Todd’s Picks — – Mark my words: BU and OSU will go into overtime. Well, actually, don’t mark my words because the actual odds the game will go to OT are probably pretty long. Still, Ohio State, 3-2 (ot). The Gophers look sluggish from their month off, but Princeton doesn’t capitalize right off the bat, allowing Minnesota to score a couple third-period goals to win. Swine western bias! Minnesota, 4-2. The next evening — How the mighty have fallen … Princeton, 3-1. Ohio State has never defeated the Gophers and I don’t expect it to this weekend. This western bias thing has really gone too far. Minnesota, 5-3

Dave’s Picks — If the Terriers get their injured troika back, they could certainly win this tournament, especially the way Larocque has been playing. But this crystal ball sees 4-3 losses to both Ohio State and then either Minnesota or Princeton for Boston University in the consolation game.

Bank One Badger Showdown

Bowling Green (7-7-1, 6-6-1 CCHA, 7th) vs. Cornell (6-2-1, 4-1-1 ECAC, 3rd)
Yale (2-6-0, 2-4-0 ECAC, T-8th) vs. Wisconsin (5-8-2, 5-6-1 WCHA, 5th)
Sunday, 6:00 pm and 9:00 pm EST, Bradley Center, Milwaukee

Consolation/Championship
Monday, 6:00 pm and 9:00 pm EST, Bradley Center, Milwaukee

The Falcons are a bit of a surprise in the CCHA this season, putting together many solid games and already taking the season series from Northern Michigan, two games to one. A team that didn’t make the playoffs last season, Bowling Green seems to have the steam to see some post-season action, if the second half of the season proves to be at least as consistent — or as inconsistent — as the first half for BG.

Four and four in their last eight games, the Falcons have the juice to light up the scoreboard, averaging well over three goals per game in that eight game stretch.

In fact, Bowling Green is one of three CCHA teams able to light the lamp consistently (Notre Dame and Northern Michigan being the only other two CCHA teams with goals totally 40 or more in league play). Senior Dan Price is in the hunt for a CCHA league scoring title, and leads the Falcons with five goals and 12 assists (7-13–20 overall). Price is followed by the prolific Adam Edinger (8-9- -17 overall), Mike Jones (4-9–13 overall), Ryan Murphy (2-9–11 overall), Chris Bonvie (4-5–9 overall), and Craig Desjarlais (4-6–10 overall).

So with all this firepower, why are the Falcons at .500 in league and overall play? Well, in spite of having the third-highest number of goals for in the league, Bowling Green is still being outscored 45-53 in league play.

As fast as the Falcons are — and you just try to keep your eyes on Dan Price when that guy is moving — and as willing and able to score as are these Falcons, the Bowling Green defense has yet to solidify this season, from the net out.

When the season began, sophomore Shawn Timm seemed to have nailed down the starting position, but he hasn’t seen a game in a long time, having lost the net to senior Mike Savard. Savard, able to come up with the big save when needed, is allowing 3.69 goals in league play (3.61 GAA overall).

It is sometimes the case that goaltenders allow many goals when they get little defensive help. But the Falcons have been getting progressively better at limiting shots on goal this season. Savard’s save percentage is .872 in a league where the goaltenders for the six teams ahead of Bowling Green post an average save percentage of .916.

Savard’s stats place him tenth in the league. Do keep in mind, however, that Savard is currently in ninth place on the BG all-time saves list with 1,521.

In their last outing, the Falcons rallied from a two-goal deficit to beat Western Michigan 3-1. It was Bonvie who began the third-period come-back, scoring at 4:43 from Desjarlais. Doug Schueller had the tying goal, Desjarlais had the game-winner, and Murphy had the empty-netter.

Savard made 21 saves on the night.

Both Jones and Edinger have the hot hand right now; each brings a six-game point streak into the game against Cornell.

It almost seems like déjà vu for Cornell. The Big Red have had some injuries on defense and the last weekend that they were playing they got three points with a win and tie against Union and Rensselaer.

“The biggest thing that gives me a lot of satisfcation is that basically we played three defensemen for most of the weekend,” said head coach Mike Schafer. “We moved Kyle Knopp back there and for three guys and a forward to keep that offense to three goals is great.”

Schafer would love to get his defenseman healthy, because when you play only three defenseman, it makes a difference.

“It has a huge impact on the way you want to play,” he said. “You start to get fatigued and you start to make mistakes especially in the neutral zone.”

For the Big Red, they hope to have some of their defensemen back. According to Schafer, everyone should be healthy for this tournament. Larry Pierce and Jeff Oates will return from broken hands, David Adler has had no pain in his back, and Rick Sachetti’s fracture in his foot should be healed.

“We talked about giving ourselves a good chance at making a run in the second half,” said Schafer. “We have done a good job at doing just that. We have to look at the hurdles and it was easy for them to look at all of the injuries we had that last weekend and they stared at the face of adversity and I’m very proud of what they have done.

