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This Week in the ECAC: February 20, 1998

By Becky Blaeser & Jayson Moy
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Yale is the hottest team in the ECAC. I repeat, Yale is the hottest team in the ECAC.

Yale has clinched a playoff spot. I repeat, Yale has clinched a playoff spot.

Yale has the largest lead of any conference front-runner. I repeat, Yale has the largest lead of any conference front-runner.

Yale`s magic number to clinch an NCAA tournament bid is seven. I repeat, seven.

So, do you believe yet?

ECAC Standings

It looks like the race will be for the next two preferred spots in the ECAC standings, second and third. Things will continue to shake out quickly, as there are only three weeks left.

Last week’s predictions: 7-5 Year to date: 87-79, .530, 3rd

Yale (19-4-0, 14-2-0 ECAC, 1st) and Princeton (12-7-4, 6-7-3 ECAC, T-6th) at Clarkson (14-7-3, 10-4-2 ECAC, 2nd) Friday – Saturday, 7:30 pm – 7 pm (Empire), Cheel Arena, Potsdam, N.Y. Princeton (12-7-4, 6-7-3 ECAC, T-6th) and Yale (19-4-0, 14-2-0 ECAC, 1st) at St. Lawrence (6-17-1, 5-10-1 ECAC, 10th) Friday – Saturday, 7:30 pm – 7 pm, Appleton Arena, Canton, N.Y. Previous Meetings Nov. 7: Yale 2, Clarkson 1; St. Lawrence 2, Princeton 2 Nov. 8: Princeton 3, Clarkson 2; Yale 3, St. Lawrence 0

Did I mention that Yale is the hottest team in the ECAC? The Bulldogs are also the first ECAC team to clinch a playoff spot, and while they were at it, a weekend sweep over Brown and Harvard gave the Bulldogs home ice for the playoffs.

The Bulldogs now need a combination of four points between themselves and Rensselaer to clinch one of the all-important top three spots for the playoffs. Going a little further, the Bulldogs need a combination of seven points to clinch the regular season ECAC crown and an automatic bid to the NCAA playoffs.

"We need to get someone in the 30-40 point range this season," said head coach Tim Taylor before the season began. He now has that someone, in sophomore Jeff Hamilton, who has 36 points so far this season (21-15), and is fourth in league scoring with 25 points (15-10).

Princeton is one of those teams lurking, still in the middle of the hunt. The Tigers sit in a tie for sixth place in the ECAC, mainly because they have not won two ECAC games in a weekend since, well, last year.

In fact, the Tigers have split all of their ECAC weekends since the first weekend of this calendar year, when the Tigers defeated Union and tied Rensselaer.

Last time around, the Tigers split a pair with Harvard and Brown, defeating the Crimson and losing to the Bears. The win over the Crimson was helped by five goals in a 4:48 span of the second period, when Matt Brush, Joey Pelle, Scott Bertoli, Syl Apps and Robbie Sinclair all scored. The next night, the Tigers gave up three goals in a 5:20 span that hung a loss on them.

St. Lawrence is currently in the last playoff position in the ECAC after a split on the road: a win over Union and a loss to Rensselaer. Now, the Saints head home for only their eighth and ninth home games of the season.

"I honestly think that we probably play better on the road than at home, because we’ve certainly played a lot more on the road," joked head coach Joe Marsh. "It’s been incredible, but that’s the way it goes, and if we can get into that playoff spot we can be a dangerous team too.

"Obviously every point has magnified significance the rest of the way," he added. "We have to take care of ourselves…and if the right things happen in other places, we can move up the standings."

The Saints woke up offensively this past weekend, putting nine goals on the board. Paul DiFrancesco came alive with a power-play goal against Union and two goals and two assists against Rensselaer.

"We saw a lot of positive things, particularly offensively, at Union and RPI," Marsh said. "If we can build on that with a good week of practice, perhaps we can surprise a couple of people and gain some ground.

"We had two good games with [Yale and Princeton] on their ice earlier in the year," he added. "If we can improve on those performances on our own ice, we will be happy."

Clarkson split a pair with Rensselaer and Union on the weekend. The Golden Knights lost to Rensselaer 6-2, and then defeated the Skating Dutchmen 3-1.

"We had an outstanding first period and we made some mental blunders in the second that cost us, and then momentum took its toll," head coach Mark Morris said about Saturday’s loss. "We floundered a lot on special-teams play and things started to unravel from there.

"The encouraging thing is that we outplayed a team once again," Morris added. "We outshot them by more than two to one, and we came up empty-handed. Their goalie was better than ours."

The next evening, the Knights posted two power-play goals and a shorthander in the victory over the Dutchmen.

"This is a team which has struggled on special teams all year," Morris said. "It’s nice to see us finally playing well in this area."

PICKS: Yale at Clarkson: I believe, I believe! Yale 4, Clarkson 2 Princeton at St. Lawrence: The Saints have found their offense. St. Lawrence 5, Princeton 2 Princeton at Clarkson: The Knights get a home win. Clarkson 4, Princeton 2 Yale at St. Lawrence: Did I mention that Yale is the hottest team in the league? Yale 5, St. Lawrence 3

Union (4-19-3, 2-12-2 ECAC, 12th) and Rensselaer (14-9-3, 8-5-3 ECAC, 4th) at Dartmouth (10-9-4, 6-8-2 ECAC, 9th) Friday – Saturday, 7:30 pm, Thompson Arena, Hanover, N.H. Rensselaer (14-9-3, 8-5-3 ECAC, 4th) and Union (4-19-3, 2-12-2 ECAC, 12th) at Vermont (7-17-2, 4-10-2 ECAC, 11th) Friday – Saturday, 7:30 pm – 7 pm, Gutterson Fieldhouse, Burlington, Vt. Previous Meetings Nov. 7: Rensselaer 7, Dartmouth 1; Union 1, Vermont 0 Nov. 8: Rensselaer 7, Vermont 2; Dartmouth 4, Union 0

Union has its woes. Big woes and small woes. The big — losses after losses. The small — its number of goals scored in ECAC play.

"We had some close scoring chances [this weekend]," said head coach Stan Moore. "But not as close as they needed to be. We didn’t generate some rebound opportunities or second or third opportunities."

The Dutchmen have scored 27 ECAC goals in 16 games, or 1.69 goals per game. They have given up 58 goals in those games, or 3.62 per.

To add to the troubles, the Dutchmen lost Jeff Sproat to a separated shoulder this weekend, and played on Saturday with just 16 skaters.

Meanwhile, Rensselaer earned its first ECAC weekend sweep since the opening weekend of conference play with wins over Clarkson and St. Lawrence.

"We’ve got to do this every weekend," said ECAC Player of the Week Alain St. Hilaire. "We’ve got to come out and take it to everyone all the time. If we are peaking, then it’s the right time to do it."

St. Hilaire had nine points on the weekend with two goals and seven assists, moving into second place (behind teammate Eric Healey) in ECAC scoring despite missing four league games with an injured hand. On the weekend, the line of St. Hilaire, Healey and Matt Garver combined for 18 points — six goals (two shorthanded) and 12 assists.

"He’s just got real good vision and is very smart with the puck," said head coach Dan Fridgen of St. Hilaire. "He’s got patience and he creates things. One second he’s standing still, the next he’s anticipating a pass, he gets it and away his line goes. He’s a continuous offensive threat out there.

"I can’t ask for anything more from him. He’s doing it all right now."

Vermont is in eleventh and currently out of a playoff position after a weekend sweep at Cornell and Colgate. But the Catamounts are just one point out of that spot, and getting in would be a great thing for head coach Mike Gilligan’s team.

"If we get in the playoffs, it’s only going to help us," he said. "You have to get there for the experience if we want to be a good team in the future."

Unfortunately for Gilligan, the right now for the Cats is not very encouraging, especially in the offensive department. The Cats continue to suffer scoring woes with only two goals on the weekend, for a total of 37 in 16 league games.

Dartmouth picked up three points this past weekend and moved into ninth place in the standings, just one point behind a three-way tie for sixth place. A good weekend for the Big Green could even put them in a position to jump up into one of the home-ice quarterfinal positions.

The Big Green seem to be coming together at the right time, with a 4-1-1 record in their last six outings, the only loss coming to Clarkson two weeks ago.

David Whitworth and Curtis Wilgosh are quietly moving up the ECAC league scoring charts. Whitworth is tied for 14th with three goals and 13 assists, and Wilgosh has five goals and ten assists.

PICKS: Union at Dartmouth: The Dutchmen’s woes continue. Dartmouth 4, Union 1 Rensselaer at Vermont: The bigger ice only benefits the quicker Engineers. Rensselaer 7, Vermont 2 Rensselaer at Dartmouth: A tight grind-it-out game. Rensselaer 4, Dartmouth 3 Union at Vermont: Don’t make me pick here. Vermont 0, Union 0

Colgate (15-8-3, 9-5-2 ECAC, 3rd) and Cornell (12-9-2, 8-7-1 ECAC, 5th) at Harvard (8-13-2, 7-8-1 ECAC, T-6th) Friday – Saturday, 7:30 pm – 7 pm, Bright Hockey Center, Cambridge, Mass. Cornell (12-9-2, 8-7-1 ECAC, 5th) and Colgate (15-8-3, 9-5-2 ECAC, 3rd) at Brown (8-13-1, 7-8-1 ECAC, T-6th) Friday – Saturday, 7:30 pm – 7 pm, Meehan Auditorium, Providence, R.I. Previous Meetings Nov. 7: Colgate 5, Brown 4; Cornell 5, Harvard 2 Nov. 8: Harvard 6, Colgate 5; Cornell 4, Brown 3

Cornell split a weekend series again — the fourth week in a row that the Big Red has done that. Through injuries and lack of depth, the Big Red have still managed to wind up in the fifth position in the ECAC with three weeks to go. But according to head coach Mike Schafer, injuries shouldn’t be a factor.

"I told them after the game, regardless of what the injury situation is, it’s inexcusable," he said after Saturday’s loss to Dartmouth. "You know, we dressed 17 guys — they’ve got to be ready to play. We’re fully responsible for the loss."

Or should it be a factor?

"People have to understand, there’s absolutely no excuse for our performance tonight," Schafer said. "But when you go through the lineup and you look at the guys who played tonight — it’s just amazing to me.

"We have a lot of tough kids on our hockey team, and I just have a world of respect for those five or six kids who played, who under normal circumstances probably wouldn’t be in the lineup," he added.

Colgate remains in third place with a tie against Dartmouth and a win over Vermont, but is hanging on to that. It is still a surprise to some that the Red Raiders are that high in the standings.

"We’ve had a pretty good year to this point," said head coach Don Vaughan. "No one had any expectations that we would be here, and the challenge now is to peak at the right time."

Peaking is certainly a theme, but concentrating on the ice and not the numbers is a concern.

"This time of year, it’s difficult not to take a look at the standings," Vaughan said. "Beyond that, I think we’ve shifted the focus to defense and it’s been working."

