episode of the original Star Trek series where characters meet their polar opposites in a parallel universe?

Michigan holds a 44-20-8 lead in this all-time series. In the last 34 meetings, the Wolverines are 29-2-3, but are 0-2-1 in the last three games between Michigan and OSU, dating back to last year’s CCHA tournament.

Chris Richards and Ryan Jestadt have scored for the Buckeyes against Michigan this year. Mike Comrie (10-11–21) scored the lone Wolverine goal against Ohio State on January 23.

Comrie leads the Wolverines in scoring, followed by the underrated Josh Langfeld (9-7–16), Mark Kosick (6-8–14), Bubba Berenzweig (3-10–13), Dale Rominski (11-4–15), Mike Van Ryn (6-7–13), Dave Huntzicker (2-10–12), Jeff Jillson (2-10–12), Bobby Hayes (1-9–10), and the other underrated Wolverine, Scott Matzka (2-8–10), who gave it everything he had in overtime against the Buckeyes.

Hayes tallied his first league goal and also had an assist against Notre Dame last weekend. Berenzweig picked up two assists in the Michigan State game.

In net for Michigan, Josh Blackburn is stellar, with a 1.96 league GAA and .916 save percentage. Blackburn made 53 saves last weekend, including 32 in the game against Michigan State.

Pick

As you would expect with two teams that have combined for three goals in two games, the Buckeyes and Wolverines are fairly evenly matched.

Offensively, Ohio State has the potential for more fireworks with players like Boisvert, Richards, Meloche and Brandon Lafrance. OSU is outscoring league opponents 66-44 to Michigan’s 63-43.

As a team, Ohio State is +77; Michigan is +71.

Michigan has the better power play, converting at roughly 16%; Ohio State’s power play works about 14% of the time.

Ohio State’s penalty kill is effective more than 90% of the time, while Michigan kills off about 88% of opponent penalties. Michigan and Ohio State are the number-one and number-two most- penalized teams in the league, respectively.

In net, Ohio State has an advantage when Maund’s head is in the game, but the two previous matches proved to be glorious goaltending duels.

The advantage has to be Michigan’s at home, even though the Buckeyes will play their hearts out.

Michigan 2-1

Alaska-Fairbanks (8-17-1, 5-16-1 CCHA) at Western Michigan (3-16-6, 2-13-6 CCHA) Friday, 7 p.m., Lawson Arena, Kalamazoo, MI Alaska-Fairbanks (8-17-1, 5-16-1 CCHA) at at No. 9 Notre Dame (15-7-3, 12-6-2 CCHA) Saturday, 7 p.m., Joyce Center, South Bend, IN

Alaska-Fairbanks vs. Western Michigan

Both the Nanooks and the Broncos need points to make the CCHA playoffs. This battle for eighth place has some interesting overtones, given that Dave Laurion has given his notice and Bill Wilkinson was given his walking papers.

Last weekend, Fairbanks played Northern Michigan close in two games at home, losing 3-2 and tying 2-2.

Mike Jaros (3-6–9) and Kevin McNeill (4-2–6) had goals each night for the Nanooks, while Jamie Coady (7-2–9) had a two-goal weekend, lighting the lamp in each game.

Ian Perkins (4.01 GAA, .882 SV%) made 64 saves on the weekend.

The Nanooks face a potentially demoralized Western Michigan team. The Broncos lost 3-1 to Ohio State Friday before taking an 8-0 beating Saturday night. Steve Rymsha (3-3–6) had the only goal on the weekend for Western Michigan.

Jeff Reynaert (4.18 GAA, .879 SV%) played well for the Broncos Friday night, stopping 41 of 44 Buckeye shots on net. The following night, however, Reynaert allowed four goals on eight shots in the first period. Matt Barnes (3.39 GAA, .880) allowed the remaining four goals in two periods.

Pick

Because of technical difficulties, current official CCHA statistics are unavailable for the Nanooks. It doesn’t matter–Fairbanks should win this game.

The Nanooks are big, fairly fast, with an aggressive forecheck and consistent goaltending. The Broncos seem to lack on-ice leadership and general focus.

Alaska-Fairbanks 4-2

Alaska-Fairbanks vs. No. 9 Notre Dame

If this game were being played anywhere but in South Bend, it would be no gimme. Fairbanks has the ability to skate with Notre Dame, and the Nanooks have been known to rise to a challenge and exploit an opponent’s weakness, should the opponent display any weakness.

The Nanooks lead this all-time series 12-8-0, but the Irish have won the last six straight, including a decisive two-game home sweep in January, 6-2 and 6-1. Aniket Dhadphale and Dan Carlson both scored twice in the first game; Chad Chipchase had two goals in the second game.

Jim Lawrence (6-7–13), Chris Kirwan (7-3–10), and Sjon Wynia (3-7–10) are the only three Nanooks in double-digit conference scoring.

Pick

The Nanooks are ninth in CCHA scoring, ninth in league defense, 11th in power-play percentage, and 10th in penalty killing. The only thing working in UAF’s favor where special teams are concerned is that the Nanooks are the least penalized team in the league.

Offensively, Notre Dame can eat these guys for lunch, as they proved by outscoring the Nanooks 12-3 in two games earlier this season. The Notre Dame power play, should the Irish get the chance, may be enough to beat Alaska-Fairbanks.

Notre Dame 4-2

Lake Superior (6-17-3, 5-13-2 CCHA) at No. 6 Michigan (17-6-4, 14-4-3 CCHA) Friday, 7 p.m., Yost Ice Arena, Ann Arbor, MI

The Lakers have the edge in this all-time series 31-38-6, but the Wolverines have taken 20 of the last 28 contests, and are unbeaten by the Lakers (9-0-1) in the last 10 meetings, dating back to January 31, 1992.

The Lakers and Wolverines met on October 11 in Yost, where Michigan delivered a 2-0 shutout. The Wolverines outshot the Lakers 40-14 in that game, back when Rob Galatiuk (3.64 GAA, .876 SV%) was playing regularly–and well, apparently.

Dale Rominski and Mike Comrie had the goals for Michigan. The goal was Rominski’s first of the season; Comrie’s goal was the first of his collegiate career. The shutout was Josh Blackburn’s first collegiate shutout.

Since that meeting, the Wolverines have actually improved, posting the second best defensive stats in the nation.

The Lakers are being outscored 48-63 in league games. The team stands at -57 in league play. The Wolverines are outscoring league opponents 63-43, and are +71 as a team in CCHA play.

You do the math.

Pick: Michigan 4-1

Western Michigan (3-16-6, 2-13-6 CCHA) at Bowling Green (12-12-3, 8-10-3 CCHA) Saturday, 7 p.m., BGSU Ice Arena, Bowling Green, OH

The Falcons lead this all-time series 64-35-3, and most recently beat the Broncos 5-3 at home (December 12). In Bowling Green, the Falcons are 37-11-0 against Western Michigan.

Frank Novock (4-10–14), David Gove (5-10–15), and Chuck Mindel (9-4–13) had the goals for Western. Scoring for Bowling Green were Mike Jones (5-14–19), Chris Bonvie (9-7–16), Doug Schueller (4-3–7), Craig Desjarlais (6-7–13), and Ryan Murphy (6-16–22).

The only power-play goal of the night was Mindel’s, and Murphy’s goal was an empty-netter. Jeff Reynaert made 28 saves for Western to Mike Savard’s 21 in the BG net.

The surging Falcons have the best first line in the league, an outstanding power play, more consistent goaltending, and the home-ice advantage.

Pick: Bowling Green 5-2

This Week in the WCHA: February 5, 1999

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It’s just one of those things that always seems to happen in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association.

Last weekend, conference leader North Dakota — also the No. 1 team in the nation — squared off with Minnesota-Duluth, the last-place team in the league. Looks like a sure sweep for the Sioux, right?

Maybe in some other league, but one thing WCHA coaches learn right off the bat when they come in is that you never take another team for granted. The Bulldogs were within a minute of grabbing a win in the series opener and, despite losing their No. 1 goaltender, fought for a tie the second night.

This is where I get to make a shameless excuse. Maybe that’s why it’s so darn difficult to make picks each week. I don’t even want to look back at my record most weeks. Something you think is a dead-lock cinch turns out to be a flop.

With that pleasant thought in mind, let’s turn to this week’s action. After all, it’s time for Winter Carnival in Houghton, Mich., as the Techsters welcome the Sioux. The Huskies took both games last season against Minnesota — will they be able to harness the power of the Carnival to their advantage again?

Fresh off a pair of 1-1 ties with Alaska-Anchorage, St. Cloud State returns home to welcome Wisconsin. The Badgers fell victim to a Denver onslaught last Saturday, and have now fallen into seventh place in the conference. Can either UW coach Jeff Sauer or SCSU leader Craig Dahl field an entire lineup for this matchup?

After not tasting victory in two months, last weekend’s Minnesota sweep of Tech must have been awfully sweet for the Gophers. Maybe they should enjoy it while it lasts. They hit the road to face a rested, healthy Colorado College team. Will CC regain the form it had earlier this season, or will they continue to "struggle" against an improved-shooting Gopher team?

Minnesota-Duluth is next on the list of teams to make the journey to Alaska, but they welcome the challenge. After all, you push the No. 1 team to its limits two nights in a row, you should be able to walk with your chin up. Anchorage needs some wins to solidify its upper-level position in the face of advancing teams. Can UAA goaltender Gregg Naumenko keep up his solid play or will an improving Bulldogs offense be the one to get to him?

Denver again goes on the road to play a game at home and also plays a road game at that same arena. Confused? So am I. The Pioneers play a pair of non-conference games at the Air Force Academy this weekend, facing Air Force on Friday and Minnesota State, Mankato on Saturday. Will DU play well enough to keep its position in the U.S. College Hockey Online Top 10?

Will I finally stop asking questions and start giving some answers?

No. 1 NORTH DAKOTA (20-2-2, 15-1-2 WCHA: 1st) at MICHIGAN TECH (7-18-1, 7-13 WCHA: 8th) Friday-Saturday, 7:05-5:05 ET, MacInnes Student Ice Arena, Houghton, Mich.

ON THE SIOUX: You won’t find North Dakota coach Dean Blais surprised that Minnesota-Duluth put up such a fight against his team last weekend.

"Duluth has always been good competition," Blais said. "At times they’ve been rated real high and we’ve knocked them off, and vice versa."

But that still doesn’t make up for the fact that the No. 1 team in the nation, who had lost or tied only three games entering the weekend, came that close to being swept by the last place team in the conference. The Sioux have been forced to make a comeback to earn their points in each of their last three games.

Not to mention the number of close games they’ve been a part of. Seven of UND’s last nine games have either been a tie or a one-goal game. That starts to wear on a team after a while.

"Don Lucia wanted to know which church I went to," Blais said. "It’s been a grind, not so much physically, but mentally. When we came from two goals down at CC to win in the third period and then two goals down against Minnesota, and pulling our goaltender, tying it and winning it at Duluth, it’s been a tough three weeks. But we haven’t lost, we’ve managed to hang on."

The question stands, however, on the Sioux’s status. Are they as good now as they were earlier in the season. They don’t appear to be as dominant. Blais said that despite the prevalence of the one-goal game, he sees more intensity on his team now than before.

"It’s tough when everyone’s shooting at you," Blais said. "We’ve played well and the other teams have played well against us too."

Things haven’t been exactly as the UND leader would like, though. He emphasized that there is still a long way for his team to go before it wins anything.

"We haven’t accomplished anything. We haven’t won the league yet," Blais said. "It’ll be a joyous occasion when we do, but that’s still one of our goals. A few teams are still mathematically in range. We don’t want to see any peaks and valleys — especially valleys — at the end of the year. We want to keep building on what we’ve done.

"I’ve seen a little bit of complacency and no improvement in the last month, so I’m looking forward to seeing another jump in our improvement. I don’t know when that’ll come, it’s hard to tell. We’ve played three of our last four series on the road. Three of our last four series are going to be at home, so I would expect things to come together a little bit the last month of the season."

ON THE HUSKIES: Michigan Tech is just 3-8 this season at the John MacInnes Student Ice Arena. But when Winter Carnival comes around, throw that all out the window. Something strange happens, and I’m not talking about the festivities.

Since 1950, the Huskies are 65-27-6 in games played during Winter Carnival, the largest collegiate winter festival in the nation. Each year, in the fifth week of the winter quarter, Houghton transforms itself from a sleepy Upper Peninsula city to a thriving bastion of celebration. How to explain MTU’s success during the festival is an interesting question.

For a long time, Tech just had a good hockey team. With recent teams not exactly setting the world on fire, the Huskies are only 8-6-4 in the 1990s, but it still must be said that MTU is a different team during the Carnival.

"I think the players get caught up in the excitement and they relax a little bit more and just go out there and have some fun," Huskies coach Tim Watters said.

Winter Carnival isn’t just the games. There’s a snow sculpture contest, broomball tournaments, a talent show and the Sno-Ball Dance, featuring the Winter Carnival Queen.

"The whole atmosphere over Winter Carnival is just that — a carnival-like atmosphere," Watters said. "The students get into not just the hockey games but all the activities a little bit more, as do the local people and the many people that visit our campus."

That excitement should grow this season, as No. 1 North Dakota comes to town.

"I think it’s exciting any time you get to play the No. 1 team in the nation," Watters said. "There’s an air of excitement and this weekend will be no different."

The Techsters dropped a pair of 4-2 games to Minnesota last weekend, watching a two-goal lead go Friday night and seeing a 1-0 lead slip away on Saturday.

"I didn’t think we had a killer instinct this past weekend," Watters said. "We got up two goals in the first period on Friday night and we let that slip through our fingers. I think it just carried over through the rest of the weekend."

THE MATCHUP: Blais called his team "the road warriors." When you have a 10-0-2 record on the road, you can say things like that.

He said he hopes that experience will carry over to the time it counts.

"I think our guys know what it takes to win on the road," Blais said. "With the WCHA Final Five, the quarterfinals, semifinals and NCAA finals all on the road, you’d better be able to play on the road. It’s a different game. You keep it real simple and with a lot of discipline."

Here’s a side note: The Huskies have won the John MacInnes Memorial Cup, given to the winner of the two-game, total-goals series, 31 of the last 39 seasons.

PICKS: North Dakota, 4-3; 5-3

WISCONSIN (9-14-3, 7-9-2 WCHA: 7th) at ST. CLOUD STATE (12-11-3, 8-10-2 WCHA: 5th) Friday-Saturday, 7:35-7:05 CT, National Hockey Center, St. Cloud, Minn.

ON THE BADGERS: Things have come to this in Madison. At Jeff Sauer’s weekly news conference on Monday, the Wisconsin coach preceded reporters’ questions with a listing of his team’s latest injuries. "So you don’t have to ask the question," he said.

The question that comes up every week is, "Who’s next on the injury list?"

Here’s this week’s update: Defenseman Jeff Dessner injured his shoulder last Friday, forcing him out of Saturday’s game. He is expected to play this weekend, but Sauer said that it’s going to be "game-to-game." If Dessner gets hit again, his shoulder may dislocate again.

Defenseman Craig Anderson, already out for the season with a fractured vertebra, had the stabilizing halo removed from his head last weekend. The team is pursuing a medical redshirt for him, but it would be a special exemption because Anderson is already in his fifth season.

Forwards Niki Siren and Andy Wheeler were cleared to practice this week after knee injuries suffered on Dec. 31. Their status is still questionable.

Sauer said that, at practice Monday, he was going to have nine players in a no-contact situation. Just another in a set of problems plaguing the Badgers.

"I’ve personally never been through a season when we’ve had this many different types of things," Sauer said. "It’s just been one scenario after another."

The team’s goal of getting to the top five is still in reach, Sauer said. Of course, there are some tough weekends ahead of his team.

"With what transpired over the weekend and games in hand, we win a couple games along the way and we’re right back in the middle of things," he said. "Our schedule’s not easy, there’s no question, to have to play CC and North Dakota yet. We have five weekends left; the only weekend on a small rink, which when you have a depleted roster is tough too, is the trip to Michigan Tech. Everything else is going to be on the big ice surface, which you need some bodies for that."

ON THE HUSKIES: When teams play Alaska-Anchorage, more often than not, they are forced to play the Seawolves game. In successive 1-1 ties last weekend, St. Cloud State saw a little of that.

"I think the first night we played that way," Huskies coach Craig Dahl said. "The second night, the slot shots were a lot more, it was like 18-14, it was a little more wide-open game. It’s evident to see where their main improvement is as a team, and that’s their goaltending. We had four breakaways at least during the weekend, including a 2-on-0 that we hit the pipe on."

While Gregg Naumenko was outstanding for the Seawolves, so was Dean Weasler for the Huskies. Weasler stopped 61 of 63 shots last weekend, including 39 on Saturday. He now has a 9-5-2 record with a 3.11 goals-against average and a .906 save percentage.

Through everything, Dahl said he was happy to get the unconventional two points.

"I’m glad we got out of there with two points," he said. "It’s a hell of a trip."

One of the things that jumps out of St. Cloud’s results this season is the balance. Through 25 games, the Huskies have hovered around the .500 mark. The most they have been under is two games — after sweeps by Michigan Tech on Nov. 13-14 and North Dakota on Nov. 27-28. On the other hand, the most they have gone over .500 is one game, including their present mark.

SCSU, like Wisconsin, remains plagued by injuries. Dahl still has seven players — including three of his top nine forwards — out of the lineup. On the bright side, the Huskies didn’t lose anyone else last weekend.

"Praise God," Dahl said.

The Huskies currently hold a one-point lead on Minnesota and a two-point advantage on Wisconsin for fifth place. The Badgers and Gophers, however, each have two games in hand on the Huskies. With eight games remaining, Dahl said he has presented the team with what it will have to do down the stretch to hold on to fifth place.

"I’d say we’re going to have to get 10 points out of the 16," he said. "They know what they’ve got to do. We’ll see what happens."

THE MATCHUP: It’s funny, but neither coach seems really interested in the other’s actions.

"We don’t worry about them," Dahl said. "We just practice the things we have to do to get better. I never really stress too much, except watching their power play and penalty kill, know what they’re doing there."

Said Sauer: "I’m not too concerned about their roster. I’m more concerned about our roster and what we have to do."

Wisconsin leads the all-time series, 19-13-3, but has not had a lot of success recently. Over the last 16 games, UW is just 4-10-2 against SCSU.

PICKS: St. Cloud State, 5-3; 2-0

MINNESOTA (9-13-6, 7-8-3 WCHA: 6th) at No. 5 COLORADO COLLEGE (17-8-1, 12-6 WCHA: 2nd) Friday-Saturday, 7:35-7:05 MT, Colorado Springs World Arena, Colorado Springs, Colo.

ON THE GOPHERS: Yes, it was a full two months between Minnesota victories. And yes, the Gophers feel a whole lot better now that they’ve broken the winless streak.

The consecutive 4-2 victories over Michigan Tech moved the Gophers back into sixth place, within striking distance of fourth with a pair of games in hand.

"Wins are a whole lot better than losses," Gophers coach Doug Woog said. "The name of the game is to get a ‘W.’ We needed to get some points. The guys needed some rewards too, it’s been a long, long haul of getting shots and no goals."

A couple of things stand out between the Gophers team of last weekend and the one that endured January. The first is the improvement in shots.

"I thought we were shooting the puck a little bit better over the last couple weeks," Woog said. "We got good goals — we put the puck into the twine — against North Dakota. We hit five pipes Saturday night against Michigan Tech. We were bouncing that puck around pretty good."

The other is the balance in the scoring punch. Seven different players scored the eight goals for Minnesota last weekend.

"Before, I think you found it the same," Woog said. "You found points being distributed around quite a bit. It’s been moved around a little bit and that’s been pretty positive from our end of it. Our forward line has been balanced. We’re getting some production from some different people."

One of the results of that change is Matt Leimbek, who earned Minnesota’s second WCHA Player of the Week award of the season after a five-point (2 goals, 3 assists) weekend. He has eight points in his last five games and has scored goals in his last three games — the only goals of the sophomore’s career.

"Matty came through three games in a row with goals," Woog said. "It’s so ironic, he hasn’t scored a goal at Minnesota and now he’s got three in a row and got them all on the power play."

ON THE TIGERS: Having a weekend off this late in the season could have numerous effects, both positive and negative. For Colorado College, it seems the positives have already come; whether they can continue them through the weekend is the next challenge.

Positive No. 1: Time Off. CC coach Don Lucia didn’t see his players between his team’s last game and last Friday.

"I don’t know who enjoyed it more, them not seeing me or me not seeing them at this point of the year," Lucia said.

For some, this mini-break is the first in a long time. Forward Justin Morrison didn’t get any break while he was with the U.S. Junior National Team during winter break, so this was good for him, Lucia said. He also said he’s going to shorten practices the rest of the season to give people more of a break.

Positive No. 2: Injury recovery. The Tigers got Toby Petersen back for the Jan. 22-23 series with Michigan Tech, now it looks like K.J. Voorhees will see his first action of the season this weekend after recovering from back surgery.

"The biggest adjustment he’s going to have to make is just getting back in game speed," Lucia said. "There’s only one way to do that, and that’s play games. He’s where everybody else was in October. He’s practiced for three weeks, it’s like the season opener for him, the trouble is the speed limit goes up in games. I think he’ll be fine, especially two or three weeks from now. I don’t expect him to be in a groove this weekend, but I’m hoping that by the end of February he’ll be very comfortable."

Unfortunately for CC, Jon Austin went down with a sprained ankle this week in practice and will be out for two to three weeks. He joins Berk Nelson on the injured list.

Suddenly, the Tigers have company on their heels. Denver is just two points back, but CC has two games in hand. Said Lucia: "This is a weekend that we can try to put some distance between us and them."

As far as playing to the end, Lucia knows his team’s fate, as well as many others, rest in its own hands.

"What’s interesting in our league right now is that everybody controls their own destiny," Lucia said. "We control our own destiny for second, Minnesota controls their own destiny to get a home ice spot and maybe climb a whole lot higher. There’s this big mass of teams that are fighting for home ice, and it’ll be interesting to see how it plays out. Nobody’s got anybody to blame but themselves if you don’t get home ice or you do get home ice."

THE MATCHUP: If you’re a Minnesota fan, the images of the Nov. 6-7 series at Mariucci Arena must still haunt you — maybe even more as this weekend’s series approaches. That weekend, CC came into Minnesota and put a whomping on the Gophers, 7-1 and 6-1.

It’s hard to forget the sight of Tigers players skating circles around the Gophers defense. Lucia said that was one of the best weekends of hockey he’s seen his team play.

"It was one of those weekends where the stars were aligned right for us," Lucia said. "That’s probably as good a weekend of hockey as I’ve had a team play in six years. Just back to back, all six periods, goaltending was very good, the specialty teams was very good. Every phase of the game clicked. We need to do that again this week. My concern is, having the weekend off, that we’re not too rusty in the first period and Minnesota takes advantage of that. This is an important final 10 games for us and we obviously want to try to do well at home and win as many games as we can at home from here on out, establish ourselves and try to get second place."

Woog holds a high opinion of CC, probably drawn from that weekend.

"To me, they’ve got as good a talent as anybody in the league,"Woog said. "That’s the part that scares me. Their skill level, their speed level throughout the lineup is as good if not the best in the league. That kind of scares me. We won’t give them as much space. It was like kids against men when we played them the last time. We play a little tighter, we play better defensively. They just threw the puck around like it was on a string. Hopefully we won’t allow them to have that many opportunities this time around."

To do that, the Gophers will have to control the neutral zone on the big ice. If they can’t do that, the scoreboard might get another pounding.

PICKS: Colorado College 5-2; tie 4-4

MINNESOTA-DULUTH (6-19-3, 3-14-3 WCHA: 9th) at ALASKA-ANCHORAGE (11-11-4, 8-8-4 WCHA: 4th) Friday-Saturday, 7:35 AT, Sullivan Arena, Anchorage, Alaska

ON THE BULLDOGS: When you come so close to defeating the No. 1 team in the nation, not just once but twice, do you feel encouraged that your team can play at that level or frustrated that you didn’t have a better fate?

"Both," said Minnesota-Duluth coach Mike Sertich, who saw North Dakota steal a win last Friday and fight back for a 2-2 tie last Saturday.

"I don’t think there’s a question that we had it in our hands and North Dakota snatched it from us, but that’s all part of the gig."

That’s all been part of the trend against North Dakota this season for the Bulldogs. They lost 3-0 and 4-1 at Engelstad Arena earlier this season.

"We played North Dakota tough all four games," Sertich said. "Realistically, when you look at the games out there they were one-goal games. It was 1-1 Saturday night with about 3 minutes left and they got some at the end and 1-0 (Friday night) and they got an empty-netter and another one at the end."

A good number of WCHA coaches have expressed their belief that Duluth is not your normal last-place team. But effort aside, what counts is the numbers. And UMD just hasn’t received its share of breaks this season.

They got more bad news Saturday night when goaltender Brant Nicklin was knocked out with a sprained left knee. He will miss this weekend’s trip to Anchorage, ending his streak of consecutive WCHA starts at 80.

Tony Gasparini, the son of former North Dakota coach Gino Gasparini, will take over the No. 1 spot in Nicklin’s absence. He has a 2.29 goals-against average and a .919 save percentage in 184 minutes of work over five games this season. That includes the last 59:21 of Saturday’s tie with the Sioux.

"He didn’t get nearly the shots that Nicklin had to play, but played very well when we needed him," Sertich said.

ON THE SEAWOLVES: Dean Talafous still isn’t quite sure what happened last weekend in a pair of 1-1 ties against St. Cloud State. Was this the same team that opened up its offense this season or a version of last year’s last-in-the-NCAA scoring effort?

"I don’t know what the heck happened," Talafous said. "I thought both teams played hard. I don’t think they held back at all. It was good goaltending in both ends. I think both teams played pretty good defense, but not because they sat back and tried to defend. It was just kind of the way the weekend went."

The UAA coach considers this time of year playoff time, and, as such, things tend to get a little tighter.

"If you look at the past, playoff time is a little more difficult, things toughen up," Talafous said. "Teams are trying to bring their game to a new level. Generally speaking, the games are pretty tight. You look at Duluth and North Dakota last weekend and you look around the league and it’s just hard-fought games."

Goaltender Gregg Naumenko continued his stellar freshman season, lowering his goals-against to 1.97 while raising his save percentage to .932 with 56 saves last weekend.

"Gregg is really playing well for us but I think he’d be the first one to admit the team is working extremely hard in front of him as well," Talafous said. "The kind of success Gregg is having wouldn’t be happening if the team wasn’t limiting the quality shots in front of him and working extremely hard at coming back and defending. You need both.

"Even the best goalie in the world, if the team in front of him isn’t working and there’s a lot of quality shots and rebounds, isn’t going to look very good. Gregg has been very steady for us, but I think the team’s performance has been very consistent as well."

Naumenko has allowed just one goal in 10 of his last 12 outings.

UAA was not called for a penalty in Saturday’s game against the Huskies. The only surprise about that tidbit is the length of time since that last happened. It was almost two years ago — Feb. 22, 1997 — when the Seawolves last failed to take a penalty.

THE MATCHUP: Count Talafous as another of the coaches who thinks Duluth is a lot tougher than its record suggests.

"I still think the series we played in Duluth earlier this year is as tough a series as we’ve played this year," he said. "We have a tremendous amount of respect for Duluth. And then to go toe-to-toe with North Dakota for two games, they’ve played North Dakota as well as anybody. The combination of our memory of our series down there, and then with what they did last weekend, I don’t think they’re going to catch anybody by surprise."

Anchorage got three points out of that series in Duluth earlier this season — a 3-1 win and a 1-1 tie — but, "We needed everything, good goaltending, we played our best ever and still it could have went the other way easily," Talafous said.

Sertich said his team isn’t in a position where it can worry about the other team’s situation.

"We just have to take care of ourselves, we don’t worry about them," Sertich said. "We know what we’re up against, but the only thing we can control is what we do."

PICKS: Alaska-Anchorage; 2-1; 1-0

No. 10 DENVER (15-9-2, 10-8-2 WCHA: 3rd) at AIR FORCE (12-13-1) Friday, 7:30 MT, Cadet Ice Arena, Air Force Academy MINNESOTA STATE, MANKATO (10-12-4) at DENVER Saturday, 4:00 MT, Cadet Ice Arena, Air Force Academy

ON THE PIONEERS: Your top line produces all of three points in a two-game set, with two of those points coming on a late, meaningless goal Saturday night. Do you think your team has much of a chance?

"It’s funny how that goes," Denver coach George Gwozdecky said. "Sometimes yes and sometimes no."

It just so happens that last weekend’s series with Wisconsin was sometimes yes. The line of Paul Comrie, Mark Rycroft and James Patterson didn’t have much of an impact at all, but the Pioneers still skated out of Madison with three points.

The DU line that made the most noise was that consisting of Joe Murphy, Chris Paradise and Matt Pettinger, a combination which was united recently.

"(They) outstanding both nights," Gwozdecky said. "I thought they were our best line (Friday) night and one of the reasons they got the start was the way they played (Friday) night. I was hoping they could create some energy for us early in the game."

Gwozdecky said he felt that line’s performance, as well as the fact that each line contributed a goal to the 5-0 rout on Saturday, shows his team’s depth.

"We’ve got some marquee players, there’s no question about it," Gwozdecky said. "That top line should be our most productive line, but we also have depth to our lineup. I think it’s been proven in the past that we’re not a one-man team. I think that was probably proven throughout the weekend."

Stephen Wagner made up for a poor effort on Friday with his fourth shutout of the season on Saturday. He became the first DU goaltender to amass four shutouts in a season since Gerry Powers, who had five in 1968-69. It was also the fifth blanking of his career.

"He was back on his game tonight," Gwozdecky said after Saturday’s game. "Who knows why he played like he did (Friday) night."

Comrie received a game disqualification for butt-ending on Saturday and will miss Friday’s game against Air Force on the resulting suspension.

A reporter asked Gwozdecky after Saturday’s win if the Pioneers were a title contender. His response was a solid no — even he thinks North Dakota has this nailed down. But there was more.

"Are we an contender for second place?" Gwozdecky asked. "I think we’ve got CC in our sights, I think we might have an opportunity to catch them if the timing is right."