“Hopefully our injury stretch is done, and if so, away we go.”

The Yale Bulldogs have had quite a bit of time to contemplate its disappointing 2-5-0 start. It has been 22 days since Yale — losers of four straight — was swept in a home-and-home series with Princeton. Now, the Bulldogs will reenter the college hockey scene by taking on a struggling Wisconsin team in the first round of the Badger Showdown in Milwaukee, WI.

The Bulldogs headed into exam break a disgruntled, injury-plagued group. Defenseman James Chyz (groin) and center Cory Shea (broken wrist), who are expected to return to action at the Badger Showdown, watched from the sidelines as their team suffered offensive woes and a punishing penchant for the penalty box. The Tigers netted three power-play goals in the first contest and followed that performance with a dominating even-strength attack the following night en route to a 5-2 victory in Hobey Baker Rink.

Yale forward Jeff Hamilton, who is second in the ECAC in scoring with 12 points, was one of the team’s lone offensive bright spots that weekend as he collected a goal and three assists. The junior duo of Jay Quenville and Jeff Brow were the only other Bulldogs to pick up points during the weekend series. “We’re a little disappointed, obviously, because we went into the weekend hoping to turn the tables on [Princeton], but it didn’t turn out that way,” said senior Keith McCullough to the Yale Daily News. “We believe in the line makeup that we have and in the artillery we have up front, so it’s just a matter of not scoring at opportune times. Without Shea in the lineup, though, it really threw our lines for a loop.”

The Bulldogs will no doubt confront a tough challenge in the form of a Wisconsin team that is looking to turn its season around following two straight losses at North Dakota in which the team surrendered 10 goals. In addition, the host team will have the additional edge as it will play in front of an-always raucous, red-clad Wisconsin crowd.

“The first game against Wisconsin will be about 18,000 screaming people in sold-out Milwaukee,” McCullough said. “There’s going to be some big-time intensity out there. We can expect them to be very tough.”

Here’s your breakdown of the Wisconsin Badgers and it sounds like a broken record — scoring, scoring, scoring.

Not that they have too much, but that they need some. Desperately.

But Wisconsin coach Jeff Sauer said he thinks his team can use the 10th annual Bank One Badger Hockey Showdown as a springboard for the second half of the season.

“More than anything, it sends the guys home knowing when they come back, they’d better be ready to go,” Sauer said. “When you’re playing in a different building, in front of different people and you’re playing for a tournament championship, it puts a little more emphasis on the series. We could very easily come back (to Madison) and play Omaha for two games here in the Kohl Center and nobody’s really interested in it. Here, you’re playing for a championship, you don’t know who’s going to play the next night. It puts pressure on the kids, which is not all bad.”

Going back to the broken record, the question remains — who is going to put the puck in the net for this team? It’s a question made even more complicated when you look at the players Sauer’s team is going to be missing for the Showdown.

Defenseman Craig Anderson is out for the season with a fractured vertebrae. Forward Kevin Granato remains out with a leg injury. Plus, defenseman Dave Tanabe and forward Matt Doman will be gone with the U.S. Junior Team. In addition, forward Dustin Kuk, the team’s scoring leader, will have to sit out the first game of the tournament after receiving a game disqualification in Wisconsin’s last game against North Dakota.

But the Showdown has usually been kind to the Badgers. In the nine previous tournaments, UW has won six, including last year’s title. After the championship win over Northern Michigan, they went 10 games without a loss, going 9-0-1 in that stretch. They went 16-8-1 to close the season after the Showdown.

Of course, there are differences. Last year’s team was 8-6 coming into the tournament; this year’s is 5-8-2. In 1997-98, the Badgers scored 3.68 goals per game and allowed 2.95; in 1998-99, UW has scored 1.93 goals per game while allowing 2.4.

If the scoring doesn’t come around, the Badgers are in deep trouble. But in the meantime, goaltender Graham Melanson (5-8-2, 2.35 GAA, .915 SV%) still has a knack for keeping Wisconsin in games. He has to shake off the effects of a whipping by North Dakota in UW’s final league series of the calendar year. If he does that, he should remain among the top goaltenders in the WCHA.

Paula’s Picks — Although the Falcons are as fast as many Eastern teams, and even though Bowling Green leads the all-time series with Cornell 3-1-0, Cornell has better goaltending — which should be the difference in the BG-Big Red game. Cornell over Bowling Green 5-4; Wisconsin over Yale 3-2 and then Cornell over Wisconsin 3-2; Bowling Green over Yale 4-3.

Becky/Jayson’s Picks — Yale and Wisconsin enter the holiday tournament with sub-.500 records and odds are the Bulldogs, who will struggle with the 22-day layover, will not have bettered its over all mark come Sunday night. The Big Red will take the red crowd as theirs and defeat Bowling Green. Wisconsin 5, Yale 1; Cornell 4, Bowling Green 2. The next night Yale sputters again and the Big Red disappoint the red-clad cheeseheads. Bowling Green 5, Yale 3; Cornell 3, Wisconsin 2.