Harvard has dropped three consecutive ECAC contests, bringing the Crimson from third place in the league down into a tie for sixth.

Goals in bunches have hurt the Crimson in those games. This past weekend, five goals by Princeton in the span of 4:48 of the second period, and then three first-period goals by Yale were too much to overcome. The weekend before, four second-period goals by Rensselaer sealed Harvard’s fate.

Over the span of those three games, the Crimson have been outscored 15-5, and it’s the lapses that have hurt them.

The Crimson have been bolstered by the fact that J.R. Prestifilippo has been back in the nets for the last two weeks after sitting out with mononucleosis, but J.R. did not have a win last weekend, and only played against Union the previous week.

Brown is in a tie for sixth place after a win over Princeton after losing to Yale. If not for Yale running away with the ECAC, the Bears could be the top turnaround story in the ECAC.

"We’ve been playing decent hockey all year, but not at this level," said head coach Roger Grillo. "The hard work and the dedication that the kids have had in practice all year long is starting to pay off. I feel real good about them right now."

Grillo has instituted a system where speed and skating are integral to the scheme that the Bears are playing.

"I’ve always felt that college hockey is so exciting because of speed, and that’s the kind of team that I want to coach," he said. "Our guys are responding and they’re having a good time with it."

PICKS: Colgate at Harvard: The Crimson continue to drop Colgate 5, Harvard 3 Cornell at Brown: The Bears continue to climb the standings. Brown 4, Cornell 2 Cornell at Harvard: Those split weekends continue for the Big Red. Cornell 4, Harvard 2 Colgate at Brown: I believe in the Bears too. Brown 4, Colgate 3

Two weeks to go, and there are still some great battles to be fought.

Next Week in the ECAC: Friday, February 27: Clarkson at Brown St. Lawrence at Harvard Dartmouth at Yale Vermont at Princeton Union at Colgate Rensselaer at Cornell

Saturday, February 28: Clarkson at Harvard St. Lawrence at Brown Dartmouth at Princeton Vermont at Yale Union at Cornell Rensselaer at Colgate

Thanks to the ECAC game reporters who contributed to this preview.

This Week in the CCHA: February 20, 1998

By
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Dear Miss Hockey Manners,

When spearing, is it more appropriate to use the butt end of the stick, or can I apply the blade?

Signed, Player Perfectionist

Dear Gentle and Otherwise Reader,

Ah! This is not the letter of a mere goon, but rather that of a true artiste! Your stick is your brush, your opponent your palette! You want to create–no, you are compelled to create!–and I am humbled by your talent.

Either end will get you two–or possibly more–so choose carefully the instrument of your statement.

Happy hockey, Miss Hockey Manners

Dear Miss Hockey Manners,

Are hockey and graciousness mutually exclusive?

Signed, Sensitive Fan

Dear Gentle and Otherwise Reader,

Of course hockey and graciousness are not mutually exclusive. For example, take what Michigan State goaltender Chad Alban said about Ohio State after the Spartans halted the Buckeye unbeaten streak at ten games: "They’re a great hockey team. There’s no question about it."

Another example is what Wolverine Bill Muckalt says of Spartan defenseman Tyler Harlton: "I’ve played against Tyler in juniors and here, and he’s always been a solid defenseman, but it seems he has picked up his play several notches. He’s improved his skating. He’s the backbone of their team. He’s a great leader and a good person."

Are you not moved, as am I?

Happy hockey, Miss Hockey Manners

Are you familiar with the phrase "down to the wire?" These last three weeks of regular-season CCHA play will be the proverbial horse race.

This is the weekend that many CCHA fans have been looking forward to all season. No. 5 Michigan faces No. 2 Michigan State in a "home-and-Joe" series, two games that will probably decide the CCHA regular-season title.

Michigan leads the conference with 39 points; Michigan State holds on to second place, just three points behind.

The Wolverines beat Miami 3-1 and Northern Michigan 4-2 last weekend; the Spartans kept pace with two wins of their own, 4-2 over Western Michigan, and 4-1 over Ohio State.

Oh, gentle and otherwise readers, does it get any better than this?

In third place–for the moment–sit the Buckeyes, with two points gained in a 5-3 win over Notre Dame, and 31 total points. Ohio State is, however, idle this week, and both Miami (30 points) and Northern Michigan (29 points) have a chance to gain some ground.

Helping the Buckeyes in their quest for home ice were the No. 9 Miami RedHawks, who lost 3-1 to Michigan and 5-4 to Bowling Green. This weekend, Miami travels to Ferris State and Western Michigan.

The fifth-place Wildcats beat Bowling Green 3-2, then lost to Michigan 4-2. Northern Michigan hosts Notre Dame and Alaska-Fairbanks.

Sixth-place Lake Superior (24 points) and eighth-place Ferris State (21 points) split a pair last weekend, with the Bulldogs winning 4-2 Friday, and the Lakers winning 3-2 Saturday.

This week Lake Superior hosts Alaska-Fairbanks and Notre Dame. Ferris State hosts Miami and Bowling Green.

With 22 points, the Fighting Irish are in alone in seventh place. Notre Dame dropped two games last weekend, a 5-3 loss to Ohio State, and a 5-3 loss to Western Michigan. The Irish travel to the Yoop this weekend for games against Northern and Lake.

The Nanooks also visit upper Michigan, playing Lake and then Northern. With 14 points, Alaska-Fairbanks still holds playoff hopes. The Nanooks were idle last weekend.

Bowling Green and Western Michigan are anchoring last place with 13 points each. The Falcons lost 3-2 in overtime to Northern Michigan and beat Miami 5-4 last week. The Broncos lost 4-2 to Michigan, and beat Notre Dame 5-3.

The Falcons and Broncos meet on Friday night. Bowling Green plays Ferris State on Saturday, while Western hosts Miami.

Last week’s record in picks: 9-1 Overall record in picks: 106-66

Get me–I’m giving out wings!

No. 5 Michigan (25-6-1, 19-4-1 CCHA) at No. 2 Michigan State (24-4-5, 16-4-4 CCHA) Friday, 7:08 p.m., Munn Ice Arena, East Lansing, MI Michigan State at Michigan Saturday, 7 p.m., Joe Louis Arena, Detroit, MI

As mentioned above, this series will probably decide the regular-season title. With just three points separating these two teams and an equal number of games remaining for each team, this one should be subtitled.

The Whole Enchilada

After nearly an entire season of watching Michigan State position itself to leap with conviction into the NCAA Tournament, and watching Michigan surprise everyone in the CCHA, what’s left to be said about these two teams?

Mike York and Bill Muckalt, blah, blah, blah.

Sean Berens and Bobby Hayes, yada, yada, yada.

Tyler Harlton and…is there anyone comparable to Tyler Harlton in the CCHA? OK, that’s one for the Spartans.

Chad Alban and Marty Turco, bla–wait a minute. Turco isn’t playing Friday night.

"We’re not going to start Marty Turco," says Michigan head coach Red Berenson. "He missed some classes he shouldn’t have missed, and he knew if I found out I’d take this step, and I found out. He’s definitely not starting Friday. We’ll see about Saturday."

So, there’s another one for the Spartans. A big one. The absence of Turco on Friday night guarantees nothing for the Spartans, but without him the Wolverines will have a tougher time keeping Ron Mason from his 800th career win in front of an adoring Munn crowd.

All right–that’s the big news. Now let’s just get the whole marquee-player-thingy out of the way, shall we?

The Marquee Players

The Spartans

Mike York: In 22 league games, York has 15 goals and 18 assists for 33 points (third in the CCHA). He has just 13 penalties for 26 minutes. One hat trick, one game-winner, one shorthanded goal. Plus 13. Fast on the breakaway, amazing agility, graceful hands and excellent hockey sense.

Sean Berens: In 22 league games, Berens has 20 goals and nine assists for 29 points (tied for seventh in the CCHA). Two hat tricks, three game-winners, one shorthanded goal. He’s tied for third in the league in power-play points with 16 in all games played. Absolutely deadly on the breakaway–not the guy you want to steal the puck. Natural goal-scorer.

Chad Alban: In 22 league games–1,321 minutes and 59 seconds in net–Alban is 15-3-4. He’s allowed just 36 goals for a league GAA of 1.63. His save percentage in league play is .921. Like a third defenseman, Alban’s puck-handling ability contributes to the Spartan stinginess with shots on goal.

Tyler Harlton: The best defensive defenseman in the league. In 24 games played, one goal and seven assists. Harlton is plus 27 in overall play, and plus 20 in league play. He not only leads the Spartans in plus/minus–he leads the CCHA.

The Wolverines

Bill Muckalt: In 24 league games, Muckalt is second in CCHA scoring with 18 goals and 18 assists for 36 points. He has two hat tricks, five game-winners, two empty-netters, and he’s plus 15. He leads the league in power-play points (25) in all games played. Muckalt is a real sniper, with the ability to score from nearly anywhere. He’s also a great set-up man, which makes him doubly dangerous.

Matt Herr: In 17 league games, Herr has 18 points–seven goals and 11 assists. The senior captain missed half the season with a groin injury, but since coming back has made everything better for the Wolverines. Four of his seven goals are power-play goals. He’s at plus eight. His leadership is outstanding; Herr is a true class act.

Bobby Hayes: Fourth in scoring in the CCHA, Hayes has 15 goals and 17 assists for 32 points in 23 league games, including 11 points in his last 13 games. Hayes has really stepped up this season, and he’s poised to lead the Wolverines next year.

Marty Turco, who may play Saturday: In 24 league games–1,387 minutes and 50 seconds in net–Turco has a record of 18-4-1. Turco has allowed 47 goals for a league GAA of 2.03. His league save percentage is .911. These numbers put him just a shade behind Alban in goaltending stats among goalies with significant time in net. Lightning-fast reflexes make him the bane of many a breakaway. Sometimes the puck must seem as large as the moon to Turco.

The Supporting Cast

Each of these teams is more than the sum of a few household names. There are players on each team that make their lines click, run their power plays, defend the nets and rarely get press.

Without these guys, neither the Spartans nor the Wolverines would be the contenders they are today.

You’ve heard of some of them–especially if they’re rookies. But others may need a bit by way of introduction.

The Spartans

Rustyn Dolyny: Genuine Rookie of the Year potential, the kid with a cool name is tied for second with Berens in scoring for the Spartans (tied for seventh in the CCHA). In 24 league games, Dolyny has 14 goals and 15 assists for 29 points, and he’s taken just 11 penalties for 22 minutes in league play this season. He has six power-play goals and five game-winners.

Kevin O’Keefe: With Bryan Adams out with an injury earlier, and now out again, O’Keefe has been asked to step up to help out Mike York, and step up he has. In 36 games played last year, O’Keefe had a total of 11 points. This season, in 24 league games, he has seven goals and nine assists for 16 points. O’Keefe has one power-play goal and a game-winner.