ON THE FALCONS: Air Force had a weekend off after sweeping Niagara two weeks ago, 4-1 and 3-2.

Senior center Justin Kieffer leads coach Frank Serratore’s team with 31 points in 26 games (11 goals, 20 assists). Tony Lawrence leads Air Force freshmen with 12 goals and 10 assists for 22 points.

Sophomore netminder Marc Kielkucki has an 11-9-1 record, a 3.34 goals-against average and a .870 save percentage.

ON THE MAVERICKS: Coach Don Brose’s Minnesota State, Mankato team had trouble capitalizing on its chances in a pair of home losses to Brown last weekend. They outshot Brown 40-21 on Sunday, but still lost 3-0.

After finishing the first period of Sunday’s game tied at 1, Brown came out firing again and outscored the Mavericks 7-2 in the final two periods of an 8-3 victory. Senior wing Tyler Deis, junior forward Jesse Rooney and sophomore forward T.J. Guidarelli scored MSU’s goals.

Mankato junior defenseman Todd George has moved into a tie for eighth on the Mavericks’ scoring list for defenseman with 64 points in 93 games.

Junior center Aaron Fox leads the Mavericks in scoring this season with 15 goals and 16 assists. He has appeared on the scoring sheet in 18 of his 25 games this season.

MSU is 4-7-3 on the road in ’98-99 and 3-7-2 against WCHA teams this season.

THE MATCHUPS: Think these are just more non-conference games? Think again. Every game at this part of the season would be considered for a team on the bubble of the NCAA tournament. Two wins gives Denver a better record and a better chance of getting in if they don’t get the automatic bid.

The last time DU played Air Force, the Pioneers romped, 11-1, on Dec. 27, 1995 in the Denver Cup. They are 18-2 against the Falcons and 1-1 vs. Minnesota State, Mankato.

PICKS: Denver over Air Force, 5-1; Denver over Minnesota State, Mankato, 3-2

UPCOMING SCHEDULE Here’s where things get really weird at the Kohl Center in Madison. Wisconsin and Colorado College play Thursday night and Saturday morning. Maybe Jeff Sauer should start working on "Brunch with the Badgers."

Thursday, Feb. 11 Colorado College at Wisconsin

Friday, Feb. 12 Alaska-Anchorage at Minnesota Denver at North Dakota Michigan Tech at Minnesota-Duluth Nebraska-Omaha at St. Cloud State

Saturday, Feb. 13 Colorado College at Wisconsin Alaska-Anchorage at Minnesota Denver at North Dakota Michigan Tech at Minnesota-Duluth Nebraska-Omaha at St. Cloud State

This Week in the MAAC: February 5, 1999

By
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Well, here I am — sitting in front of my computer, realizing that I’ve got the crystal ball now. And it’s time for me to gaze into it for the first time as the new MAAC correspondent here at USCHO.

And what a week to do it!

This week we have the two best teams in the MAAC squaring off for what showed be two exciting games.

At the same time, teams like Canisius, Iona, and AIC are battling it out for home ice in this year’s inaugural tournament.

And I’m the guy who gets to predict what’s going to happen.

Remember, don’t take my word for it (and especially don’t bet the farm on what I say). I’m just an observer like each one of you.

So here goes — my chance to keep my record unblemished (at 0-0-0, its the only time of the year I haven’t been wrong!)

Connecticut (17-2-2, 15-2-2 MAAC) at Quinnipiac (12-6-4, 11-3-4 MAAC) Friday, 7:00 pm, East Haven Rink, East Haven, Conn. Quinnipiac at Connecticut Saturday, 7:30 pm ET, UConn Ice Rink, Storrs, Conn.

A very smart person once said that good teams find ways to win tough games.

For the University of Connecticut hockey team that sentiment rang true not once, but twice this past weekend.

On back-to-back nights against AIC this past weekend, UConn found itself tied in the third period.

On Friday night, UConn scored the final four goals of the game, three of them in the third period, to overcome a 2-1 deficit and win 5-2. Junior forward Mike Narotski scored just 10 seconds into the third period to break the 2-2 deadlock.

The next night was similar, as UConn again broke a 1-1 tie with three third-period goals, the last an empty-netter, to win 4-2.

UConn’s senior forward Geoff Angell continues to lead the Huskies in scoring with eight goals and 17 points. His goal on Saturday night gave UConn a lead it never relinquished.

Angell came down the right side, shot the pack across his body and the and lifted it over the goaltender to give UConn at 2-1 lead.

"I can’t say enough about the play of my three seniors: Geoff Angell, Dan Sheehan and Rob Martin," said Husky coach Bruce Marshall.

"Geoff’s goal was as nice as you see."

The four points on the weekend allowed UConn to remain six points behind league-leader Quinnipiac in the MAAC, which sets up this weekend’s matchup with the Braves.

"This weekend’s series with Quinnipiac will show whether us, Holy Cross and AIC can stay with (Quinnipiac) or if they are going to pull away from the pack," said Marshall.

"We are a hard-working, blue collar team who has to play a blue-collar game to beat Quinnipiac," he added. "Last time we played, that’s how the first game went. We played hard and got the lead. Then we did a good job of holding the lead.

"The second night we let them get one, two, three goals. You don’t want to be playing catch-up to a team like that."

This series is the end of a five-games-in-eight-days stretch for Quinnipiac. Last weekend saw a Jekyll-and-Hyde performance against Fairfield that pushed the Braves to the limit on Friday night for a 3-1 Quinnipiac win. That was before the Stags’ no-show performance on Saturday that led to a 10-0 romp for the hosts.

Tuesday night, Quinnipiac used six goals from six different scorers to beat a pesky Sacred Heart squad, 6-1.

Leading scorer Neil Breen (10-15–25) was Friday’s hero, scoring Quinnipiac’s first two goals and assisting on the third.

"We came out flat in the first," said Quinnipiac coach Rand Pecknold. "That has been indicative of our team of late."

Pecknold points to youth and lack of experience as why his team hasn’t always come to play.

"Since we beat (Army) a few weeks back, the team hasn’t had a lot of focus. (The win) was a big positive for the program but the (lack of) focus has been negative."

Backup goalie Dan DiLeo got the win for the Braves on Friday, stopping just 17 shots.

Saturday night saw the Quinnipiac offense soar to life, finding the back of the net a season-high 10 times.

At the same time, freshman goalie Jim White was stopping all 20 shots that came his way and not only picked up his first shutout, but also his first career win.

Chad Poliquin notched a hat trick in the game while John Guerriero and Anthony DiPalma each picked up two tallies.

On Tuesday, Poliquin and Mike Ruggiero each tallied three assists to help pace the Braves over Sacred Heart.

J.C. Wells returned between the pipes after his two-game rest to pick up his league-leading 12th win of the season.

The game was close until Quinnipiac broke it open late in the second with two goals 25 seconds apart.

"It was a matter of time before the puck went in the net for us," said Pecknold.

As far as this week’s games against the Huskies are concerned, Pecknold says it shouldn’t be hard to focus.

"We were picked fourth in the preseason poll, so being in first place was overachieving," Pecknold added. "But now teams are gunning for us. We can’t sneak up on teams anymore."

Picks: The home team has the advantage in this series. Quinnipiac wins Friday 4-3 before UConn exacts revenge in Storrs on Saturday, 5-3.

Fairfield (1-20-0, 1-17-0 MAAC) at Holy Cross (11-8-3, 11-5-2 MAAC) Friday, 7:00 pm ET, Hart Recreation Center, Worcester, Mass. Holy Cross at Fairfield Saturday, 7:30 pm ET, Wonderland of Ice, Bridgeport, Conn.

The Crusaders of Holy Cross made their only trip of the season to Canisius last weekend to meet the Ice Griffs, who entered the series unbeaten in five games (2-0-3).

Holy Cross, similarly, entered Friday’s game on a three-game winning streak, with only one conference loss since the break.

After a scoreless first period in the series opener, the Crusaders blew the game open with three second-period goals by Joe Roache, Pat Rismiller and Chris Fattey in a span of 4:25.

The Griffs answered 32 seconds later to close to 3-1 after two. But Holy Cross iced the game when Roache netted his second of the night, at 2:48 of the third.

On Saturday afternoon, Holy Cross couldn’t contain Griff forward Brad Kenny, who provided his first career hat trick to end the Crusaders’ four-game unbeaten streak.

On the stat sheet, it was a contest totally dominated by Holy Cross, which outshot the Griffs 28-14. But there seemed to be no solving goalie Stephen Fabilli, who posted 26 saves for Canisius.

Roache finished the weekend with three goals, his first three of the season in 12 games played.

"Joe Roache had a great weekend for us last week," said Holy Cross coach Paul Pearl. "Joe is a good fourth-line player who saw some ice time last weekend because we were a little bumped up and he took advantage of it."

Roache will have a chance to see even more ice time this weekend as the Crusaders will be without Paul Cavanagh, Joe Cavanagh, Phil Barner and Rismiller, all of whom received game-disqualification penalties as result of a fight at the end of Saturday night’s game. All four received automatic one-game suspensions as a result of the altercation.

As far as this week’s opponent, Fairfield, is concerned, Pearl is optimistic but cautious.

"Fairfield is a pretty good team," said Pearl. "They beat us last year and almost beat Quinnipiac last weekend.

"(Remembering the loss) will help get our team fired up for this one."

Meanwhile, Fairfield gave everything it had to try to follow up its only win of the season — which came the week prior, against AIC — with an upset of first-place Quinnipiac.

In Friday night’s game in Hamden, Conn., the Stags found themselves down just 2-0 in the second period when Michael Shaheen blasted a shot to the left corner of the net to pull Fairfield within a goal.

That put the Stags in a position to complete its comeback and pull one of the biggest college hockey upsets of the season. And Stag goalie Derek Saunders was hoping to keep the team there.

Unfortunately for Saunders and the Stags, Braves forward Terry Harris had different ideas. He snapped home a power-play goal at 12:30 of the third period to take the wind out of Fairfield’s sails.

Worse for Fairfield, the wind never came back, not even after the game.

Saturday night, Fairfield fell behind Quinnipiac 2-0 early in the rematch, and that was only a preview of things to come.

Stag goaltending surrendered 10 markers on the night: two in the first, five in the second and three in the third.

"For us to be in any game, our team has to pay attention to the little things," said second-year Fairfield coach Mike Doneghey. "We have to play the system.

"On Friday night we played that system and it showed. Saturday was a totally different story."

If the Stags want to compete against Holy Cross, they will surely need to play within that system, or reap consequences similar to Saturday’s.

Picks: Holy Cross has no problem at home, winning 5-2. The Stags do their best back on home ice, but come up short, 3-2.

Sacred Heart (5-15-1, 5-13-1 MAAC) at American Int’l (9-9-3, 8-7-3 MAAC) Friday, 7:00 pm ET, Olympia Ice Center, W. Springfield, Mass. American Int’l at Sacred Heart Saturday, 7:30 pm ET, Milford Ice Pavilion, Fairfield, Conn.

Folks down in Bridgeport, Conn., must be wondering — where are the masked men who stole their hockey team, and who are these guys playing in their place?

The Pioneers of Sacred Heart are coming off of their best offensive output of the season, having registered 7-3 and 8-4 wins over Iona.

Coming into the weekend, the Pioneers had scored just 46 goals in their first 18 games. That means their 15 goals last weekend represent 25 percent of the season’s offense.

Freshman Chris Makos notched the first hat trick of the season for the Pioneers, and that in his first game back in the lineup after suffering a shoulder injury that had him sidelined.

Makos matched those three goals on the weekend with three assists and was a plus-6 overall for the series.

Pioneers coach Shaun Hannah credits the offense but doesn’t want to forget about his goaltender.

"We’ve had balanced scoring from all of our forwards this season — (but) goaltending has played a large part of our success".

"(Goaltender Alexis Jutras-Binet) has stood on his head for us all season long," said Hannah.

Indeed, Jutras-Binet was a key both nights, stopping 17 shots in the third period and 27 in the game on Friday, as well as 36 shots in Saturday’s contest.

The second period seemed to be the frame of choice for the Pioneers last weekend, as they outscored the Gaels 10-1 over the two games in the middle 20 minutes.

Tuesday night, the Pioneers played the first of two Tuesday-night games this month against southern Connecticut rival Quinnipiac.

The Braves broke a 1-1 deadlock late in the second period with two goals just 25 seconds apart and went on to a 6-1 victory.

Jutras-Binet continued to face plenty of rubber in net, stopping 32 Quinnipiac shots while taking the loss.

AIC enters this weekend on the heels of two tough losses to second-place UConn last Friday and Saturday.

Friday night saw the Yellow Jackets jump out to an early 2-1 lead on goals by Mike Liebro and Todd Bassler in the first stanza. Unfortunately for AIC, that was all the offense they could muster that night.

UConn stormed back in the second and third with four goals while at the same time outshooting the Yellow Jackets, 29-7.

Much of the same happened on Saturday night when the Yellow Jackets traveled to Storrs, Conn., for the rematch.

Mike Sowa put AIC out in front late in the first period before UConn tied the game early in the second.

But, much like the night before, UConn owned the third period, scoring the next two goals to take a 3-1 lead.

Dan Curran got the Yellow Jackets within a goal with 55 seconds left, but it was too little, too late. The Huskies added an empty-net goal for the 4-2 final.

Picks: Sacred Heart needs to rebound from Tuesday night, but AIC is blood-hungry. AIC takes the first game, 4-2, before Jutras-Binet stops the show on Saturday for a 3-1 Pioneer win.

Canisius (7-10-5, 5-8-5 MAAC) at Iona (9-11-1, 8-9-1 MAAC) Friday, 7:00 pm ET, The Ice Hutch, New Rochelle, N.Y. Saturday, 7:00 pm ET, The Ice Hutch, New Rochelle, N.Y.

For the Iona Gaels, the status of their season may best be described as "critical."

Last weekend, needing two wins to perhaps gain ground on third-place Holy Cross, the Gaels instead dropped two decisions to a surging Sacred Heart club.

Two wins would have given Iona 21 points, three fewer than HC. Instead, the Gaels have just 17 points, just two more than sixth-place Canisius, whom they host for two games this weekend.

So to say the least, this could be do-or-die for the Gaels in the race for home ice in the playoffs.

At the same time, Canisius has to be licking its chops with the opportunity to play a team that has struggled since the Christmas break (1-4-1).

For Iona, rookie Ryan Carter continues to lead the team and the MAAC in scoring (23-17–40). Fellow freshman Rob Kellogg isn’t too far behind Carter — he’s second on both lists with 32 points (15-17–32).

Carter’s two goals on Friday night against Sacred Heart were enough to keep the game tied through one. But the second period was a nemesis for the Gaels, who were outscored 10-1 in that period.

Special teams were also a problem for Iona last week. The Iona power play was 1-for-11 on the weekend, and the penalty kill allowed a goal to the SHU power play on Friday. The Pioneer power play has clicked at an anemic 8.8 percent (last in the MAAC) this season.

Iona, on the other hand, is 5-2-3 in its last 10 games.

That includes two hard-fought games last weekend with Holy Cross, which were good enough to earn a series split with the Crusaders.

After losing a tough 4-1 game on Friday, the Ice Griffs bounced back on Saturday to earn a 3-2 victory, the 250th of head coach Brian Cavanaugh’s 18-year career at Canisius.

Brad Kenny provided the offensive punch for the Ice Griffs on Saturday night, notching a hat trick that accounted for all three Canisius goals.

Canisius goalie Steve Fabilli improved his record to 3-1-1, making 26 saves en route to the win.

Coach Cavanaugh realizes the importance of the upcoming weekend.

"These two games will be important for our team as far as hosting the first round of the playoffs is concerned," Cavanaugh said.

He also remembers that the Gaels came into Buffalo and took two games from the Griffs earlier in the season.

"Iona played us tough at our place and they will be tough on the road."

Picks: Iona plays well on home ice on Friday, winning 4-1. The Ice Griffs make the sweep too difficult, winning a barnburner on Saturday, 3-2.

ECAC Commish Unveils Preseason Tourney Plans

USCHO Staff Report
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ECAC ice hockey commissioner Jeff Fanter has confirmed that on Oct. 15 and 16, a new interconference preseason tournament will take place at the Pepsi Arena in Albany, N.Y.

The as-yet unnamed tournament will feature Rensselaer as host, Boston University, Niagara and a fourth team which is still to be determined.

An official announcement on the event will be made in two to three weeks.

“This tournament is one of several events that the ECAC will be involved with over the next two to three years,” he said. “Look for more events to take place like this.”

The scheduling of the planned tournament is of interest, as it will take place one week after the third annual Ice Breaker Invitational in Denver, Colo.

“This event is not a competing event with the Ice Breaker,” said Fanter. “It is an event to raise college hockey to a greater level.”

Other events under consideration include some similar to the ECAC-Hockey East Holiday Doubleheader this past December in Hartford, Conn.

WMU Fires Head Coach Wilkinson

USCHO Staff Report
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Western Michigan head coach Bill Wilkinson, whose last-place team had been the focus of an internal investigation earlier this season, has been relieved of his duties effective immediately, the university announced today.

Wilkinson will be replaced on an interim basis by assistant coach Jim Culhane while the search for his successor gets underway. Culhane is expected to be among the candidates for the vacancy.

Wilkinson himself will be reassigned as a special assistant to athletic director Kathy Beauregard. His contract with the university runs through June 30, 2000.

“We appreciate Bill’s many years of loyal service to this institution,” Beauregard said. “The University felt it was time for a change in the leadership of the hockey program. The University remains committed to fulfilling the terms of Coach Wilkinson’s contract.”

In 16-plus years as Bronco head coach, Wilkinson compiled a 313-301-53 record, including three NCAA tournament appearances and one CCHA playoff title. But WMU has been less succuessful in recent years, finishing 10-25-3 with a CCHA-record 18-game losing streak last season. The team is currently in last place in the league with a 3-16-6 overall record.

The Broncos’ season has also been marred by the arrests of two players at a team party which took place at a house owned by Wilkinson, and by the subsequent suspensions of the entire team for secondary NCAA violations uncovered during the university’s investigation of the matter.

UNH Players Charged With Criminal Trespassing

USCHO Staff Report
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Five current and former University of New Hampshire students, including three members of the fourth-ranked men’s hockey team, have been charged with criminal trespassing in connection with an altercation which took place at the end of last semester.

According to Associated Press reports, junior defensemen Jayme Filipowicz and Dan Enders, sophomore forward Corey-Joe Ficek and Jeff Trip, a former football player who finshed his career at UNH in the fall, were charged with criminal tresspassing. A fifth student, Ryan Hurd, was charged with disorderly conduct.

The students will be arraigned later this month.

Athletic director Judy Ray said she and hockey coach Dick Umile will determine if any action is to be taken against the three players. Umile said he has known of the incident for a few weeks, but declined further comment.

Filipowicz (6 goals, 16 assists, 22 points) has been a mainstay on the Wildcat blue line, and last weekend scored both game-winning goals in wins over Northeatern and Providence.

Ficek (7-5-12) tallied two goals in Friday’s 5-4 win over Northeastern before leaving the game with a lower back bruise.

Enders was a regular on the defensive corps for the 21-4-1 Wildcats before breaking his collarbone in a victory over UMass-Lowell on Jan. 23, at which time it was expected that he would miss six weeks of action.

This Week in the MAAC: January 29, 1999

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Ever notice how much Metro Atlantic hockey resembles the TV series The Simpsons?

First, The Simpsons is set in the mythic town of Springfield…and there’s a town called Springfield in New England, where most of the MAAC schools are located. Coincidence? I think not.

Next, how often does The Simpsons come on? Every week. And when do the MAAC teams play hockey? Every week. The plot thickens.

Plus, if you hunt around the various MAAC hockey teams, you’re sure to find players, coaches and staff named Homer, Bart…Marge and…um…Apu…

Hmm.

I gotta start writing these earlier.

All right, enough of that foolishness. We now return you to your regularly-scheduled foolishness.

Last weekend in the MAAC could be described as the Week of Ties, or maybe just the Week of Fairfield. The Stags rebounded from a Friday loss to American International to stop the Yellow Jackets 6-3 to claim their first victory of the season.

Meanwhile, three of the remaining five MAAC games last weekend finished as 3-3 ties, including both games between Quinnipiac and Canisius. Iona and Connecticut likewise tied, and Holy Cross made up some ground on the conference leaders by taking two games — both by the score of 4-2 — from Sacred Heart.

With last weekend in the books, Quinnipiac retains the MAAC lead with a 12-2-2 record and 26 league points, but Holy Cross has now pulled into a second-place tie with UConn, just four points behind. The Braves may still be in the driver’s seat, but with 12 games to go in league play, a four-point lead is nowhere close to safe.

AIC, despite giving up Fairfield’s first win, stayed ahead of Iona for fourth place, while Canisius holds in sixth with 13 points. The MAAC’s cellar-dwellers, Sacred Heart and Fairfield, now have seven and two league points, respectively.

Quinnipiac (14-2-2, 12-2-2 MAAC) at Fairfield (1-18-0, 1-15-0 MAAC) Friday, 8:30 pm ET, Wonderland of Ice, Bridgeport, Conn. Fairfield at Quinnipiac Saturday, 7:00 pm ET, East Haven Rink, East Haven, Conn. Sacred Heart (3-14-1, 3-12-1 MAAC) at Quinnipiac Tuesday, 7:00 pm ET, East Haven Rink, East Haven, Conn.

That rush of air felt throughout the Northeast last Saturday was a collective sigh of relief from Fairfield’s hockey players, coaches and fans. After getting mauled 9-3 on Friday, the Stags recovered to post a 6-3 win for their first league points.

The victory came courtesy of linemates Rob Curtis (11-6–17) and Conal Barbuto (5-6–11), each of whom scored two goals in the contest, and netminder Derek Saunders (1-2-0, 6.11 GAA, .829 SV%), who stopped 33 AIC shots. Barbuto and Curtis scored 17 seconds apart early in the third to break open a tie game, and Saunders played Saturday’s game in place of number-one goalie John True, who was pulled halfway through the third period Friday after giving up eight goals.

Rookie Bryan Cairns (1-0–1) also scored Saturday for the Stags, his first career tally.

So — the proverbial monkey may be off the Stags’ backs, but this is still a team with a long way to go. Fairfield is giving up three times as many goals as it is scoring in MAAC play (105-35), and a lot of the trouble seems to be in net.

Whether it’s going to be True, Saunders or Charles Fitzpatrick, who played the final 9:12 Friday, someone has to step up for the Stags to improve.

Meanwhile, the Quinnipiac Braves played a so-so pair of games against homestanding Canisius last Saturday and Sunday, ending in two 3-3 ties. Saturday’s action saw Canisius score first and never trail, but Chad Poliquin’s (7-14–21) goal one minute into the third period knotted it up for the Braves. Chris Cerrella (9-13–22) notched a goal and an assist for Quinnipiac.

The next night it was Canisius’ turn to play catch-up after blowing an early lead. In a game which featured a hefty 15 power plays, the only actual power-play goal was by QC’s Mike Ruggiero (5-6–11), who scored at 13:50 of the second period to give Quinnipiac its only lead.

Like its predecessor, Sunday’s game went to OT, where despite 11 shots on goal in the five extra minutes, neither team could pull out the win. Both netminders played well to preserve the tie, with Quinnipiac’s J.C. Wells stopping 30 shots.

Wells, by the way, continues to lead the MAAC in league wins (11), goals-against average (2.15), save percentage (.895) and minutes (890). He backstops a defense which is tops in the conference in goals against (just 36 in 16 games, a 2.3 average).

The Brave offense is hardly less dominating, as four Quinnipiac players stand in the top 12 in MAAC scoring. Oddly, one of those, super freshman and leading conference scorer Neil Breen (11-13—24), was held without a point against Canisius.

Shows what my praise will do to you, and with that in mind, contributions are now being accepted for keeping my mouth shut about hot players.

The third game of the week for Quinnipiac is an odd game against Sacred Heart Tuesday — odd because it’s the front end of a home-and-home series in which the games are separated by two weeks. The Braves and Pioneers play the back end at Sacred Heart on Tuesday, Feb. 16.

Sacred Heart is profiled below, in its series with Iona.

Picks: On paper, this looks like a mismatch, and despite Fairfield’s heartening win Saturday, that’s probably what it will be on the ice, too. Quinnipiac is not likely to show the Stags the same generosity that it did the Griffins last weekend. Quinnipiac 7-2, 4-0

Then, on Tuesday, the Braves make it three wins for the week against the tenacious, but outmatched, Pioneers. Quinnipiac 5-2

Holy Cross (8-7-3, 8-4-2 MAAC) at Canisius (6-9-5, 4-7-5 MAAC) Friday, 8:00 pm ET, Dann Memorial Rink, Buffalo, N.Y. Saturday, 2:00 pm ET, Dann Memorial Rink, Buffalo, N.Y.

The Crusaders of Holy Cross made their move last week, winning two games with Sacred Heart and sliding into a tie with UConn for second place in the conference. That means the preseason favorites are now 4-1 in their last five league games, and sit just four points behind league-leading Quinnipiac.

For the series, the Crusaders outshot the Pioneers 94-48, but were held comparatively close by Sacred Heart netminder Alexis Jutras-Binet. On Friday, Holy Cross got two goals and an assist from Paul Cavanaugh (10-8–18) and three assists by Mike Maguire (3-11–14) as the Crusaders scored three goals in the third period — on a monumental 20 shots — to erase a 2-1 deficit.

Holy Cross had trailed after 40 minutes of play despite outshooting Sacred Heart 31-17.

The next night the win was more straightforward, as Pat Rismiller (6-16–22) netted 1-2–3, including the game-winner, a power-play goal at 16:35 of the second period. Scott Simpson (4-3-1, 2.87 GAA, .889 SV%), who played both games in the Crusader nets in place of Tom Ormondroyd, then held off the Pioneers to gain his second win of the series.

This weekend, Holy Cross takes on Canisius, fresh off a solid, if only somewhat satisfying, series with QC. The Ice Griffs skated to two 3-3 ties with the Braves in Buffalo, coming back in one and losing a lead in the other.

In the first game, the MAAC’s second-leading scorer, Chris Duggan (13-15–28), notched Canisius’ first two goals to stake the Griffs to a 2-1 lead early in the middle frame. The victory was not to be, however, as the Braves stormed back from that deficit as well as a later 3-2 margin to draw the contest.

Even with that in mind, the Griffs couldn’t have been too upset with the tie, seeing as they were outshot 38-24 by Quinnipiac for the game. Bob Janosz (3-8-4, 3.79 GAA, .889 SV%) earned most of the credit there, stopping a total of 35 shots (and 64 shots on the weekend) for the hosts.

Sunday’s game was more back-and-forth, with each team holding one-goal leads before settling for the tie again. Seth Wiener (3-4–7) tallied the game’s final goal for the Griffs, while Todd Bisson (3-6–9) notched two assists.

The two ties, though well-played, continued the Griffs season-long pattern. They have now tied three of their last five games, and have recorded five draws in just 16 MAAC games in 1998-99.

Picks: Both teams look sharp right now, Canisius’ odd tie-happy string notwithstanding. But Holy Cross, in particular, has shown a pattern this season of alternating good and bad performances, so let’s say that happens again. Canisius 4-3, Holy Cross 5-2

American Int’l (9-7-3, 8-5-3 MAAC) at Connecticut (10-6-4, 9-3-4 MAAC) Friday, 7:30 pm ET, UConn Ice Rink, Storrs, Conn. Connecticut at American Int’l Saturday, 7:00 pm ET, Olympia Ice Center, W. Springfield, Mass.

"It had to come sometime, and it just happened to be us."

That’s probably the rallying cry this week on the campus of American International, which was victimized by Fairfield last Saturday for the Stags’ first win of the year. Now, the MAAC hockey league is too young, and rivalries too nascent to call that loss embarrassing, but getting beat 6-3 by a team which was 0-18 up ’til then is not the way to improve morale.

So the question now is, what will the Yellow Jackets do about it? Their next opponent, Connecticut, is also coming off a disappointment, so there’s no shortage of motivation for these teams in what could be an excellent weekend of hockey.

AIC’s collapse against Fairfield Saturday was even more surprising when you consider that the ‘Jackets had just pummeled the Stags 9-3 the night before. In that game, Dan Curran (11-3–14) scored two goals, including the shorthanded game-winner, and Mike Peddycord (4-5–9) continued his recent scoring streak by adding two tallies of his own. Though Fairfield actually scored the first goal of the night, it was never a contest after that: the ‘Jackets quickly returned three-for-one in the first period, and built a 6-2 lead after two.

Saturday’s game, as already mentioned, was a whole different ball of wax. Peddycord got his third goal of the weekend, but there was little else to cheer if you were an AIC fan, as the Stags hammered normally-reliable Chance Thede (7-5-3, 3.22 GAA, .901 SV%) for six goals on 34 shots.

Nevertheless, the Yellow Jackets remain in fourth place in the league standings, but just two points ahead of Iona. And AIC will need a return to form by its defensive corps (47 goals against in MAAC play, fourth-best in the league) to gain any ground against UConn.

That’s because the Huskies have an axe of their own to grind. UConn outshot Iona 42-22 last Saturday in its lone game of the week, but let the Gaels back into the contest by blowing a 3-1 second-period lead.

Ryan Murphy (1-1–2) scored the third UConn goal, an unassisted even-strength marker at 2:05 of the second, and added an assist. That goal looked like insurance at that time, but ended up as the difference between a tie and a loss as the Gaels stormed back to knot it up.

The game was also notable for what it didn’t have — scoring from UConn’s trio of Geoff Angell (9-10–19), Dan Sheehan (4-13–17) and Ciro Longobardi (9-7–16). That group was held to one point (a Longobardi assist) on the evening, and that will have to change against AIC for the Huskies to make up ground.

The 3-3 finish also meant that UConn has tied three of its last four, the fourth decision being a 4-1 loss to Sacred Heart. That’s alarming for Husky fans, who watched their team jump out to a 9-2-1 start in the MAAC before the current troubles. Now, Connecticut will need to hustle to maintain a share of second place, let alone challenge Quinnipiac for the lead.