Todd’s Picks — Cornell has scored 33 and allowed 21. Bowling Green has scored 52 and allowed 60. That’s enough for me. The Showdown is the Badgers’ time to shine. If they don’t get up for it, this team is doomed. Cornell, 4-2 and Wisconsin, 3-2. They need to give away prizes to those who attend third-place games. Bowling Green, 5-3. Fans and players alike wonder who the crowd is cheering for when they say, “Let’s Go Red!” I feel I wouldn’t be performing my duties as WCHA Correspondent if I didn’t pick Wisconsin. I tell you, this bias is ridiculous. Wisconsin, 3-1.

Syracuse Invitational

St. Lawrence (9-4-0, 4-1-0 ECAC, 4th) vs. Niagara (6-4-2, 6-4-2 vs. Division I)
Colgate (9-3-1, 5-1-0 ECAC, 2nd) vs. Miami (3-12-4, 2-10-3 CCHA, 10th)
Sunday, 4:00 pm and 7:30 pm EST, Onondaga War Memorial, Syracuse, N.Y.

Consolation/Championship
Monday, 4:00 pm and 7:30 pm EST, Onondaga War Memorial, Syracuse, N.Y.

One of the nicest surprises in the ECAC in this young season has been the St. Lawrence Saints. The Saints finished off their first half with a 2-0 shutout of Ferris State and end the first half as the 10th ranked team in the nation.

The 2-0 shutout was another marvel for senior goaltender Eric Heffler. He narrowly missed his sixth ECAC Goaltender of the Week Award with his shutout, his first of the season. “Heff” has a 1.94 GAA and a .940 save percentage.

“That was a great way to finish off the first semester,” said head coach Joe Marsh. “I thought it was our best all-around game of the year in all aspects. We came out with a lot of zip against a very good team and carried the game from start to finish. The guys did an excellent job defensively in limiting their chances and helping generate some offense at the other end and Heff showed a lot of poise and confidence in a situation in which he probably saw less action than he is used to.

“Sometimes that is tough on a goaltender, but he seems to be able to stay focused no matter which way the game is going, and he certainly made some big plays at key points along the way.”

The Saints are also doing it with balanced scoring. There are 13 different Saints who have tallied, with Eric Anderson and John Poapst each leading the way — both have identical 6-7–13 point totals. The two of them trail linemate Bob Prier (3-12–15) for the lead in points on the squad.

“We obviously have to be pleased with the way things have gone in the first semester,” said Marsh. “We’ve got a lot of hockey yet to play, but the guys are really playing well as a team and the good start gives us something to build on after the break for exams and the holidays.”

To say that Niagara is proving it belongs in one of the four major conferences is an understatement right now. After a 3-2 victory over Merrimack on Monday, the Purple Eagles are now 4-0-2 in their last six games, defeating the likes of the Warriors, Rensselaer and Nebraska-Omaha and tying Clarkson and Union.

The bid continues for the Purple Eagles when they face the tenth-ranked Saints in round one of this tournament. They will have to face the aforementioned Heffler in the net, but this might shape up into a goaltending battle as their own Greg Gardner has put up some great numbers himself.

Gardner has a 2.94 GAA and a .911 save percentage; in the past six games he has only allowed 11 goals and earned one shutout.

Not only has the defense been outstanding in the last six games, but defenseman Colin Rows is leading the team in scoring with 12 points (4-8–12).

Colgate enters this tournament as one of the hottest teams in the nation. The Red Raiders have won eight of the last nine, and their only loss in that span was an overtime loss a few weeks ago.

The Red Raiders extended their unbeaten string to four games with a 3-3 tie against fourth-ranked Maine at the first ECAC/Hockey East Holiday Doubleheader in Hartford.

“I thought we worked pretty hard in the second and third periods but in the first period they caught us back a little bit,” said coach Don Vaughan. “They’re a great team. [Maine’s] obviously got more speed than we do. When we let them play that game, the results were obvious. They went up 3-0 on three breakaway goals. Once we got back to playing our game, I thought we did a good job. We got it deep. We tried to chip it by them and get it in the corners and work the boards in the offensive zone. Once we started doing that, the game turned around for us.”

In a two-game set at Minnesota-Duluth prior to this game, Minnesota native Shep Harder was given both starts and produced two wins. Freshman Jason LeFevre came back against Maine, and Vaughan continued to show that he will platoon his goaltenders in a two-game set.

“He’s playing in a big rink against the number four team in the country so obviously he’s a little nervous,” said Vaughan about LeFevre’s start. “But he settled down. The message has always been with your goaltenders, ‘You don’t have to make all the saves. You just have to make the right ones.’ And he made the right ones at the end of the game. He made two huge saves, otherwise it’s [Maine’s] win.”

Andy McDonald has been the offensive weapon for the Red Raiders thus far. And despite not garnering a point in the game against the Black Bears, he drew praise from the chief Black Bear.