Jeff Kozakowski: One point on the potent Spartan power-play, coach Mason has said that Kozakowski is one of the Spartans who make their first power-play unit flow. Kozakowski has no goals, but ten assists in league play — in fact, he has 12 points overall, all assists. Eight of those assists have come on the power play.

Brad Hodgins: Hodgins is the other point-man on the Michigan State first power-play unit. Like his teammate Kozakowski, all of Hodgins’ league scoring has come in the form of assists (10). He has one goal and 11 assists overall, and he’s one of the six CCHA defenseman with nine points on the power play, all assists.

The Wolverines

Dale Rominski: This junior winger is another Wolverine who has been able to step out from behind the shadow of The Michigan Nine. Rominski had just 15 points for the season last year; so far this season in league play, Rominski has nine goals and six assists for 15 points in 24 games. He has a shorthanded goal, and is plus 16.

Michigan head coach Red Berenson says he’s not surprised by Rominski’s progress this season. "Dale has been a character player from day one, but his role has continued to improve."

Bubba Berenzweig: The big junior defenseman with the very unhockey-like name, Berenzweig needed to improve this season, according to his coach. "There’s no question," says Berenson, "he had to step up. Based on his talent, his game was a long way from what it should have been. This was his chance, and I’m pleased with how he’s playing."

In 24 league games, Berenzweig has four goals and six assists for 10 points, and he’s at plus 13. He has a power-play goal, and two game-winners, including the deciding goal with 24 seconds left in overtime against Western Michigan on January 10.

Mark Kosick: Another genuine rookie-of-the-year candidate, Kosick scored his first three collegiate goals in one game, against Alaska-Fairbanks on Halloween. Kosick is second among forward in power-play scoring in the CCHA, with three goals and 14 assists (17) in all games played. He’s tied for eighth in CCHA league scoring, with 10 goals and 17 assists in 23 games.

In addition to his hat trick, he has two game-winners and an empty-netter, and he’s at plus 10. He’s third in scoring for the Wolverines. A natural goal-scorer, like Muckalt he’s a threat from any angle. Oh–and he’s a true freshman, just 18 years old.

Josh Langfeld: Often overshadowed by Kosick, Langfeld is quite a player in his own right. Fourth in scoring for Michigan with 10 goals and 12 assists for 22 points in 24 games played, Langfeld possesses agility, great hands and breakaway speed. He has 12 points on the power play, four of which are goals.

The Whole Ball of Wax

Michigan State is 5-0-2 against ranked opponents this season. Alban was in net for each of those wins, and in those five games posted a 0.98 GAA and a .950 save percentage.

Three of those wins were shutouts.

These games pit the two best power plays in the league. Michigan State’s power play started clicking a couple of months ago, and is humming along at the league-leading rate of 23.4 percent. Michigan’s power play is performing at 18.4 percent.

According to some Spartans, the power play couldn’t have geared up at a better time. For the first half of the season, Michigan State was winning primarily with defense. "Now with our power play clicking, it really takes the weight off the defense," says Harlton.

With top offensemen Shawn Horcoff and Bryan Adams out of the lineup with injuries, the first Spartan power-play unit has picked up some slack. Says Dolyny, "Without those two, we knew our power-play unit would have to produce. The rest of our offense really misses those guys, but our power play has been working well."

That power play has scored at least one goal in 11 of the Spartans’ last 13 games, while the first power-play unit has been responsible for the last 22 Spartan man-advantage goals.

Kozakowski–one big point on the Spartan power play–says that the key to winning against Michigan will be controlling the Wolverine offense. "They have four great lines, they’re all fast. Defense will be our key. We’ve won our games all year by playing defense.

"Hopefully we’ll chip in a few goals here and there. And if the power play keeps going, that will help us out a great deal."

Berenson thinks that the Wolverines have an advantage because of their lower national ranking and higher standing in the CCHA. "I think the pressure is on Michigan State. They’re the team trying to catch us and overcome us, and this is the chance to do it.

"We’ve been a surprise this season. Even we didn’t know where we’d be at the end of the year. This will be a real test for us."

The Wolverines have not been swept in a CCHA season series since the Spartans took four games from them in the 1988-89 series. The Spartans are also streak-stoppers, having put an end to a Wolverine streak with each of their four victories over Michigan this season and the last.

Nov. 2, 1996: MSU 5, UM 4 in East Lansing, ending a 15-game Wolverine win streak which included their seven-game playoff run to the national championship.

Feb. 8, 1997: MSU 2, UM 1 in Detroit, stopping Michigan’s program-record 23-game unbeaten streak.

Oct. 25, 1997: MSU 4, UM 2 in Ann Arbor, stopping the Wolverines’ 32-game home unbeaten streak against CCHA opponents.

Dec. 28, 1997: MSU 5, UM 3, stopping the Wolverines’ nine-year Great Lakes Invitational title streak.

Note: Michigan brings a five-game win streak into this weekend.

These two teams have met a total of 222 times since their first battle in 1922, and Michigan leads the series 118-98-6, including the Spartans’ two wins this season.

"It comes right down to the two of us head to head, and at this point we can’t ask for anything more than that," says Mason. "That’s not the end of it either. There’s a lot of hockey still to be played after that, and both teams are going to have to continue to play well, otherwise all these spots change."

Michigan State and Michigan, head to head. We wouldn’t have it any other way.

PICKS: Michigan State 4-2, Michigan 3-2

No. 9 Miami (18-8-4, 13-8-4 CCHA) at Ferris State (12-16-3, 9-12-3 CCHA) Friday, 7 p.m., Ewigleben Arena, Big Rapids, MI Miami (18-8-4, 13-8-4 CCHA) at Western Michigan (7-24-2, 6-18-1 CCHA) Saturday, 7 p.m., Lawson Arena, Kalamazoo, MI

By the way, there’s other hockey being played this weekend, and for the teams playing, the points are just as important.

Still within mathematical striking range of first place are the Miami RedHawks. But right now the ‘Hawks are just hoping to hold onto home-ice for the playoffs.

"We have a resilient team," says head coach Mark Mazzoleni. "We have games we haven’t played to our capabilities, then the next weekend we’ve come through."

That’s a fairly accurate assessment of RedHawk hockey. After beating Michigan twice at home, the ‘Hawks tied Michigan State in Munn, then were punished for it the next night with a 7- 0 Spartan shutout.

The following weekend, at home Miami struggled at home for a 3-2 win over Alaska-Fairbanks, then tied Michigan State the next night 0-0.

Then they played well in a 3-1 loss to Michigan Friday night, and lost the next night to Bowling Green 5-4. "On Friday night we played an excellent hockey game," says Mazzoleni. "We had our opportunities, and we didn’t capitalize on our power play. We were there to win the hockey game. Our guys played hard."

On Saturday against BG, Miami was outshot 20-5 in the first period, and Dan Price’s eventual game-winning goal took the Miami defense completely off guard. By Mazzoleni’s reckoning, this should be the weekend Miami bounces back.

Miami at Ferris State

Ferris State swapped points with Lake Superior last weekend, winning 4-2 and losing 3-2. Assistant coach Drew Famulak says that his team isn’t slumping, no matter what the recent Bulldog record says.

"We played very well this weekend. We gave up 20 shots the first night and 18 the second….We’ve been hovering around five-hundred, and our attitude is very good."

Miami and Ferris State have beaten each other up once this season, each delivering the spanking at the other’s home rink. Miami won in Big Rapids 6-2 in December, and Ferris won in Oxford 5-1 last month.

Each coach is concerned with his team’s power-play. "During our stretch our penalty kill was very, very good, but our power play has gone completely silent," says Mazzoleni. Miami’s power play, once performing at about 23 percent, has slipped to fifth in the league at 17.3 percent.

"I think our power play needs to improve. We had the opportunity to make it 3-0 on the power play in Saturday’s game [against Lake Superior] and we didn’t take advantage of that," says Famulak. "That may have been the turning point in the game." Ferris State’s league power play is ninth, capitalizing just 14.2 percent of the time.

This game may come down to experience. Miami’s a hurting team with Todd Rohloff gone from the defense, but this balanced team is loaded with veteran talent that understands what it takes to win a game.

Miami has a quintet of 20-point players in league play: seniors Tim Leahy (5-19–24), Adam Copeland (13-10–23), Marc Tropper (7-16–23) and Dan Boyle (11-11–22), and under-rated sophomore Dustin Whitecotton (4-18–22).

But there’s no one breakout player on this Miami team, no single playmaker as they had in Randy Robitaille last year. When the RedHawks play like the balanced team they are, they’re hard to beat.

The four top Ferris State scorers are in the plus. Junior Joel Irwin (9-13–22) and senior Brett Colborne (6-16–22) provide leadership as well as offense; sophomore Brian McCullough (8-9–17) and Rookie of the Year contender Kevin Swider (7-14–21) provide offensive depth.

Miami has been forced to move to a more defensive game with the loss of Rohloff, since the ‘Hawks need Boyle in their own end to defend, rather than up front making plays. Ferris State has a very good defense, led by Colborne and rookie Jim Dube.

In the net, Miami has the clear advantage. When he’s on his game, Prior is one of the best in the league, with a 2.50 GAA and a .913 save percentage in over 1,000 minutes of league play.

For the Bulldogs, rookie Vince Owen has been asked to shoulder the load. Owen has a 3.33 league GAA and a save percentage of .871 in league play.

Says Mazzoleni, "I expect a dogfight."

Believe him. In eighth place with 21 points, the Bulldogs need all they can get. So do the RedHawks.

PICK: Miami 4-2

Miami at Western Michigan

Don’t write this game off, as apparently Miami did against the Falcons last week. Not taking a last-place team seriously cost the RedHawks two points, and if they continue to play up or down to the level of their opponents, they could be in trouble this game.

Another factor in this game is that points are still important to the Broncos.

"You never know what could happen," says Western Michigan head coach Bill Wilkinson. "Mathematically, if we win them all and Ferris loses a few, we can catch them.

"Of course, the difference is that they [Ferris State] control their own fate. We don’t. We could win every game left and still not make the playoffs."

Since shaking off the mantle of losing with a win against Ferris State, the Broncos have lost two close games–2-3 to Bowling Green, 2-4 to Michigan–and last week beat Notre Dame 5-3.

What’s the difference between winning and losing for the Broncos? "Scoring goals."

Wilkinson laughs, but he’s right. The Broncos have been competitive in many of their 24 losses this season, often losing by a single goal.

Who’s scoring for the Broncos? Well, "scoring" is a relative term. Frank Novock leads the team in scoring, with 21 points (11-10) in 25 league games. He’s also at minus 11.

Steve Duke is second in Bronco league scoring, with one goal and 14 assists for 15 points in 25 games.

Then there’s Mike Melas, who had 12 points in 15 games. But the junior center is no longer with the team. "Mike Melas is off the team," says Wilkinson. "He wouldn’t go to class, so I told him he couldn’t play. I gave him plenty of warning."

According to the coach, Melas isn’t even on campus. He may resurface shortly in the ECHL.