UConn still sports a solid D — the Huskies are second in the league in goals against — and Marc Senerchia (9-5-4, 2.56 GAA, .894 SV%) trails only Quinnipiac’s J.C. Wells in most key goaltending categories. Frankly, though, the defense has kept the heat off Senerchia for most of the season: he has faced just 282 shots in 850-plus minutes of MAAC play. His performance could be the key to UConn rejoining QC atop the league, or sliding as far as fourth.

Picks: The Huskies really, really need two wins here, but don’t count on it. AIC has been one of the league’s best home teams this season (a 6-1-2 league record), and the Yellow Jackets need these points at least as much as the Huskies do. UConn 3-1, AIC 3-2

Iona (9-9-1, 8-7-1 MAAC) at Sacred Heart (3-14-1, 3-12-1 MAAC) Friday, 7:30 pm ET, Milford Ice Pavilion, Fairfield, Conn. Sacred Heart at Iona Saturday, 7:00 pm ET, The Ice Hutch, New Rochelle, N.Y.

This series pits the MAAC’s seventh-place team against the team picked to finish last in the preseason coaches’ poll.

Iona has baffled the pundits, churning out its fair share of conference wins en route to a fifth-place standing and the respect of its league mates. That has been accomplished largely as a result of prodigious scoring; the Gaels have notched 66 goals in MAAC play, good for second in the league.

The O is led by Ryan Carter (21-15–26) , who leads the conference in goals, points and power-play markers; Rob Kellogg (15-17–32) , who sits second to Carter in goals and third in points; and, ofttimes, defenseman Tim Kyrkostas (6-11–17), the MAAC leader in blueliner scoring. Think about this: Carter alone has accounted for nearly one-fourth of Iona’s league goals this year.

Carter notched his 16th goal of the MAAC season last Saturday to get the draw for the Gaels against UConn. He was assisted by Erik Nates (9-10–19), who tallied a goal of his own to start the comeback from a 3-1 second-period deficit.

In nets for Iona, Dan McGuire (5-3-1, 3.79 GAA, .875 SV%) claimed credit for the tie, replacing Ben Brady after the first period (which saw UConn take a 2-1 lead) and allowing just one goal on 27 shots in the game’s final 40 minutes.

Oddly enough, Iona is the only team in the MAAC to sport a significantly better record on the road than at home. The Gaels are 5-3-1 in league games away, versus just 3-4-0 in home tilts.

Across the ice from the Gaels this weekend will be Sacred Heart, led by goaltender Alexis Jutras-Binet (3-12-1, 4.87 GAA, .886 SV%). Apart from being one of its best (don’t let the numbers fool you), Jutras-Binet is certainly the league’s busiest keeper — the porous Pioneer D has allowed 543 shots on him this year. That’s 190 more than any other goaltender in the league has faced.

I repeat: that’s 190 more than any other goaltender in the entire league.

Not helping the Sacred Heart cause is an anemic offense which sits seventh in the MAAC in goal production. SHU scored just four goals against Holy Cross last weekend, although the Pioneers did hold the lead (2-1) at one point Saturday. Lloyd Marks (4-3–7) managed 1-1–2 in that contest, while team scoring leader Erik Drake (4-13–17) (the only Pioneer among the MAAC scoring charts, at 4-7–11) notched an assist on Marks’ goal.

That is, the Pioneer offense is sleepwalking right now, but all it would take is a little boost to make this a competitive team. The Pioneers showed their firepower with four goals to beat UConn two weeks ago, and before that with 12 goals in a two-game sweep of Fairfield.

Picks: Iona doesn’t play a whole lot of defense, which could be inviting for the stagnant Pioneers. But Iona does score a whole lot, which won’t help Jutras-Binet revive the blueline corps of Sacred Heart. With two teams that are such opposites, this call is tough. I gave SHU the benefit of the doubt last week, but Holy Cross was too strong. Iona is probably the same — but not by much. Iona 3-2, 4-3

Next week in the MAAC:

Friday, February 5: Canisius at Iona Fairfield at Holy Cross Sacred Heart at American Int’l Connecticut at Quinnipiac

Saturday, February 6: American Int’l at Sacred Heart Canisius at Iona Holy Cross at Fairfield Quinnipiac at Connecticut

This Week in Hockey East: January 29, 1999

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And UMass-Amherst gave hope to Red Sox fans everywhere by defeating Boston University for the first time in 79 years. If the Curse of Elton Mansell — the Minuteman coach who won his only game against the Terriers back on Jan. 16, 1920 — is over, can an end to the Curse of the Bambino be far behind?

Oh yeah, and there’s also this thing called The Beanpot on tap.

As for the awards, there’s a strong hint of deja vu this week.

KOHO Player of the Week: Jason Krog (F, New Hampshire) won for the second time in a row after putting together a 2-3–5 weekend, becoming the nation’s leader in points and points-per-game and also registering his 200th career point. With a week like that, he should have bought a lottery ticket.

KOHO Rookie of the Week: Darren Haydar (F, New Hampshire) took this award for the fourth time. (It seems like more because he didn’t win his first until Nov. 16.) Haydar had his eighth two-goal game of the year to total 21, tops in the country. Not just tops for rookies. Tops for everyone.

Heaton Defensive Player of the Week: Boyd Ballard (G, Providence) became the second Friar in two weeks to take this honor, following in Josh MacNevin’s footsteps. Ballard’s 36-save shutout led Providence over Boston College in front of the FOX Sports New England cameras. The national media also took notice as CNN dubbed his performance its "Play of the Day."

Hockey East Standings

Record in picks last week: 5-5 (After 8-0 last week, "Pride goeth before destruction.")

Season’s record in picks: 94-49, .657

The Beanpot

Northeastern (8-12-3, 4-9-2 HEA, 7th) vs. Harvard (8-9-1, 3-9-1 ECAC, T-9th)

No. 7 Boston College (15-8-2, 10-5-0 HEA, 3rd) vs.

Boston University (8-13-2, 5-8-2 HEA, 5th)

Monday, 6 p.m. (NU-HU), 9 p.m. (BC-BU), FleetCenter, Boston, MA

Boston College split its weekend series with Providence, losing 3-0 before rebounding with a 5-2 win. The Eagles then dominated UMass-Amherst, 7-1 on Tuesday, for their first back-to-back wins of 1999.

And so, after another tilt against the Minutemen on Friday night, Boston College will once again vie for Beanpot bragging rights. Last year, the Eagles suffered a bitter loss to Harvard in overtime of the first round, but were able to rebound from that defeat to go unbeaten until the national championship game.

They’ll be looking again to follow the Beanpot with a late-season winning streak, only this time have that skein be the result of the momentum gained from a Beanpot championship rather than a rebound from a stinging defeat.

Historically, the Eagles haven’t fared as well as expected in the Beanpot, winning the title only twice in the last 22 years. While BC has boasted some of the country’s strongest teams during those two decades and change, none of those dominant squads celebrated on the second Monday in February. Ironically enough, the two championship years came in 1983, when the Eagles posted a 15-13-2 record, and in 1994, the highlight of a 15-16-5 campaign.

However, perhaps that just means that they are due.

Boston University lost its one game of the week, 5-4 to UMass-Amherst. The Terriers rallied with three goals in the final three minutes, but had dug themselves too deep a hole.

"It was way too little, too late," says coach Jack Parker. "It was the same old thing of not competing, not playing with any enthusiasm. UMass played well. I won’t take anything away from them, but we just weren’t in a frame of mind where we gave a great effort."

Could the Beanpot with all its enthusiasm and excitement be just the thing to get BU (0-5-1 in its last six games) back on track?

"One of the concerns I have with this team," says Parker, "is that the Beanpot is almost a mini-season for us and this season has been one where we’ve been concerned about not winning and not being as good as we used to be.

"I don’t need my club being worried about what it’s going to be like if they don’t win after winning the Beanpot four years in a row. They don’t need the pressure of having to live up to other peoples’ expectations, but they need the opportunity to get excited about hockey games .

"The latter will be more important: ‘Geez, we’re going to be playing Boston College in the Beanpot. That’ll be great. Let’s go after them.’

"Whenever we play BC, it gets us excited. Probably the best game we played all year was against Boston College. We certainly need something to bring us up to that competitive level and enthusiastic level.

"Playing BC in the Beanpot is something that, if it doesn’t get us playing with enthusiasm, there aren’t going to be a lot of games that are going to do it."

The Northeastern Huskies kissed their sister twice last week, failing to hold third-period leads against UMass-Amherst and Brown. Against the Minutemen, Northeastern held a 2-1 advantage with six minutes to play, but had to settle for a 2-2 tie.

That lost point, however, paled in comparison to the 5-5 tie with Brown. In that contest, the Huskies led 5-1 with 11 minutes remaining, but surrendered four unanswered goals.

"I thought we played well both games," says coach Bruce Crowder. "The one [against Brown] really got away from us. It’s one of those things, a great learning experience, but you hope you never have to go through it again.

"Looking back, we were up 5-1 going into the third period, but in the second period they took it to us pretty good. Maybe we were a little bit lucky to be up 5-1 and they were maybe a little bit luckier or took advantages of certain situations to come back and tie it. But I was very impressed with Brown and the way they came at us and played hard for 60 minutes."

Mike Jozefowicz returned from a knee sprain to face Brown, but fellow defenseman Jimmy Fahey remained out with a wrist injury. Fahey is a question mark for Friday night, but Crowder hopes to have him back for the Beanpot.

Prior to Monday night’s Beanpot opener, Northeastern must take on No. 4 New Hampshire.

"They’re a heck of a hockey team," says Crowder. "I had an opportunity to watch them play against Lowell on Saturday night. I thought Lowell played a good game also, but UNH just kept coming and coming.

"They’ve got senior defensive leadership. They’ve got a senior in goal. They’ve got the kid [Darren] Haydar playing extremely well as well as [Jason] Krog, so we’re going to have our hands full.

"They’re a very good hockey team and playing with a lot of confidence. Obviously, we’re going to have to be at our best to counteract that."

As for the Beanpot, the Huskies will be facing a team that appeared dead in the water at one point, posting a 2-8-1 record after the first weekend in December. Since then, however, the Crimson have won six of their last seven games and should be anything but a pushover.

"Expectations were pretty high for them going into the season," says Crowder. "They didn’t really get off to a great start, but they’re playing great hockey right now. I know they’ve been off a little bit for exams, which might be an advantage for us, but I don’t think so.

"Anything can happen when you get to the Beanpot and hopefully we’re going to play one of better games of the year come Monday night."

(For a detailed look at Harvard, see this week’s ECAC Preview by Becky Blaeser and Jayson Moy.)

PICKS: Could BU reprise its Beanpot upsets of the late eighties? Possibly, but BC needs to put together a run, and what better time than now? BC prevails, 5-3.

And Harvard returns to the championship game with a 3-2 nail-biter.

No. 2 Maine (18-2-4, 10-2-2 HEA, 2nd) at

Providence College (13-10-0, 8-6-0 HEA, 4th)

Friday, 7 p.m., Schneider Arena, Providence, RI

Maine continued its winning ways, taking both games at Merrimack, 5-2 and 4-3.

"We were hungry for a sweep," says coach Shawn Walsh. "We actually talked about it before we left Orono. We know we’re in a pennant race and we wanted four points.

"Once we got two [on Friday,] we really wanted it. You could see it in their faces."

It would appear that the Black Bears are not only more talented this year than the past couple seasons, but are also developing the necessary killer instinct.

"They’re getting it," says Walsh. "I don’t think we’re an unbelievable team. We can be beaten by anybody. Certainly UMass and Northeastern have proven that. But we’re getting better.

"I like what I’m seeing out of this team. We’re on a steady climb and we continue to do it with three regulars out of the lineup."

One player who is certainly on a climb is freshman Barrett Heisten, who has five goals and five assists in his last six games.

"Heisten is coming on," says Walsh. "He’s becoming arguably as good a rookie as there is in this league. Since getting back from the World Juniors, he’s been a different player."

While UNH fans will certainly point to their own Darren Haydar as the league’s top freshman, there’s no doubt that Heisten is now a big contributor on the top line with Cory Larose and Steve Kariya.

Speaking of which, Kariya (16-26–42) now trails only Jason Krog (17-31–48) in the league’s overall scoring race.

"Stevie has stepped up," says Walsh. "He’s elevated his game much like [Marty] Reasoner did last year. He’s carrying this team on his shoulders."

The Black Bears face Providence in their lone game this week.

"It’s been a great series, especially the second game when they had us down, 2-0, and we came back and beat them," says Walsh. "We know how experienced they are and how strong they are. Last year, they swept us in their rink and we want to atone for that. We also realize it’s going to be a monumental task.

"It’s our only game of the week, so we’re going to focus on it and give it our best."

The Friars’ split with Boston College last weekend certainly showed that they are a dangerous foe.

"If anything, their win over BC heightens our interest," says Walsh. "Our listening ability will be higher than it would have been had BC won both games. But it will be a typical tough Hockey East game between maybe two of the best four teams in the league."

Providence made the rest of the league sit up and take notice with a Friday night 3-0 defeat of Boston College on the Hockey East Game of the Week. The Friars couldn’t finish off the potential sweep, however, losing 5-2 at home.

"Friday night, we played a very solid game, obviously," says coach Paul Pooley. "[Goaltender] Boyd [Ballard] played exceptionally well, but I thought we did what we wanted to do for the most part. We gave up some chances, but we created a lot of chances, too. It was an excellent game for us.

"On Saturday night, a couple faceoff goals in the first period really set us back. Then they scored a power-play goal to make it 3-0. But we showed a lot of character coming back to 3-2. We had a lot of chances, had a lot of shots. We just couldn’t put it in.

"Our power play was 2-for-6, but when we needed a goal on a power play we couldn’t get it. It’s unfortunate because our power play is going pretty well. But it was a real good game.

"Gionta had three goals: a short-handed goal, a power-play goal and an empty-netter. He’s definitely the key to their team and the catalyst for them. He’s a great player.

"I’m a little disappointed that we didn’t win. But I think we made it exciting and I think we learned a lot about ourselves and what it takes to beat a team like BC back-to-back."

It doesn’t get any easier because the Friars now take on No. 2 Maine and No. 4 New Hampshire.

"It’s a big weekend," says Pooley. "We knew these last four games were going to be big after the Lowell game. We feel good about facing Maine and UNH. BC is probably a little more aggressive on their forechecks. They give up some things a little bit if you execute.

"Maine and UNH are both very sound defensively. That’s their bread and butter. Maine is very, very aggressive and we have to try and exploit some things that they do with their aggressiveness.

"They’re both solid teams. We’ve got to take care of the biscuit and make sure we be patient, wait for the opportunities and be very, very aggressive on the offensive transition."

PICKS: These should be two terrific battles that could go either way. Maine tops the Friars, 4-3 in overtime. UNH makes it two, 3-2.

No. 4 New Hampshire (19-4-1, 11-2-1 HEA, 1st) at

Northeastern (8-12-3, 4-9-2 HEA, 7th)

Providence College (13-10-0, 8-6-0 HEA, 4th) at No. 4 New Hampshire (19-4-1, 11-2-1 HEA, 1st)

Friday, 7 p.m., Matthews Arena, Boston, MA

Saturday, 7 p.m., Whittemore Center, Durham, NH

New Hampshire extended its unbeaten streak to six games with two more victories, 3-1 and 4-1, over UMass-Lowell.

"We’re playing well and obviously the weekend was good hockey, good competition," says coach Dick Umile. "[Lowell goaltender Scott] Fankhouser played well and made it tough, but our team played for 60 minutes and just did whatever they had to do to win the hockey game. I was pleased with the overall performance of the team."

What is striking about the Wildcats is how they don’t have quite the offensive dazzle of last year’s squad, but are just so solid, seemingly devoid of weaknesses.

"We’ve got balance," says Umile. "We’re strong defensively, led by Steve O’Brien, our senior. Our two goaltenders, Sean Matile and Ty Conklin, are playing very well.

"And we’ve got balance up front and our lines can all play. [Jason] Krog is having an absolutely fabulous year. That makes us a very balanced team and we can do a little bit of everything."

On the negative side, a significant Wildcat will be out of the lineup for an extended time for the first time all season. Dan Enders broke a collarbone and will be sidelined for at least six weeks.

On the plus side, Sean Matile, who battled inconsistency earlier in the season, has rewarded Umile’s faith in him with 46 saves of 48 shots over the last two games. His win over Lowell gives him 48 on his career, tying him for the UNH lead with Greg Moffett.

"Goaltending is a tough position," says Umile. "Goaltenders take the blame for loses and a lot of things. At times, it may not be totally their fault. There’s no question Sean wasn’t playing at the top of his game.

"But I believe right now he’s back playing well, playing with a lot of confidence. I know he’s worked at it. We’re with him every single day. People on the outside don’t deal with him every single day so they didn’t know that [earlier] we just needed to give the support that he needed and probably let him fight [through] it."

This week, the Wildcats face Northeastern and Providence.

"They just get tougher and tougher," says Umile. "The competition in our league is always difficult. Playing down at Northeastern is difficult. They always play you tough.

"And then we have Providence. I’m not surprised at the success of Providence of late. I felt that they were a real good team in the beginning of the year. We split with them early on, so it’s kind of a rubber match game for us."

Northeastern is profiled above in the Beanpot section.

Providence is profiled above in its contest against Maine.

PICKS: UNH takes two more, 4-2 over Northeastern and 3-2 over Providence.

No. 7 Boston College (15-8-2, 10-5-0 HEA, 3rd) at

UMass-Amherst (6-15-2, 3-10-2 HEA, T-8th)

Friday, 7 p.m., Mullins Center, Amherst, MA

Boston College is profiled above in the Beanpot section.

UMass-Amherst took three of four points on the weekend, tying Northeastern, 2-2, and defeating BU, 5-4.

"All league points are tough at this point, but three out of four points was a real nice weekend for us," said coach Joe Mallen. "Beating BU is something that’s really been a challenge for us. It was always an uphill battle.

"We felt that we had played so well in those two 3-2 losses [to BU] early in the season that we were due. Our kids just really did a good job. They really went out and played hard. For 50 minutes we played terrific. In the last four or five minutes we had a letdown, but for us to score five goals against BU and a good goaltender like Michel Larocque is a good accomplishment."

Sophomore Jeff Turner was the offensive star, getting the game-tying goal against Northeastern and the game-winner against BU.

"Jeff’s a real gritty player," says Mallen. "[He] missed the whole first half of last year with a broken leg, so really he’s just getting a full year under his belt now. We think he’s going to be one of the leaders of the future on this team."

The Minutemen then opened a three-game series with Boston College with a 7-1 loss on Tuesday.

"Obviously, I have great respect for what BC is doing right now," said Mallen before the game. "They’re definitely one of the top teams in the country. They may be a little up and down, but on any given night they can beat anybody in the country.

"For us right now, hockey is a game of momentum and we’ve just got to use the momentum from the Northeastern and BU games to play real well against BC.

PICKS: BC takes off on a winning streak, 4-1.

Boston University (8-13-2, 5-8-2 HEA, 5th) at

UMass-Lowell (12-12-0, 4-10-0 HEA, T-8th)

Friday, 7 p.m., Paul E. Tsongas Arena, Lowell, MA

Boston University is profiled above in the Beanpot section.

UMass-Lowell lost two over the weekend to No. 4 UNH, 3-1 and 4-1.

"Both nights we were in position to upset them late in the third period," says coach Tim Whitehead, whose River Hawks led one night going into the third and were tied the other. "I’m pleased that we were in position to do that. Obviously, we would have loved to have seen us follow through with that and knock them off, so it was disappointing.

"But UNH, when it came down to it, won the game in the end. We didn’t give it to them. The kids competed and we were in position to win it, we just got beat by some real good plays, particularly the second night at their rink when Krog and Haydar did a nice job of polishing it off."

With the River Hawks now tied for eighth place in Hockey East, this week’s games against BU and Merrimack become the perfect time for them to make a move on two teams that aren’t far ahead of them in the standings.

"We’re excited to play this weekend," says Whitehead. "These are two games with a lot of significance for the teams involved so it should be a lot of fun that way.

"It’s an opportunity for us. If we can get a couple in the win column, we can make some headway. But obviously for us, at this point every game is challenging because you look at the standings and every team is stacked up ahead of us.

"We’ve got 10 games left and all 10 of those are going to be challenging for us. But it’s also an exciting time for us because we have the opportunity, if we knock some of these teams off, to climb up in the standings."

PICKS: Lowell gets back on the winning track, 4-2.

Merrimack (9-13-1, 5-8-1 HEA, 6th) vs. Brown (3-8-5, 2-6-4 ECAC, 8th) and

UMass-Lowell (12-12-0, 4-10-0 HEA, T-8th)

Thursday, 7 p.m., Meehan Auditorium, Providence, RI

Sunday, 2 p.m., Volpe Center, North Andover, MA

Merrimack finished its four-game set against UNH and Maine empty-handed, losing to the Black Bears, 5-2 and 4-3.

"Against New Hampshire, I don’t think we came close, but I thought that against Maine we had some real chances to win," says coach Chris Serino. "Hopefully, we’ll continue some of that against Brown and Lowell this week."

In the second game against the Black Bears, Serino put Greg Classen on the top line with Rejean Stringer and Kris Porter and the rookie responded with two goals. Classen had served as second-line center for most of the year.

"You try to get balance in your scoring and that’s why I had him down there [on the second line,]" says Serino. "But if the first line is going to be the line that scores most of your goals anyway, then you have to take advantage of every opportunity.

"One thing that Greg does very well is he goes to the net. He’s gotten a lot of goals that way: going to the net, getting rebounds, having a quick stick in front of the net when there’s a loose puck. If you play with Stringer and Porter, there’s going to be a lot of those. And he’s got the speed to open up the ice a little bit.

"The other line that I thought played well defensively for us was [Chris] Halecki, [Vince] Clevenger and [John] Pyliotis. We tried to play them on Kariya’s line and I thought they did a good job.

"I’m going to try to keep [those two lines] together and play with the other two."

Although the Thursday tilt with Brown could be viewed as a less important nonconference match-up, Serino sees it as a key contest.

"Brown is a very important game, just to get us back on a winning note," he says. "It’s a big game to get us rolling again.

"With a team like ours, when you win it does so much for the guys that it becomes important for us to win."

And as for Lowell…

"It’s going to be a huge game for us," says Serino.

UMass-Lowell is profiled above in its game against BU.

(For a detailed look at Brown, see this week’s ECAC Preview by Becky Blaeser and Jayson Moy.)

PICKS: Merrimack sweeps, 5-2 over Brown and 4-3 over Lowell.

Thanks to Scott Weighart for his contributions to this preview.

This Week in the MAAC: January 29, 1999

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Ever notice how much Metro Atlantic hockey resembles the TV series The Simpsons?

First, The Simpsons is set in the mythic town of Springfield…and there’s a town called Springfield in New England, where most of the MAAC schools are located. Coincidence? I think not.

Next, how often does The Simpsons come on? Every week. And when do the MAAC teams play hockey? Every week. The plot thickens.

Plus, if you hunt around the various MAAC hockey teams, you’re sure to find players, coaches and staff named Homer, Bart…Marge and…um…Apu…

Hmm.

I gotta start writing these earlier.

All right, enough of that foolishness. We now return you to your regularly-scheduled foolishness.

Last weekend in the MAAC could be described as the Week of Ties, or maybe just the Week of Fairfield. The Stags rebounded from a Friday loss to American International to stop the Yellow Jackets 6-3 to claim their first victory of the season.

Meanwhile, three of the remaining five MAAC games last weekend finished as 3-3 ties, including both games between Quinnipiac and Canisius. Iona and Connecticut likewise tied, and Holy Cross made up some ground on the conference leaders by taking two games — both by the score of 4-2 — from Sacred Heart.

With last weekend in the books, Quinnipiac retains the MAAC lead with a 12-2-2 record and 26 league points, but Holy Cross has now pulled into a second-place tie with UConn, just four points behind. The Braves may still be in the driver’s seat, but with 12 games to go in league play, a four-point lead is nowhere close to safe.

AIC, despite giving up Fairfield’s first win, stayed ahead of Iona for fourth place, while Canisius holds in sixth with 13 points. The MAAC’s cellar-dwellers, Sacred Heart and Fairfield, now have seven and two league points, respectively.

Quinnipiac (14-2-2, 12-2-2 MAAC) at Fairfield (1-18-0, 1-15-0 MAAC) Friday, 8:30 pm ET, Wonderland of Ice, Bridgeport, Conn. Fairfield at Quinnipiac Saturday, 7:00 pm ET, East Haven Rink, East Haven, Conn. Sacred Heart (3-14-1, 3-12-1 MAAC) at Quinnipiac Tuesday, 7:00 pm ET, East Haven Rink, East Haven, Conn.

That rush of air felt throughout the Northeast last Saturday was a collective sigh of relief from Fairfield’s hockey players, coaches and fans. After getting mauled 9-3 on Friday, the Stags recovered to post a 6-3 win for their first league points.

The victory came courtesy of linemates Rob Curtis (11-6–17) and Conal Barbuto (5-6–11), each of whom scored two goals in the contest, and netminder Derek Saunders (1-2-0, 6.11 GAA, .829 SV%), who stopped 33 AIC shots. Barbuto and Curtis scored 17 seconds apart early in the third to break open a tie game, and Saunders played Saturday’s game in place of number-one goalie John True, who was pulled halfway through the third period Friday after giving up eight goals.

Rookie Bryan Cairns (1-0–1) also scored Saturday for the Stags, his first career tally.

So — the proverbial monkey may be off the Stags’ backs, but this is still a team with a long way to go. Fairfield is giving up three times as many goals as it is scoring in MAAC play (105-35), and a lot of the trouble seems to be in net.

Whether it’s going to be True, Saunders or Charles Fitzpatrick, who played the final 9:12 Friday, someone has to step up for the Stags to improve.

Meanwhile, the Quinnipiac Braves played a so-so pair of games against homestanding Canisius last Saturday and Sunday, ending in two 3-3 ties. Saturday’s action saw Canisius score first and never trail, but Chad Poliquin’s (7-14–21) goal one minute into the third period knotted it up for the Braves. Chris Cerrella (9-13–22) notched a goal and an assist for Quinnipiac.

The next night it was Canisius’ turn to play catch-up after blowing an early lead. In a game which featured a hefty 15 power plays, the only actual power-play goal was by QC’s Mike Ruggiero (5-6–11), who scored at 13:50 of the second period to give Quinnipiac its only lead.

Like its predecessor, Sunday’s game went to OT, where despite 11 shots on goal in the five extra minutes, neither team could pull out the win. Both netminders played well to preserve the tie, with Quinnipiac’s J.C. Wells stopping 30 shots.

Wells, by the way, continues to lead the MAAC in league wins (11), goals-against average (2.15), save percentage (.895) and minutes (890). He backstops a defense which is tops in the conference in goals against (just 36 in 16 games, a 2.3 average).

The Brave offense is hardly less dominating, as four Quinnipiac players stand in the top 12 in MAAC scoring. Oddly, one of those, super freshman and leading conference scorer Neil Breen (11-13—24), was held without a point against Canisius.

Shows what my praise will do to you, and with that in mind, contributions are now being accepted for keeping my mouth shut about hot players.

The third game of the week for Quinnipiac is an odd game against Sacred Heart Tuesday — odd because it’s the front end of a home-and-home series in which the games are separated by two weeks. The Braves and Pioneers play the back end at Sacred Heart on Tuesday, Feb. 16.

Sacred Heart is profiled below, in its series with Iona.

Picks: On paper, this looks like a mismatch, and despite Fairfield’s heartening win Saturday, that’s probably what it will be on the ice, too. Quinnipiac is not likely to show the Stags the same generosity that it did the Griffins last weekend. Quinnipiac 7-2, 4-0

Then, on Tuesday, the Braves make it three wins for the week against the tenacious, but outmatched, Pioneers. Quinnipiac 5-2

Holy Cross (8-7-3, 8-4-2 MAAC) at Canisius (6-9-5, 4-7-5 MAAC) Friday, 8:00 pm ET, Dann Memorial Rink, Buffalo, N.Y. Saturday, 2:00 pm ET, Dann Memorial Rink, Buffalo, N.Y.

The Crusaders of Holy Cross made their move last week, winning two games with Sacred Heart and sliding into a tie with UConn for second place in the conference. That means the preseason favorites are now 4-1 in their last five league games, and sit just four points behind league-leading Quinnipiac.

For the series, the Crusaders outshot the Pioneers 94-48, but were held comparatively close by Sacred Heart netminder Alexis Jutras-Binet. On Friday, Holy Cross got two goals and an assist from Paul Cavanaugh (10-8–18) and three assists by Mike Maguire (3-11–14) as the Crusaders scored three goals in the third period — on a monumental 20 shots — to erase a 2-1 deficit.

Holy Cross had trailed after 40 minutes of play despite outshooting Sacred Heart 31-17.

The next night the win was more straightforward, as Pat Rismiller (6-16–22) netted 1-2–3, including the game-winner, a power-play goal at 16:35 of the second period. Scott Simpson (4-3-1, 2.87 GAA, .889 SV%), who played both games in the Crusader nets in place of Tom Ormondroyd, then held off the Pioneers to gain his second win of the series.

This weekend, Holy Cross takes on Canisius, fresh off a solid, if only somewhat satisfying, series with QC. The Ice Griffs skated to two 3-3 ties with the Braves in Buffalo, coming back in one and losing a lead in the other.

In the first game, the MAAC’s second-leading scorer, Chris Duggan (13-15–28), notched Canisius’ first two goals to stake the Griffs to a 2-1 lead early in the middle frame. The victory was not to be, however, as the Braves stormed back from that deficit as well as a later 3-2 margin to draw the contest.

Even with that in mind, the Griffs couldn’t have been too upset with the tie, seeing as they were outshot 38-24 by Quinnipiac for the game. Bob Janosz (3-8-4, 3.79 GAA, .889 SV%) earned most of the credit there, stopping a total of 35 shots (and 64 shots on the weekend) for the hosts.

Sunday’s game was more back-and-forth, with each team holding one-goal leads before settling for the tie again. Seth Wiener (3-4–7) tallied the game’s final goal for the Griffs, while Todd Bisson (3-6–9) notched two assists.

The two ties, though well-played, continued the Griffs season-long pattern. They have now tied three of their last five games, and have recorded five draws in just 16 MAAC games in 1998-99.