“I liked [McDonald] a lot,” said Shawn Walsh. “He’s as good a forward as we’ve played and we’ve played Jason Krog, who I thought was the best forward we’d played against. [McDonald] is every bit as good.”

In their last five games, the fledgling Miami RedHawks are 0-3-2, and they’ve blown one-goal leads going into the final minute in their last two games, a 5-4 loss to St. Cloud State, and a 4-4 tie to the Huskies, both games in Goggin Ice Arena.

The late-period problems have not been limited to the games against St. Cloud. This year, Miami has allowed 17 goals in the last two minutes of any period, and in the final two minutes of regulation play, the RedHawks have coughed up eight goals — four game-tying goals, and four game-winners.

During their last five, junior goaltender Ian Olsen has been the netminder of record, posting a 3.10 GAA and .881 save percentage. The ‘Hawks have been outscored 16-10 in that five-game span.

Also during the last five games, freshman Matt Chandler and senior Ryan Brindley lead Miami with three points each, a telling stat, since neither is among the point leaders for the team this season.

What you have here, college hockey fans, is a genuine slump — one complicated by injury and one that will be difficult for Miami to break, given the youth and lack of cohesion this team possesses.

Mark Shalawylo (5-9–14) leads the team in overall scoring, and is without a doubt the best RedHawk on the ice so far this season. Shalawylo can flat-out fly, thread defenders, set up scoring opportunities…and sometimes even score himself.

To score, however, a player needs to be on the ice. Shalawylo missed the last four Miami games because of injury, and he’s questionable for the games in Syracuse.

Junior Dustin Whitecotton — the team’s top returning scorer from last season — is down for the count with a broken humerus. He is not expected to play for the remainder of the season.

Alex Kim (6-8–14 overall), Jason Deskins (6-6–12 overall), and Ernie Hartlieb (4-4–8 overall) round out the top four scorers for the ‘Hawks. Miami is being outscored 35-51 in conference play, and 39-67 overall.

All of this is not to say that the RedHawks are pathetic; they are a promising young team with plenty of talent, good coaching, and a strong competitive desire. They’ve been in most of the games they’ve played this season, and they have a promising future. When their defense matures, the ‘Hawks will be contenders.

Of course, that’s a more distant future than this weekend.

Paula’s Picks — Colgate over Miami, St. Lawrence over Niagara on the first night. The next day it’s St. Lawrence over Colgate, Niagara over Miami (just so that Niagara can say they’ve defeated yet another CCHA team).

Becky/Jayson’s Picks — St. Lawrence and Niagara get into a goaltending battle and it will be Heffler winning it for the Saints, 2-1. Then Colgate continues on its torrid streak with over Miami, Colgate 6, miami 3. The next night the Red Raiders get revenge from earlier on in the season and put some goals past Heffler to win the crown, Colgate 4, St. Lawrence 2.

Ledyard Bank Auld Lang Syne Classic

Air Force (7-8-1, 1-4-1 vs. Division I) vs. Dartmouth (4-5-0, 1-3-0 ECAC, T-10th)
Vermont (7-4-0, 3-1-0 ECAC, T-6th) vs. Minnesota State – Mankato (8-4-2, 7-4-1 vs. Division I)
Sunday, 3:00 pm and 6:00 pm EST, Thompson Arena, Hanover, N.H.

Consolation/Championship
Monday, 4:00 pm and 7:00 pm EST, Thompson Arena, Hanover, N.H.

Air Force has only played six Division I games this season. Holy Cross was the victim of the win and the tie, but Colorado College, Mass-Amherst and Alaska-Anchorage were the teams that put the four losses on the Falcons.

The Falcons have started a resurgence, thanks mainly to senior captain Justin Kieffer. Kieffer leads the team in scoring with 21 points (6-15–21). He is followed by freshman Tony Lawrence in the scoring department. Lawrence has 10 goals and 10 assists for 21 points.

The Falcons are led in goal by a pair of sophomores, Mark Kielkucki (6-5-1, 3.08 GAA, .838 save percentage) and Sean Broderick (1-3-0, 3.64 GAA, .840 save percentage). The numbers are not great, and if the Falcons are to stand a chance out east, then their goaltenders must play large games.

The Big Green of Dartmouth have played one game in each of the last two weekends and as a result have not suffered the layoff that other teams have had to endure. Unfortunately after a thrilling overtime win over Providence two weeks ago, the Big Green suffered through a 7-1 defeat at the hands of #4 Maine.

“We made some mistakes in the first period and they jumped all over us,” said coach Bob Gaudet after the Maine loss. “Then it is a case of stemming the tide. We don’t want to lose the game 7-1, obviously, we don’t want to lose the game, period.

“But what the hell can you do? When you get down 4-0 in the first period the chances of getting a ‘W’ out of it against this team are slim.”

It looks like Gaudet has settled on Eric Almon as his goaltender of choice. Especially after his comments following the Maine game.