You may have heard rumors about Joe Corvo, the junior defenseman and assistant captain with 10 points. Wilkinson says, "Joe Corvo served a four-game suspension for a violation of team rules. He’s back this weekend." That’s all Wilkinson would say.

The Broncos have a defense that can play tough (but breaks down frequently) and a goaltender–Matt Barnes–who stands on his head. In nearly 1,600 minutes of league play, Barnes has a GAA of 3.06 and a save percentage 3.06 of .895. Not bad for a guy who has seen a lot of shots; Barnes has 691 saves.

Miami has the offensive advantage in this game, if the RedHawks play their game.

PICK: Miami 4-3

Notre Dame (14-15-4, 9-12-4 CCHA) at Northern Michigan (15-11-4, 13-9-3 CCHA) Friday, 7 p.m., Lakeview Arena, Marquette, MI Alaska-Fairbanks (9-18-3, 6-17-2 CCHA) at Northern Michigan (15-11-4, 13-9-3 CCHA) Saturday, 7 p.m., Lakeview Arena, Marquette, MI

There is no one thing you can point to and say, "There–that’s the reason why Northern Michigan is successful." In fact, there are signs all over the place that should point to a team with fewer points. Lots of underclassmen. Questionable goaltending.

But the fact remains that the Wildcats get it done when they need to, with a good first line and some of the most punishing checking in the league.

With 29 points, Northern Michigan is just one point behind fourth-place Miami, and two points behind third-place Ohio State. Northern slipped out of the top four with a weekend off, so the ‘Cats are hoping to regain a top-four spot while the Buckeyes are idle.

The Buckeyes swept the Wildcats, so if Northern and Ohio State tie at the end of the season, the Bucks have the tiebreaker, and–in all likelihood–home ice for the playoffs.

Northern beat Miami twice this season, so if the ‘Cats and ‘Hawks tie in points at season’s end, Northern has the tiebreaker, and–in all likelihood–home ice for the playoffs.

Notre Dame at Northern Michigan

Notre Dame has one goal remaining for the season–to finish the season as competitively as possible going into the playoffs.

"We really didn’t play well this weekend," says Notre Dame head coach Dave Poulin. The Irish dropped games to Ohio State and Western Michigan, both by the score of 5-3.

Poulin realizes that the Irish preseason goal of home ice for the playoffs will not be realized. "We want to take care of our own end, to play each game the best we can."

The Irish top line of rookie Dan Carlson, senior Steve Noble, and junior Brian Urick has real potential. Carlson has put up respectable numbers for a rookie (6-7–13 in league play). Urick is the goal-scorer on the line, with nine goals and nine assists in 25 league games.

Aniket Dhadphale continues to be the sniper for the Irish. The junior winger is especially deadly on the power play, with nine goals and three assists overall on the Irish man advantage this season.

The nicest surprise for Notre Dame this year is Mark Eaton. The rookie defenseman from Delaware (of all places) has six goals and 16 assists in 25 league games. In addition to scoring, Eaton plays his position well. He robbed OSU’s Eric Meloche twice on the breakaway in last week’s Irish loss.

The Wildcat first line of Buddy Smith (7-18–25), Roger Trudeau (11-10–21), and J.P. Vigier (10-11–21) is simply outstanding. Smith is good in the corners, and like all the Northern Michigan players, can finish checks like nobody’s business.

Rookie of the Year candidate Fred Mattersdorfer is fourth on the Wildcat team in scoring just behind that top line, with 10 goals and 10 assists in 29 league games.

On paper and on ice, the Wildcats can–and just might–outscore the Irish. Then there’s the matter of what happens between the pipes.

The Irish goaltending is slipping a bit lately. Senior Matt Eisler can make the big save, and his league save percentage is very competitive at .892. His GAA is 3.09, belying a league record of 5-9-3.

Forrest Karr has seen a third as much time as Eisler in the Notre Dame net, with a record of 4-3-1. His league save percentage is .862, and his league GAA is 3.22.

Neither goalie has been consistent.

For Northern Michigan, Duane Hoey’s league save percentage has improved recently, from around 86 percent to a solid 88 percent. He has a winning league record of 12-9-3, and his GAA in those games is 2.93.

Notre Dame has a very good power play, and Northern Michigan has a fairly bad penalty kill, but the Wildcats tend to avoid penalties.

This is the first game between these two teams this season. They play the remaining two next weekend. It’s hard to say what will happen, but it’s a pretty certain bet that the Notre Dame players will be bruised after all is said and done.

PICK: Northern Michigan 3-2

Alaska-Fairbanks at Northern Michigan

The Nanooks gave a couple of good Ohio teams–Miami and Ohio State–a couple of good games a couple of weeks ago. Miami got by 4-3, but the Bucks settle for a 4-4 tie. Overall, it was a good weekend of play for Alaska-Fairbanks.

One thing we know about the Nanooks is that they can score. Sjon Wynia leads the Nanooks in league scoring with 11 goals and 14 assists for 25 points in 24 games. He’s ninth in scoring in the league, and tied for sixth among forwards for power-play points with 13.

Jeff Trembecky provides leadership as well as scoring for Fairbanks. With 12 goals and 10 assists, he’s second on the team in scoring, and ninth in the CCHA. He’s third in CCHA power- play points among forwards (4-12, 16).

A third Nanook is also making a difference on the power play. Rookie Jim Lawrence is a player; with five goals and nine assists, he’s fifth among forwards for CCHA power-play points. In 25 league games, he has seven goals and 11 assists.

Offense is not the problem for the Nanooks, but defense certainly is, from the goal out.

Between Ian Perkins and Chris Marvel, the team has a .864 league save percentage and a league GAA of 4.74. Perkins may still be suffering from the groin injury he sustained against Ohio State two weeks ago.

The Nanooks have been outscored 120-76 in league play. The team plus/minus in league play is minus 168.

This weekend will be a real test for the Nanooks, whose offense matches well with Northern’s, but whose defense and goaltending may be their downfall. The Nanooks–with 715 league penalty minutes–may be frustrated by Northern’s physical style.

Northern has beaten Fairbanks twice this season, 5-4 (OT) and 7-3, on two consecutive nights in mid-November. Wildcat fans may be able to get out the brooms.

PICK: Northern Michigan 5-3

Alaska-Fairbanks (9-18-3, 6-17-2 CCHA) at Lake Superior (13-13-4, 10-11-4 CCHA) Friday, 7 p.m., Abel Arena, Sault Ste. Marie, MI Notre Dame (14-15-4, 9-12-4 CCHA) at Lake Superior (13-13-4, 10-11-4 CCHA) Saturday, 7 p.m., Abel Arena, Sault Ste. Marie, MI

The Lakers have been a team struggling for unity all season. This has produced some of the most uneven play in the CCHA.

In spite of this, Lake Superior head coach Scott Borek says that the Lakers have consistency–of the wrong kind.

"Right now I think we’re playing consistently poorly. We’ve been more consistent in the last month, in a negative way."

The Lakers split with Ferris State last weekend, a 2-4 loss and a 3-2 win. At one point in the closer, Lake Superior was down 2-0.

"I don’t think we played very well Friday; we worked very hard to get back, and once we got back we gave up kind of a bad goal."

Six Lakers were hurt in Saturday’s game, a number Borek calls "very concerning."

Jeff Cheeseman (back) and Blaine McCauley (knee) are probably gone for the season. Joe Blaznek, with a knee injury, is not practicing, but will be evaluated closer to game time. Mike Kucsulain is probable for this weekend with a knee injury. Jason Sessa–another knee injury–is possible. Bryan Fuss, with a deep rib cage bruise, is game-to-game.

Those six players are responsible for 29 of Lake Superior’s 73 league goals.

"We haven’t played at home in five weeks," says Borek, "and we’re really beaten up."

Alaska-Fairbanks at Lake Superior

Just what the Lakers need–a physical team capable of beating them in the Soo.

In early November, at the beginning of the Nanooks’ hellishly long road trip through Michigan, the Lakers and Nanooks split a pair of games in Abel Arena, with UAF winning 6-2 the first night, and the Lakers winning 8-2 the second.

Who wins the season series probably doesn’t matter nearly as much as do points to these two teams. The Nanooks, seven points behind eighth-place Ferris State, will play as though they can make the playoffs. The Lakers want to finish as high in the standings as possible to guarantee a more even postseason pairing.

"Most likely we’re going to travel for the playoffs," says Borek. "Right now our goal–and even our game plan–is that we’re not playing UAF, we’re playing ourselves. We want to play the past the first weekend of March, and to do that, we have to play our best game.

"I think if you play UAF, Western or Bowling Green, you’re playing extremely dangerous teams. These teams are motivated."

As beaten up as the Lakers are, it’s difficult to assess what kind of game they’ll give the motivated Nanooks. Terry Marchant still leads the Lakers in points. In 24 league games, he has 13 goals and 18 assists, including four power-play goals and four game-winners. He’s one of the few Lakers on the plus side, at plus 11.

Of the six Laker scorers with points in the double digits in league play, three are hurt, including Sessa (16-11–27), Blaznek (6-8–14) and Kucsulain (3-8–11).

Ted Laviolette has 14 points in 23 league games (5-9) and Tobin Praznik has 13 points in 24 league games (7-6).

The Lake Superior defense plays a fair game, and the Laker penalty-killing unit is on top of the CCHA at 92.8 percent. The Lakers are the only team in the CCHA in double digits in shorthanded goals, with 10.

Rob Galatiuk has been the main netminder for Lake Superior all season. The rookie has good numbers–a 3.00 league GAA, and a league save percentage of .894.

Given the potential for offensive fireworks that each team has, it wouldn’t be surprising to see a high-scoring game. The Nanooks have been playing more disciplined hockey in the second half of the season, and seem more focused.

In net, the advantage is Lake Superior’s. Galatiuk is solid, and has played with more consistency than have either Perkins or Marvel have for the Nanooks.

Home ice should be an advantage this late in the season for Lake Superior, but those injuries could open the door to an upset by a confident Nanook team.

PICK: Lake Superior 5-4

Notre Dame at Lake Superior

Earlier in the season, the Lakers beat Notre Dame 4-2 and tied the Irish 3-3 in South Bend.

Everything about Notre Dame’s numbers suggests that they will win this game. The Irish are better on the road than at home. They have four players (Simon, Dhadphale, Eaton, and Cotnoir) with 20 or more points in league play. Rookie Mark Eaton is excellent on defense, and Cotnoir is a solid defenseman. Matt Eisler has the capability of coming up with major-league saves, and his numbers are good.

So why don’t I have faith in the luck of the Irish?

Notre Dame is a bit thin defensively, with Tyson Fraser (back) and Nathan Borega (shoulder) out. And it just appears that the Irish haven’t found their feet this season.

Much like Lake Superior.

The Lakers are 4-6-1 in January and February, with a split against Ferris last weekend. The Irish are 4-7-2 in January and February, with two losses last weekend.