Picks: Both teams look sharp right now, Canisius’ odd tie-happy string notwithstanding. But Holy Cross, in particular, has shown a pattern this season of alternating good and bad performances, so let’s say that happens again. Canisius 4-3, Holy Cross 5-2

American Int’l (9-7-3, 8-5-3 MAAC) at Connecticut (10-6-4, 9-3-4 MAAC) Friday, 7:30 pm ET, UConn Ice Rink, Storrs, Conn. Connecticut at American Int’l Saturday, 7:00 pm ET, Olympia Ice Center, W. Springfield, Mass.

"It had to come sometime, and it just happened to be us."

That’s probably the rallying cry this week on the campus of American International, which was victimized by Fairfield last Saturday for the Stags’ first win of the year. Now, the MAAC hockey league is too young, and rivalries too nascent to call that loss embarrassing, but getting beat 6-3 by a team which was 0-18 up ’til then is not the way to improve morale.

So the question now is, what will the Yellow Jackets do about it? Their next opponent, Connecticut, is also coming off a disappointment, so there’s no shortage of motivation for these teams in what could be an excellent weekend of hockey.

AIC’s collapse against Fairfield Saturday was even more surprising when you consider that the ‘Jackets had just pummeled the Stags 9-3 the night before. In that game, Dan Curran (11-3–14) scored two goals, including the shorthanded game-winner, and Mike Peddycord (4-5–9) continued his recent scoring streak by adding two tallies of his own. Though Fairfield actually scored the first goal of the night, it was never a contest after that: the ‘Jackets quickly returned three-for-one in the first period, and built a 6-2 lead after two.

Saturday’s game, as already mentioned, was a whole different ball of wax. Peddycord got his third goal of the weekend, but there was little else to cheer if you were an AIC fan, as the Stags hammered normally-reliable Chance Thede (7-5-3, 3.22 GAA, .901 SV%) for six goals on 34 shots.

Nevertheless, the Yellow Jackets remain in fourth place in the league standings, but just two points ahead of Iona. And AIC will need a return to form by its defensive corps (47 goals against in MAAC play, fourth-best in the league) to gain any ground against UConn.

That’s because the Huskies have an axe of their own to grind. UConn outshot Iona 42-22 last Saturday in its lone game of the week, but let the Gaels back into the contest by blowing a 3-1 second-period lead.

Ryan Murphy (1-1–2) scored the third UConn goal, an unassisted even-strength marker at 2:05 of the second, and added an assist. That goal looked like insurance at that time, but ended up as the difference between a tie and a loss as the Gaels stormed back to knot it up.

The game was also notable for what it didn’t have — scoring from UConn’s trio of Geoff Angell (9-10–19), Dan Sheehan (4-13–17) and Ciro Longobardi (9-7–16). That group was held to one point (a Longobardi assist) on the evening, and that will have to change against AIC for the Huskies to make up ground.

The 3-3 finish also meant that UConn has tied three of its last four, the fourth decision being a 4-1 loss to Sacred Heart. That’s alarming for Husky fans, who watched their team jump out to a 9-2-1 start in the MAAC before the current troubles. Now, Connecticut will need to hustle to maintain a share of second place, let alone challenge Quinnipiac for the lead.

UConn still sports a solid D — the Huskies are second in the league in goals against — and Marc Senerchia (9-5-4, 2.56 GAA, .894 SV%) trails only Quinnipiac’s J.C. Wells in most key goaltending categories. Frankly, though, the defense has kept the heat off Senerchia for most of the season: he has faced just 282 shots in 850-plus minutes of MAAC play. His performance could be the key to UConn rejoining QC atop the league, or sliding as far as fourth.

Picks: The Huskies really, really need two wins here, but don’t count on it. AIC has been one of the league’s best home teams this season (a 6-1-2 league record), and the Yellow Jackets need these points at least as much as the Huskies do. UConn 3-1, AIC 3-2

Iona (9-9-1, 8-7-1 MAAC) at Sacred Heart (3-14-1, 3-12-1 MAAC) Friday, 7:30 pm ET, Milford Ice Pavilion, Fairfield, Conn. Sacred Heart at Iona Saturday, 7:00 pm ET, The Ice Hutch, New Rochelle, N.Y.

This series pits the MAAC’s seventh-place team against the team picked to finish last in the preseason coaches’ poll.

Iona has baffled the pundits, churning out its fair share of conference wins en route to a fifth-place standing and the respect of its league mates. That has been accomplished largely as a result of prodigious scoring; the Gaels have notched 66 goals in MAAC play, good for second in the league.

The O is led by Ryan Carter (21-15–26) , who leads the conference in goals, points and power-play markers; Rob Kellogg (15-17–32) , who sits second to Carter in goals and third in points; and, ofttimes, defenseman Tim Kyrkostas (6-11–17), the MAAC leader in blueliner scoring. Think about this: Carter alone has accounted for nearly one-fourth of Iona’s league goals this year.

Carter notched his 16th goal of the MAAC season last Saturday to get the draw for the Gaels against UConn. He was assisted by Erik Nates (9-10–19), who tallied a goal of his own to start the comeback from a 3-1 second-period deficit.

In nets for Iona, Dan McGuire (5-3-1, 3.79 GAA, .875 SV%) claimed credit for the tie, replacing Ben Brady after the first period (which saw UConn take a 2-1 lead) and allowing just one goal on 27 shots in the game’s final 40 minutes.

Oddly enough, Iona is the only team in the MAAC to sport a significantly better record on the road than at home. The Gaels are 5-3-1 in league games away, versus just 3-4-0 in home tilts.

Across the ice from the Gaels this weekend will be Sacred Heart, led by goaltender Alexis Jutras-Binet (3-12-1, 4.87 GAA, .886 SV%). Apart from being one of its best (don’t let the numbers fool you), Jutras-Binet is certainly the league’s busiest keeper — the porous Pioneer D has allowed 543 shots on him this year. That’s 190 more than any other goaltender in the league has faced.

I repeat: that’s 190 more than any other goaltender in the entire league.

Not helping the Sacred Heart cause is an anemic offense which sits seventh in the MAAC in goal production. SHU scored just four goals against Holy Cross last weekend, although the Pioneers did hold the lead (2-1) at one point Saturday. Lloyd Marks (4-3–7) managed 1-1–2 in that contest, while team scoring leader Erik Drake (4-13–17) (the only Pioneer among the MAAC scoring charts, at 4-7–11) notched an assist on Marks’ goal.

That is, the Pioneer offense is sleepwalking right now, but all it would take is a little boost to make this a competitive team. The Pioneers showed their firepower with four goals to beat UConn two weeks ago, and before that with 12 goals in a two-game sweep of Fairfield.

Picks: Iona doesn’t play a whole lot of defense, which could be inviting for the stagnant Pioneers. But Iona does score a whole lot, which won’t help Jutras-Binet revive the blueline corps of Sacred Heart. With two teams that are such opposites, this call is tough. I gave SHU the benefit of the doubt last week, but Holy Cross was too strong. Iona is probably the same — but not by much. Iona 3-2, 4-3

Next week in the MAAC:

Friday, February 5: Canisius at Iona Fairfield at Holy Cross Sacred Heart at American Int’l Connecticut at Quinnipiac

Saturday, February 6: American Int’l at Sacred Heart Canisius at Iona Holy Cross at Fairfield Quinnipiac at Connecticut

David Cullen: Quarterback Extraordinaire

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This year, Hockey East instituted a Defensive Player of the Week Award to complement its other awards, which forwards and goaltenders traditionally dominate. After Maine’s first weekend of action, the league selected David Cullen. After Maine’s second weekend of action, the league again selected David Cullen.

Two years ago, the Black Bears boasted the best power play in Division I. Last year, only NCAA runner-up Boston College topped them. Through almost those entire two years, the quarterback of that exceptional unit was David Cullen.

"He’s one of the top two or three, at the worst, defensemen in the league. Offensively, he might be as good as there is."

— Maine coach Shawn Walsh

This season, even though Maine’s man-advantage has experienced ups and downs, Cullen has been a constant force from the blue line. He has totaled more points than any other defenseman in Hockey East and trails the national leader, Colorado College’s Scott Swanson, by only one.

“I don’t think it’s any surprise that he’s developed the way he’s developed,” says coach Shawn Walsh. “You could see recruiting him that he wanted the puck at the end of a tight game. He had the ability to go end to end. He’s got some things you just can’t teach. Where he’s developed is his physical strength and his defensive ability.”

As a freshman, though, Cullen joined a blue-line corps that already included Jeff Tory, Jason Mansoff, Brian White and Jeff Libby, as well as fellow freshman Brett Clark. There was plenty of offensive firepower in that group. As the sixth defenseman, Cullen would have to focus on the weakest part of his game, playing in his own end.

“Our team in juniors only had two hours of practice a week and then we just played games,” he says. “It wasn’t much of a teaching atmosphere. It was just, ‘Here’s the puck and go and try to score more goals than the other team.’ I was mostly up the ice the whole game. I didn’t really worry about my own end.

“When I came to Maine, it was totally different. I had to learn a lot of things that a lot of the kids already knew. The defensive part of my game was pretty bad.

“It took me about till Christmas to get used to everything. I was fortunate that the coaches worked with me every day. I got into a regular role by Christmas and helped contribute as a sixth D.”

The hard work on his defensive game earned him the team’s Most Improved Player Award at the end of the year.

“Definitely when you get recognized by your teammates it’s nice to hear,” Cullen says. “It’s a good feeling that your hard work went somewhere.”

That hard work as a freshman appeared ready to parlay itself into a bigger role for him as a sophomore, especially after the losses of Tory and Clark. But along with the rest of the team, Cullen got off to a disappointing start. At the exam break in December, the Black Bears held a 2-5-1 record in Hockey East games and stood 5-7-1 overall in Division I play.

And Cullen was struggling.

“At Christmas, I think I only had about eight or nine points,” he says. “I really hadn’t found my game. I know when Coach Walsh came back [after a one-year absence], I played terrible the first game in Denver. I just didn’t do anything right.

“He took me aside in practice and told me to work on my defense and to jump in the O when I should jump in the O. He started getting on me a little more about certain things and started pushing me more in practice.

“That helped me to understand the game a lot more and become a better player. I got more confidence as I got more playing time and just took off from there.”

Took off, indeed. Within a few weeks, he earned his first recognition as Hockey East Player of the Week, helped in no small part by the Maine power play going 7-for-9 with him at the helm. Four weeks later, he again earned Player of the Week honors.

After scoring only six points as a freshman, Cullen jumped to 30, despite the slow start. He also finished with a team-low eight penalty minutes, a remarkable number for a defenseman.

And most importantly, he played a big part in Maine finishing the season as the hottest team in the country, losing only twice after New Year’s.

Last season, while improving his defensive consistency, he ratcheted his offensive game up another notch as well. He doubled his goals to 10 and totaled 37 points, trailing only Boston College’s Mike Mottau and Boston University’s Tom Poti.

To become one of the league’s elite, Cullen has had to apply himself off the ice as well as on. He entered Maine as a 185-pound freshman, but now weighs in at 209. As Walsh puts it, “He’s become a man out there.”

“When I came here to Maine,” Cullen says, “I wasn’t in too good shape and didn’t lift much weights at all. I really needed to get into the weight room. I wasn’t too aware of the extent to which you need to be in condition to be a college athlete.

“A lot of that was also just maturing as a person. I was pretty young when I came here. Now, I’m [22]. It’s just been growing as a person and putting a couple of extra pounds on of muscle.”

In dramatic contrast to the shape he was in as a freshman, Cullen’s conditioning now gives Walsh extra options.

“He can take lots of ice,” Walsh says. “He’s got one of those bodies and metabolism that allows him to play 30-35 minutes a game and it doesn’t seem to affect his play.”

Cullen’s off-ice work may also have played a part in his ability to stay healthy. He entered the season having played in 100 consecutive games, tops among the Black Bears, and has yet to miss a game.

“Knock on wood, I haven’t really had an injury here at Maine that’s been very serious,” he says. “Last year, I was behind Brian White and Steve Kariya [for most consecutive games]. Then Whitey went out for a game and Steve became the iron man. Then the end of last year, he came down with that lung injury.

“I kept bugging him, ‘I’m the new iron man,'” Cullen says with a laugh, realizing that the bullseye is now on his jersey. “I hope I didn’t jinx myself. I guess I’ve just been lucky enough not to get hurt.”

Not so lucky at first glance, however, was his first cousin, John Cullen, the former BU All-American and pro standout. John, who had years earlier tried to convince David to follow in his footsteps at BU, missed the entire 1997-98 NHL season battling cancer, including undergoing bone marrow transplants. When the news seemed to be worsening, concern mounted throughout the hockey community, but naturally much more so among the Cullen clan.

“He was my idol growing up,” David Cullen says. “He wasn’t just a good hockey player, he was a great guy. The kind I wanted to model myself after.

“I used to always see him in the summer at family reunions and that type of thing. And when he used to play with Pittsburgh or Hartford we would always go down to Buffalo [to watch him play] because we lived right by Buffalo across the border. We always watched the games there and saw him after the games. When we heard the news, it was a shock to the whole family.”

Fortunately, the John Cullen cancer story has a happy ending. Although he has hung up his skates, the disease is in remission.

“That’s the kind of person John is,” David Cullen says. “He just fought it. And right now, he’s succeeding in life again. It’s great.”

Although next year he’ll almost certainly be following in his older cousin’s footsteps into professional hockey, David Cullen isn’t looking that far ahead right now.

“I’m just going to try to have a good year and help the team win,” he says. “Who knows, maybe there will be something down the road after this year. But if not, that’s why I went to school and am getting my degree. I’m going to be graduating on time. I went to school because I know hockey won’t be there forever. That’s why I went to school, for something to fall back on.”

Until then, Cullen’s focus will be on winning games for Maine, a goal that so far is going almost perfectly. The Black Bears have lost only twice and rank second in the country.

So what does Maine’s power-play quarterback extraordinaire look for when he has the puck at the point?

“I just think you play it by ear,” he says. “The coach says I try to get the puck too much to Stevie [Kariya]. He says Steve and I have tunnel vision. But if I have a guy like Steve Kariya on my power play, I want to try to get him the puck.

“You just basically take what the defense gives you. If they sit back, then just fire the puck. Shoot at the net and let the guys in front smack home the rebounds. If they pressure, try to hit the seams. A lot of it is just going out there and relying on your instincts.”

Which Cullen is also doing when he approaches his role as team captain along with Kariya and assistants Bobby Stewart and Jason Vitorino. Although he feels there’s a time and place for speaking up, a lot of leading is done through a captain’s actions.

“It’s important the way you practice everyday and the way you approach your scheduled lifts,” Cullen says. “Your work ethic on and off the ice matters. Guys look at that. If they see their captain riding the bike after practice, they say, oh, he’s doing it, maybe we should be doing something like that, too. If you’re making your lifts, they should be making their lifts, too. There’s no cutting corners.

“You lead by example, but if someone does step out of line, you say something to him. Both Steve and I are the way that if something needs to be said, we’re not going to hold back.

“We have Bobby Stewart and Jay Vitorino who are also assistant captains. They do a lot of talking for us, too. I don’t think we need four guys yelling. As long as one guy says what needs to be said, that should be sufficient.”

If it all does come together for the Black Bears this season, it will be sweet indeed for seniors like Cullen who have paid their dues the last three years.

“I came here because I wanted to be on one of the top teams in the nation every year and I wanted in my four years to have a national championship ring to look at,” he says. “That’s our ultimate goal, to bring the championship back to Maine.

“That’s definitely on our minds every day, but we can’t look too far ahead. We’ve got to take every weekend, one game at a time.”

This feature originally appeared in the Friends of Maine Hockey Newsletter.

This Week in the WCHA: January 29, 1999

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It seems that every week I open with something about North Dakota edging ever closer to the MacNaughton. Dang it, I did it again. Well, let’s put the Sioux aside for a while and look at some teams that don’t really know where they’re going to finish.

As it has been for a while now, the middle of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association is very tight. Positions three through eight are separated by six points. If everyone keeps beating everyone else, this race is going to come down to the last weekend.

While second-place Colorado College gets the weekend off, new No. 3 Denver, fresh off a sweep of Alaska-Anchorage, travels to face Wisconsin. Anchorage, now in fourth place, hosts fifth-place St. Cloud State this weekend. The interesting thing about these series is that teams are not only playing for points now, they’re playing for positioning in case of a tie. Wisconsin and Denver split earlier this season in the Rockies and this is the only meeting this season between the Huskies and the Seawolves.

In other action, Minnesota, quickly getting desperate for a victory — something the Gophers haven’t had in two months — hosts Michigan Tech, which comes off a pair of close losses at CC, something they hope to learn from.

Oh yeah, North Dakota plays at Minnesota-Duluth. You’ll be interested to hear the comments of UMD coach Mike Sertich on how he plans to take on the Sioux.

How’s that for keeping the reader involved?

DENVER (14-9-1, 9-8-1 WCHA: 3rd) at WISCONSIN (9-13-2, 7-8-1 WCHA: 6th) Friday-Saturday, 7:35 CT, The Kohl Center, Madison, Wis.

ON THE PIONEERS: Denver had to fight back from deficits entering the third period on both ends of last weekend’s series with Alaska-Anchorage, and the fact that they successfully did so says one thing: The Pioneers are in this race until the end.

But coach George Gwozdecky knows there’s no room for error, considering the competition is always just a step back.

"This race, if anybody looks at the point standing, you realize how close it is," he said. "One weekend you can be in second place and the next weekend, you can be in fifth. You can change order so drastically."

Pardon Gwozdecky if he had some flashbacks last weekend. From the sound of the crowd at McNichols Arena Saturday night, when the game drew 5,227, he might have thought he was back at the old DU Arena. So what if it’s already been knocked down?

"Our crowd that we had on Saturday night reminded me of some of our old days at DU Arena," he said. "We had a little over 5,000 and they were really into it. That really helped us, it gave us quite a bit of energy, especially going into the third period down 2-0 and down 3-1 with eight minutes to go.

"We’ve been off our campus for almost two years now, and you kind of have a tendency to forget what it’s like. We’re playing in a great game, and all of a sudden the crowd starts getting into it and they were loud in the third period. It was fun because, prior to the puck being dropped at certain face-offs, the crowd would start clapping their hands and stomping their feet, yelling and doing all the chants that we used to have at the old DU Arena when we had such a home ice advantage."

The Pioneers came back from that 3-1 deficit with a goal by Paul Comrie and a 6-on-4 tally by Chris Paradise in the last minute. DU won, 4-3, on another power-play goal by James Patterson a half minute into overtime. That opportunity with the advantage came as the result of a major penalty for checking from behind assessed to UAA’s Mike Scott at the end of regulation.

For the weekend, Denver clicked on four of seven power-play chances. In fact, they clicked for four power-play goals on four power-play shots. That’s right, a 100 percent shooting percentage with the man advantage.

Ryan Hacker, the victim of the check from behind, is likely to be ready to play this weekend. After being knocked out from the hit.

ON THE BADGERS: Just when you thought Wisconsin’s injury situation was getting better, you get knocked for a loop again. At least Kent Davyduke did.

On the same day that coach Jeff Sauer announced his team would probably get senior defenseman Tim Rothering back from a broken jaw, he also noted that Davyduke, a freshman forward, may not be available. Davyduke took a jolt to the head in Sunday’s 3-2 Badger victory over Minnesota State, Mankato. Sauer said doctors performed a CAT scan, and are concerned about Davyduke’s vision.

But who needs anyone else when Matt Murray is on the ice? The freshman walk-on continued to make an impact with two goals on Sunday, including the game-winner with less than four minutes to play. With that extra something at forward, Sauer might shuffle things up with the return of Rothering.

He said it’s possible that Rothering will line up at forward, as he did in the consolation game of the Badger Hockey Showdown in December, and that forward Dan Bjornlie will play his second consecutive series at defense.

"I really liked Dan Bjornlie back there last weekend," Sauer said, despite the fact that Bjornlie was a minus-3 and committed an error that led to a Maverick goal. "I like what he does back there, especially on the big ice."

Sauer said the fact that his team has not lost focus despite its sub-par showing this season is a tribute to the players.

"I’m disappointed in our standing, I’m not disappointed in the team whatsoever," he said. "With all the adversity this team has had, we haven’t lost them as a staff."

The team’s current sixth-place position, however, could be misleading. UW has two games in hand on the four teams directly in front of them.

"There’s no question that we have a great opportunity," Sauer said. "We could finish as high as second — it’s possible if we went on a run here. There’s a lot of hockey to play here."

THE MATCHUP: Sauer, who coached Denver’s Hobey Baker candidate Paul Comrie, had some kind words for the Denver scoring leader (13-23–36). First, he said Comrie would be in his top three if he voted for the Hobey Baker Trophy (the others being CC’s Brian Swanson and UND’s Jason Blake). Then:

"If I had to take one of the three top players right now to help us do what we have to do, I’d take Paul Comrie."

Why’s that, a reporter asked? "Consistency. It’s something that he didn’t do the last couple years, but now he’s doing it," Sauer said.

Denver has had a reasonable amount of success in Madison recently. The Pioneers have won four of their last five at Wisconsin. Of course, that was at the Dane County Coliseum, where Gwozdecky played college puck, grabbing a national championship in 1977. So he knows both sides of the Madison atmosphere.

"I really can’t give you a reason why we’ve had the kind of success we have had there over the last short while," he said. "I know Wisconsin is a school that is one of the two marquee programs in our conference; they have been for years and years and years. Every hockey team that plays them gets up for them and is excited to play Wisconsin."

Sauer said that Denver has not fared as well on the big ice this season. Maybe his team can play that up. Gwozdecky said the only thing his team prepares when they get to practice on the larger ice is the different angles for the goaltenders.

PICKS: Denver 5-2; Wisconsin 4-3

No. 1 NORTH DAKOTA (19-2-1, 14-1-1 WCHA: 1st) at MINNESOTA-DULUTH (6-18-2, 3-13-2 WCHA: 9th) Friday-Saturday, 7:05 CT, Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center, Duluth, Minn.

ON THE SIOUX: You want dominance, I’ll give you dominance. North Dakota is 14-1 since Nov. 20.

But Nos. 13 and 14 didn’t exactly come easy. The Sioux had to fight off a Minnesota charge on Friday and came back from 3-0 and 5-2 deficits on Saturday for a 6-5 win. Not that the come-from-behind victory should have been that much of a surprise. It was the third year in a row the Sioux made a third-period comeback in the second game of the series with the Gophers in Grand Forks.

Jeff Panzer was the story on Friday. He scored four of UND’s five goals on the night and assisted on the fifth. He also scored the game-winning goal on Saturday.

Senior defenseman Brad Williamson had five assists on Friday, to tie the nation’s best performance this season. Of course, his team-leading seven-game assist streak came to an end Saturday, when apparently, the well ran dry.

Goaltender Andy Kollar was pulled from Saturday’s game after giving up three goals in just over 11 minutes, and on only seven shots. Gee, pretty tough when the backup is Karl Goehring, huh? The sophomore came in and stopped 17 of 19 shots to get the win.

ON THE BULLDOGS: When things aren’t going a team’s way, you have to look for the positives. Minnesota-Duluth was swept last weekend by St. Cloud State, but 12 of the 18 Bulldogs who played figured in the scoring.

"I guess if you’re looking for something, that would be one," UMD coach Mike Sertich said. "I guess I’m more concerned in two things: One, in our effort Friday night and (two) Saturday night, the effort and no result. Those two things concern me more than anything."

Against Wisconsin a couple weekends ago, the Bulldogs had a great effort, but came away with nothing. The series with the Huskies wasn’t exactly that way.

"We had some kids on Friday night that, because of effort, didn’t execute," Sertich said. "That bothers me. It bothers me to this day. Saturday night, we had the effort and the execution, and we didn’t get the results. I can’t put my finger on it."

So what’s next for the Bulldogs, besides the impending matchup with North Dakota?

"Keep plugging away," Sertich said. "Most of our problems are inexperience, and unfortunately that’s one thing you can’t coach."

Jeff Scissons has been one of the bright spots on this team, and that hasn’t gotten past Sertich. He leads UMD with 13 goals and nine assists.

"He’s one of those kids you don’t need to worry about," Sertich said. "He’s there every night. He’s one of the better players in the league."

THE MATCHUP: I’ll just let Sertich’s words speak for themselves.

On his strategy to stay with UND: "Bus crash," he said jokingly. "I don’t know. How the hell do you beat them? Everybody else has tried and never done it either. I have no idea. They’re definitely good. They don’t have a weak spot — that I can tell, anyway.

"Now I know how Custer felt…I’m weird, I know."

If levity could just get him a couple wins…

PICKS: North Dakota 5-2, 6-3

MICHIGAN TECH (7-16-1, 7-11-1 WCHA: 7th) at MINNESOTA (7-13-6, 5-8-3 WCHA: 8th) Friday-Saturday, 7:05 CT, Mariucci Arena, Minneapolis

ON THE HUSKIES: Michigan Tech coach Tim Watters knows his team had a good shot to get out of Colorado Springs with some points last weekend, but the bounces just didn’t go the Huskies’ way. But the fact that his team was able to compete with CC was a good sign.

"I thought both games, we skated with CC and we contained them quite well," Watters said. "They are a pretty talented club, it was just one of those things. I thought we had a good opportunity on Friday to maybe get a point or two out of there and it just didn’t go that way."

The loss on Friday snapped Tech’s three-game winning streak. It’s just time again for the Huskies to regroup, something they’re probably getting accustomed to. Their play at CC was pleasing on one hand yet frustrating on another.

"I think we’re optimistic," Watters said. "We went to CC, who’s the No. 6 team in the nation, and we played fairly well. Although it’s frustrating that we played well and we didn’t get anything to show for it."

Another promising sign for the Huskies is that their power play has started to come around. They have scored at least one power-play goal in eight of their last 10 games and are now scoring on 13.3 percent of their conference chances.

The Huskies scored first in both games last weekend, both coming from freshman Paul Cabana. He now leads WCHA rookies with 10 goals overall and seven in league play, making a run for a spot on the all-rookie team.

"Any time you have a freshman come to your program and he’s able to contribute offensively right away the way he has," Watters said, "it’s going to be an impact on your team. He certainly has done that."

ON THE GOPHERS: Maybe, just maybe, if Minnesota was playing anyone in this nation besides North Dakota last weekend, they would have come away with a pair of wins. Just goes to show what bad timing will do to you.

Here’s more bad timing for the Gophers: They haven’t won a game since Nov. 29. That’s right — two full months. It’s now a school-record 10 game winless streak. Gophers coach Doug Woog can’t speak for his players, but he knows the hard work the team showed last weekend should have paid off.

"I do know we played our butts off the last couple weekends and we haven’t got anything to show for it," he said. "Hopefully we’ll continue to play hard like we have. We’re scoring some goals and some positive things are happening. It’s just that the most positive thing is not, and that’s winning."

When Minnesota was up 5-3 on the Sioux, they had two breakaway opportunities but could not capitalize. The rest is history.

They are a little better team in certain spots than we are, but we had a chance to win those games," Woog said.

So what’s the problem with the Gophers? It might stem from a simple fact — if you give up too many goals, you’re not going to win too many games.

"I don’t like the fact that we’re giving up as many goals as we are, that’s concerning us," Woog said. "Our penalty kill has not been where it should be, our five-on-five coverage at times has not been good and our goaltending needs to be a little better at times. It’s a composite issue."

THE MATCHUP: If the Gophers can keep up the level of play they showed against North Dakota, they could probably defeat anyone…except maybe North Dakota.

"We have to continue to score and we have to continue that intensity," Woog said. "If you continue the intensity, things will work out better. We have to realize that these, again, are must-points and get after it."

Watters said he respects Minnesota’s front lines.

"I think Minnesota has a lot of very good forwards that are very capable of scoring lots of goals," he said. "We’re going to have to contain them."

Minnesota took 40 penalty minutes on Saturday against North Dakota, and Woog said his team can’t afford to do that again this weekend.

PICKS: Minnesota 5-3; Michigan Tech 3-2

ST. CLOUD STATE (12-11-1, 8-10 WCHA: 5th) at ALASKA-ANCHORAGE (11-11-2, 8-8-2 WCHA: 4th) Friday-Saturday, 7:35 AT, Sullivan Arena, Anchorage, Alaska

ON THE HUSKIES: Despite the fact that coach Craig Dahl’s team is riddled with injuries, despite the fact that he has only 10 forwards, St. Cloud State also should be in the race until the finish.

The Huskies took both ends of a home-and-home series with Minnesota-Duluth last weekend, finally getting the reward they deserved, Dahl said.

"We played hard and got rewarded this time," he said. "Up against Tech (two weeks ago), I thought we played really well except in the nets. This time we played pretty well again and got better goaltending, too."

Dean Weasler stopped 68 of 74 Bulldogs shots last weekend. Just another part of an up-and-down year in Husky goaltending.

"He was good for quite a while and then he kind of went south on us, and then he was good last weekend again," Dahl said.

The Huskies also netted a pair of power-play goals, but Dahl isn’t exactly jumping for joy. Both shots came from the point, and he doesn’t see the power-play getting much better.

"We’re not going to have a lot of execution because we just don’t have that type of high-skill," Dahl said, referring to the loss of top-scorer Jason Goulet, among others, from the ranks.

With all the young guys, Dahl tries to keep it simple.

"I tell them to do two things: work your ass off and work smart," he said. "As far as goals, you can’t always control that. If i think they’re getting uptight, I try to joke with them a little bit, make sure they’re not squeezing their sticks and turning them into sawdust. I say you’d better work and you’d better work hard and you’d better do our systems, really be disciplined, and we’ve been doing that great. That’s why we’re still able to be where we’re at, even with all those injuries."

ON THE SEAWOLVES: Alaska-Anchorage lost each of its third-period leads against Denver last weekend and ended up losing each of its games. Disappointing, yes, but also a learning experience.

"It was a little disappointing," UAA coach Dean Talafous said. "Our young team learned that it’s playoff time now. To beat teams like Denver or anybody in the league on the road at this point in the season, we’re going to have to step our game up one more notch if it’s possible. It was a good thing to go through for our team. Disappointing, yeah, but I think we learned a lot."

But it was an uncharacteristic way for the Seawolves to lose. The penalty killers allowed four power-play goals on four shots.