“He’s the best we’ve got and he played hard,” Gaudet said. “It wasn’t a situation where I was going to change, but if it got out of hand a little bit more, maybe.”

Vermont has not played an NCAA game since the last weekend of November when they lost the championship game of the Governor’s Cup to Maine. The Cats did play an exhibition game against New Brunswick during the first weekend of December.

The Cats remain one of the young surprises of the season, and are 7-4-0 overall. They have done it with some great goaltending by senior Marty Phillips and sophomore Andrew Allen. Phillips has 3.24 GAA and a .903 save percentage and Allen has a 2.77 GAA and a .887 save percentage. The two have combined to form a great duo in the nets.

In front of them senior Jason Reid has been a pleasant surprise. He leads the ECAC in defensemen scoring with 12 points (6-6–12) along with his defensive partner Andreas Moborg (2-10–12).

The Mavericks of Minnesota State-Makato have fared very well in the season prior to their joining the WCHA full-time. With a schedule that is very daunting for the Mavericks, they have defeated Alaska-Anchorage — currently third in the WCHA — twice, and almost upset Colorado College.

Junior Aaron Fox leads the team in scoring with 19 points (8-11–19) and he is backed up by Jesse Rooney’s 15 points (8-7–15). Todd George (2-12–14), Rob White (10-4–14) and Tim Wolfe (9-5–14) are the next highest scorers for the Mavericks.

In goal, the Mavericks are led by freshman Todd Kelzenberg. He sports a 4-2-2 record, a 3.06 GAA and a.895 save percentage.

As mentioned before, the Mavericks just lost a pair to Colorado College, but were game in both contests. The Mavericks held the 3-0 lead, but the Tigers came back to win 6-4. The next night the Mavericks led 2-1 before losing 7-3.

Becky/Jayson’s Picks — The ECAC will dominate the first round of this tournament and then the ECAC will win the tournament. Oh yes, it will the Catamounts taking the crown on the Big Green’s ice surface. Dartmouth 7, Air Force 3; Vermont 5, MSU-Mankato 3 and then MSU-Mankato 5, Air Force 2; Vermont 5, Dartmouth 4 in overtime.

Norwest Denver Cup

Colorado College (13-3-0, 9-3-0 WCHA, 2nd) vs. Boston College (9-4-1, 6-3-0 Hockey East, T-2nd)
Lake Superior (3-9-3, 2-7-2 CCHA, 11th) vs. Denver (7-7-0, 5-7-0 WCHA, T-6th)
Sunday, 6:30 pm and 9:30 pm EST, McNichols Arena, Denver, Colo.

Consolation/Championship
Monday, 6:30 pm and 9:30 pm EST, McNichols Arena, Denver, Colo.

Despite being ranked No. 2 in the country in the latest U.S. College Hockey Online Division I poll, Colorado College is no different than any team playing at this time of year.

Most hockey coaches are wondering how their teams are going to come back from the holiday break. Count Don Lucia among one of them.

“It’s the unknown of the Christmas tournaments,” Lucia said. “You just don’t know how your players are going to come back after their break. Everybody’s kind of in the same boat where you get a day to practice and then you go play.”

It’s also unknown whether the time off will have helped the team become more mentally fresh. Lucia said the time off will probably have helped his team, but the timing of the return might cause problems.

“I’m not sure if it helps when you come back and play right away like we are,” he said. “It’s hard because they lose conditioning, they lose timing. It’s hard for the goaltender sometimes to come back and play in these tournaments when they haven’t seen many pucks for a couple weeks.”

Another concern for Lucia is the lack of depth at forward his team will have as they enter Denver Cup play with a matchup against #7 Boston College.

K.J. Voorhees had back surgery last week and is looking at 6-8 weeks of rehabilitation. A decision awaits Voorhees and the coaching staff as to whether they will seek a medical redshirt for this season.

Toby Peterson is still rehabbing and is expected back sometime in January.

And now, forward Justin Morrison has been named to the U.S. Junior National team and will miss the next four games. All that leaves Lucia down to his last 12 forwards, a situation that has its ups and downs.

“It’s bad from the standpoint that we’re probably missing three of our top nine forwards right now,” Lucia said. “Now we’re going to find out what some of these other guys can do against some great teams over the next couple of weeks.

“It’s an opportunity for them to show what they can do. Toby will be coming back soon and Justin will be back after these four games and a couple guys have to come out of our lineup. I always maintain it’s nice to put these guys in against outstanding teams, not blowouts. You have to find out what these players can do against good teams.”

With all the new people in the lineup, one might imagine there would be more pressure on players like Brian Swanson (15-18–33) and Darren Clark (12-13–25) to keep up the pace. Lucia, however, wants to see some new people step up.

“The power play becomes real important to score some goals, but we’ve got to crack down defensively because I don’t think we’re going to score as many goals as we could,” Lucia said. “You get into these Christmas tournaments and you hope you can play good team defense, but that’s something you haven’t practiced in two weeks.”