The Lakers are hurting, literally, with injuries to at least six key players. The Irish have a couple injured, are without Joe Dusbabek (academics) for the rest of the season, and will come into this game after play the uber-physical Northern Michigan Wildcats.

As a team, the Lakers have a league save percentage of .886 with a team league GAA of 3.35. The Irish have a team league save percentage of .883 and a team league GAA of 3.14.

Each team is being outscored slightly by opponents. Notre Dame brings its very good league power play (18.0 percent) to Lake Superior’s outstanding penalty kill.

The Irish are healthier, and with all the young, enthusiastic talent they have, they should win.

But they probably won’t. The Irish are slumping, and they can’t seem to figure out why. The Lakers know exactly why their slumping, and that may be the difference.

Home ice is an advantage in the Soo, where hockey is looms as large as does football in South Bend.

PICK: Lake Superior 3-2

Bowling Green (7-22-3, 5-16-3 CCHA) at Western Michigan (7-24-2, 6-18-1 CCHA) Friday, 7 p.m., Lawson Arena, Kalamazoo, MI Bowling Green (7-22-3, 5-16-3 CCHA) at Ferris State (12-16-3, 9-12-3 CCHA) Saturday, 7 p.m., Ewigleben Arena, Big Rapids, MI

Bowling Green is a team reborn, sort of. Not quite the mythic Phoenix, the Falcons have received excellent goaltending from rookie Shawn Timm–whose league save percentage is just above .900–and a shot in the offensive arm with the return of Dan Price to the lineup.

Lately, it looks like the Falcons can beat anyone–and they very nearly have. A 1-0 shutout of Michigan State in December. Last weekend’s 5-4 win over Miami.

In their last three weekends of play, the Falcons are better than .500 with a record of 3-2-1.

But two players alone cannot sustain a team for very long. Fortunately for the Falcons, the season’s almost over, and the last impression they leave on fans and the league may be a positive one.

Before we get all mushy, however, let’s remember that coach Buddy Powers himself has said that he wants to upset as many teams as possible in the remaining games, to ruin a few end-of-the-season celebrations. Powers is not aiming for the playoffs; realistically, that just isn’t going to happen for the Falcons. But his spread-the-misery mentality has more than a few teams worried.

Last week the Falcons upset Miami (and took one step closer to the famed Ohio Cup). There’s not much at stake in the grand scheme of things in the Bowling Green game against Western Michigan, but don’t you think that Ferris is shaking a little bit?

Bowling Green at Western Michigan

"We’re battling Bowling Green for the bottom spot," says Bill Wilkinson, "and nobody wants to finish last."

Leave it to Wilkinson to sum it all up.

Each of these teams has tried to make something happen in the last few weeks, and Bowling Green has had a bit more success.

This game will be better than your average cellar-dweller matchup. Each of these teams has excellent goaltending. Each has good–but not great–defense. Each has a couple of players who can score.

Well, all right–Bowling Green has Dan Price, and that’s the biggest offensive threat in this game.

Even though Price missed a bunch of games, he still leads his team in scoring with nine goals and 10 assists in 16 CCHA games. Like the rest of the Falcons, he’s in the minus–but he’s only minus eight, which isn’t as bad as some Falcon players.

The second leading Falcon scorer, Adam Edinger, is out, and Chris Bonvie–third in points with 14–is banged up.

For the Broncos, it’s the same old story–Frank Novock can score, Steve Duke can set up a play, and Mike Melas is gone, gone, gone.

Joe Corvo is back, and that’s good news.

You know, either of these teams could have made the playoffs, and neither wants to finish in last place, so fans will get a good game, well played. Given their momentum lately, it’s likely the Falcons will win this won.

PICK: Bowling Green 4-2

Bowling Green at Ferris State

If the Bulldogs want these points–and they really, really do–they’ll have to find a way to get around Shawn Timm.

If the Falcons want these points–and they really, really do–they’ll have to contend with a Ferris State defense that’s better than most people realize.

And that’s the difference in this game. The Falcons may not take the Bulldogs seriously. Call it a hunch, but it’s certain that Ferris State will know that Bowling Green is for real, but it’s not a given the other way around.

After all–and this is meant with no disrespect whatsoever to Bowling Green–the Falcons are flexing their collective muscle lately, and may be playing a little bit beyond their collective team level right now.

With Timm to spur them and Price back in the lineup, they have a jump they haven’t had all season. If that jump leads to over-confidence, the patient and focused Bulldogs will be all over them.

Stopping Price won’t be easy–he is an outstanding player, period. But the Bulldogs are fighting for their playoff lives, and beating them at home won’t be easy either.

This game may come down to discipline. The Falcons have the clear advantage in net, but the Bulldogs are a better-balanced team. Either team that keeps its cool could win this game.

PICK: Ferris State 3-2

Renaissance

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To Hugo Boisvert, central Ohio is more foreign a concept than is “U.S.A.”

“It’s different.” The sophomore center from St. Eustache, Quebec, makes a gesture as though he’s running his hand over the top of a table, and he makes a noise — “ppphtt.” He says, by way of summary, “Flat.”

“I’ve been to the beach, to the East coast, but the middle, the central area, I never came here before.”

Boisvert’s longtime linemate, Eric Meloche, takes it one step further when describing Columbus. “The weather is weirder here. Instead of snow, it’s rain and that’s depressing for me.

“It’s tough to adjust. I’m still having trouble adjusting. I miss home. My whole family and my girlfriend are back home. But the aspect of hockey is great. When I’m on the ice, I feel okay.”

Meloche, a sophomore winger from Rosemere, Quebec, pauses. He doesn’t want anyone to get the wrong idea — that he doesn’t like Ohio State — because he says he really does. But he says, “When you speak French, it reminds you a little of home too.”

He quickly and sincerely adds, “And everyone on the team is great.”

There are six Quebecois players in the CCHA, playing for four different teams. Three of them are Buckeyes. The Boisvert-Meloche duo is two-thirds of the line that’s known as le trio Quebecois.

The second winger of le trio is freshman Jean-Francois Dufour, younger brother of former Buckeye standout Pierre. Adjusting to the homogenous middle-American culture of Columbus has been easier on J.F. (as he’s often called) because Hugo and Eric paved the way.

Since his older brother played with Boisvert and Meloche, and because they live within driving distance of each other in Quebec, the younger Dufour already considered the sophomores friends before he came to Ohio State. But even with that familial connection, J.F. had reservations about being a Buckeye.

“I didn’t want to come here because he [Pierre] was here. The brother thing. I was afraid that if I came here, everybody would say, ‘He’s here because his brother was here. He’s following his brother, and they took him because of his brother.’

“I looked at three schools, and Ohio State was my last choice.” Dufour says he seriously considered UMass-Lowell and Merrimack before choosing OSU.

“You go back home, and people back in my hometown will say I came because of my brother. But sometimes you have to live with that. I don’t think it’s only because of my brother that I’m here. I think I deserve to play here.”

When a player from Quebec chooses to play Division I hockey, he usually heads east — or south, if you’re in Quebec — usually to an ECAC school, something closer to home. That was how Boisvert and Meloche planned it. Both were much more interested in Clarkson than they were in a large land-grant university in a place that seems like a world away.

What could change the minds of such players, players who have proven to be two of the best in the CCHA and a young man with reservations about living in his brother’s shadow?

One man: Casey Jones.

The third-year top assistant coach at Ohio State has worked recruiting magic, bringing talent from Quebec, Ontario and the U.S. Select teams to a school in the process of rebuilding its hockey program.

Jones, a native of Temiscaming, Quebec, said that Columbus — a city adorned with a spectacular neon sign that marks the site of the Wonder Bread bakery — becomes an attractive alternative to kids from Quebec, just because, as Boisvert said, it’s so different from anything they’ve known.

“That’s the beauty of it. We become an exciting entity. It’s further away from home. It’s exotic.

“Kids from Quebec, who grew up near Montreal — they want a more urban setting, and we can provide that.”

The 29-year-old’s eyes sparkle when he talks about recruiting players to come to Columbus, as though the thought that this large, Midwestern city offers something exotic to young men is a brilliant secret that he just can’t keep himself from revealing.

“And the school is different from what they’re used to seeing out east. There’s a huge athletic tradition here.

“This is a different world. Big Ten is big time.”

Jones played college hockey at Cornell from 1986-1990. After a brief stint playing minor league hockey in the Boston Bruins’ organization, Jones returned to Cornell to coach from 1991-93. As an assistant, he recruited the majority of Big Red players who captured the 1995-96 ECAC league title.

From 1993-95, Jones moved upstate to serve as an assistant with the Clarkson Golden Knights, where he also monitored recruiting.

It was for Clarkson that Jones initially wanted to recruit Meloche.

“Casey wanted me to go to Clarkson,” says Meloche. “He had me at the top of his list to recruit for Clarkson, but my coach didn’t think I was ready or that I was good enough to play there, so I waited.

“Then the following summer [1995] Casey called me and said, ‘I’m going to Ohio State. We’ll keep in touch. Don’t worry about it. Everything’s going to be okay.’ So I decided to spend one more year in Cornwall.

“I followed Casey to Ohio State.”

And where Meloche went, so went Boisvert.

Boisvert and Meloche were linemates for two years with the Cornwall Colts of the Central Ontario JHL. Boisvert — who has been in or near the top spot in CCHA league scoring all season — won the COJHL league scoring title in 1995-96 (130 points) and was named the league’s Most Valuable Player.

Meloche had 68 goals and 53 assists in 54 games during his second season with the Colts while playing on-line with Boisvert; the 68 goals were second in Canada, and first in the COJHL.

The Colts won their league championship the two years–1994-95 and 1995-96 — when Boisvert and Meloche played formed two-thirds of a line.

Boisvert says his decision to come to Ohio State was “a little bit” based on his relationship with Meloche “as a friend, as a teammate, too.”

“Eric got cleared at the beginning of the year, so he signed early. But I didn’t know until late January what was going on. Then I knew I could go play Division I somewhere. And Eric had already made his decision. So we came to visit together, and I decided to come here.

“If he wouldn’t have come here, I don’t know.”

Boisvert says his decision to come to Ohio State was also based on how comfortable he was with Jones and John Markell, now in his third full season as the Buckeye head coach. His parents really took to Jones.

“My parents didn’t say, ‘Go to Ohio State.’ Before they talked to him, they thought, ‘Well, it’s far away,’ but after they talked to him, they thought, ‘Well, it could be good there.'”

Markell can’t say enough about Jones and the assistant’s importance to the program. “You have to have a top-notch recruiter that does his homework and is aware of who’s coming up because I’m here. He’s your lifeblood. You can’t function without a good recruiter.

“We also have to have continuity, where everybody knows that when Casey Jones is in the rink, he’s Ohio State’s man, just like Tom Newton is Michigan State’s and Mel Pearson is Michigan’s. We want that presence out there.”