"Penalties never help you, that’s why we take the least penalty minutes per game in hockey — I realize the importance of not taking them," Talafous said. "But we’re human and over the course of the season, you’re going to get a couple penalties. It was untimely, but we still could have killed them off, but we didn’t do a very good job of that either."

The killer was the major penalty for checking from behind that allowed Denver to win the game in overtime. While Mike Scott, the checker, didn’t play in Sunday’s game, neither did goaltender Gregg Naumenko. Doug Teskey, from whom Naumenko took the starting job earlier this season, got the call.

"I wanted to get Teskey in there to get him a game," Talafous said. "Naumenko, he’s played a lot of hockey for a freshman. I thought it doesn’t hurt to get a breather at the same time. It’s going to be a long stretch drive here, so it’s a chance to give him a breather."

Last weekend’s games marked the first and second times this season UAA had lost a game which it led entering the third period.

THE MATCHUP: Of course, games are always important as the season begins to wind down, but this is the only meeting between these two teams. So this is probably each team’s biggest series to date. Of course, every week’s series has been the biggest series to date, and that trend will continue until the end of the season.

"I’m sure a lot of people could make the argument that it’s the biggest series, but it seems like every weekend is bigger," Talafous said. "I think everybody feels that way. It’s so close in the standings that every game is crucial. We’ve got to be at our best and try to do everything we can to win these hockey games."

Said Dahl: "To me, head-to-head is the name of the game. I think our guys are looking forward to it. We’re not looking forward to the plane trip."

Who does?

Dahl said he would be satisfied with a split, but that would probably change if the Huskies win the first game of the series.

PICKS: Alaska-Anchorage, 2-1; St. Cloud State, 3-2 (ot)

UPCOMING SCHEDULE: Hey, it’s Winter Carnival time again! Oh, wait, the Huskies have to go up against the Sioux. Looks like the Carnival Queen might have to go it alone at the Sno-Ball Dance.

Friday, Feb. 5 Minnesota-Duluth at Alaska-Anchorage Minnesota at Colorado College North Dakota at Michigan Tech Wisconsin at St. Cloud State Denver at Air Force

Saturday, Feb. 6 Minnesota-Duluth at Alaska-Anchorage Minnesota at Colorado College North Dakota at Michigan Tech Wisconsin at St. Cloud State Minnesota State, Mankato at Denver

This Week in the CCHA: January 29, 1999

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With all the buildup surrounding this week’s game between No. 5 Michigan and No. 3 Michigan State, an important story may be lost in the hype.

Last Friday, when University of Alaska-Fairbanks head coach Dave Laurion announced his resignation effective at the end of the season, the ripples throughout the college hockey world were small, to be certain. During Laurion’s tenure, the Nanooks have struggled to be competitive, perennially lingering near the bottom of the CCHA standings.

Laurion’s record as Nanook coach isn’t necessarily an accurate measure of his coaching abilities. Consider that Laurion, who’s spent 14 years total at Fairbanks, has had to recruit to the geographically most remote NCAA Division I program. Consider also how much money the hockey program costs the school, and the kind of position that Laurion has found himself in.

One of the conditions for UAF joining the CCHA was that the school would pay for all travel expenses for competitors to play in Fairbanks. Think of the funds it takes to fly an entire team and staff to Fairbanks; think of how many times the Nanooks do this per year.

Think, then, of the kinds of pressures that Laurion and the Nanook team have faced. Expenses need to be justified. A winning program would certainly justify expenses. But there is no way the Nanooks can compete with any other CCHA program in the recruiting wars, given the location of the school and its minimal exposure outside of Alaska.

So, the school doesn’t see results, and doesn’t adequately fund recruiting, which further hampers recruiting efforts, which does nothing to help the results of any given season.

"I think it will be healthy for the program for someone to come in with new ideas for fund raising and ticket sales," says Laurion.

Fund raising and ticket sales? If Laurion is preoccupied with just keeping the program afloat, how can the school expect him to effectively do his job as coach?

Money is so tight for the Nanooks that their booster club had to buy them a skate sharpener last season–the school itself refused the request for funds.

Several CCHA coaches have been very vocal in their opposition to the Nanook program. Several complain each time they head north; several have suggested the Nanooks don’t belong in the league.

The fact remains that the CCHA did welcome the Alaska-Fairbanks program as a full member of the league. The CCHA had every chance to turn down UAF’s application, but it did not. If allowing UAF to join the CCHA was indeed a mistake–and I’m not saying that it was–how sad it would be if the league simply sat back and watched the Nanooks conveniently unravel.

With 32 points, No. 3 Michigan State is two points ahead of No. 5 Michigan, at the top of the CCHA standings. Last weekend, the Spartans beat Lake Superior 4-1 before skating to a 1-1 tie with Northern Michigan. This Friday night, Michigan State and Michigan square off in Munn Ice Arena.

The Wolverines beat Bowling Green 5-4 before tying Ohio State 1-1 last weekend. In addition to the game against the Spartans, No. 5 Michigan travels to No. 10 Notre Dame Saturday.

Ohio State beat Ferris State 3-0 and tied No. 5 Michigan 1-1 last weekend. The Buckeyes moved into third place with 25 points, but are just one point ahead of No. 10 Notre Dame. This weekend, Ohio State hosts Western Michigan for two.

After a tie and a loss, the No. 10 Notre Dame Fighting Irish slip to fourth place, with 24 points. The Irish tied Northern Michigan 3-3 and lost to Lake Superior State 3-1 in a swing through the Yoop last weekend. No. 10 Notre Dame hosts No. 5 Michigan Saturday night.

Ferris State slipped out of the top four with a 3-0 loss to Ohio State and a 4-4 tie in Bowling Green last weekend. With 23 points, however, the Bulldogs are in good shape to hop back up. This weekend, Ferris State hosts Miami for two.

With 22 points, Northern Michigan is nipping at the Bulldogs’ heels and is certainly within reach of a top-four finish. Last weekend, the Wildcats tied No. 10 Notre Dame and No. 3 Michigan State. Northern travels to Alaska-Fairbanks for two this weekend.

Bowling Green is in seventh place, five points behind Northern Michigan. Last weekend, the Falcons lost to No. 5 Michigan 5-4 before tying Ferris State 4-4. This week, Bowling Green travels to Lake Superior State for two.

Miami holds on to that eighth spot by the slimmest of margins. With 11 points, the RedHawks are one point ahead of the bottom three teams. Miami was idle last week, and travels to Ferris State this weekend for two.

Alaska-Fairbanks, Lake Superior State, and Western Michigan are tied for last place with ten points each.

Last weekend, the Nanooks blanked Nebraska-Omaha 4-0 and 7-0. They host Northern for the first time ever this weekend.

Lake Superior State lost to No. 3 Michigan State before upsetting No. 10 Notre Dame. The Lakers host Bowling Green for two this weekend.

Western Michigan dropped a pair of games to No. 8 Rensselaer in Troy last weekend, 5-2 and 2-0. The Broncos and Buckeyes face each other twice in Columbus this weekend.

Last week’s record in picks: 7-5 Overall record in picks: 80-56

That’s Ties 4, Paula 0, in case you’re counting.

No. 5 Michigan (17-5-3, 14-3-2 CCHA) at No. 3 Michigan State (20-3-4, 14-2-4 CCHA) Friday, 7 p.m., Munn Ice Arena, East Lansing, MI

Oh, the rivalry! Oh, the hype! Oh, the humanity!

On game nights when Michigan and Michigan State play each other, life in the entire lower third of the great state of Michigan comes to a dead stop. Air traffic becomes messy. The shelves of the local video store are stocked. You can’t even get a pizza delivered.

Okay, it’s not quite that monumental–but don’t tell that to fans of either team.

"These are big games for all teams," says Michigan head coach Red Berenson of the pair the Wolverines will play this weekend.

"Whether or not they have a bearing on the standings remains to be seen. But if you’re going to make any ground, you’ve got to do it when you’re playing head-to-head. It might be the only chance you get to advance your team."

The Wolverines won a tight 5-4 game in Bowling Green last Thursday before getting just one point from Ohio State, where a late third-period goal tied it up for the Buckeyes.

Geoff Koch (2-3–5), Mark Kosick (6-8–14), Sean Ritchlin (6-1–7), Mike Comrie (9-11–20), and Dale Rominski (10-4–14) scored the goals against Bowling Green, while Josh Blackburn made 22 saves.

Comrie had the goal in the OSU game, in which Blackburn had 25 saves. With his two goals and an assist on the weekend, Comrie was named the CCHA Rookie of the Week.

"We’ve been a little erratic of late, but we’ll be ready for this game," says Berenson. "These teams typically don’t give each other much."

Ain’t that the truth. Michigan beat Michigan State 2-1 in their first regular-season meeting in Yost on Nov. 20. At the GLI, Michigan State beat Michigan 3-1.

Seven of the last ten meetings between the Wolverines and Spartans have been decided by two or fewer goals.

The Wolverines travel to East Lansing 4-1-1 in their last six. The Spartans are riding a 14-game unbeaten streak, having most recently beaten Lake Superior 4-1 and tied Northern Michigan 1-1.

"We didn’t play very well for two periods against Lake," says Michigan State head coach Ron Mason. Regardless, the Spartans got the 4-1 win, with Bryan Adams (12-6–18), Mike Weaver (1-5–6), Adam Hall (6-2–8), and Rustyn Dolyny (10-7–17) had goals in the game against Lake Superior State.

Dolyny also had the only goal in the game against Northern, scoring at 9:53 in the third on the Spartan power play to tie the game.

Joe Blackburn (1.35 GAA, .931 SV%) had 20 saves in the game against Lake, but 36 in Marquette–the highest number of shots surrendered by the Spartans this season.

Pick

This game pits the two best defenses in the nation, and two goalies leading the CCHA in stats. Michigan State has a definite edge defensively, outscoring opponents 66-25, with a team plus/minus of +156.

The Wolverines have outscored opponents 58-37, and are +66 as a team.

The stats say that Joe is better than Josh, but stats don’t tell the whole story. Michigan has an edge in net.

Scoring-wise, there’s no doubt who has the advantage. Mike York (9-18–27) is tied for second in league scoring with Hugo Boisvert and Dan Price. York’s the best player on the ice in any game he plays.

"He’s multidimensional," says Mason. "Mike York does every part of the game well, whether it’s faceoffs, or power plays, or penalty killing. In our league, no one’s going to win the national scoring title because you have to earn your space in the CCHA. But he’s the whole package."

In addition to York, Shawn Horcoff (9-12–21), Adams, and Dolyny are among the CCHA’s top twenty point scorers.

Michigan has a good offense led by Comrie, followed by the underrated Josh Langfeld (9-7–16), Kosick, Rominski, Dave Huntzicker (2-10–12), and a trio of defensemen–Bubba Berenzweig, Mike Van Ryn, and Jeff Jillson–with 11 points each.

Michigan State’s league-best penalty killing (.925) should be able to handle the Wolverine power play, which is performing at 16.5%. Similarly, while converting at just 12.2%, the Spartans probably won’t be much of a match for the Wolverines’ 87.7% penalty kill.

The Spartans are 20-0-4 in their last 24 games in Munn Ice Arena, a school record. Although it will be close, they’ll probably extend it.

Michigan State 2-1

No. 5 Michigan (17-5-3, 14-3-2 CCHA) at No. 10 Notre Dame (14-7-3, 11-6-2 CCHA) Saturday, 7 p.m., Joyce Center, South Bend, IN

The Fighting Irish had a rough trip north last weekend, tying Northern Michigan 3-3 before losing 3-1 to Lake Superior State.

"We had lots of chances," says Notre Dame head coach Dave Poulin of the game against the Wildcats. "We had a penalty from the warm-ups, so they started the game on the power play. We had great, great chances. Forrest [Karr] played well."

Aniket Dhadphale (10-7–17), Ryan Dolder (2-2–4), and Troy Bagne (1-1–2) scored for the Irish in the tie. Karr (2.27 GAA, .904 SV%) made 30 saves in the game.

On Saturday, Poulin says that the Irish didn’t play their best hockey, and that Ben Simon (11-15–26), Dan Carlson (5-13–18) and Dhadphale totaled 18 shots on goal. Simon had the sole Irish goal, and Karr made nine saves on the 12 shots he faced. Jeremiah Kimento made eight saves in relief of Karr.

Neither Brian Urick (10-16–26) nor defenseman Tyson Fraser (1-8–9) played for the Irish last weekend. Urick may miss this week as well because of injury; Fraser is expected to return.

Poulin says that while his team is aware of the race for points, he doesn’t want Notre Dame focusing on the big picture at the expense of the smaller one.

"If you get caught up in watching the schedule, you’re in trouble."

Pick

Michigan leads this all-time series 50-33-3, and head coach Red Berenson is 28-2-1 against Notre Dame. In games against Coach Poulin, Berenson is 11-1-0.

Going back to last year’s playoffs, these two teams have played each other very tough. The Irish came back to tie the Wolverines 2-2 on November 14 in South Bend. One week later, the Wolverines beat Notre Dame 1-0 in Yost.

One key for Michigan will be staying out of the penalty box–something the Wolverines had difficulty with two weeks ago but didn’t seem to have much trouble with last week. The Notre Dame power play is ungodly good, at 23.1%.

Michigan has the clear advantage both defensively and in the net, but that first Notre Dame line is strong, even if only two-thirds of the line is playing. Dhadphale is a sniper on the power play; half of his 10 conference goals have come on the PP.

This should be a good one, and I suspect this pick will hurt me in the end.

Notre Dame 2-1

Western Michigan (3-14-6, 2-11-6 CCHA) at Ohio State (13-10-4, 11-6-3 CCHA) Friday and Saturday, 7 p.m., Schottenstein Center, Columbus, OH

The Broncos played their last nonconference games of the regular season last week, losing 5-2 and 2-0 to Rensselaer. Head coach Bill Wilkinson says Western Michigan used the games as a final tune-up before the last big push to make the CCHA playoffs.

"Everything went smoothly," said Wilkinson. "The refereeing was good. The host school was great."

Now that the Broncos return to CCHA action this week against the Buckeyes, Wilkinson says his team needs to get back to the defensive basics.

"Early in the season, we played well defensively. We’ve got to get back to that play. We’re beating ourselves, taking penalties at the wrong time.

"And as good as Ohio State is, we’re more concerned with us than we are with them."

Greg Mitchell (0-1–1) and Bryan Farquhar (1-1–2) had the goals against Rensselaer. Matt Barnes (3.26 GAA, .882 SV%) made 33 saves in the 5-2 loss, while Jeff Reynaert (3.91 GAA, .883 SV%) stopped 26 pucks in the shutout.

Wilkinson is right to be concerned about the Bronco defense. Western is being outscored by opponents 40-77, and the team plus/minus is -190 in conference play.

Turning such a defense around may be difficult in Columbus, where the Buckeyes are once again playing good hockey. Ohio State shut out Ferris State 3-0 and tied Michigan 1-1 last weekend in the Schottenstein Center.

However, the Buckeyes make a habit of giving bottom-of-the-conference teams confidence, having recently lost 4-3 in overtime to Miami, and 3-2 to Lake Superior in the Schott.

"Last weekend was very good for us," says head coach John Markell. "We’ve got some guys concentrating again. Boisvert and Maund are on track, and Richards is playing well."

Hugo Boisvert (10-17–27) and Chris Richards (5-12–17) lead the Bucks in scoring, followed by J.F. Dufour (6-6–12), Eric Meloche (3-7–10), and Andre Signoretti (3-7–10). Boisvert is tied with Dan Price and Mike York for second in league scoring.

Jeff Maund (2.01 GAA, .929 SV%) has moved ahead of Ferris State’s Vince Owen in league goaltending for third in conference stats. Maund made 55 saves last weekend and became the only player in the league to be named CCHA Defensive Player of the Week four times this season. Maund was also the USCHO Defensive Player of the Week for the second time this year.

Yan Des Gagne (1-0–1), Boisvert, and Dufour scored against Ferris State. Defenseman Ryan Jestadt (4-2–6) scored the tying goal with just 1:10 to go against Michigan.

Markell is aware that Ohio State has a tendency to show up for big games and let down for other opponents.

"The challenge is on them, the players," says Markell. "We need to work on consistency. We have to understand that we get good offensive chances because we play good team defense."

Picks

The last time these two teams met, Ohio State led Western Michigan 2-1 with less than five minutes of regulation remaining, but Corey Waring (5-5–10) scored at 16:48 in the third to tie the game.

In that game, Maund stopped 14 of 16 Western shots on goal, the fewest shots the Bucks have allowed this season.

Ohio State should, by the book, beat Western Michigan twice. But will the Buckeyes be up to this challenge?

"We have to understand that Western Michigan can beat any team on any given night, just like Lake," says Markell. "I hope we’ve learned a lesson about that."

Ohio State 4-1, 5-2

Miami (6-16-4, 4-13-3 CCHA) at Ferris State (11-9-4, 10-7-3 CCHA) Friday and Saturday, 7 p.m., Ewigleben Arena, Big Rapids, MI

The Bulldogs ran into some tough competition last weekend on a swing through Ohio, losing 3-0 to Ohio State and tying Bowling Green 4-4.

Vince Owen (2.09 GAA, .925 SV%, fourth in the league) was excellent in net for the Bulldogs in the OSU game, allowing just one even-strength goal, and stopping 24 of the 26 shots he faced. Owen stopped 27 shots in Bowling Green.

Jim Dube (3-8–11), Rob Collins (2-4–6), Jason Basile (1-2–3), and Scott Lewis (1-4–5) had the goals in the tie.

The Bulldogs are led in scoring by Brian McCullough (7-7–14), Kevin Swider (7-5–12), Joel Irwin (6-7–13), Dube, Brent Wishart (4-7–11), and Geoff Bennetts (8-2–10).

The RedHawks, idle last weekend, notched their first back-to-back wins two weeks ago, with a 4-3 overtime win over Ohio State, and a 7-3 win over Lake Superior State. The last ‘Hawk game was a 5-1 loss to Michigan State at The Crown in Cincinnati on January 16.

Mark Shalawylo (9-8–17), Jason Deskins (7-7–14), and Alex Kim (6-7–13) lead the RedHawk offense. Kim has five power-play goals, tying him for third in the league. Converting at 12.3%, the Miami power play is ninth in the league.

Ian Olsen (3.19 GAA, .895 SV%) is has seen more time in the Miami net, but senior Andy Marsch (3.99 GAA, .863 SV%) is the goaltender of record in four of the RedHawks’ six wins. Marsch has started the last four Miami games, and is 2-2-0 in those four starts.

The RedHawks are young, talented, and enthusiastic, but have a ways to go before being consistently competitive. Miami is 2-6 in one-goal games this season, compared to 7-6 last year, and the ‘Hawks tend to give up late goals, allowing 10 in the last two minutes of regulation play this season.

Opponents have scored 22 times within the last two minutes of any given period against the RedHawks this season.

Picks

Ferris State holds a 31-26-9 advantage in the all-time series. This is the first meeting between the RedHawks and Bulldogs this season; Ferris State took the season series 2-1-0 last year, winning the final two meetings. Miami is 3-5-2 in its last 10 trips to Big Rapids.

These are two games that each team needs to win. The Bulldogs are fighting for playoff home ice, and the RedHawks are just fighting to make the playoffs. Ferris State has every advantage in this series, especially in net, where Owen is outstanding.

Shalawylo is a playmaker for Miami, and the RedHawks never give up, but Big Rapids is a tough place to play for anyone, let alone the RedHawks.

For Miami, Dustin Whitecotton continues to remain out of the line-up with that broken left humerus. Freshman defenseman Jake Ortmeyer suffered a broken thumb in practice on Jan. 11, and is expected to miss the next two weeks.

Ferris State 4-2, 3-1

Northern Michigan (15-9-2, 10-8-2 CCHA) at Alaska-Fairbanks (8-16-0, 5-15-0 CCHA) Friday and Saturday, 7 p.m. AT, Carlson Center, Fairbanks, AK

Nanook head coach Dave Laurion announced his resignation last week, and he’s positive he’s making the right choice for himself, his family, and for Nanook hockey.

"I think it can be used as a positive," says Laurion. "I still want to go out a winner, make the playoffs, and shake up the college hockey world."

The Nanooks certainly played like they had something to prove last weekend, beating Nebraska- Omaha 4-0 and 7-0. "We had a good weekend against Omaha," says Laurion. "Ian Perkins obviously won the goaltending dual."

Perkins (4.24 GAA, .878 SV%) had 61 saves on the weekend. Scott McIlroy (0-3–3), Jim Lawrence (6-7–13), Dennis Gould (0-0–0), and Dwayne Zinger (2-5–7) had the goals in the first game; Nathan Rocheleau (1-3–4), Kerry Hafele (3-4–7), Daniel Carriere (2-2–4), Jamie Coady (5-2–7), Chris Kirwan (7-3–10), and Lawrence scored in the second game. Aaron Grosul (0-3–3) had two assists in the 4-0 win.

(Remember, all stats used in previews of conference games are conference stats.)

This weekend, the Nanooks host the Wildcats for the first time ever, having played all six previous meetings in Marquette. Northern Michigan tied Notre Dame 3-3 and Michigan State 1-1 at home last weekend.

Scoring came from unexpected places in both games for the ‘Cats last weekend. Chad Theuer (3-8–11), Lee Ruff (1-3–4), and Fred Mattersdorfer (4-7–11) scored against the Irish, while Doug Schmidt (2-2–4) had the unassisted goal against the Spartans.

Dan Ragusett (2.48 GAA, .906 SV%) had 27 saves against Notre Dame, and 22 against Michigan State. Ragusett had been splitting time in net with Duane Hoey, but has started the last eight games for Northern. In those eight starts, the sophomore has a 2.17 GAA and .924 save percentage.

Wildcat head coach Rick Comley says, "Its a long trip for us this week up to Fairbanks, but these games are very important for us if we’re going to gain a home-ice playoff berth. We’re coming off of a pair of tight games at home versus Notre Dame and Michigan State, and we’ll have to carry that same intensity over into this weekend’s series."

Of course, the Wildcats play an incredibly intense game, with one of the league’s top lines and a forecheck like nobody’s business.

J.P. Vigier (17-8–25), Buddy Smith (2-21–23), and Roger Trudeau (9-7–16) comprise the top Wildcat line, and they bring it every night. Smith and Vigier assisted on Ruff’s first goal of the season last weekend, and Vigier and Trudeau assisted on Theuer’s goal, on the Wildcat power play.

That man-advantage is important to the Wildcats, who have tallied at least one power-play goal in five of their last six games. Northern is 13-3-1 when scoring on the PP this season, and the Northern power play is converting at 15%, fourth in the league.

Picks

Northern has won all six meetings between the ‘Cats and the Nanooks. Earlier this season, the Wildcats rallied from a 3-1 deficit by scoring three goals within a three-minute span in the second period to take the lead in Marquette. Northern won 5-3, and outshot the Nanooks 40-16.

This game pairs one of the league’s most explosive offenses with one of the least eventful. The Wildcats are averaging 3.2 goals per game, while the Nanooks are scoring 2.35 on average. UAF will have its hands full if the ‘Cats have that man-advantage. The Nanook penalty kill is effective just 78.4% of the time, and UAF averages over 20 minutes in the box per game.

Wildcat defenseman Colin Young is expected to be out for three or four weeks with a sprained knee, and defenseman Mike Sandbeck (sprained ankle) is questionable for this weekend’s series after being injured Friday’s game against Notre Dame.

It will be interesting to see how the Wildcats weather the long trip, and that may certainly be a factor in these games. But Northern has every advantage from the net out, and they want home ice as badly as UAF wants to make the playoffs.

Northern Michigan 4-3, 6-3

Bowling Green (11-11-3, 7-9-3 CCHA) at Lake Superior State (5-16-3, 4-12-2 CCHA) Friday and Saturday, 7 p.m., Taffy Abel Arena, Sault Ste. Marie, MI

The Lakers lost 4-1 to Michigan State the night before beating Notre Dame 3-1 last weekend.

"We couldn’t get to the net in the third against Michigan State," says Laker head coach Scott Borek.

Trent Walford (3-7–10) had the goal in the MSU game for the Lakers, assisted by Fred Slukynsky (6-3–9) and Ryan Vince (3-5–8). Netminder Mike Brusseau (3.08 GAA, .891 SV%) made 20 saves, as the Lakers kept the shots close, 23-21.

Brusseau looked good the second night as the Irish peppered him through two and two-thirds periods, saving 24 of 25 shots. In the third, Brusseau had to be replaced with Rob Galatiuk (3.91 GAA, .886 SV%); Brusseau was rushed to the hospital with severe dehydration.

The starting goalie should be ready to go this weekend, a victim of a ‘flu that’s run through the Laker team. Another victim was back-up Jayme Platt (2.85 GAA, .898 SV%), who was so sick he didn’t even suit up for the Notre Dame game. Galatiuk saved all eight shots he faced in the third, as the Lakers stayed tough for the 3-1 win.

Jeremy Bachusz (3-3–6) scored shorthanded, and Tyler Palmer (1-3–4) and Ben Keup (2-3–5) each had a goal in the win.

Borek calls Galatiuk’s performance "gutsy" and says that the Notre Dame game was "a good win, considering."

The Lakers are hosting the Falcons twice this weekend. Bowling Green came from behind to beat Lake 5-4 two weeks ago in BG. The Falcons lost 5-4 to Michigan and tied Ferris 4-4 last week at home.

"They played a great game against Michigan on film," says Borek. "Their top line was pretty dominant against Michigan."

The top Falcon line includes Adam Edinger (11-17–28) and Dan Price (8-19–27). Edinger currently leads the CCHA in conference scoring, by a point. Price is tied with Hugo Boisvert and Mike York for second in scoring. For his two goals and three assists last weekend, Price was named the CCHA Offensive Player of the Week.

In the earlier meeting, Vince had a pair of Laker goals, and Walford and Slukynsky also scored. Chris Bonvie (8-7–15), Ryan Wetterberg (1-1–2), Edinger, Austin de Luis (2-1–3), and Ryan Murphy (6-16–22) netted goals for the Falcons.

Bowling Green outshot Lake Superior 39-24. In the loss, Platt made 34 saves, while Mike Savard (3.47 GAA, .877 SV%) had 20 saves in the win.

Borek is impressed with the Falcon fourth line of Wetterberg, Dennis Williams (3-1–4), and Scott Hewson (0-2–2), and also with the BG power play, which has improved to converting 20.7% of the time.

"Certainly, we need to work on staying out of penalty box. We just need to make sure we play a disciplined game," says Borek. "And we need to go to the net hard."

In the 5-4 loss to Michigan, Bonvie, Edinger, Grady Moore (2-5–7), and price scored for Bowling Green. Against Ferris State, Bonvie, Price, Murphy, and Williams scored. The Falcons had two power-play goals in each game. Savard made 50 saves on the weekend.

Picks

The Falcons lead the all-time series against the Lakers 56-48-4, and are 20-25-2 in Abel Arena. In the last six games played in Sault Ste. Marie, BG is 5-1-0, and is 7-2-0 in the last ten games against Lake Superior. The last three games in the series have been decided by a goal.

Laker Ryan Knox (3-5–8) is out indefinitely with mono, and Laker Matt Frick (shoulder, ‘flu) should return to play this weekend.

There’s no doubt that Bowling Green has the edge offensively, and given the recent play of both teams, it may be fair to say that the Falcons are better defensively, too. Both Brusseau and Platt have better numbers than does Savard, but the senior Falcon netminder has been playing competitively during the last dozen games.

If the Lakers stay out of the penalty box, they have a chance at taking some points–a slim chance. The Falcons are playing for playoff position, while the Lakers are playing to make the playoffs. If Lake is going to take points, it may be the first night, but it’s likely Bowling Green will come out ahead both nights.

Bowling Green 4-3, 5-2

This Week in the ECAC: January 29, 1999

By Becky Blaeser & Jayson Moy
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How about some good old-fashioned ECAC hockey?

That’s what we’re going to get for the next six weekends. There are only five non-conference games remaining for ECAC teams, and aside from that it’s a battle to see who gets in, who stays home and who will take home the Scotty M. Whitelaw Trophy this season at Lake Placid.

A scant few ECAC games were played last weekend, but some teams made statements.

Clarkson blitzed North Country rival St. Lawrence in the second period, showing the ECAC that the Knights will be a major factor in the six weeks ahead.

Cornell made the same statement against its travel partner Colgate, taking three points in the home-and-home series.

And Dartmouth is refusing to be left at home during the second week of March, defeating travel partner Vermont.

On the nonconference side, Rensselaer continued its hot streak with a sweep of Western Michigan. Union got a monkey off of its back with a win over Army, as did Yale and Princeton. And Brown tied Northeastern on Sunday.

Still, there was a little movement in the standings last week.

ECAC Standings

The weekly honors went to:

ECAC Player of the Week — Ryan Chaytors, Dartmouth ECAC Rookie of the Week — Denis Ladouceur, Cornell ECAC Goaltender of the Week — Matt Underhill, Cornell

This week the fun heats up. Everyone will be even-up on league games after this weekend, with the exceptions of Rensselaer and Harvard, and it should be a real dogfight. And did we mention a little thing called the Beanpot on Monday?

Last Week: 6-4 Season To Date: 79-54, .594

St. Lawrence (12-9-1, 7-2-1 ECAC, T-2nd) and Clarkson (10-9- 1, 7-3-0 ECAC, 4th) at No. 8 Rensselaer (15-5-1, 8-2-1 ECAC, 1st) Friday – Saturday, 7:30 pm – 7:00 pm, Houston Fieldhouse, Troy, NY Clarkson (10-9-1, 7-3-0 ECAC, 4th) and St. Lawrence (12-9-1, 7-2-1 ECAC, T-2nd) at Union (3-15-2, 1-8-1 ECAC, 12th) Friday – Saturday, 7:30 pm – 7:00 pm, Achilles Rink, Schenectady, NY

With apologies to Coolio and "Weird Al" Yankovic, this weekend should be a "Goaltender’s Paradise" in the Capital District. You have Joel Laing of Rensselaer, leading the league in GAA with a 1.48 mark and sporting a .951 save percentage.

Then there’s Eric Heffler of St. Lawrence, with a 1.99 GAA and .934 save percentage. Don’t forget Golden Knight Shawn Grant’s 2.01 GAA and .928 save percentage, or Brandon Snee of Union, who earned his first collegiate win — a shutout — last weekend.