That defense has its flaws, too, as Lucia sees it. But that’s one of the things he’s looking to fix in the second half of the season.

“From a defensive standpoint, we haven’t given up many shots,” Lucia said. “Our goaltending has been good, too. I think it’s more of a matter that we seem to have the big breakdown that results in an easy scoring chance. That’s something that we want to work on here for the second half of the year.”

Not only does CC play seventh-ranked Boston College this weekend, they welcome #5 New Hampshire and #4 Maine to the Colorado Springs World Arena next weekend.

“The good thing is with the opponents we’re playing, win or lose, it helps your power ranking,” Lucia said. “We’re playing maybe the three best teams on the east coast in the next 10 days, so I think that’s going to be a real good test for us to see where we’re at.”

After opening the season with four wins and a number-one ranking, Boston College did little more than tread water with five straight .500 weekends prior to a semester-closing 2-1 midweek win over Merrimack.

This leaves BC fans in the glass half-empty or half-full quandary. Could the Eagles have a better record? Sure. But, on the other hand, are they reasonably positioned for a stretch run like last year’s 14-game unbeaten string that put them into the national championship game? Sure.

“We’re 9-4-1, which puts us in the hunt,” said coach Jerry York. “We’re in that group of teams that are consistently ranked among the top seven or eight in the country. But that’s as much as we can draw from it. It just puts us in the hunt….

“It’s been a reasonably good first half for us. I feel we’re in pretty good shape going into the second half. Scott [Clemmensen] has played well in goal. On defense, we’ve been maybe a little inconsistent with our six defensemen. But I feel good about what the future will hold for those guys.”

And BC’s offense has been productive as well, leading Hockey East with a 4.44 goals per game average in league games and third best overall at 4.16.

Of course, the offense’s biggest weapon, Brian Gionta (10-16–26), is away with the U.S. Junior Team so some lineup juggling will be in order.

Additionally, the Eagles will have been off since the Merrimack game back on the eighth and will have a bare minimum of time to get back to operating on all cylinders. They return to practice on Christmas night, practice again the next morning and then fly to Colorado.

“The rustiness wears off pretty quick, especially when you face [a team like] Colorado,” said York. “We’re looking forward to that one.

“Colorado has been mostly number one and two [nationally] with North Dakota. We played them last year in [the NCAA East Regional] in Albany, so we understand how strong their club is. It should be a good national test for us.”

After a very rocky start to the season, Lake Superior has improved in front of netminder Jayme Platt, whose 2-5-0 conference record defies his impressive league stats: a 1.88 GAA, and a .930 league save percentage.

Platt seems to be the starter for now, in what has been a goalie-go-round in the Laker net. Fellow sophomore Rob Galatiuk was expected to win the starting role but hasn’t shown the goods. Earlier in the season, while both Platt and Galatiuk were playing inconsistently, junior netminder Mike Brusseau stepped into the mix, forcing the underclassmen to compete even harder.

While Laker head coach Scott Borek has said that his team performs better in front of Brusseau, the junior has been out for a while with a groin injury. Brusseau’s injury opened the door for one of the sophomores to step up, and Platt appears to have done just that.

Another plus for the Lakers is, literally, pluses — in their last six games, during which they’ve gone 3-3-3, the Lakers are a combined plus 32, while forcing opponents to minus 34 during that six-game stretch. A 6-0 shutout over Western Michigan, a 5-4 win over Michigan Tech, and a 5-4 loss to UAF have all helped the Laker scoring cause.

And, frankly, something has to. While this Lake Superior team is young, talented, and keeping conference opponents to very few goals (26), the Lakers have scored just 23 goals this season in CCHA play, and are being outscored 33-43 overall.

The most prolific scorer for the Lakers is Jeff Cheeseman, whose league and overall points don’t yet reach double digits (5-3–8 CCHA, 5-4–9 overall). Trent Walford, with one goal and seven assists, is second in scoring on the Laker team.

The Lakers are 2-1-1 in their last four games, having beaten and tied Michigan Tech in their most recent play. Rookie Mike Henderson’s first career goal was the game-winner in the 5-4 win, while Mike Kucsulain scored to even it up for the Lakers in the 1-1 overtime tie.

Brusseau may or may not be ready to play — but would you bench a goaltender as hot as Platt right now? Other injured Lakers include Chris McNamara, who has been out with a broken ankle for over two months, and Jason Nightingale who has a nagging shoulder injury.

Can the Pioneers pull out of their down stretch before it’s too late? That is the big question for Denver coming into their Denver Cup. Their losing streak stands at four after being swept at Alaska-Anchorage two weeks ago. It’s their longest skid of the season. Even worse, the Pioneers have lost seven of their last nine games after a quick start.

But, as many coaches will tell you, playing in some important games has a tendency to bring the best out in a team, and Denver certainly is going to need its best to emerge victorious in the Denver Cup.