Markell has had faith in Jones from the day the assistant started. “If my instincts are on a kid, he trusts me,” says Jones. “He loves the game, and he wants kids on the ice who love the game. He trusts me to find who we need.”

While Jones’ recruiting style has certainly contributed to the turnaround the Buckeyes have experienced this season, there are other reasons why young players are beginning to consider Ohio State an attractive destination.

For Boisvert, it was the challenge of playing in a program that is on the verge of becoming competitive. “I knew for a little bit that the program has been” — here Boisvert makes a see-saw motion with his right hand — “so I decided to come here to help change things around, instead of going to a winning program where things just keep going. I thought it would be better to change things around here. More satisfaction.”

And there’s one other thing that draws players to Columbus.

“I would never have come here without the Schottenstein Center,” says Boisvert. “When I came here and I saw the rink, I said, ‘Oh my god.'”

Meloche says, “I don’t think I would have come here if I had to play four years in this rink.” “This rink” is the tiny OSU Ice Rink, the one where the puck frequently hits the ceiling and the officials have to pause to clear the debris that floats to the ice. “If that Schottenstein Center wasn’t coming up, I wasn’t coming here. Next year we’ll have that big facility, and I’ll be among the first to be in it. It will be fun.”

The Schottenstein Center is the $100 million-plus facility that will be home to Buckeye men’s and women’s basketball and men’s and women’s hockey. The new arena is the tangible proof that OSU hockey is being taken more seriously on a campus still in love with Woody Hayes.

The man who made certain that hockey as well as basketball would be played in the Schottenstein Center is OSU Athletic Director Andy Geiger.

“I’ve seen Andy Geiger at games,” says Meloche. “It’s fun to see him excited. He came into the locker room after the Michigan State game, and he was pumped. It’s fun to see someone so high up in the administration give us support.”

Geiger has been a college hockey fan since serving as Brown’s AD in the 1970s. “The Schottenstein Center will force everyone to take a better look at hockey in Columbus, as will the NHL.” The Blue Jackets are scheduled to begin play in the 2000-2001 season, in yet another new arena to be built in downtown Columbus.

Geiger is thrilled with the progress of Ohio State hockey. “We went from a program that had trouble skating to a program that’s really, really sound.

“We’ve got some well-kept secrets here. We’re going to slay the dragon.”

The glee in Geiger’s voice is unmistakable. “My god, the monster has awakened.”

Before signing on with the Buckeyes, Jean-Francois Dufour was just as skeptical as any CCHA fan who’s followed Ohio State these last ten years that the Buckeyes could “slay the dragon.”

“Just last year before I decided to come here, my brother told me that he wasn’t that happy, but that things were going to change here. It was hard for me to believe it, but I believe it now.

“It’s true.”

This Week in the WCHA: February 20, 1998

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The fat lady’s singing. Eight teams are hearing "Taps." It’s over because it’s over, Yogi.

North Dakota is going to win the 1997-98 Western Collegiate Hockey Association regular-season championship, as most preseason observers may have suspected. With their powerful offense, steady defense and unbelievable young goaltenders, the Sioux and coach Dean Blais are finally looking like the MacNaughton Cup defenders they are.

Despite struggles with the state of Minnesota (two losses to St. Cloud, one each to Minnesota and Minnesota-Duluth), North Dakota has been nearly unbeatable since Dec. 27, going 15-1-0 over that eight-week span. After a come-from-behind 5-3 win over Minnesota — in which all five goals were scored in the final 13-plus minutes — it’s time we anoint a champion.

Now watch this thing end up like "Dewey Defeats Truman."

So if UND has all but wrapped up a first-round date with Mankato State, what do these other challengers have to play for?

St. Cloud and Wisconsin are battling for the right to play Alaska-Anchorage — or maybe for the pain in the butt that is playing Alaska-Anchorage. After all, the Seawolves bored spectators to death last week with the league’s third all-time scoreless tie. Still, UAA is a more attractive option than an improving Denver outfit or a potentially dangerous Minnesota team.

Duluth and Colorado are battling for the No. 4 and 5 slots, and possibly for the right to be upset on home ice in the first round. But CC plays at a hungry SCSU this weekend, and Mike Peluso is heating up for the Bulldogs, so look for Duluth to wear the white jerseys in Milwaukee.

What about Michigan Tech? The Huskies seem to be the only team capable of either earning home-ice advantage or falling to seventh or eighth place. Much depends on how Tim Watters’ team defends its home ice against a struggling Wisconsin team this weekend.

Now, for more U.S. political references…

Colorado College (15-11-3, 10-10-2 WCHA) at No. 7 St. Cloud State (18-8-2, 15-6-1 WCHA) Friday-Saturday 7:05 p.m. CT, National Hockey Center, St. Cloud, Minn.

Let’s compare this race to that of, say, a potential Dan Quayle-Al Gore matchup in the year 2000. Think about it: CC is like Quayle, the enigmatic challenger, having been in high places, but taken a week (or in Danny’s case, an election) off to recuperate. St. Cloud, like Gore, is a nondescript candidate which has hung around the top levels, despite challenges and adversity.

Now we’re getting somewhere.

"I don’t think we’re playing up to our potential right now," said CC Lucia, who to our knowledge has never misspelled "potato" in front of grade schoolers. "The week off probably is coming at a good time. Hopefully, when we come back from the break, we can regain the level of play that we’re capable of."

The Tigers’ level of play was inferior to St. Cloud’s in mid-November, when the Huskies took a pair of games at the Cadet Ice Arena. But perhaps going on the road is just what Colorado needs: after moving into the new World Arena, CC hasn’t won a single home game, going 0-2-1.

Much of the CC offensive load has fallen on the capable shoulders of junior Brian Swanson, who leads the league in overall scoring (11-24–35, 7-16–23 WCHA) and junior Darren Clark, who has scored in 21 of the team’s 29 games.

Goaltending remains a sore spot for CC, as neither Colin Zulianello nor Jason Cugnet has saved more than 90 percent of the shots they’ve faced in split playing time.

St. Cloud remains the league’s surprise team deep into the month of February. Yet perhaps after 11 weeks, George Awada’s shorthanded hat trick Saturday should not have come as a surprise.

Awada’s efforts, which included the game winner one and a half minutes into overtime, tied the league record for shorthanded goals in a game held by Wisconsin’s Norm Cherrey.

Yet since Matt Noga is the lone Husky to surface among the league’s leading goal-scorers, much of the load has been thrust upon senior goaltender Brian Leitza, who has been up to the task in going 15-5-1.

Picks: How exactly does St. Cloud do it? There isn’t one answer, but the Huskies will leave the Tigers searching for some this weekend. SCSU 4-1, 6-5

No. 1 North Dakota (23-4-1, 17-4-1 WCHA) at Denver (10-19-1, 7-14-1 WCHA) Saturday-Sunday, 2:05 p.m. MT, Air Force Cadet Ice Arena, Colorado Springs, Colo.

This series is kind of like Richard Nixon’s 1972 victory over George McGovern. Like Nixon, UND is the defending champion, and a lot of WCHA challengers would undoubtedly like to see the Sioux impeached, at least for this year. Denver, like McGovern, is the likable candidate who started slowly, and has little chance of winning.

As stated previously, North Dakota is coming off a phenomenal late-game comeback against Minnesota, and has every possible advantage in talent, depth, and intangibles.

You need offense? Curtis Murphy is the WCHA’s top-scoring defenseman at 5-21–26. Jay (10-13–23) and Jeff (9-12–21), the brothers Panzer, provide punch, and both maintain five-game scoring streaks. Adam Calder (5-15–20) has been a dependable scorer, and Matt Henderson (13-7–20) has 10 goals in his last 11 games. But the Sioux’s most successful sniper, David Hoogsteen, is questionable for this weekend after injuring his shoulder last Saturday.

Yet in Hoogsteen’s absence, another formidable weapon emerged for North Dakota: the crowd at Engelstad Arena.

"Once we got the first goal and the crowd got into the game, the momentum changed," said Jay Panzer. "We really worked together in the third. This is a really big win."

Denver pulled off a big win Saturday at Wisconsin. After dominating play for two periods Friday and losing, the Pioneers spotted their hosts a 1-0 lead in the second game, before roaring back in the third period.

"Earlier in the year, that might have been two- or three-nothing," Gwozdecky said. "It just shows that through the experiences we’ve had we’ve become a better team."

Despite becoming a better team, Denver has struggled scoring. Of its seven goals against Wisconsin, two came on penalty shots by Paul Comrie.

"It remains painfully obvious that we have trouble scoring goals," Gwozdecky said. "Jesus, it’s like pulling teeth sometimes."

And as far as potential dentists go, North Dakota’s Karl Goehring remains the WCHA’s least likely to use laughing gas. Goehring made just 31 saves last week, and doesn’t figure to face a great deal more this weekend.

Picks: How can you pick against Nixon, er, North Dakota? Unless Blais somehow gets caught breaking into Gwozdecky’s offices in search of shot charts, this series will be similar to many of the Sioux’s performances in 1998 — a landslide. UND 6-3, 3-0

Alaska-Anchorage (6-20-4, 5-16-3 WCHA) at Minnesota (12-18-0, 8-14-0 WCHA) Friday-Saturday, 7:05 p.m. CT, Mariucci Arena, Minneapolis, Minn.

Perhaps Anchorage’s bore-you-to-death style is more akin to Gore, but for comparative purposes, this series is like the 1984 Ronald Reagan-Walter Mondale election. Mondale told us he’d raise taxes, and his ship sank. UAA coach Dean Talafous is honest when he says his Seawolves will play low-risk, low-scoring hockey, and his team is in last place.

"They clutch and grab all over the place," said Minnesota-Duluth’s Bert Gilling after his team skated to the league’s third-ever 0-0 tie against UAA. "Talk to any of our forwards and they’ll tell you they were mugged all night."

Bulldog coach Mike Sertich emerged from his experience with Anchorage a frustrated man.

"They play the neutral-zone trap, which is sometimes hard because they allow you to get the puck into their zone," Sertich said. "Then they frustrate you by not allowing you any clean scoring opportunities."

Yet any clean scoring chances tend to be slapped away by Anchorage goaltender Doug Teskey, second to Goehring in both save percentage and goals against average.

"Their goalie (Teskey) was outstanding. We’ve gone against him for three years, and this was the best we have seen him play."

Yet while Goehring has 13 wins to his names, Teskey has 13 losses, the fault of an offense which has failed to produce a double-digit goal scorer this year.

Minnesota coach Doug Woog has no shortage of scorers, but like Reagan, probably can’t understand what’s happening around him this season. As such, his constituents are debating his capability.

The most recent deflating loss in a season of deflating losses came in the Gophers’ aforementioned collapse at North Dakota.

"They turned it up a notch in the third," said Woog. "They scored on the power play and it opened up the floodgates. Once they got on a roll we couldn’t get the puck out of our zone."