This is shaping up to be weekend of spectacular ECAC play: three of the four aforementioned teams are in the top four of the conference. A pivotal weekend, eh?

The back end of the annual battle of the North Country saw St. Lawrence come out on the wrong end when the Golden Knights of Clarkson exploded for five goals in the second period to win 5-4.

"From a fan standpoint, it had to be an exciting game, but from our side of things, it was a frustrating experience," said Saint coach Joe Marsh. "You can look back and see some chances and some plays which might have made for a different outcome, but you have to give Clarkson credit, they didn’t panic when we went up 3-0 and then really got it rolling in the second period.

"We contributed to our own demise in that second-period stretch, but Clarkson really fed off the crowd’s emotion and took their game up a notch or two."

The Saints were up 3-0 in the game, but penalties and an unusual breakdown by Heffler helped contribute to the loss.

"The important thing for us is to come back strong in our road games this weekend and it certainly isn’t going to be any easy task playing at Rensselaer on Friday night," said Marsh.

"There is a lot of hockey to go and we are going to try to take things one game at a time. We let a couple of points slip away on Saturday night, but there are a lot of points left to get."

Those points that the Saints let slip went to Clarkson. The Golden Knights took advantage of the Saints in the second period with goals by five different players — two on the power play. The home crowd at Cheel Arena, a sold-out bunch of 3,865, also helped the Knights.

"The crowd was awesome — they made the hair on the back of my neck stand up," said Clarkson coach Mark Morris. "I’ve never had that feeling [in Cheel]…ever. I remember what it was like in Walker [Arena] and this was the closest this place has ever gotten to that.

"I was very pleased with our effort, we showed a lot of grit."

It was a good experience for the youthful Golden Knights. The youth on the team has led to some moments that have made fans anxious, but a game like that can do wonders for your team.

"Consistency is always the factor when you have the youth that we do," said Morris. "We have a small group of seniors so we’ve had to rely on the underclassmen to come along very quickly."

Willie Mitchell is one of the young Golden Knights. He returned to action last weekend and promptly scored the game-winning goal in the second period. Another is freshman goaltender Shawn Grant, who has put up some impressive numbers thus far.

"He’s won the spot from the onset of the season," said Morris. "It took a little time for him to adjust because most freshman goaltenders just have to experience the pace of Division I hockey."

The last eight games for Rensselaer must seem like déjà vu each time out. With a sweep of Western Michigan, the Engineers have run their winning streak to nine straight games. In the last eight, they have allowed just five goals, including four shutouts by goaltender Laing.

"Not at all," said head coach Dan Fridgen when asked if dominance was getting old. "Again, we’re building our offense off of our defensive situations. At times there are breakdowns but our goaltenders are there to make the saves for us. They’re playing real well, real well. I think we’re playing solid defensively, everyone’s committed to it and we’re getting timely scoring from the offense.

"We’re not getting too excited, we’re not getting too flat, we’re just keeping an even keel, which you have to do."

Defense is the key, something that wasn’t present too much in the first 12 games of Rensselaer’s season. But it looks like the Engineers have bought into playing the defensive game.

"I think defense is an attitude," said Fridgen. "You can go over your defensive coverage in practice until you are blue in the face. Everybody knows how to play defense and it’s just a matter of attitude. Right now that attitude has spread throughout the team, everyone’s on the same page with it. You preach it as a coach but that’s not the way it always funnels through and that’s where your leaders come in. The captains are doing a good job of reiterating what I am saying and when you have success it’s not a hard sell."

With a nine-game winning streak on the line this weekend against two big North Country rivals and a 11-1-1 record in the last 13 games, the Capital District is abuzz for the eighth-ranked Engineers.

"The guys in there are not paying a lot of attention to the streak," said Fridgen. "They are taking it game by game. We’ve been concentrating on our game and playing our game, playing our systems and sticking to it. We’ve been doing a good job on the forecheck and forcing turnovers and getting success on our transition."

Talk about monkeys on backs — in Union’s case it was King Kong. The Dutchmen got the big beast away last weekend with a 2-0 victory over Army, snapping a winless streak that dated back to Nov. 20 and covered 12 games. The win was only the third of the season for the Dutchmen.

"I’m happy for our players," said head coach Kevin Sneddon. "They’ve played well for the last few games and it was satisfying to see some end results.

"This game is all about confidence and hopefully we got some of that back."

Another King Kong that went back to Monster Island was the location of the win. The Dutchmen captured their first victory of the season at Achilles against Army and starting with the North Country duo this weekend, eight of the last 12 games are at Achilles. Needless to say, the Dutchmen are glad to have that off of their backs.

"It was a well-timed and much need win," said Sneddon. "With so many games coming up at home it’s important for us to get that. As a coach, it’s not that I was satisfied with how hard we played, but I was satisfied with the progress that we made. Things are clicking right now.

"The guys needed a win to feel good about themselves and a win at home too."

The final demon exorcised last weekend came in the form of freshman goaltender Brandon Snee’s first collegiate victory. Pushed into full-time action first because of Leeor Shtrom’s game disqualification situation and then because of a broken collarbone to Shtrom, Snee has been waiting for that first one.

"For him to come up with a shutout in his first win is real big," said Sneddon. "He’s been playing well and he needed to get that win."

"It’s huge," Snee told Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette. "It has been really frustrating as of late. A lot of things haven’t gone my way. I felt that I wasn’t playing up to my ability.

"I have a feeling next weekend, we’ll win at least one."

Picks: St. Lawrence at Rensselaer — Perhaps the marquee matchup of the weekend. This one will go a long way in determining how things shake out in the ECAC. The Engineers are on a roll and the Saints are a little rattled after the Clarkson game. The Engineers shake this one out. Rensselaer 3, St. Lawrence 2 Clarkson at Union — The Golden Knights put some simian back on the Dutchmen. Clarkson 4, Union 1 St. Lawrence at Union — That monkey gets larger. St. Lawrence 6, Union 1 Clarkson at Rensselaer — The Golden Knights are getting it together and they are in the midst of their move. They break Rensselaer’s winning streak. Clarkson 3, Rensselaer 2

Cornell (8-6-3, 5-2-3 ECAC, T-5th) and Colgate (11-6-3, 6-3-1 ECAC, T-5th) at No. 9 Princeton (12-4-1, 7-2-1 ECAC, T-2nd) Friday – Saturday, 7:30 pm – 7:00 pm, Baker Rink, Princeton, NJ Colgate (11-6-3, 6-3-1 ECAC, T-5th) and Cornell (8-6-3, 5-2-3 ECAC, T- 5th) at Yale (6-10-1, 4-5-1 ECAC, 7th) Friday – Saturday, 7:30 pm – 7:00 pm, Ingalls Rink, New Haven, CT

It was not a good weekend for the Colgate Red Raiders. The Red Raiders got one point out of a home-and-home weekend with their travel partners Cornell. A 2-0 loss on Friday was followed up with a 1-1 tie on Saturday evening.

"We had our chances early and we didn’t capitalize," said head coach Don Vaughan. "Against a team like Cornell, your not going to get many chances to begin with. They are a real good defensive team."

Compounding the issue is the recent slide of Colgate’s offense. The Red Raiders have scored eleven goals in their last 6 games, 3 in the last 3 games, and have gone 1-3-2 in those last six games.

"Some of it has to do with injuries," said Vaughan about the offensive slump. "When you take guys like Sean Nolan (9-7–16) and Mike O’Malley (2-4–6) out of the lineup, you’re bound to experience some difficulty. It has also been our competition."

The one thing that has gone well is the goaltending. In those same 6 games, the Red Raider goaltending duo of Shep Harder and Jason LeFevre have allowed 14 goals. And according to Vaughan, they should continue to platoon in the nets this weekend.

"Both of them are playing very well," he said. "We see no reason to change what we’ve been doing in that respect."

The harder task will be going on the road and because of a scheduling quirk, the pair of Colgate and Cornell will face the pair of Princeton and Yale for two consecutive weekends.

"It’s always difficult on the road, especially when we’ll be facing a goaltender we haven’t had much success against (Yale’s Alex Westlund) and playing in Princeton where we’ve struggled," Vaughan said. "But that serves as motivation for us. We have to do a lot of the same things, but probably throw the puck at the net a little bit more and try to generate more speed through the middle."

The other side of the ledger was that Cornell took the other three points in that home-and-home with Colgate. Something that head coach Mike Schafer thought was very important with only ECAC games left on the schedule.

"We knew how important it was to come out solid," he said after Saturday’s game. "We knew Colgate would come back strong on their home ice, but our guys played really well. This is a tough place to play on the road.

"Both teams had chances to win it and we’re happy we got three points. That kick starts us for the second half. We’ve got 12 straight [in the ECAC] from here on in."

The Big Red got spectacular goaltending on both nights from their freshman goaltender Matt Underhill. He was named the ECAC Goaltender of the Week for his stellar play.

"The key of the game was Underhill’s saves on the power play, in the first period," Schafer said about Saturday’s game. "That was a big difference, he made those big saves for us. The turning point is right there. They were on a power play and he made those two big saves for us."

With most of the injuries on the Big Red bench healed, the only exception may be Shaun Peet, the Big Red are ready for the second half of the season.

If Princeton is going to legitimize itself as a Top 10 team and the best in the ECAC, this weekend represents its defining moment.

Three months into the season, the Tigers — aside from a slight hiccup against Dartmouth and if you’re being picky, one against Boston University in the first game of the season — have done nothing but prove that their talent and depth are slowly coming together to form a potent hockey team capable of not only competing, but beating the best teams in the country.

With that said, the team has yet to come close to its potential as it continues to work with its line combinations and consistency on the offensive end of the ice. After almost three weeks off for exam break, Princeton made the smooth transition back into its schedule with a perfunctory 4-1 win against Army.

"I thought we moved the puck okay, but I don’t think we were in transition in this game," said Princeton head coach Don "Toot" Cahoon. "I was real happy with the timing and the puck movement than I usually am coming off of a break.

"On the other hand we didn’t generate a lot of forecheck and then the other things that really come to mind are the little nuances of the game. The turnovers on the blueline, little things that will create problems against teams that are very disciplined or teams that have a good transition game."

Jeff Halpern, who along with Scott Bertoli were reunited with linemate Benoit Morin, netted his 12th goal of the year to put the Tigers on the scoreboard first. Shane Campbell followed suit as did a composed Kirk Lamb, who lit the lamp for the first time in his collegiate career.

"The pressure was building. I expected myself to go out in the first game and get one and it didn’t happen and I hung on after eight games and it finally happened," Lamb said. " I put a lot of pressure on myself that I shouldn’t have put on myself, but I think every hockey player does that.

"I was more relieved than anything. I was happy but I didn’t jump up and down because I was thinking more to myself, ‘Phew’. I just wanted to sit down and relax for once."

Cornell and Colgate, who visit Hobey Baker Rink this weekend, will not be as forgiving as Army was on Tuesday with the exam-kinks that are no doubt still lingering throughout Princeton’s play. Sloppiness and mental breakdowns — the downfall of the Tigers this season — will come back to haunt them against the Big Red and Red Raiders.

"Hopefully we can take [the Army game] and use it as a tool," Cahoon said. "Cornell and Colgate are clearly more experienced teams and higher profile. Both give us different types of problems, but at least this is a stepping stone whereas had we not had this game we would have went into this weekend trying to find a starting point."

For a brief moment, Yale finally realized what offensive explosiveness felt like. Two goals by Jeff Hamilton and solo efforts by Jeff Brow, Mark Turco, and Joe Dart lifted the Bulldogs past Army, 5-1, on Saturday night, ending the their two-game losing streak.

"The Lowell and Army games were both strong defensive efforts," said Yale head coach Tim Taylor. "We did an excellent job limiting shots on our goal in both games, and we continue to get strong and consistent goaltending. The big challenge for us is to somehow get a more balanced 5-on-5 offensive production, and more sustained pressure in the offensive zone.

"The bulk of our scoring continues to be generated by one line. We need to create more chances by driving to the net, creating traffic in front of the opponent’s goaltender, and get second and third effort goals."

This weekend will be a huge challenge for Yale as it opens its doors to Cornell and Colgate. On Friday night, the Bulldogs will look to extend its three-game winning streak against the Red Raiders, which includes two at Hamilton, N.Y. The matchup will be broadcast on NESN and although Colgate has been slipping as of late, it still presents a talented goaltending duo which could cause problems for the struggling Bulldogs offense.

A physical Cornell team may also pose problems for Yale as the Big Red look for redemption after an 11-0 embarrassment last February in New Haven. At this point of the season, however, the Bulldogs are sitting in sixth place in the ECAC standings, a precarious position as the four teams below them are within two points. "The current standings point out just how close the league is and just how important each weekend will be," Taylor said. "We have six league weekends left, three at home and three on the road, so the schedule will be balanced from that perspective. Our first two weekends are against Colgate and Cornell, and those four games (eight potential points) will be very pivotal in determining just what direction this Yale team is heading."

Picks: Cornell at Princeton — The Tigers haven’t been playing great hockey the past month and a half, but the Army game should have served as a good enough kick start. It will be close, but in the end the Tiger will prevail. Princeton 3, Cornell 2. Colgate at Yale — Both teams seem to be struggling right now in terms of offensive production. That, combined with the goaltending of both teams will lead to a very low scoring affair for the ECAC Game of the Week. Colgate 2, Yale 1. Colgate at Princeton — Before Colgate started its slide, this matchup was to be the premier one of the season. Although it may no longer be No. 1 vs. No. 2, it will still be entertaining as one the league’s best offense takes on one of the best goaltending tandems. Best bet? Place your money on Halpern and Apps. Princeton 4, Colgate 1. Cornell at Yale — Look here, it’s another matchup between two teams that don’t score a lot. The defense of Cornell is better at this point in time. Cornell 3, Yale 1.

Dartmouth (7-10-1, 3-7-1 T-9th) at Vermont (9-10-1, 3-7-1 ECAC, T-9th) Saturday, 7:00 pm, Gutterson Fieldhouse, Burlington, VT

Dartmouth has now moved into a tie with Harvard and Vermont for the last playoff spots in the ECAC with six weeks to go in the season after a 3-1 defeat of Vermont last Saturday afternoon at home. One of the main stories was Ryan Chaytors who was named the ECAC Player of the Week for his efforts against Vermont.

Chaytors scored the first goal against Vermont to tie the game at one. He then scored the winning goal against the Cats with less than five minutes left in the game.

"It was a huge goal by Ryan Chaytors, to find a way," head coach Bob Gaudet said. "It was such an important goal because I don’t think there was any question about it — the next goal was going to win."

The Big Green have also gotten some stellar goaltending from Eric Almon this season. Almon, the junior, has received the bulk of the playing time this season because fellow junior Jason Wong had left the team due to medical reasons.

"What’s happened in goal is that Eric and Jason had such a connection," said Gaudet. "We went from two veteran goalies that fed off of each other to a veteran and a young guy, and it affected Eric to not have the support. Now he’s starting to come out of it.

"Eric’s our veteran and it’s just so hard to pick those spots to get Robert (Delwo, Dartmouth’s freshman goaltender) experience because all the games now are so critical."

This week it is another affair with Vermont in the close of the home- and-home series between the two clubs.

"Vermont was in striking distance of us going into last weekend," said Gaudet. "It’s back-to-back games against one of the top teams and a couple of good weekends and we’re back in it as could be the case with the other lower echelon ECAC teams.

"We’ve played all the teams now and what I am looking for is out young guys to play like veterans here in the stretch run. I know it’s a tall order."

For the third time this season, Vermont will face off against its travel partner for bragging rights in the "the other" North Country. And appropriately enough, the victor come Saturday night will finish the season with the season-series lead as the two teams split their previous two meetings.

"This game is the biggest one for us because it is the beginning of the second half of the season," said Vermont head coach Mike Gilligan. " We have to make a move real soon if we want to make a run for the playoffs."

The most depressing element of the matchup — at least for fans from Hanover and Burlington — revolves around the question as to which team needs the win more. Both are stumbling through the season with sub-.500 records, suffering from ailments stemming from shaky goaltending, suspect defense, and inconsistent offensive production to name just a few.

The Big Green can at least take solace in the fact that three weeks ago they managed to capture three points from a road trip to Princeton and Yale. Vermont can’t enjoy such a luxury as it has seen its losing streak extend to six games heading into this weekend’s home game.

"I think we played pretty good hockey at Yale and Princeton but didn’t come up with much and same happened last weekend," Gilligan said. "We just have to capitalize on our scoring opportunities."

The loss of Jason Reid created a hole, both physically — and perhaps more importantly — emotionally in the Vermont roster the past few weeks. And although his return against Dartmouth last weekend did not miraculously cure the wounded, wearied Catamounts, it did offer some hope for the remaining part of the season.

"He came back last weekend with a cast on and had a very strong game," Gilligan said. "We expect that he will pick up where he left off. The guys were mentally ready. He is an important player for us because he gives us the leadership we need out there."

Vermont will need Reid along the blueline this Saturday night because Dartmouth brings a young, unproven, but potentially damaging offensive attack to the ice each night.

"I think that we played probably better in the second game, but Dartmouth was just more opportunistic than we were," Gilligan said. "I think that we are pretty evenly matched teams this year. It was just a matter of which team made the fewest mistakes won on both nights."

Pick — Dartmouth seemed to have found Vermont’s number last weekend despite Reid’s return, but it was only for a night. Amidst one its worst losing streaks in recent memory, Vermont will finally bring an end to its misery on Saturday night. Vermont 5, Dartmouth 2.

Merrimack (9-13-1, 5-8-1 Hockey East, 6th) at Brown (3-8-5, 2- 6-4 ECAC, 8th) Thursday, 7:00 pm, Meehan Auditorium, Providence, RI Brown (3-8-5, 2-6-4 ECAC, 8th) at Minnesota State – Mankato (10-10- 4, 9-10-3 vs. Division I) Saturday – Sunday, 8:30 pm – 8:30 pm, Mankato Civic Center, Mankato, MN

The string of consecutive non-league contests will finally come to an end for Brown as it caps off the month of January with a game against Merrimack and a set of games at Minnesota State-Mankato.

The four-game stretch has seen the Bears post a 1-2-1 record, with their lone win coming against Niagara. Most recently, the team stormed back from a 5-1 deficit to salvage a 5-5 tie against Northeastern at Meehan Auditorium.

"It was definitely a wild one, there’s no doubt about that," said Brown head coach Roger Grillo. "I was obviously upset as I know they were [after two periods]. It was a situation where we weren’t playing that well, especially in the first period. I give them a lot of credit for not giving up and packing it in and for battling back to give us an opportunity to tie the game."

The Huskies tallied three unanswered goals in the third period before Jade Kersey catalyzed the Brown comeback at the 9:10 mark of the final stanza. Freshman Gianni Cantini, who finished with four points that night, struck for the Bears’ third goal three minutes later before Mike Bent lit the lamp twice in the final four minutes of action.

"I have seen some of the younger guys step up. We had [Cantini] have a four point night against Northeastern which is nice to see," Grillo said. "We have also had some guys get bigger and stronger and our special teams have gotten better which is good because that was an area of concern for us. We are playing good hockey, we’re just not playing great hockey."

Scott Stirling was once again absent from the Brown net as Brian Eklund got the start. Eklund had troubles of his own against the Huskies, however, as he lasted only two periods before freshman Graham McNally took over in shutout relief for the final 25 minutes of play.

"The other guy is playing well and it is a matter of whomever I feel is going to win us a game will be in the net," said Grillo, who decided on Stirling as the starter against Merrimack on Thursday night. "Scott has shown that he is capable of that, but he had a few rough outings in a row so I went with Brian."

The Bears are currently in lone possession of eighth place with eight points, only one point ahead of Harvard, Dartmouth, and Vermont, who are in a three-way tie for ninth place. Following the MSU-Mankato series, Brown will embark on 10 straight ECAC contests looming in the near future.

"I think that the Mankato series is one that is important in that it’s the last couple of games before we get back into the league," Grillo said. "It is a situation for us that we’ve got to establish a game plan and style of hockey and get better at it. They are a quality team and it will be a challenge for us to win a couple of game."

For information on the Merrimack Warriors, please refer to Dave Hendrickson’s Hockey East Preview

Picks: Merrimack at Brown — Grillo said himself that his team has been playing only well enough to pull out a tie or a one-goal loss. Expect a deadlock at Meehan. Brown 3, Merrimack 3. Brown at MSU-Mankato –Mankato is coming off a weekend sweep of Wisconsin and will continue to roll past a Brown team that seems capable of only 20 minutes of good hockey per game. Stirling will continue to struggle. MSU-Mankato 6, Brown 2. This non-league stretch for the Bears has not been kind and such will continue to be the case on the second night of this series in Minnesota. MSU-Mankato 4, Brown 3.

New Brunswick (10-9-1, 1st McAdam Div., AUAA) at Harvard (8-9-1, 3-9-1 ECAC, T-9th) Friday, 7:30 pm, Bright Hockey Center, Boston, MA The Beanpot Harvard (8-9-1, 3-9-1 ECAC, T-9th) vs. Northeastern (8-12-3, 4-9-2 Hockey East, 7th) Monday, 6:00 pm, Fleet Center, Boston, MA

Last year at this time, the rally cry for the Harvard hockey team heading into the 46th Beanpot Tournament was that it had not won a game in six tries. For three straight years, the Crimson had been shutout in Beanpot action, but the streak was not meant to hit four. In dramatic fashion, Harvard upset nationally ranked Boston College in the first game before dropping a 2-1 overtime thriller to Boston University in the championship game.

This season, the motivation heading into Beanpot No. 47 is a bit different.

After beginning its league season at an unprecedented 0-8-1 clip, Harvard has recently been in the midst of a long climb out of the ECAC cellar. Two victories over Nebraska-Omaha in mid-December began a positive run for the Crimson, who are 6-1 since that time. Most recently, the team surprised the then – No. 6 Eagles at Bright Hockey Center. Following the Beanpot, the team will face eight straight ECAC contests that will effectively decide the team’s playoff fate.

"Anyone who’s been around here for even a year knows the kind of hype and prestige that surrounds the Beanpot," said Harvard captain Craig Adams. "In the long run, it’s not going to help us make the playoffs, but to win would be a huge confidence builder."

The past month has seen the return of a solid Crimson defensive game that has allowed more than three goals just once in the past seven contests, and the reemergence of J.R. Prestifilippo, who has flourished behind the stingy defense. Prestifilippo, remember, brings with him one of the most stirring stories from last year’s Beanpot. In just his second game back from a month-long bout of mononucleosis, the Harvard netminder was phenomenal as he stopped 34 shots against the Terriers.

Presto will need to relive that Beanpot glory from 1998 as he will be challenged by a Northeastern team that has scored 36 times in the last eight games.

Offensively, Harvard has been resuscitated as of late thanks to the second line production of Adams, senior Rob Miller, who leads the team in scoring with eight goals and 11 assists, and freshman Jeff Stonehouse. And now that Presto, as well as defenseman Ben Storey and forward Chris Bala are back in the lineup and appear healthy, this year represents the Crimson’s best chance to recapture the Beanpot title which it last won in 1993.

"We’re encouraged by the way we’ve played in our last seven games," Adams said. "There’s still room for improvement, but we’re starting to live up to our potential and that’s a nice thing. If we come out and play the way we can, I don’t see any reason why we can’t win this thing."

For information on the Northeastern Huskies, please refer to Dave Hendrickson’s Hockey East Preview

Picks: New Brunswick at Harvard — This will be a tune-up game for the Crimson as they return from the break. While the going may be a bit rough in the beginning, they will survive and win to have momentum going into the Beanpot. Harvard 5, New Brunswick 2 Beanpot — Harvard vs. Northeastern — It has been the longest Beanpot drought for this program, and call it a gut feeling, but this could be the year for Harvard. All three Hockey East powers are struggling in their own right and believe it or not, the 8-9-1 Crimson is 5-0 against non- conference teams this season and are playing the best hockey of the quartet. Harvard 6, Northeastern 3.

Next week in the ECAC: Friday, February 5: Dartmouth at Clarkson Vermont at St Lawrence Princeton at Colgate Yale at Cornell Brown at Rensselaer Harvard at Union

Saturday, February 6: Vermont at Clarkson Dartmouth at St. Lawrence Yale at Colgate Princeton at Cornell Brown at Union

Monday, February 8: Beanpot Harvard vs. Boston College/Boston University

Thanks to Jay Wang, Steve Marsi, Juan Martinez and Dave Scherzer for their contributions to this preview. All photographs used by permission of the appropriate Sports Information Departments. Any reproduction without authorization is prohibited.

Becky Blaeser and Jayson Moy are ECAC Correspondents for U.S. College Hockey Online.

Copyright 1999 Becky Blaeser and Jayson Moy. All rights reserved.

Sharing The Spotlight

By Max Caulkins
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Attention, college hockey coaches: if you want to make Brian Swanson, Colorado College’s senior captain and bona fide Hobey Baker candidate uncomfortable, just ask him to talk about himself.

If modesty were the sole criterion for hockey’s Heisman, the senior from Eagle River, Alaska, would have to be the odds-on favorite. In an age where the “I’m the Man” swagger and bravado of athletes has become prevalent in the world of sports, Swanson dodges praise and accolades nearly as well as he eludes defenders, preferring instead to shine the spotlight on teammates, coaches, prof essors, you name it — anybody but himself.

If you want to learn about Brian Swanson, the last person to ask is Brian Swanson.

Ask him about how it feels to be the one of the leading scorers in Division I college hockey, and he’ll tell you about his linemate, Darren Clark.

“He’s made my career. Without Darren, I wouldn’t have half the points that I do. We’ve played together for four years. I don’t think he gets the recognition he deserves, and that’s disappointing.”

Ask him to talk about his chances for the ultimate individual honor, the Hobey Baker Award, and he’ll tell you about his team’s accomplishments.

“To even be considered for an individual award like this, you have to be on a successful team. All four years I’ve been here at CC, I have had great players around me.”

Ask him to talk about whom taught him to be the prolific scorer that he is, and he’ll tell you about who taught him how to live his life.

“I was really fortunate growing up with the coaches I had. They knew hockey, but more importantly they knew how to teach young guys how to act off the ice and how to treat people with respect. It was the bigger life lessons that I got from them, and for t hat I am grateful.”

There are just four criteria the Hobey Baker selection committee must take into account when making their pick for the award:

1. Candidate must exhibit strength of character on and off the ice.
2. Candidate must contribute to the integrity of the team and display outstanding skills in all phases of the game.
3. Consideration should be given to academic achievement and sportsmanship.
4. Candidate must comply with all NCAA rules.

This set of criteria is strikingly similar to Brian Swanson’s personality: simple, understated, yet effective.

In light of his personality, it came as no surprise to Tiger coach Don Lucia that Brian chose to come to Colorado College on the first day of his recruiting visit. With an enrollment of just 1,950 students, Colorado College, a liberal-arts school with jus t two Division I teams, plays the role of David in a world of college hockey Goliaths.

“He doesn’t want all the attention and spotlight to be on him, and I think that’s why he came to CC, rather than go to one of the big hockey schools like Michigan or Maine where he was heavily recruited.”

With Swanson’s unyielding reluctance to speak about his storied career, thankfully his list of accomplishments speak for themselves: two-time league scoring co-champion…three-time All-league selection…WCHA Rookie of the Year…two-time team MVP…1998 Titan West All-American…1997 Hobey Baker Award finalist…211 career points and counting. The list goes on and on.

Despite his stacked resume of on-ice accomplishments, it is the off-ice persona of this soft-spoken superstar that those around him like to mention.

“He’s the most humble and unassuming athlete I have ever coached. He’s the guy most likely to be picking up pucks after practice, not the freshmen,” remarked Lucia. “Over Christmas, when our equipment manager, Mike Schepp, was in Utah visiting his wife, i t was Brian who volunteered to do the team laundry. Not because it is something he wanted others to hear about, but because that’s the kind of person he is. If something needs to be done, Brian does it, and that mentality carries over onto the ice.

“When we get up by a couple of goals in a game, Brian becomes the best defensive player on the ice, rather than trying to put up big numbers on the scoresheet.”

CC’s other Swanson, star defenseman Scott, has been a teammate of Brian’s for the past six years, both with Colorado College and the Omaha Lancers of the United States Hockey League. Scott picked out his favorite qualities about his longtime teammate.

“What I like most about Brian is his genuine sincerity and modesty. He’s not the most vocal, but he leads by example.”

As the leader of CC’s most-hated rival, University of Denver coach George Gwozdecky would not be the most likely candidate to speak the praises of Swanson, but Gwozdecky begrudgingly admitted that he will be happy to see a Brian Swanson-less Tigers team n ext year.

“He is their marquee player. When Colorado College is successful, it is usually because of what Brian Swanson is doing.”

Beyond his weekend achievements, his involvement in the Colorado Springs community is exemplary, so much that he has recently been nominated for the Hockey Humanitarian Award, given each of the last three years to “college hockey’s finest citizen.”

Swanson probably would not consider himself a humanitarian. As his mother Lynn says, “He just does what needs to be done.

“Over vacation, when the rest of us were still asleep, Brian was up, shoveling off the roof.

“All that’s happening to him is great, but I know all this attention he’s been getting is eating him up inside because that’s just not his cup of tea. We are pretty darned protective of him, because we know what a private person he is. He knows there is m ore to life than hockey. His father and I are just so proud that he could get his degree in four years.”

The truth about Brian Swanson? Ask Gary Dennison.

Dennison, the Swansons’ next-door neighbor in Eagle River for the past 20 years, knows all about Brian Swanson. A fiercely proud, retired military man, Dennison has forged a strong bond with Brian over the years.

“They’re always teasing each other about something”, says Lynn. “Brian spends a lot of time over there in the summer.”

“I have always been very impressed by Brian. He is a real asset to our neighborhood,” Dennison, 61, remarked. “It would take a long time to list all the things he has done for me over the years.”

Swanson probably would have admitted as much, that they are close friends. What he might not mention is that Gary Dennison lost a leg to diabetes five years ago.

Their friendship was spawned of Brian picking up a paintbrush to fix up the house. Or pushing the lawnmower around the yard. Or cranking up the snowblower. Pride prevents Dennison from asking Brian to do these things. Brian just does them…because they n eed to be done.