They open with Lake Superior State, who is at the bottom of the CCHA with a 2-7-2 record and a 3-9-3 overall mark. But even if the Pioneers get past the Lakers, they will have to face either #2 Colorado College or #7 Boston College, and that’s not an easy task, even at home.

Denver still averages more goals for than against this season. They average 3.64 goals per game and only allow 3.21. A big reason for the disparity is goaltender Stephen Wagner. The junior has a 3.06 goals-against average and a .884 save percentage so far this season.

Senior center Paul Comrie continues to lead the Pioneers in scoring with nine goals and 12 assists for 21 points. He averages 1.5 points per game, and DU could certainly use his help to get the team back on track. A scoreless night Dec. 11 against Anchorage ended a three-game scoring streak.

Senior James Patterson has eight goals and eight assists for 16 points, good for second on the team. He has three points in his last four games.

But the player to look out for may be freshman Matt Pettinger. Against Anchorage, he extended his point-scoring streak to five games. He has registered a point in eight of the last nine games.

The Pioneers rank first in the WCHA with a 27.6 percent success rate on the power play in league games. They have a 26.5 percent rate overall. They are in the middle of the pack shorthanded, killing 84 percent of opponents’ chances.

Todd’s Picks — The BC-CC matchup may in fact be the best game of the tournament. CC has a good number of players missing, but they have for a while now and they’ve still won. This one will be close, either way, but I say Colorado College, 4-3. The other game doesn’t look like a good matchup on paper, but when does paper matter, anyway? Denver should still get by. Denver, 4-2. And then the consolation game may be the worst game of the tournament. Boston College, 6-1. DU-CC — does anyone remember this game from earlier in the season? Say, Nov. 14? Denver 6, Colorado College 0? No, not really. CC has gotten stronger while DU has taken a slide. Colorado College, 4-2.

Paula’s Picks — As insane as this sounds, Lake Superior can beat Denver, if Platt is on and the Laker defense perseveres. But I think CC owns this tournament. Just a thought. Lake Superior over Denver 3-1; Colorado College over Boston College 3-1. Colorado College over Lake Superior 4-1; BC over Denver 5-1.

Dave’s Picks — Colorado College tops BC, 4-3. The Eagles control either Denver or Lake State one night later in the consolation, Boston College, 4-2.

Rensselaer/Marine Midland Holiday Hockey Tournament

Union (2-8-1, 1-4-0 ECAC, T-10th) vs. Minnesota-Duluth (3-11-2, 2-8-2 WCHA, 9th)
Merrimack (7-8-0, 4-4-0 Hockey East, T-5th) vs. Rensselaer (6-5-1, 3-2-1 ECAC, 5th)
Monday, 5:30 pm and 8:30 pm EST, Houston Fieldhouse, Troy, N.Y.

Conoslation/Championship
Tuesday, 5:30 pm and 8:30 pm EST, Houston Fieldhouse, Troy, N.Y.

Union is struggling. People thought that an overtime victory over crosstown rival Rensselaer would propel the Dutchmen with momentum into their final four games before the holiday break. That did not happen.

After a loss to Mass-Amherst and a tie with Niagara, the Dutchmen went into Central New York and dropped a pair to Cornell and Colgate. So much for that momentum building.

The other thing that hurt the Dutchmen and continues to hurt them is their penalty situation and their penalty kill. The penalty situation got out of hand against Cornell as goaltender Leeor Shtrom got into a fight with Cornell’s Ian Burt and was slapped with a mandatory two-game suspension for his two game disqualifications. On top of that he received an extra game suspension from head coach Kevin Sneddon. That means that this tournament will not see Shtrom dressed.

The penalty situation also might mean that some other Dutchmen may not be dressed.

“I’m going to make the commitment to go with the guys who aren’t going to pull that stuff,” said Sneddon told Ken Schott of the Schenectady Daily Gazette. “I don’t care who they are, seniors or freshmen. We’ll go with the guys who want to play on the ice and do it our way.”

Along with the situation, the Dutchmen have to start killing penalties better.

“The way we ended last season, that was one of our best attributes,” said Sneddon about the penalty kill. “They’re the same guys. They’re doing the same types of things. It hasn’t jelled yet. We haven’t had it where four guys are beating on the same drum on the kill.”

Slumping, yes, but the best days are yet to come according to Sneddon.

“I told the guys that it would be very easy to say that we’re 1-4-0 and here we go again,” he said. “I’m preaching that you have to look at it the other way. We’re having a little bit of a tough slump right here. We haven’t been consistent. Take time to think about it and come back with the attitude that we’ve got nothing to lose.”

Minnesota-Duluth has had good success in the tournament scene in the recent years. They have won the championship of the last two tournaments they’ve taken part in — the Syracuse Invitational last year and the Sheraton/U.S. Air Classic in 1995.

And, boy, could they use a championship right now. Going into this tournament, the Bulldogs sport a 3-11-2 overall record, going winless in seven games at the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center.