Minnesota has had a problem getting out of the WCHA’s lower zone all season, and the team’s problems arguably began in November at Anchorage, the last time the team was at .500 (4-4-0). The Gophers were handed a pair of 3-2 losses in games which saw the hosts score first, Minnesota come back, and the Seawolves provide the final answer. Woog and his team would rather duplicate their last home series against Anchorage, when UM scored 13 goals in two games to knock UAA out of the WCHA playoffs.

Yet despite the strong recent play of Reggie Berg (12-15–27), Ryan Kraft (5-15–20), Wyatt Smith (10-10–20) and Dave Spehar (8-12–20), don’t expect 13 goals this weekend.

Picks: Fans at Mariucci should bring ample quantities of No-Doz this weekend, as Anchorage crawls further and further into its defensive shell. A low-scoring series means that Minnesota goaltender Steve DeBus, last season’s first-team all-WCHA goalie, must recover from Sunday’s shellshock in Grand Forks. Here’s guessing he will. UM 3-1, 2-0

No. 10 Wisconsin (20-9-1, 15-6-1 WCHA) at Michigan Tech (13-16-2, 8-15-1 WCHA) Friday 7:35 p.m. ET, Saturday 7:05 p.m. ET, MacInnes Ice Arena, Houghton, Mich.

In our last contest, we see a reasonable facsimile of the 1988 George Bush-Michael Dukakis race. Wisconsin, like Bush, is coming off a successful streak, but about to enter a most trying stretch. Tech, like Dukakis, always seems to be on the verge of success, but can’t get over the hump.

Most recently, St. Cloud’s George Awada was Tech’s Willie Horton, as coach Tim Watters’ team dropped a pair to SCSU, including a heartbreaker 4-3 overtime decision Saturday.

"Obviously it was disappointing," said Watters, whose team must overcome a five points on Colorado with six games to play. "We didn’t play well Friday, however, I thought we came out and gave a great effort Saturday. It was unfortunate to lose the game like we did, but give St. Cloud credit. They did what they had to to beat us."

To beat Wisconsin, Tech will need Andre Savage (9-15–24) to continue his scoring ways. The Husky blue line is anchored by six-foot-six Andy Sutton, whose 7-13–20 output this season is easily his career best.

Tech forward Craig Perrett is questionable for the series, having suffered a bruised knee blocking a shot. His presence will hinder the Huskies against a Wisconsin outfit that has been schizophrenic lately.

"Wisconsin has had a solid season and we certainly respect what they’ve accomplished," Watters said. "We had a hard-fought series with them in November, and while that was some time ago, I expect a similar series this weekend."

Much has happened since then for Wisconsin, one of several WCHA roller coasters. After a 13-game unbeaten streak, the Badgers have dropped three of four games, and were lucky to beat Denver Friday with one period of solid play.

"For two and a half periods we were a pretty good hockey team this weekend," Sauer said. "We can’t win a lot of games that way."

Like Tech, Wisconsin is handicapped this weekend with the absence of several key players, the most prominent being goaltender Mike Valley. Valley, who has missed the last several weeks with a knee injury, may be available for backup duty, which Sauer believes would be greatly beneficial to rookie starter Graham Melanson.

On the plus side, winger T.R. Moreau returns to the Badger lineup after missing the last 11 games with a severe concussion. On the minus side, Dustin Kuk will not make the trip due to injury.

Another costly absence will be that of center Joe Bianchi, suspended for Friday’s game for arguing with referees after Saturday’s loss. Bianchi’s loss places a greater offensive load on WCHA leading scorer Steve Reinprecht (12-16–28) and defenseman Craig Anderson (5-18–23).

Of note: Radio broadcaster Bob Olson, in his 27th year as Tech’s radio voice for WZRK, celebrated his 67th birthday last Sunday (Feb. 8). Olson, the dean of college hockey broadcasters, is busy preparing to run his sixth Boston Marathon in April.

Picks: Olson’s physical prowess won’t help the Huskies one bit, but the UW absences will. In addition to being a top scoring and penalty-killing forward, Bianchi mans a point of the UW power play. Against Minnesota, an injured Bianchi watched his team’s power play struggle in a pair of losses. MTU 4-2, UW 7-5

Thanks to the WCHA game reporters who contributed to this preview.

This Week in Hockey East: February 20, 1998

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Well how about Hockey East’s Deadbeat President, Merrimack College’s Richard Santagati? Smilin’ Santagati flashes his pearly whites at the front of every Merrimack media guide, but flashes nothing but a stiletto into the underbelly of the hockey program all year long.

In case you missed it, Smilin’ Santagati chose not to look in the mirror for anything but an inspection of his perfectly groomed hair, and instead fired coach Ron Anderson, effective at the end of this season. (Athletic Director Robert DeGregorio had to carry out the execution, but it seems clear who loaded the bullets into the gun’s chambers.)

This, from the head of an administration that, until this year, never funded a full-time assistant coach. Of course, who needs a full-time assistant coach when you have a world-class arena like the Volpe Complex to attract recruits?

This, from the head of an administration that doesn’t even give control of the Volpe armpit to the athletic department for proper maintenance. Or so woefully underfunds the athletic department that even considering hiring someone to market the games — market the games? — is beyond consideration.

Does Smilin’ Santagati think that Lowell’s marketing people 15 minutes down Route 495 had nothing to do with the 4,685 people at a River Hawk game last Saturday while his own school has trouble getting into four figures?

The Merrimack administration has systematically starved its program and now seems shocked that it isn’t doing better in the standings. Anderson’s head was on the chopping block as soon as Smilin’ Santagati rewarded his coach’s first Hockey East playoff home ice with a measly one-year extension.

A one-year extension after Anderson’s selection as Division I Coach of the Year by the New England Hockey Writers. A one-year extension after he was a finalist for the Spencer Penrose National Coach of the Year award.

If ever a contract was both symbolic and the first parting shot, the one-year extension was.

And so, major surgery has been performed. The heart has been removed. The cancer remains.

Glad to have brightened your day.

Onwards…

UNH’s Sean Matile set a new Hockey East career record with his sixth shutout in less than two years. This week’s Koho Player of the Week also tied his own single-season record of three.

BC’s Brian Gionta earned Rookie of the Week honors with three goals and three assists in the Eagles’ sweep of Merrimack, including the Friday night game-winner with 13 seconds remaining in regulation.

Last week’s record in picks: 7-2 Season’s record in picks: 108-60, .643

Hockey East Standings

No. 3 New Hampshire (21-5-1, 13-4-1 HEA, T-1st) vs. UMass-Amherst (5-20-2, 2-15-1 HEA, 9th)

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

Sunday, 2 p.m., Mullins Center, Amherst, MA TV-40

Last Friday, New Hampshire jumped out to a 3-0 lead against Providence and held on for a 4-2 win.

"We played well for the first half of the game," said coach Dick Umile. "After that, we got a little content, but give credit to Providence for getting back into the game. They persisted and got a couple goals, a shorthanded goal and then one on the power play."

On Saturday, the Wildcats "played a solid game for three periods," according to Umile, earning a 5-0 win.

"They’re a solid team," he said. "You’ve obviously got to play hard to beat them. You really want to get on top against Providence. You don’t ever want to play them from behind."

Sean Matile set a new Hockey East record for career shutouts with his sixth in less than two years. He also tied his own record of three in one season.

"Any team that gets into the playoffs and is going to get anywhere is going to need solid goaltending along with team defense," said Umile. "This year, that was a goal for us. We were committed to playing better team defense and obviously Sean Matile has played consistently well in goal.

"We’re going to set some kind of record for UNH in terms of goals against. There’s no question that those are important ingredients when you come down to playoff hockey. We feel that if we can get a couple goals with Sean Matile in the net for us, we’ve got a real good opportunity to win the game."

In Hockey East the last two years, the reputations have been that BU has had the best defense and UNH the best offense. Well, look who now has allowed the least number of goals in the league. Having played the same number of games, New Hampshire has given up 43 to the Terriers’ 44. And the Wildcats still lead the offensive category with 86 goals.

While BU boasts a returning All-American on the blue line in Chris Kelleher and Tom Poti as another in waiting, UNH’s defensemen have pretty much escaped the limelight.

"The guys have taken pride in quickly being labeled the No-Name defense," said Umile. "It’s led by Jayme Filipowicz, who is a sophomore for us, along with Steve O’Brien who’s a junior. We’ve got two juniors, two sophomores and three freshmen that are playing regularly for us.

"They’re a group of defensemen that are taking pride in playing solid defense along with our solid goaltending. There are no real big names, but I know how important they are, and our team knows how important they are. They see the ice well and make good decisions with the puck.

"Along with Sean, they’re keeping the puck out of the net and they’re minimizing the number of shots we’re giving up."

Aside from one loss to Miami right after the Christmas break, and another one more recently to Maine, the last of three tough games in six days, the Wildcats haven’t suffered a defeat since the middle of November.

Many Wildcat followers have developed a level of pessimism about the postseason usually reserved for Red Sox fans. But it says here that they should make plans for being in Boston the first week in April. This is the year the Wildcats drag the postseason boogeyman out of the closet and knock the stuffing out of it.

Of course, there is another month and a half until then and there are games to be played this weekend, specifically against UMass-Amherst. With Tim Lovell suspended indefinitely and the Minutemen reeling from lopsided losses in Maine, however, this looks about as even as the Christians versus the lions a couple millennia ago.

"They played us well the one time we played this season," countered Umile. "They came into our building, it was 3-1, and we didn’t score to make it four until late in the game.

"They’ll play us hard. They’ll be a team that will battle us the entire game. We have to go out and play the game like it’s any other game. You’ve got to earn it. Our team is focused on winning hockey games, so we’re not going to pay any attention to records. The minute you do that in Hockey East, you’re going to find yourself on the other end."

UMass-Amherst suffered 6-1 and 12-2 losses at the hands of Maine last weekend.

"We really didn’t feel the first game was a 6-1 game," said coach Joe Mallen. "It really wasn’t that bad a game. The second night was just one of those nights where they started out on fire. They came out hitting on all cylinders and we couldn’t get going. A couple goals led to a couple more goals and we just couldn’t stop the bleeding. It wound up being a long night."

Mallen suspended Tim Lovell before the series for a violation of team rules.

"We have certain principles that we want our players to uphold," said Mallen. "Tim crossed the line on some of those principles. It doesn’t make a difference if we lose 12-0 or 2-0, it’s a loss. I’d rather try to uphold what I think is proper discipline and proper player accountability."

As of this writing, no determination has been made on the length of the suspension. Coupled with Brad Norton’s unhappy departure for the pros a couple weeks ago, the Minutemen are now without their two team captains and appear lacking in team chemistry

"I don’t think that chemistry-wise it’s been ideal all season," said Mallen. "And that’s with those two guys in the lineup. I just think that we’ve had some strange things happen to us that have led to our circumstances.

"But one thing I can say about this team is that the chemistry, from the beginning until now, hasn’t clicked at 100 percent. We’re trying to find a way to resolve that."