“Since I have become disabled, Brian has been very helpful to me, doing chores around the house and whatnot. Not that he didn’t do all that stuff before anyhow,” Dennison smiled.

The same applies to the single mother of three across the street, as it does to nearly everyone in this close-knit neighborhood.

When asked about her son’s propensity for good deeds, Lynn deflected the praise, much as Brian would.

“That’s not so much Brian as it is a function of the way the neighborhood is. We are all very close around here, and it is assumed that we help each other out.”

Currently fourth on the Colorado College all-time points list, Swanson is on pace this season to move past Doug Palazzari into the second spot before his collegiate career’s end. Beyond that, Swanson’s future may include skating alongside the Great One, W ayne Gretzky: the New York Rangers own Swanson’s NHL draft rights, having acquired them in a trade with the San Jose Sharks in 1996.

But for now, Swanson is not concerned with where he might land after his college days are done.

“I have spoken with [the Rangers’] college scout, but that is something I’ll have to deal with when the time comes. I definitely plan on continuing with hockey. If you can get paid to play the sport that you love, that is fantastic.”

With fellow collegians Jason Blake, Brian Gionta and Jason Krog, among others, enjoying banner years, Swanson has tough competition for the Hobey Baker award, and if anything can be guaranteed, it is only the difficulty the 18-member selection committee w ill undoubtedly face in picking one winner out of this array of deserving candidates.

It is, after all, the highest individual honor one can achieve in college hockey, a reality not lost on last year’s winner, Chris Drury. The former Boston University star and current Colorado Avalanche rookie reflected on his win.

“I was absolutely thrilled to have won it, and each year, when another guy takes the trophy home, it will make me even more proud of the accomplishment.”

When asked about the legend of Hobey Baker and how it felt to be mentioned in the same company as the great Princeton star, fittingly Swanson spoke not of Hobey Baker the hockey player, but rather Hobey Baker the person.

“I know a little bit about him — he played at Princeton, I know he was quite the gentleman on and off the ice, but other than that I couldn’t tell you much.”

That figures.

UAF Head Coach Dave Laurion Resigns

USCHO Staff Report
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Alaska-Fairbanks head coach Dave Laurion has announced his resignation, effective after his contract expires at the end of May.

Laurion joined UAF in 1985 as an assistant coach, serving under Ric Schafer until Schafer’s departure to become the head coach at Notre Dame in 1987. Laurion then served under Don Lucia for six more years before becoming the Nanooks’ third head hockey coach at the NCAA level in 1993, when Lucia left to become head coach at Colorado College.

In his six years behind the UAF bench, Laurion’s coaching record is 72-111-8. He led UAF to a school-record 24 wins in his first season, which was Fairbanks’ first season as an affiliate member of the CCHA and included a playoff victory at Miami.

UAF was 10-21-4 last year (7-20-3 CCHA, 10th). The Nanooks are currently 6-16-0 this season (5-15-0 CCHA, T-9th).

“For UAF to field a competitive hockey program in the CCHA is an extremely challenging job,” said Laurion. “I believe it is in the best interest of the UAF hockey program for a new coach to take the reins. I am proud of the young men that competed for the Nanooks in my six years. They have represented the university and community well as student-athletes on and off the ice.”

Athletic director Randy Pitney said, “Dave has been a close friend of mine since he arrived in Fairbanks 14 years ago. … Dave has put his heart and soul into the advancement of Nanook hockey and I know that it has been hard on him that we weren’t more successful. Dave is a dedicated individual, and I know he will do well in the future.”

Plans for recruitment of a new coach will be announced in the near future.

This Week in Hockey East: January 22, 1999

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KOHO Player of the Week: Jason Krog (F, New Hampshire) scored three goals and assisted on three others in UNH’s sweep of Merrimack. In the process, he became the Wildcats’ fourth all-time scorer. He also leads the country in points-per-game.

KOHO Rookie of the Week: Barrett Heisten (F, Maine) finished the week 1-4–5, including the game-winner against UMass-Amherst.

Heaton Defensive Player of the Week: Josh MacNevin (D, Providence) led a Friar defense that allowed just five goals in three games and also totaled five points himself (1-4–5).

Hockey East Standings

Record in picks last week: 8-0 (Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.) Season’s record in picks: 89-44, .669

No. 2 Maine (16-2-4, 8-2-2 HEA, 2nd) at

Merrimack (9-11-1, 5-6-1 HEA, 6th)

Friday, Saturday, 7 p.m., Volpe Center, North Andover, MA

Maine rebounded from its loss two weeks ago to Boston College — only its second on the season — to post convincing victories over Yale and UMass-Amherst, 6-1 and 5-0, respectively.

Any fatigue from their five-games-in-nine-nights-and-multiple-time-zones road trip appears long gone now as by all accounts the Black Bears had jump aplenty in their stride.

"I’m pleased we got through the week with two wins," said coach Shawn Walsh. "We have some areas of our game that we have to improve, but all around every part of our game was pretty effective."

What’s to improve after outscoring two teams, 11-1?

"We’re setting our sights on some pretty loft goals," said Walsh. "If we’re going to be close to achieving them, we’re going to have to all step up in certain specific areas. Each player has got a thing or two that they’ve got to get better at."

On the injury front, Bobby Stewart returned after missing the last seven games. Brendan Walsh, however, remained sidelined. He has attempted to play in two of the last 11 games dating back to Dec. 12, but the coaching staff is trying to give him enough time to get totally healthy.

In the wake of their home wins over Yale (at Portland) and UMass-Amherst (at Orono), the Black Bears will hop on the busses again, this time to face Merrimack twice.

"It’ll be another tough Hockey East road weekend," said Walsh. "What makes our schedule difficult is that we’ve got to play the same team back-to-back in their rink. That’s always a tough task."

(Because of geography, all other league two-game sets are played in a home-and-home fashion, while Maine either hosts both games or is on the road for both.)

"Clearly, Merrimack has two of the premier players in the country [in Rejean Stringer and Kris Porter] and they seem to have a better supporting cast," said Walsh. "Chris [Serino] has done a great job motivating them. They’re going to be a very worthy opponent."

Merrimack began a brutal four-game gauntlet against the No. 4 and No. 2 teams in the country with 6-1 and 5-1 losses to New Hampshire.

"I didn’t think we competed at all [on Thursday ] night at UNH," said coach Chris Serino after the second loss. "But I thought we competed pretty good [on Saturday] for a couple periods. We weren’t winning them all, but we were winning our share of the one-on-one battles, which you have to do against them.

"Then in the third period, we didn’t win one. They out-competed us for the puck….I’d be lying if I told you I thought they’d get four goals against us in the third period. I thought we’d come out fired up.

"Face the facts. They’re a good team. They’re going to outshoot you. We’re probably not going to dominate a game against them. But for two periods, we gave ourselves the opportunity to win. Not competing in the third period was disappointing."

UNH, with the best penalty kill in Hockey East (92.13 percent), shut out the Warriors’ power play, 0-for-7.

"Our power play…I was hoping we wouldn’t get any more," said Serino. "Guys with the puck weren’t carrying it and forcing people to come after them. They just stood there and passed the puck. There were things we wanted to do. We got to where we wanted to be, but then we didn’t perform them, for whatever reason. That was disappointing."

One bright light was the play of the fourth line: Ryan Kiley, Nick Torretti and Joey Gray. Kiley, in particular, played like a man possessed.

"I thought that line played pretty good [on Saturday]," said Serino. "I also thought the young kid, Nick Parillo, had two good games. I put him on the [first] line with Porter and Stringer. He’s going to be a good player."

Could the lopsided losses prove discouraging to a squad about to host the No. 2 team in the nation?

"The scores disappoint the kids, but we’re past the point of 2-1 moral victories when we lose, or playing good but losing," said Serino. "Losing is losing. And we’re not here to lose. We lost to BC, 2-1. We just lost to UNH, 5-1. They’re both losses. We’re not here to lose.

"The day that my players walk out [satisfied] after losing a game because the team was better than we are and it was a close game, that’s the day we’ll all pack it in. That’s not what we’re here for. It’s not what we want to be here for."

PICKS: Maine is just too good, winning 4-2 and 3-1.

No. 4 New Hampshire (17-4-1, 9-2-1 HEA, 1st) vs.

UMass-Lowell (12-10-0, 4-8-0 HEA, 8th)

Friday, 7 p.m., Paul E. Tsongas Arena, Lowell, MA

Saturday, 7 p.m., Whittemore Center, Durham, NH

New Hampshire swept Merrimack, 6-1 and 5-1, to maintain its position atop Hockey East. Maine lurks just one point behind and Boston College trails by three.

"These were two big games for us," said coach Dick Umile after completing the sweep. "Chris [Serino] has got his team playing well. They were within four points of us coming into the week.

"I was very impressed with the way the team won the game. It was playoff hockey….Obviously, it was a great weekend for us and I’m pleased."

The Wildcats’ top line of Jason Krog (16-27–43, 2nd in the country), Mike Souza (9-24–33, 12th) and Darren Haydar (19-11–30, 17th) continued to wrack up points by the barrel, scoring two of the six goals at home and four of UNH’s five on the road.

"They proved what they can do," said Umile. "Merrimack played us very tough and then [those three] took charge. Jason Krog, with all the attention he’s gotten, [and the rest of] the line took charge.

"They’ve got to be one of the top lines in the country."

Goaltender Sean Matile, whose inconsistent play has been underlined by the unblemished record of his cohort in the UNH nets, Ty Conklin, may have turned the corner by almost posting a shutout at the Volpe Center. "It feels good to play a lot better than I’ve recently played, so that’s really positive," he said. "I finished the weekend on a positive note for myself and the team so that’s great."

The senior, who has played brilliantly in Merrimack’s rink throughout his career, added a humorous note when asked about the compact-sized facility.

"[We] Canadian boys, we’re used to playing in this for our junior hockey," he said. "I felt like I was 16-years-old out there. That’s the way it should be. We’re used to playing in these littler rinks.

"And a little colder helps, too. I fall asleep at the Whittemore Center."

The Wildcats will be looking to not fall asleep next week against UMass-Lowell and instead continue the strong play that has gained them eight wins in their last nine games, including four against teams that have spent time in the top 10.

"Every game, you’ve got to respect your opponent," said Umile. "Lowell is playing well right now and we’ve got to go down to Lowell the first night. But I like the way the team is playing. The way the team is playing right now, we’ve just got to keep focusing in on ourselves and play well.

"I think we have a good team from the net out. Everyone is playing well. It’s a tough league so as long as you respect your opponent and do the best you can do, that’s all you can ask for."

UMass-Lowell completed a six-game win streak — regrettably all against non-conference opponents — with a 2-1 victory over Yale, but in its first league contest in over a month, lost 5-2 to Providence.

"We had a good stretch run there after Christmas, but it’s over," said coach Tim Whitehead. "It’s back to reality. If you don’t come to play on a given night, you’re going to get it handed to you. I don’t think either team was particularly sharp, but obviously Providence was sharper than we were.

"It wasn’t a real exciting game from a fan’s standpoint, two teams that were playing their fifth game in [10] days. But we were on even turf as far as that, so there wasn’t any excuse not to be ready.

"We did some good things. We only gave up 17 shots total in the game, so we were pretty aware defensively. But we gave up some quality shots and it cost us. We had ours, but we didn’t capitalize.

"Providence has a really good defensive corps. I have a lot of respect for those kids and I thought they got the better of us."

Prior to surrendering four goals on 17 shots in the loss, Scott Fankhouser was on a roll, allowing only six in the six preceding games. He now ranks third in Hockey East in overall goals-against average (2.77), and has raised his save percentage to .897 and record to 11-7-0.

"Since Christmas, he’s been real consistent for us, which has been great," said Whitehead. "He’s definitely taken a step and if he wasn’t his sharpest against Providence, I’m sure he will be sharp against New Hampshire. He’s gained a lot of confidence over this stretch in January and he has played more consistently.

"He’s been patient with himself and has worked very hard. He’s competing a lot harder in games and in practices. It’s nice to see someone make improvement like that."

As for Fankhouser’s backups and heirs apparent, Lowell is still waiting on Cam McCormick, who played some major junior hockey, to become available, while freshman Jimi St. John is once again eligible. And Brendan Hynes, a 21-year-old whose NCAA clock would have been ticking this season whether he played or not, saw 4:29 of mop-up duty in a 7-1 win over Union.

The River Hawks have their work cut out for them this week with a series against No. 4 New Hampshire. Whitehead has done his homework and noticed that the Wildcats are tops in the league overall on the power play (23.36 percent) and on the penalty kill (92.1 percent).

"We have to shut down their power play and respect their penalty kill," said Whitehead. "They do a really good job. We can’t allow them to dominate the special teams. We need to play them even on special teams and then see what happens five-on-five."

PICKS: UNH sweeps, 4-3 and 4-2.

No. 6 Boston College (13-7-2, 8-4-0 HEA, 3rd) vs.

Providence College (12-9-0, 7-5-0 HEA, 4th)

No. 6 Boston College (13-7-2, 8-4-0 HEA, 3rd) hosts

UMass-Amherst (5-14-1, 2-9-1 HEA, 9th)

Friday (BC-PC), 7 p.m., Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill, MA FOXSNE

Saturday, 7 p.m., Schneider Arena, Providence, RI

Tuesday (BC-UMA), 7 p.m., Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill, MA

Boston College continued its frustrating ways last week, losing to Harvard, 3-1, in a game that prompted one long-time college hockey devotee to say, "If I had to watch three of those in a row, I’d become a basketball fan." Considering what an exciting team the Eagles are when they are on, the statement was an eye-opener.

They did rebound with a 5-1 win over Northeastern, but since opening the season atop the national rankings with a 4-0 record, the Eagles have posted a record of only 9-7-2. Their mid-week loss to Harvard was but the latest example of what has become surprisingly predictable.

"From such a good start, we’ve kind of won-one-lost-one, never playing poorly, but not playing consistently at the top of our game," said coach Jerry York after the win. "We need a string of consecutive, consistent efforts. We haven’t been able to do that.

"We’re still within sight of Maine and New Hampshire, but we have to start winning back-to-back games. They’re not making it easy. They keep rolling, those other two teams. They don’t lose many."

Part of the push for more consistency has been an emphasis on scoring "ugly" goals.

"We been talking to our club about how we’ve got to get more traffic-type goals: pucks bouncing, whacking at rebounds and getting deflections," said York. "As opposed to the 35-foot slapshot just under the crossbar. We’ve got to be more of a mucking-type team offensively."

One of BC’s strongest muckers, Mike Lephart, had a big week, scoring the lone goal against Harvard and then two against Northeastern.

"He quietly is developing into one of our top, top forwards," said York. "He’s got tremendous strength in his skating. He’s very powerful on the ice and he’s getting a good scoring touch now. I thought late last year he really became a player, but this year he’s moving up.

"He’s going to be an all-league type of player for us. He’s up there with Blake [Bellefeuille] and Jeff [Farkas]."

The Eagles will now try to do something they haven’t managed since October, namely sweep a weekend. It won’t be easy with the hot Providence Friars on tap.

"Except for the Beanpot, we’re playing all Hockey East now, so it’s very important for us to win games and keep pace," said York. "Our goal is a league championship, but Maine and New Hampshire aren’t showing much fault in their footsteps. They’re moving and marching and we have to stay with that."

Last weekend, Providence swept two league games from the UMass schools, 8-1 over Amherst and 5-2 over Lowell. As a result, the Friars are now in the driver’s seat for fourth place. In fact, their squandering of a 4-2 late-third-period lead against Northeastern on Jan. 9 is the only blemish on their 1999 record.

"We’ve been doing okay," said coach Paul Pooley. "We’re getting some balance from our lines and both of our goaltenders are playing pretty solid. We’re playing pretty well defensively, but we’ve got to improve in some areas.

"We’ve been finding a way to get it done, for the most part. In the six games after Christmas, we should be 6-0, but we’re not [because of the loss to Northeastern].

"We’ve still got to get better and work on some things. This weekend will be a big challenge for us."

A significant reason behind PC’s success has been the strong play of junior defenseman Josh MacNevin, selected as this week’s Heaton/Hockey East Defensive Player of the Week. The offensively gifted rearguard opened the season with points in seven of the first eight games, but then hit a dry spell. Starting with the first game before the break, however, he’s scored 12 points in his last seven.

"He’s really picked it up," said Pooley. "The one thing I’ve noticed about Josh is that he’s picked up his enthusiasm up in terms of his leadership role before the game in the dressing room. Just the things that you notice as a coach.

"I think it’s helped his play. He’s gotten a little more assertive personally within the team. He’s always gone about his business, but I think he’s now become more assertive as a leader.

"His results are a result of him doing that. I’ve been very, very impressed with his play."

The Friars will now see if they can continue their winning ways against No. 6 Boston College.

"I agree with what Shawn [Walsh] talked about when he was on the game of the week: just playing good defense and taking care of the puck and waiting for your opportunity," said Pooley.

"[BC is] a very aggressive team. They come at you a lot. That’s kind of their whole mode. They’ll take some chances, but they play good defensively. But their whole mode is to take the puck and go. That’s one of the things that we have to be concerned about and try to take that away.

"Obviously, number 12 for them [Brian Gionta] is very, very good. And their ‘D’ are good and Farkas is playing well and Bellefeuille is having a good year. They have nice balance in their lines.

"But I think that Gionta and the defensemen are the guys [that you have to contain.]"

Last week, UMass-Amherst experienced two more lopsided defeats, 8-1 to Providence and 5-0 to Maine. In their last three contests, the Minutemen have been outscored a total of 21-3.

"I actually thought we played real well at Maine," said coach Joe Mallen. "I believe we made a positive step back in the right direction despite the 5-0 score. But on special teams, they scored three power-play goals and two that I believe were four-on-four. Five-on-five, it was an even game."

Special teams have been a problem. The Minutemen have the weakest power play in the league (10.9 percent compared to next-worst BU at 16.4). Their penalty killing (78.4 percent) ranks seventh, a figure made worse by their league-leading 19:21 minutes of penalties per game.

"We’ve had some situations where we’ve taking too many penalties and we’ve addressed that," said Mallen. "And we’re certainly working every day to improve our power play and our penalty kill."

Considering that the team has only one senior, the recent string of lopsided scores and the 1-8-0 record in the last nine games threatens to ferment discouragement.

"We haven’t allowed them to get discouraged," said Mallen. "They’re such a young group of kids. We haven’t beaten them into the ground. We’ve addressed the issues as they’ve come up and tried to improve on them. We’ve kept a let’s-get-better-every-day attitude. I think our kids will respond to that over time.

"We’ve lost the series this year to BU and UNH and we’ve tied the series with Maine. We have the opportunity to win the rest of the remaining series, so we’re trying to be positive and optimistic and see if we can pick up some Hockey East points."

Beginning on Friday, the Minutemen will have three opportunities in five days to get those points.

"It’s pretty simple," said Mallen. "The kids know the importance of these Hockey East games. Northeastern seems like it’s playing a lot better in the last four or five games. BU is coming off a couple losses, so I’m sure they’ll be hungry. And certainly BC can beat anyone in the country. Those are three very good games and we’re just looking forward to them."

Several banged-up players are day-to-day for the weekend. Rookie defenseman Justin Shaw, however, will be out an extended period of time.

PICKS: BC splits with the Friars, winning 5-3 at home in front of the FOX cameras, but losing 4-3 on the road. Back at Kelley Rink, the Eagles dominate UMass-Amherst, 5-1.

Boston University (8-12-2, 5-7-2 HEA, 5th) at

UMass-Amherst (5-14-1, 2-9-1 HEA, 9th)

Saturday, 7 p.m., Mullins Center, Amherst, MA

Boston University lost its lone contest of the week, 3-1, to Northeastern on the Hockey East Game of the Week telecast. After the game, coach Jack Parker was none too happy.

"Well, my observation is that with the exception of Michel Larocque, that was a shameful exhibition," he said. "[Tommi] Degerman, for his first game back [from a back injury,] gave us a pretty good effort.

"It was a terrific job by Northeastern. They worked real hard through center ice; they beat us to every loose puck. They beat us on power plays; they beat us man-down.

"They had a hell of a game, and we stood around and watched them. That was about ten steps backwards watching that game."

Parker took a time out in the second period. When asked after the game whether he had been trying to get his players charged up, he didn’t equivocate.

"[I was] trying to get them to act like men out there instead of walking around afraid to compete," he said. "It didn’t work. They continued the same lack of effort; they continued the same lack of courage; they continued the same lack of competitiveness.

"That was one of the worst exhibitions I’ve seen any BU team put on in their own building. And it’s not the first time this year."

After a few days, Parker’s continued to praise Larocque, but tempered his criticism of the rest of the team, taking blame on his own shoulders.

"Watching the game, it just looked like we were a real nervous team," he said. "I think that’s my fault. I’m trying to get them to play a little harder and with a little more intensity, but it made them play nervous and a little jumpy.

"They’re also looking nervous because they’re trying not to lose instead of trying to win. That’s a hard way to play."

As a result, Parker is taking a different tack with his team in preparation for this week’s one game against UMass-Amherst.

"I don’t think it matters who we’re playing," he said. "What matters is how we’re approaching the game. We’re going to try to be a little looser and be less uptight about mistakes. We’ll take that thought process this week in practice and continue it into games. We’ll play with more enthusiasm and flow instead of uptight-ness and non-excitement."

UMass-Amherst is previewed above in its game against Boston College.

PICKS: BU gets back on track, 4-2.

Northeastern (8-12-1, 4-9-1 HEA, 7th) vs.

UMass-Amherst (5-14-1, 2-9-1 HEA, 9th) and Brown (3-8-4, 2-6-4 ECAC)

Friday, 7 p.m., Matthews Arena, Boston, MA

Sunday, 3 p.m., Meehan Auditorium, Providence, RI

Northeastern took two of four league points last weekend, losing to BC, 5-1, before impressing the FOX TV audience with a 3-1 win over BU.

"That’s a good hockey team," said coach Bruce Crowder after the BC game. "We’re a team that’s trying to become a good hockey team. We’ll just continue to work at what we have to do and hopefully get to a point where we we’re not really beating ourselves or giving our opponents the amount of opportunities that we gave BC tonight.

"That’s not a team you want to fall behind and have to play catch-up against. You might be able to do it once in a while, but you’re not going to be able to do it every night.

"We’re going to learn from playing teams like BC and hopefully get better."

Goaltender Jason Braun played well in both weekend games, but at no point more so than in the first period against BC when the Huskies fell behind by two.

"If it wasn’t for Braun," said Crowder, "2-0 could have been maybe 22-0."

Two nights later, the Huskies invaded Boston University and came out with a satisfying win.

"It was a real good game for us from beginning to end," said Crowder. "We stuck with the system, the kids played and they competed. We didn’t get flustered when it came time to get flustered. It was a tremendous win for us."

Brian Cummings scored goals against both BC and BU, a potential harbinger for his return to the offensive form that netted him nine goals and 22 points as a freshman last year.

"He’s starting to chip in," said Crowder. "We’ve got a bunch of guys who are sophomores who are in that same funk. They had pretty good freshman years and their sophomore years haven’t really been as expected. He’s starting to come out of that a little bit."

Against the Terriers, freshman defenseman Jim Fahey contributed two assists.

"He’s a kid that we’re very happy to have at Northeastern," said Crowder after the win. "He’s maturing each game out. This is probably his first game in a while when he’s done some offensive things for us but at the same time, he’s a defenseman in my eyes, and I want that taken care of first. He had a tremendous game for us."

The Huskies, who have leapfrogged UMass-Amherst and UMass-Lowell the last few weeks while exiting the cellar, will now see if they can continue their climb as they host UMass-Amherst.

"UMass-Amherst is a team that we have to take very seriously," said Crowder. "They’ve shown that they can play and compete with anybody. For example, take their weekend with Maine [on Nov. 13-14]. For us, we’re just looking at one team at a time and one game at a time. If we want to move up in Hockey East, this is a game that we’ve got to have."

UMass-Amherst is previewed above in its game against Boston College.

(For a detailed look at Brown, see this week’s ECAC Preview by Becky Blaeser and Jayson Moy.)

PICKS: The Huskies take two, 4-1 over UMass-Amherst and 4-2 over Brown.

Thanks to Scott Weighart for his contributions to this preview.

This Week in the CCHA: January 22, 1999

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Couple this with upsets, suspensions, and ties, and you’ve got a whole lot of CCHA fans who are getting downright squirrelly.

Now, if your roommate or spouse or child is chanting, "Bring me Shegos" while watching The Shining, you may be witnessing some small symptoms of S.A.D., or Seasonal Another-call-goes-against-my-team-and-I’m-going-to-snap Disorder. Relax; this behavior is perfectly normal for any rabid college hockey fan at this time of year.

But if your roommate or spouse or child looks at you with eyes glazed and mouth watering and evenly declares, "Gee, I’d really like a hot dog from Yost Arena," or, "Do you think they rent out that Puck Boy suit?" then, CCHA fan, you’ve got some real problems.

In the interest of mental health, we at USCHO have researched ways for you to beat those occasional and sometimes bizarre hockey-related seasonal blues.

(Disclaimer: The writer of this article did not consult anyone else before presenting the opinions expressed here as those of the entire USCHO staff. In fact, she’s a bit loopy, having seen the sun just three days out of the last 30, and having loaded up on carbos before doing any of the research. She’s also the only member of the USCHO staff who would use the word derriere when discussing hockey.)

Dr. Russell G. Robertson, Associate Professor of Family and Community Medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin (http://healthlink.mcw.edu), says there are three things you can do to chase away the blahs:

1. Monitor your activity level. 2. Call someone who is usually upbeat or positive and have a pleasant conversation with him or her. 3. Make an effort to do something kind for someone else.

The first one should be easy. You can increase your activity level by, say, simply shoveling out enough snow and sleet to get the four-wheeler out of the driveway to make it to the rink in time for the Big Game. We at USCHO remain convinced that getting up from your seat at the Big Game to make that second trip for nachos also counts as increased activity.

Having a pleasant conversation may be a little harder to do. Forget the fact that it’s hard to find someone positive at this time of year, what with the impending playoffs, the pressure for points, and did you see that open-ice hit that wasn’t even called, dammit, not even called!

But perhaps the effort it takes to locate a positive, upbeat person counts as increased activity. Remember, fans, pleasant conversation does not include calling an official’s lineage into question, discussing certain regional differences within the state of Michigan, or chanting, "You just suck! You just suck!"–no matter how much you’re smiling at the time.

Now, the third recommendation–doing something kind for someone else–is a bit trickier. We at USCHO imagine a Wolverine fan holding the door open for a Spartan fan, without the intention of letting it slam on said Spartan fan’s derriere.

Technically speaking, the suggestion is to make an effort to do something kind, and mentions nothing about the act itself. So, perhaps, if you’re a Bowling Green fan and you actually purchase a warm and fuzzy card to send to your favorite Buckeye coach, and you accidentally write the wrong address on the card before dropping it in the mail (forgetting, for a moment, that The Ohio State University is actually in Columbus, as opposed to, say, Hell), you’ve made the effort to do something nice, and hence achieved your goal of lifting your spirits.

We at USCHO are absolutely certain that defining all of the fans of one school as "white trash" on the USCHO Message Board does not constitute an act of kindness.

Now back to your regularly scheduled preview.

The No. 3 Michigan State Spartans still lead the league (29 points), and managed to gain a point on the Wolverines last weekend by tying Bowling Green 2-2, and beating Miami 5-1. This week, the Spartans travel to the Yoop to play Lake Superior State and Northern Michigan.

After losing to Ferris State 4-0 and beating Western Michigan 6-3, the No. 5 Michigan Wolverines remain in second place with 27 points. This week, Michigan hosts Bowling Green Thursday before heading to Ohio State Saturday.

No. 8 Notre Dame vaulted to third place (23 points) with back-to-back wins over Alaska-Fairbanks, 6-2 and 6-1. The Irish have the flip side of the Spartans’ itinerary, traveling to Northern Michigan before heading to Lake State.

Two teams are tied for fourth with 22 points each, and they square off Thursday night.

The Ferris State Bulldogs (what does this team need to do to be ranked?) beat UAF 4-1 Tuesday before blanking Michigan 4-0, then losing to Northern Michigan 2-1. The Bulldogs travel to Columbus to play Ohio State Thursday night before taking on Bowling Green Saturday.

The Ohio State Buckeyes did themselves few favors last week, dropping a 4-3 overtime decision to Miami on Tuesday, before b eating Cornell 5-3 and tying Colgate 2-2. The Buckeyes have a hard week ahead, hosting Ferris State Thursday and Michigan Saturday.

With 20 points, Northern Michigan is knocking on both the Bulldogs’ and the Buckeyes’ doors. Last weekend, the Wildcats beat Western Michigan 6-2 and Ferris State 2-1.

In seventh place with 16 points, the Bowling Green Falcons tied Michigan State 2-2 and beat Lake Superior 5-4. This weekend, the Falcons travel to Michigan Thursday before hosting Ferris State Saturday.

With the 4-3 overtime win over Ohio State and a 7-3 win over Lake State, the Miami RedHawks doubled their number of league wins on the season and lifted themselves into that very important eighth position in the league. Miami also lost to Michigan State Saturday night. The RedHawks are idle this week.

Since Miami isn’t playing, this is the place to mention that Mark Shalawylo was named the CCHA Offensive Player of the Week. Shalawylo scored the overtime game-winner against OSU, and tallied a hat trick–including the game-winning goal–against the Lakers.

Shalawylo was also named USCHO Offensive Player of the Week. This is big for both Shalawylo and the RedHawks. Congratulations!

Alaska-Fairbanks and Western Michigan are tied for ninth place with 10 points each, just one point behind Miami in the standings.

Last weekend, the Nanooks lost 4-1 to Ferris State, and twice to Notre Dame, 6-2 and 6-1. Fairbanks can gain no ground on the resting RedHawks this week, as they host Nebraska-Omaha for two games.

Western Michigan lost 6-2 to Northern Michigan, and 6-3 to Michigan last weekend. Fortunately for Miami, the Broncos are also playing nonconference games this weekend, heading east to Rensselaer for two games.

With eight points, the Lakers are in last place in the league. Lake Superior State lost 7-3 to Miami, and 5-4 to Bowling Green. The Lakers host Michigan State and Northern this weekend.