UMD drew Union in the opening round of the tournament, and Bulldogs coach Mike Sertich said he’s still learning about his opponent.

“I don’t know anything about them,” he said. “I have a tape here and I’m not done watching it.”

As the Bulldogs enter the second half of the season, they are still looking to pull it all together. Sertich said, however, that he thinks his team is close to doing just that.

“I think the biggest thing for us is to try to find a way to develop a consistency to compete,” Sertich said. “That’s the underlying question that’s been our nemesis. We play fairly well, but we don’t play well enough.” To get the UMD train back on track, Sertich’s team is going to have to score some goals. Although averaging more goals in non-conference play, the Bulldogs still only score 2.19 goals per game, good for third lowest in the WCHA.

The Bulldogs will have to count on junior center Jeff Scissons, who enters the tournament on a four-game scoring streak. He leads the Bulldogs with eight goals and eight assists in 16 games.

The statistics flip around on defense. Duluth’s statistics show an increase of nearly a half goal per game given up in all games compared to just WCHA matchups. But don’t completely blame UMD goaltender Brant Nicklin, who has a 2.64 goals-against average in the conference but a 3.17 GAA overall. His save percentage is .917 in league play and .900 overall.

One area that has been working well for Duluth is the penalty kill. They kill 84.3 percent of opponents’ chances and have not allowed a power play goal in their last six games (18 opportunities).

One good — maybe all-telling — indication of the Bulldogs’ success and failure of late is their record after two periods. Since the start of the 1996-97 season, they are 33-2-2 when leading after two. When they trail, they have managed only two wins in 41 attempts (with two ties).

Merrimack returned this past Monday from its break and lost to Niagara, 3-2 at home. It marked the Warriors’ third straight loss and fourth in five games.

“We dug ourselves a pretty good hole,” said coach Chris Serino. “We were down 2-0 and I really don’t believe we played with the intensity we had been playing with, for whatever reason. They outcompeted us; that’s how they got the lead. We picked it up later in the game, but for our kind of team, we can’t fall in those kind of holes and continually get out of them.”

The Warriors open this tournament against not only the top team in terms of won-loss record, but the host team. And not just the host team, but one coming off an embarrassing loss to New Hampshire in Rensselaer.

“I was hoping they’d win that game and come in a little [soft],” said Serino. “Obviously, they’re going to come in hungry now.

“Hey, to play the host team in the feature game on the first night is always tough. When I was at UNH, we did it at Wisconsin in the Badger Classic [and fell behind early]. That’s going to be very tough for us.

“But it will give us some experience in playing before a big crowd in a pressure situation. You could go there and play two meaningless games. This way, we’re at least assured of playing one pressure-packed game. I think that’ll go a long way experience-wise for us.”

It was not a superb outcome for Rensselaer in the first ECAC/Hockey East Holiday Doubleheader last Monday in Hartford. The Engineers never led and were blasted by New Hampshire, 9-3.

“When you play good teams, you need big plays from big players,” said Engineer coach Dan Fridgen. “You also need big saves and you need to play smart disciplined hockey. We were 0-for-3. There are no excuses plain and simple.

“We could have competed harder but we had some guys that were playing real hard and some guys that weren’t as hard as they were capable of playing. We’re not a team of superstars that will carry us over the edge.”

Despite that, this team is loaded with offensive talent, and can put points on the board. Senior Danny Riva and freshman Matt Murley lead the ECAC in scoring with 19 points each, Mark Murphy has 16 points and Pete Gardiner, Brad Tapper and Alain St. Hilaire each have 13 points.

Unfortunately, sometimes the Engineers can give up goals as fast as they can score them. Witness the New Hampshire loss and the earlier 8-4 loss to Mass-Lowell. Both Engineers goaltenders, Joel Laing and Scott Prekaski, have save percentages in the .880’s and Prekaski’s GAA is 3.79 and Laing’s is 4.01.

Against a team with the offensive talent that Merrimack possesses, namely Rejean Stringer and Kris Porter, the Engineers will need to be on their best defense to shut them down.

Dave’s Picks — Rensselaer over Merrimack, 4-3. If the Engineers don’t make a better showing than they did against UNH, a cardiac defibrillator may be in order. Then whatever their fate in the opener, though, the Warriors will knock off either Union or Minnesota-Duluth in their second game, Merrimack, 4-2.

Todd’s Picks — Hmm… 2-8-1 (Union) vs. 3-11-2 (Minnesota-Duluth). Time to flip the coin on this one. Heads goes for Union, tails for Duluth. Heads. Union, 4-2. And did you know that there are four holiday tournaments named after banks? Bank One, Marine Midland, Norwest and Ledyard. Wow. Oh yeah, the coin gives this one to Rensselaer. Rensselaer, 3-2 But maybe there are five tourneys named after banks. What’s SNET, anyway? (ed. Southern New England Telephone)Minnesota-Duluth over Merrimack, 2-1. Whatever happened to RPI, anyway? It’s a lot easi