Last week’s record in picks:9-5 Overall record in picks:73-51

Ties, ties, and more ties!

Ferris State (11-8-3, 10-6-2 CCHA) at Ohio State (12-10-3, 12-6-2 CCHA) Thursday, 7 p.m., Schottenstein Center, Columbus, OH No. 5 Michigan (16-5-2, 13-3-1 CCHA) at Ohio State (12-10-3, 12-6-2 CCHA) Saturday, 8 p.m., Schottenstein Center, Columbus, OH

Oh, how the mighty have, well, stumbled.

After trouncing Lake Superior State 8-2 over a week ago, the Buckeyes lost to Lake 3-2, and then lost to Miami 4-3 in overtime.

This Ohio State team has taken a season series from No. Notre Dame (2-0-0), is tied in the season series with No. 3 Michigan State (1-1-1), and delivered the Wolverines their first shutout of the season.

The loss to Miami means that Ohio State lost the season series with the RedHawks, 1-2-0.

"This is a whole new situation for this team, for this organization, for this coaching staff," says OSU head coach John Markell.

Markell isn’t referring to the two losses. What he’s talking about is the struggle to maintain the kind of success that the Buckeyes experienced last season.

"It’s a learning process for us, and that’s a good thing. We’re still in the hunt."

A top-four finish is certainly a possibility for Ohio State, but realistically, the hunt for a first-place regular-season finish is over, given the number of points separating the Bucks from Michigan State and Michigan, the number of games remaining, and the schedules of the top five or six teams.

Markell didn’t hide his disappointment after the loss to Lake Superior, when he suggested that his players weren’t ready to challenge for the league title.

"The 8-2 game shot us in the foot. It made us completely lose our focus. After that game, we forgot what got us there."

What got the Buckeyes to the point where they could score eight goals in a game was teamwork, something Markell says is missing at times after the success of last season.

"All we cared about last year was ourselves as a team, because we were all we had." Markell says that individual players didn’t have individual goals, because there were no individuals on last year’s team. According to Markell, last season’s team–which sported a roster very close to this season’s team–took one game at a time, played this systems, and focused on playing each game for the good of the team.

Markell remains optimistic, however, about his team’s prospects for the rest of the season. "There’s a lot of hockey left this season, and if we get focused, we can do anything."

Last week, the Buckeyes beat Cornell 5-3 and tied Colgate 2-2. "It was a little bit of a break from league play, and I think it helped us in our focus."

In the 5-3 game, Ray Aho (2.21 GAA, .923 SV%) got his first win of the season, and Hugo Boisvert (9-15–24) notched a hat trick and two assists.

Two Buckeyes saw game time for the first time this season in New York. Freshman defenseman Matt Weber played respectably in the game against Colgate, and senior forward Brian Morrison played well enough in both games to earn a spot in this week’s lineup.

Missing from action will be Vinnie Grant (3-5–8)–a healthy scratch. Grant has dropped from third in scoring for the Bucks to seventh. Look for Ohio State to shake up the Chris Richards (5-11- -16)-Neal Rech (2-2–4) combo on that second line this week as well.

"Ferris State and Michigan scare the hell out of us," says Markell, "and they should."

Ferris State vs. Ohio State

The Bulldogs earned four points in three games last week, beating UAF 4-1, No. 5 Michigan 4-0, and losing to Northern Michigan 2-1.

Assistant coach Drew Famulak says of the loss, "It was our fifth game in eight days. I don’t think it was our ‘A’ game."

Famulak says that the Bulldogs are focused and are thinking about the task at hand as much as the big picture. "We play each game at a time. We did talk to our players a little bit when we played so many games in so few days. League points are important."

One of the biggest stories for Ferris State this season has been the performance of sophomore goaltender Vince Owen. In 17 league games, Owen has earned a 1.99 GAA and a .930 save percentage.

"He works hard, and he’s a pretty confident kid," says Famulak. "It took him a few games at the start of the season to get on track."

The top Bulldog line of Brent Wishart (4-7–11), Kevin Swider (7-5–12), and Joel Irwin (6-7–13) certainly leads Ferris State in many ways, but this is a team that scores by committee. Brian McCullough (7-7–14) is second on the team in scoring, and Famulak says Jim Dube (2-8– 10) has played especially well lately.

And watch out for Kenzie Homer. This big guy has points (6-3–9) and leads the team in the plus/minus ratio with a +14.

Famulak says the Bulldog penalty kill is good, and he’s right; Ferris State’s PK is fourth in the league, at .882.

The power play, though, says Famulak, is "streaky," performing at 14%, good enough for fifth in the league.

Pick

These are two evenly matched teams, in many ways. Like the Bulldogs, the Buckeyes score by committee. J.F. Dufour (5-5–10) seems especially happy in his new home on that second line with Richards.

Other Buckeye scoring threats include defenseman Andre Signoretti (3-7–10), Eric Meloche (3-6–9), and the streaky Brandon Lafrance (4-2–6, 7-5–12 overall), who has scored three goals in his past five games.

The Buckeyes have outscored opponents by a narrower margin, 51-42 to Ferris State’s 53-35 margin.

Defensively, the teams look fairly even as well. The Buckeyes are being outshot by opponents 516-517, while Ferris State is being outshot 496-510. The Bulldogs’ team plus/minus ratio is better, however.

Jeff Maund’s league save percentage is .922, with a 2.20 GAA. Owen’s numbers are .930 and 1.99. The two are fifth and third, respectively, among CCHA goaltenders in league play.

The OSU power play converts at 13.8% to Ferris State’s 14%. The Buckeye PK is second in the league at .894 (and it needs to be–the Bucks take a lot of penalties); Ferris State’s PK is fourth in .882.

"These are two teams battling for home playoff ice," says Famulak. The outcome of this season series may determine fourth place in the league.

When Jeff Maund’s head is in the game, there’s nobody better. When the Buckeyes are focused, there’s no better team. Notre Dame has taught me the value of blind faith, and this game is in Columbus–and the Buckeyes are already down one game this season to Ferris.

Ohio State 3-2

No. 5 Michigan vs. Ohio State

Michigan head coach Red Berenson says he had a lot to be unhappy about when his team lost to Ferris State 4-0. The shutout was one thing, but the behavior of several Wolverine players–and one in particular–was quite another.

"It was a 1-0 game in the third. It wasn’t that we played bad, but it was disappointing for two reasons. One, we were in the game and we found a way to lose. And two, the ugly scene that was not characteristic of our team."

At the end of the game, Andrew Merrick (0-1–1) deliberately ran Vince Owen. The ensuing chaos earned three Wolverines–Merrick, Jeff Jillson (5-7–9), and Greg Crozier (1-3–4)–game disqualifications. Ferris State’s Scott Lewis also received a DQ.

According to Berenson, Ferris State’s second goal of the night was "backbreaking."

"On the ice, were we that bad? No. Ferris State has a very good hockey team."

Berenson says that while Merrick, Jillson, and Crozier are eligible to play Thursday against Bowling Green, it’s questionable that Merrick will.

In Saturday’s game, Bobby Hayes (0-8–8) earned a game disqualification, and will not be able to play against the Falcons Thursday night.

In a way, Saturday’s 6-3 win over Western was a good rebound for a Michigan team that doesn’t put a lot of pucks in the net. "It was a lot of goals for us," says Berenson. "We got up 4-0, then the game kind of disintegrated.

Berenson says that the Wolverines can’t begin to think past Thursday night’s game against the Falcons to the Saturday game with the Buckeyes. He says Michigan certainly remembers the 1-0 loss to Ohio State on January 2, and how tight that game was defensively.

Pick

Michigan lacks the high-powered offense of previous seasons. Mike Comrie (7-10–17), Mark Kosick (5-8–13), Josh Langfeld (9-5–14), Dale Rominski (9-3–12), Bubba Berenzweig (3- 8–11), Mike Van Ryn (5-6–11), and Dave Huntzicker (2-8–10) are the offensive threats in the double digits for the Wolverines.

In net, the tall, lanky freshman Josh Blackburn (1.78 GAA, .921 SV%) is as good as they get in this league.

Michigan’s power play is third in the league at 16.1%. The Wolverine PK is third in the league–just behind OSU–at .889.

Markell says that the Buckeyes are afraid of the Wolverines, something that makes perfect sense considering that Michigan leads the all-time series 44-20-7, and until last year’s CCHA tournament were dominant over the Buckeyes in the 1990s, going 29-2-3 in 34 games.

Of course, those two Wolverine losses came against this Buckeye team. Ohio State carries a two-game win streak with Michigan into this game.

Of course, OSU won last time when the Wolverines were without Van Ryn, Jillson, and Langfeld.

Of course, last season, the Bucks beat Michigan when the Wolverines had Turco, Muckalt, and Herr.

Normally, common sense would dictate a Michigan win. But should Nature cooperate, this game will be the sellout the January 2 game should have been; over 16,000 tickets had been sold by Tuesday.

Ohio State 2-1

Bowling Green (11-10-2, 7-8-2 CCHA) at No. 5 Michigan (16-5-2, 13-3-1 CCHA) Thursday, 7 p.m., Yost Ice Arena, Ann Arbor, MI Ferris State (11-8-3, 10-6-2 CCHA) at Bowling Green (11-10-2, 7-8-2 CCHA) Saturday, 7 p.m., BGSU Ice Arena, Bowling Green, OH

The Falcons gained three points last weekend by knotting the Spartans 2-2 before beating Lake Superior 5-4.

"I thought we had good chances," says BG head coach Buddy Powers of the tie. Adam Edinger (10-13–23) and Dan Price (6-16–22) had the goals in the game against Michigan State.

Five different Falcons–Chris Bonvie (6-6–12), Ryan Wetterberg (1-1–2), Edinger, Austin de Luis (2-1–3), and Ryan Murphy (5-13–18)–had the goals in the Lake State game. Wetterberg’s goal was his first collegiate tally.

There’s no doubt that Bowling Green can score; the Falcons have notched 54 league goals this season, and Edinger and Price are among the league’s top scorers. But team defense has been problematic for BG this season. The Falcons have allowed 66 conference goals, and are at -71 as a team in CCHA play.

One problem early on for Bowling Green was goaltending. Sophomore Shawn Timm was supposed to have been the one to take the reins; he didn’t, and senior Mike Savard (3.34 GAA, .882 SV%) has earned the starting position.

Savard’s play has significantly improved during this middle stretch of the season; in his past 10 games, his save percentage is over 90%, and his GAA is under three per game.

"He’s worked hard this year, and he’s really played as a team player," says Powers. "We only have the two seniors [Savard and Price], and we’re maturing as a team."

Powers acknowledges the strides his team has made this season, but, he says, "We have a long way to go."

Capable of playing with the top-tier teams in the league, the Falcons are still finding their consistency. "We’ve played so well up to a point at times," says Powers, "and we find ways to come up short."

Bowling Green vs. No. 5 Michigan

"They’re a good team," says Michigan head coach Red Berenson of the Falcons. "They’ve been in every game they’ve played.

"They gave us a good game down there."

The Wolverines have beaten the Falcons twice this season, both 5-2 decisions, once in Yost and once in BG. The essential difference between these two teams is depth.

While the Falcons have the spectacular combination of Price and Edinger, and several other Falcons can score, Michigan is much more top-heavy in consistent scorers–although they lack the break-out player that both Price and Edinger can be.

Defensively, Michigan is a better team hands-down. While both teams are significantly outshooting opponents, the Wolverines have held conference opponents to 389 shots this season, while the Falcons have allowed 461.

In net, Savard may not have the numbers that Josh Blackburn has, but he has more experience at this level, and he seems to be reborn this season.

Pick

The Wolverines will be without Bobby Hayes for this game, since Hayes will be serving the DQ he earned against Western Michigan last weekend.

Counting Hayes’ DQ, the Wolverines earned four game disqualifications in two games last weekend; this Michigan team leads the league in penalties, averaging 27 per game. Berenson has made it quite clear to his players and the press that he will not stand for this lack of discipline, so don’t expect to see Andrew Merrick in the lineup, either.

Unfortunately for the Wolverines, Bowling Green has an excellent power play, converting at nearly 18% in league play, second in the league. The Michigan power play is also good, performing at 16.1%, good enough for third in the league.

The advantage is Michigan’s for any number of reasons, but especially because the game is being played at Yost. However, if the Wolverines display the kind of lack of control they did last weekend, you’ll see one seething coach and a tighter game than the home crowd may expect.

Michigan 4-2

Ferris State vs. Bowling Green

The Falcons hold a 44-27-7 lead in the all-time series against Ferris State, but many of those wins came before these recent Bowling Green rebuilding years, and before Ferris State found the secret for its current success.

It bears repeating: Ferris State scores by committee. Like the Wolverines, the Bulldogs lack the flash of a Price or an Edinger, but what they do have is solid, from Wishart, to Irwin, to Homer, to Bennetts, to Dube, to–you get the picture.

The Bulldog defense is stronger than the Falcon defense, and Vince Owen is hot right now for Ferris State. Forget the fact that he lost against Northern Michigan; he only allowed two goals in the game.

Bowling Green is 5-3-2 in its last 10 games with Ferris State, and the Falcons won the earlier contest this season, a 2-1 decision in Bowling Green in late October. A win would give the Falcons the season series over the Bulldogs for the first time since the 1995-96 season.

Pick

There are few places tougher to win on the road than in the BGSU Ice Arena. An intimate building with a loud, rude crowd, BG’s barn is a fun place to see a game.

And the Falcons–like most teams–play especially well at home.

But Ferris State is on a mission. This is a team that doesn’t want to settle for fifth of sixth place in the league; they want to host a playoff series. The Bulldogs want The Joe.

The firepower of Price, Edinger, and Co. can be explosive, but the slower, steadier Bulldog attack may win this race.

Ferris State 4-3

No. 8 Notre Dame (14-6-2, 11-5-1 CCHA) at Northern Michigan (15-9-0, 10-8-0 CCHA) Friday, 7 p.m., Lakeview Arena, Marquette, MI No. 8 Notre Dame (14-6-2, 11-5-1 CCHA) at Lake Superior (4-15-3, 3-11-2 CCHA) Saturday, 7 p.m., Taffy Abel Arena, Sault Ste. Marie, MI

No. 8 Notre Dame did exactly what any top-ten team should do last weekend. The Irish dispatched rather handily the Alaska-Fairbanks Nanooks 6-2 and 6-1.

"Our special teams were pretty good," said Irish head coach Dave Poulin.

Poulin sounds amazed when he adds, "We’re killing penalties at 84.5%, and we’re seventh in the league–can you image? When I played in the NHL, the top penalty killing teams were only about 83%."

Against the Nanooks, the Irish power play was 5-for-14, or about 35%. The Irish power play was good before the weekend series against UAF, but now it’s cooking at 24.2% in conference play.

The Irish PK is, indeed, seventh, a full 7.5% behind league-leading Michigan State.

Notre Dame played Friday’s game without Ben Simon (10-15–25), who has the second-most points in league play behind teammate Brian Urick (10-16–26) and MSU’s Mike York (9-17–26). Simon was serving an interesting sort of delayed penalty, for an incident during Notre Dame’s November 21 game with Michigan.

Simon high-sticked Bobby Hayes, and was assessed a major penalty at the time, but Michigan sent a tape into the league for review. The CCHA ruled that Simon be suspended for a game, so he sat Friday.

Brian Urick will be out for a couple of weeks with a hand injury, but Poulin says he expects this to be short term.

The Irish have become rather expert at playing without various individuals; through the second half of last season into the first half of this year, the Notre Dame defense was always down at least one man, and the "out" position rotated.

"Tough sometimes in the short term," says Poulin, "but injury creates depth."

Poulin says, "As caught up as you can get in schedule watching this time of year, we really need to focus in-house." Before the series with UAF, the Irish focused on penalty killing. During the two games with the Nanooks, Notre Dame shut down the Fairbanks power play all eight times the Nanooks had the advantage.

Now, Poulin says, Notre Dame needs to focus on consistency. "We’re constantly working on that."

Notre Dame leads the league in goals scored, outscoring CCHA opponents 65-37. Part of the reason for that is the first line of Simon, Urick, and Aniket Dhadphale (9-7–16). Another reason is that fabulous Irish power play, responsible for 23–or nearly one-third–of Notre Dame’s league goals.

Other offensive threats for the Irish include Dan Carlson (5-13–18), David Inman (5-6–11), Chad Chipchase (8-3–11), and Benoit Cotnoir (3-7–10).

Brett Henning (3-6–9) was moved up to replace Simon online with Urick and Dhadphale last week, and he proved more than up to the task, assisting on both Notre Dame game-winners and earning CCHA Rookie of the Week honors.

Defensively, the Irish are tough, allowing just 407 shot to the 546 they’ve taken themselves in conference play. Both Cotnoir and Tyson Fraser (1-8–9) are defenseman who can apply pressure on the other side of the puck, and Fraser may return to play after missing last weekend with an injury.

Forrest Karr (2.15 GAA, .908 SV%) guards the Notre Dame net.

No. 8 Notre Dame vs. Northern Michigan

The Wildcats took four crucial league points last weekend in a pair of road wins, beating Western Michigan 6-2 and Ferris State 2-1.

Northern head coach Rick Comley says, "We’ve put ourselves in a position to make a run at a home-ice playoff spot with two road wins last weekend. Every game we play down the stretch will be crucial for us and we don’t want to waste any opportunities.

"I was pleased with our defensive play last weekend and it’s something we’re going to have to continue to concentrate on if we’re going to be successful."

Defense has been the bugaboo for the Wildcats this season. After starting out hot-hot-hot, goaltenders Duane Hoey (3.27 GAA, .866 SV%) and Dan Ragusett (2.61 GAA, .902 SV%) cooled considerably, although Ragusett seems to have that great glove back as of late.

Ragusett stopped 59 of 62 shots in the two Northern wins last weekend, and allowed only two even-strength goals. For his efforts, Ragusett was named the CCHA Defensive Player of the Week and the USCHO Defensive Player of the Week.

The ‘Cats are now outscoring opponents 60-53.

Scoring doesn’t seem to be the problem for Northern, as Buddy Smith (2-20–22) and J.P. Vigier (17-6–23) have proven. For half the season, the duo was tied for the lead in league scoring; now they’re among the top scorers in CCHA play.

Other Northern weapons include Roger Trudeau (9-6–15), Fred Mattersdorfer (4-7–11), Chad Theuer (2-8–10), and Tyson Holly (6-3–9).

Vigier and Holly had two goals each in the win over Western, and each was responsible for one of the two goals against Ferris State.

Pick

This is the first meeting between Notre Dame and Northern Michigan this series. The Wildcats hold a 6-3-0 lead in the all-time series over Notre Dame, but those three losses came as the Irish swept the ‘Cats last season.

The two teams should match well offensively, with two of the best lines in the country squaring off. But defensively, Notre Dame has a decided edge–better team defense, and a more consistent goalie in Karr.

Notre Dame 4-3

No. 8 Notre Dame vs. Lake Superior

The Lakers gave up a dozen goals last weekend, losing to Miami 7-3 and Bowling Green 5-4. In the 7-3 game, the Lakers outshot the RedHawks 33-22, but the duo of Mike Brusseau and Jayme Platt repeated their performance of just a week prior, when they lost to Ohio State 8-2.

Brusseau (3.19 GAA, .889 SV%) allowed three goals on seven shots; Platt (2.85 GAA, .898 SV%) allowed three on eight.

Platt seemed to bounce back the next night when the Lakers were outshot 39-24 by BG; Platt saved 34 shots in the game.

Tobin Praznik (8-3–11) got the hat trick for all three of Lake State’s goals against Miami. In the Bowling Green game, Ryan Vince (3-3–6) scored twice, while Trent Walford (2-7–9) and Fred Slukynsky (6-2–8) each had a goal.

With his three goals, Praznik became the first Laker of the season to reach double digits in conference scoring. Lake Superior is now being outscored 38-52 by league opponents.

The Lake Superior power play converts 13.6% of the time, while the penalty killing unit is successful 83.5% of the time.

Pick

This is the third regular-season meeting between Notre Dame and Lake Superior. The Irish won the first two 4-2 and 4-3. The Lakers led for a bit in the first game; the Irish power play was responsible for all four goals in the second game.

Although it’s a tough road trip and it’s hard to play in the Soo, Notre Dame should win this on the strength of better everything.

Notre Dame 6-3

No. 3 Michigan State (19-3-3, 13-2-3 CCHA) at Lake Superior (4-15-3, 3-11-2 CCHA) Friday, 7 p.m., Taffy Abel Arena, Sault Ste. Marie, MI No. 3 Michigan State (19-3-3, 13-2-3 CCHA) at Northern Michigan (15-9-0, 10-8-0 CCHA) Saturday, 7 p.m., Lakeview Arena, Marquette, MI

Michigan State head coach Ron Mason has nothing but good things to say about the games his Spartans played last weekend.

Of the 2-2 with the Falcons, Mason says, "It was an excellent game, one of the best all season. Bowling Green played really, really well."

Of the 5-1 win over Miami in Cincinnati, Mason says, "They did a real nice job down there. It was a very-well-put-together event." Mason can be a little generous, given that the Spartans gained three points, and the Wolverines gained just two, bumping the Spartan lead over the Wolverines to two points.

The Spartans are led by the incomparable Mike York (9-17–26, 16-18–34 overall), who is tied for the lead in both conference and overall points (tied with Brian Urick and Hugo Boisvert, respectively).

Mason sums up York this way: "We played three games against UAF in Fairbanks and York had just one point, yet he was absolutely a factor in every game."

The Spartan head coach says it bothers him a little bit that York–and before him, Chad Alban–doesn’t get the nationwide attention that players from other leagues and teams may receive.

"I think that’s typical for Michigan State. We have had to go overboard for one player or another just to get them noticed. It’s so hard to get them recognized.

"The unfortunate part is that we can’t control it. People rarely think of individual Michigan State players for national honors."

Shawn Horcoff (9-11-20), Bryan Adams (11-6–17), and Rustyn Dolyny (8-7–15) are behind York in Spartan conference points.

As good as the Mike York is, the Spartans actually win by defense. Michigan State is outshooting conference opponents by the incredible margin of 582-337, and the team is collectively at +151! The Spartans are outscoring opponents 61-23.

While taking nothing away from Spartan goaltenders Joe Blackburn (1.41 GAA, .924 SV%) and backup Mike Gresl (0.75 GAA, .960 SV%), Betty the waitress from the Waffle Cottage could probably win a game in net for Michigan State–that’s how good this defense is.

Keys to the Spartan defense are, of course, Chris Bogas (1-8–7), Mike Weaver (0-4–4), and Jeff Kozakowski (0-3–3). These three have helped Michigan State block an average of 10.2 shots per game.

Freshman defenseman Andrew Hutchinson is out for approximately four weeks with a knee injury sustained in the Miami game. Hutchinson will be missed; he’s a two-time CCHA Rookie of the Week.

The Spartans do have their weaknesses. The Michigan State power play–which led the league for a vast chunk of last season–converts at just over 11% (10th). The Spartan PK, however, is excellent, killing off over 90% of opponent advantages.

No. 3 Michigan State vs. Lake Superior

Michigan State’s last Lake Superior-Northern Michigan road trip was a mixed bag last season. While the Spartans clinched the regular-season CCHA title last March 6 with a 4-1 win at Lake, they gave up one of their six road losses the following night in Marquette, losing 5-1.

History should repeat itself this season, at least for one night.

Michigan State doesn’t get into many shooting matches, but the York-led offense could score some points against either former Spartan Mike Brusseau or sophomore Jayme Platt. As good as Brusseau can be in net, it’s difficult to stop a team that comes at you again and again; the Spartan outgun opponents at a criminal rate.

Pick

The Spartans are in the midst of a 12-game unbeaten streak as they travel north this weekend, but that doesn’t mean that Mason is taking the game against the last-place Lakers as a gimme, and no one would take Northern Michigan for granted.

"They [the Lakers] played one of the best games of anybody here," says Mason. "You go to the Yoop and it’s always difficult. They live for hockey up there."

Michigan State leads this all-time series 41-27-8, including a 14-11-6 edge in Sault Ste. Marie. The Spartans have won the last five meetings, and are 5-0-2 in the last seven. Michigan State is 1-0-4 in the last five games at the Soo.

This is the second meeting between the Spartans and Lakers this season, and Michigan State won the last one in Munn 2-1. Platt made 30 saves to Blackburn’s 14 that night.

Regardless of how tight Mason says the Lakers play the Spartans, Lake Superior’s defense is no match of Michigan State’s offense, and the tight Spartan defense should be able to keep the Lakers at bay.

Michigan State 4-1

No. 3 Michigan State vs. Northern Michigan

Pending the outcome of Friday’s game with Notre Dame, the Wildcats may be carrying a streak of their own into the game against Michigan State. Northern Michigan is riding a four-game win streak into this weekend’s play in Lakeview Arena.

This very interesting game pairs one of the most productive offenses in the league with one of the stingiest defenses. There’s no doubt that J.P. Vigier can score goals and that Buddy Smith can help him. The question is, can this duo–along with the rest of the Northern offense–get past the wall of Spartans to take the shots?

In net for the Wildcats will undoubtedly be Dan Ragusett, who’s been the go-to guy for Northern’s last six games. He’s the one with the wicked glove and some very quick moves. He’ll have to be quick indeed to stop York, who seems to create opportunity out of thin air.

The Northern Michigan power play is more productive than that of Michigan State, but the Wildcat penalty kill is in the middle of the league at 86.7%–and Northern averages over 20 penalty minutes per game.

Pick

Michigan State leads the all-time series 12-9-1, but are just 3-4-0 in Marquette. The teams have met three times already this year, and the Spartans have won all three by two or fewer goals– a 3-1 win in October, a 2-1 win December, and the 5-3 win at the GLI.

The Wildcats have an edge in overall offense, but Mike York can be anybody’s edge, at any time.

Defensively, the Spartans are the best in the league.

In goal, it’s about a wash. Blackburn is good, but when Ragusett is hot, he’s very good.

Michigan State is undefeated on Saturday night this season (10-0-1). Can’t argue with that stat.

Michigan State 2-1

Nebraska-Omaha (5-18-0) at Alaska-Fairbanks (6-16-0, 5-15-0 CCHA) Friday and Saturday, 7 p.m. AT, Carlson Center, Fairbanks, AK

The Mavericks take their first big trip north this weekend. Remember, Coach Kemp, you wanted to join the CCHA. The Mavs swept Air Force last weekend, 6-2 and 4-0. James Chalmers (4-1–14) and Allan Carr (2-4–6) notched two goals each in the first win. Kendall Sidoruk (3.47 GAA, .886 SV%) had 20 saves in his first career shutout.

The Mavericks are led offensively by Jason White (7-8–15), Chalmers, Billy Pugliese (4-7– 11), and Jason Cupp (3-8–11).

Nebraska-Omaha is 1-3-0 this season versus CCHA opponents, having lost two close games to Michigan State in Munn, and splitting a pair of home games with Bowling Green.

The Maverick penalty-killers have been successful 86.7% per cent of the time this season, and have given up just two power play goals in the last nine games. The power play, however, is chugging along at just 10.7%.

The Nanooks dropped two games to Notre Dame last weekend, 6-2 and 6-1, the last contests of a five-game road trip during which Alaska-Fairbanks was 1-4-0.

Pat Hallett (6-0–6) and Jamie Coady (5-2–7) scored the Nanook goals in the first game. Chris Marvel (3.81 GAA, .884 SV%) had 37 saves in the loss.

Chris Kirwan (7-3–10) had the sole goal in the 6-1 loss, and Ian Perkins (4.24 GAA, .878 SV%) posted 29 saves the second night.

In conference games, the Nanooks are being outscored 47-83, and 53-90 in overall games.

This is the first time these two teams have ever met, and it serves as a sort of preview for next season when the two teams will begin to face each other four times when UNO becomes a member of the CCHA, and the two schools are paired as travel partners.

Picks: UAF 4-3, UNO 4-1

Western Michigan (3-12-6, 2-11-6 CCHA) at No. 10 Rensselaer (13-5-1, 8-2-1 CCHA) Friday, 7:30 p.m, and Saturday, 7:00 p.m., Houston Field House, Troy, NY

"We’re not scoring. When you’re not scoring, you can’t win."

Western head coach Bill Wilkinson provides an accurate summary of the Broncos’ woes this season. Western Michigan has earned six ties this season, confounding many good teams and more than one week’s picks by USCHO’s CCHA Correspondent.

The Broncos are being outshot 440-589 in league play, and 490-638 overall. They’re being outscored by a 44-81 overall margin.

David Gove leads the Broncs in both overall (7-10–17) and league (5-10–17) scoring. Other Bronco scoring leaders include Chuck Mindel (9-6–15 overall), Frank Novock (4-11–15 overall), Corey Waring (5-5–10 overall), and Matt Addesa (5-4–9 overall).

Adding to the offensive woes are the defensive troubles. Western Michigan is down to just four defensemen because of departures and injuries, and forwards Mark Wilkinson (0-4–4) and Anthony Battaglia (0-0–1) were moved back as a pair on defense last Saturday for the fifth time in six games.

Western Michigan’s overall team plus/minus ratio is -185.

Matt Barnes (3.24 overall GAA, .882 SV%) and Jeff Reynaert (3.46 overall GAA, .892 SV%) have been splitting time in the Western net. Barnes was the go-to man for most of the season, but Wilkinson says that two goaltenders are better than one down the stretch.

"Reynaert’s played very well, and he’s gaining confidence."

Last weekend, the Broncos lost 6-2 to Northern Michigan, and 6-3 to Michigan. Barnes and Reynaert split the losses.

Wilkinson looks at this trip east as a chance to try out a few players who don’t normally see much ice time. "We may be able to change up some different things, regroup a little."

The Bronco coach says he knows that Rensselaer is "predominantly high scoring."

"I know they have good goaltending, too."

Last week, Rensselaer’s Joel Laing was named the USCHO Defensive Player of the Week for his back-to-back shutout games.

For more on Rensselaer, take a gander at Becky Blaeser and Jayson Moy’s ECAC preview.

Picks

With no disrespect to Western Michigan, the Broncos should be no match for the Engineers, one of the hottest teams in the country.

Rensselaer 4-2, 3-2

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