Unfortunately for the Minutemen, they’ll be trying to fix the team chemistry while the most combustible team in the East faces them for a home-and-home series — not to mention two against BU next weekend.

"We knew that the month of February was going to be a tough, long month against top competition," said Mallen. "Everything has come to fruition where UNH and BU have come to the top. There’s not much we can do about it. We joined this league to be involved in the best competition in the country and we’ll definitely see it this month."

PICKS: This could be as ugly as some of those sumo wrestlers on the Olympic telecasts. UNH, 7-1 and 6-0.

No. 4 Boston University (21-5-2, 12-4-2 HEA, 3rd) vs.

Providence College (13-13-3, 7-10-2 HEA, 7th)

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

Saturday, 7 p.m., Walter Brown Arena, Boston, MA WABU-TV68

Boston University opened last weekend with a 5-2 loss to UMass-Lowell at home that was not as close as even the three-goal margin. After the game, coach Jack Parker was brutally candid about his team’s performance.

"They played smarter than us, they outworked us, they took it to us in our own building and we acted like we didn’t care," he said. "I’m surprised it was a 5-2 game. It should have been 10-2.

"Lowell played real good; we played lousy. Lowell played with a lot of heart and spunk; we had neither. Lowell looked disciplined and smart; we were dumb and uncaring.

"Colin Sheen gave us a heckuva game. Mike Sylvia gave us a strong game. Chris Drury worked like hell. Everyone else stunk the house out.

"I never thought I’d be associated with a BU team that would take a dive after a Beanpot like they took a dive. That’s for other schools to do, not for us. It was an embarrassment to see us go out there after the first period and continue the way we did….I don’t know what I’ll do tomorrow night. You can’t bench them all.

"Mentally, we were never there and Lowell was there for 60 minutes."

If Parker isn’t a master of team psychology, then no one is. He could have dismissed the loss as a Beanpot hangover or noted that a team with so many inexperienced faces might have to endure such letdowns or explained that after a seven-game win streak his team was due for a stinker. Instead, he pointed out that the emperor indeed had no clothes and issued as public a challenge to his team as possible.

Ten minutes into the rematch at Lowell, the Terriers led 3-0 on the strength of two goals by Drury, who would eventually record a hat trick, and another by Sylvia. BU won 5-1.

"How inept we were on Friday and how unfocused we were on Friday made it more urgent that we be ready to play on Saturday," said Parker. "And we certainly were. Things fell our way, too. The goaltender didn’t have a great night for Lowell. Michel Larocque played well for us. But more than anything else, it was just that we were so bad the night before."

That Drury and Sylvia led the rebound should surprise no one.

"It certainly wasn’t unexpected that those were the guys that said, ‘That wasn’t us last night. We’re not going to let that happen again,’" said Parker.

The loss isn’t something that Parker or his team will dwell on now.

"It’s water under the bridge," he said. "It’s something you learn from and hopefully move on from. But I remember a few years ago, we won the Beanpot and then went down to Providence and lost 8-1, so it’s not the first time it’s happened to us. It’s not the first time that teams involved in the Beanpot had a letdown, win or lose.

"It’s a weird emotional thing for the Beanpot to be in the middle of the long winter hockey season. You go out and play those two games and then you’re back to the winter hockey season. It’s always been a tough challenge. The Beanpot certainly is exciting, but once it’s over, it has nothing to do with what we’re really all about. So it’s not unusual that that would happen."

Looking at the stretch run, Parker sees one primary concern.

"The constant question mark with us is our offensive output, whether it be on the power play or five-on-five," he said. "We get opportunities and we just don’t seem to bury them. It’s not for lack of shots or lack of time in the offensive zone. It’s just that we seem to be making goaltenders look good.

"It may be the case that there are a lot of good goaltenders in our league. That seems to have something to do with it. Goal scoring is down everywhere. But it also seems that we have some opportunities and take them for granted and all of a sudden we don’t get a goal."

This week, the Terriers take on Providence, with whom six weeks ago they had a scoreless game for over 59 minutes until Jeff Kealty provided the 1-0 margin.

The Friars are one of the most physical teams in the league. Other than Mike Omicioli and a select few, they are a collection of redwoods that like to use their size in the corners. For past BU squads, this would match strength against strength. Not so this year.

"We’ve come to the realization that we’re not that type of team," said Parker. "We’re more of a speed-oriented, quickness type of team. We have a lot of smaller or decent-sized forwards, but we don’t have any Doug Friedmans or Mike Griers or John Pratts.

"You can’t have just one of them. If you’re going to be a physical team, you have to have three or four of those type of guys. We don’t have those type of guys anymore. Certainly, we’ve got guys that play physical, play hard and play through people, but there isn’t the immense physical presence that we’ve had through most of the nineties.

"In some ways, that’s very bad. In other ways, it just changes our style. We’re not looking for that anymore. It’s just not going to happen."

Providence lost two to New Hampshire last weekend, beginning with a 4-2 game on Friday night. The Wildcats took a 3-0 first period lead, but PC came back to make it 3-2 before a UNH open-netter.

"We played a good game, but came out of the gate slow," said coach Paul Pooley. "In the second and third period, we really picked it up, played well and had a chance to tie the game. It was a good effort on our part.

"I think we went into that game thinking that UNH was a really good team and we came out watching. When we started playing, we got thinking that, hey, we could play with these guys. And we did."

UNH shut the Friars out 5-0 on Saturday.

"It was a great effort, but a couple things just unraveled. We missed some great chances. We hit the crossbar and they came down and scored on a turnover. The third period we played pretty well, but the second period was our nemesis again.

"We’ve got to score early and get in front and make ourselves feel good. When we do that, as opposed to having to come from behind, we’re a different team. Against UNH, if you get down two or three goals, you have to take chances and they just wait [and take advantage]. They’re very good in transition, [Mark] Mowers, [Tom] Nolan, [Jason] Krog and [Derek] Bekar. They can do some damage on you."

The Friars now move from No. 3 UNH to No. 4 BU, their two likeliest playoff opponents unless they can make a move in the standings.

"Every game is big for us from now on," said Pooley. "It’s a confidence thing.

"You’ve got to get good goaltending to win. Every team does, no matter who they are. So our goaltending and our specialty teams will be key. We need to stick with our system — we didn’t give up any odd-man advantages up at UNH. I think that’s why we stayed in that game, for the most part.

"BU is going to be a challenge for us; I’m excited to play them at this time of the year."

Boyd Ballard, who looked so exceptional in the first half but faltered in mid-January and hasn’t played the last two weekends, will be replacing Mark Kane in the nets for at least one of the two games.

"It was good for Boyd to sit and relax a little bit," said Pooley. "I’m hoping he’s really eager to get back in there. I’m hoping he’s hungry. I hope he wasn’t happy to see Mark play.

"That’s an intangible. You’ve got to be hungry to get back in. But I think he’s ready to play a game this weekend, if not two."

PICKS: BU, still stinging from its loss on Friday night, sweeps 3-2 and 4-2.

Maine (12-12-3, 9-10-2 HEA, 5th) at

Northeastern (17-11-2, 10-6-2 HEA, 4th)

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

Saturday, 7 p.m., Matthews Arena, Boston, MA AudioNet

This series will likely determine the fourth and final home ice berth for the playoffs. Maine needs at least three of the four points to stay alive. For the Huskies, a split will be good enough to eliminate the Black Bears, but might not be enough to avoid getting caught from behind by UMass-Lowell.

Northeastern took a pratfall last weekend,

losing to Army 6-5.

That had a disastrous effect on their Pairwise Ranking, dropping them to 16th.

"We’ve had some pretty good success so far, but you’ve still got to put it in the context that we are playing 18 freshmen and sophomores," said coach Bruce Crowder. "Things like that will happen with a veteran team. I thought we played well and we had some chances here and there. But I thought Army played very well. They deserved to win the hockey game.

"With our guys, we’re at the point in the year where everybody’s expectations are maybe a little ahead of where they should be."

As a result, Crowder isn’t going to dwell on the loss, but move forward.

"We’ve got six big games coming up, starting with Maine coming in after they absolutely destroyed Amherst," he said. "We have to just play our game. We have to keep it simple.

"We’re going to have to keep Steve Kariya in check. We’re going to have to stay out of the penalty box, because their power play is excellent. And we have to play for 60 minutes.

"We’re a team that needs everybody playing for 60 minutes. We can’t rely on half the team or three-quarters of the team. We need 100 percent from everybody for us to be successful. I know that that’s what we didn’t get on Friday night."

The Huskies hope to get Scott Campbell and David Dupont, two of the three junior-seniors who have played regularly, back from injury. They are both day-to-day. Campbell has resumed skating.

Unfortunately, that can’t be said for sophomore defenseman Aaron Toews. Toews suffered a neck injury in a Jan. 30 loss to New Hampshire and has sadly had to call it a career.

Maine demolished UMass-Amherst, 6-1 and 12-2 last weekend.

"I think we caught them at the right time," said a gracious Shawn Walsh. "In retrospect, the timing of Tim Lovell’s departure may have adversely affected their mindset."

As for the Black Bears’ mindset, scoring 18 goals on a weekend could be just what the doctor ordered.

"I was just concerned with us stepping up our game," said Walsh. "I think we’ve played pretty well over the last couple months. It was nice to see the puck finally go in the net for us.

"The second night, we really had jump. I think what happened was that after we scored six the first night, it relaxed everybody. We were making plays that I didn’t see us make earlier when we were kind of tight."

The Black Bears got offensive contributions from an almost absurdly diverse cast. Six different players scored on Friday and an eye-catching 10 on Saturday.

"That was encouraging," said Walsh. "We didn’t rely on Stevie [Kariya] to provide the offense. A lot of our freshmen really stepped up and contributed."

Now, Maine prepares for its pivotal trip to Matthews Arena. Two weeks ago, the Huskies visited Orono and opened some eyes with a 5-3 win.

"Certainly, we saw how good Northeastern is," said Walsh. "I don’t think there’s any fluke about how they’ve played. To me, they’re just a terrific team that’s very underrated and has a lot of talented players that only now people are beginning to notice."

Walsh sees one key element of his team’s play that must improve from the game two weeks ago.

"We have to play sounder defensively," he said. "We gave up eight or nine odd-man rushes against them. You just can’t do that."

If Maine does have a successful weekend, say, picking up the three of four points that it needs at a minimum, it could parlay that into a great deal of momentum going into the playoffs. After this weekend, the Black Bears have remaining only two games against Nebraska-Omaha and another against UMass-Amherst. That could mean only one loss in their final nine regular-season games.

"[Momentum] is a factor, because it affects how your players think and how relaxed they are on the ice surface," said Walsh. "For our team, we’re now back to .500. It’s been a tough road and it’s been a climb. Our schedule has been very difficult in January and we knew that February would be different. You just keep on improving each and every game.

"We’ve got some guys who are now really starting to play. Robert Ek has become maybe our best defenseman. He’s just played terrific. He’s given us a stabilizing force back there that we haven’t had. Things like that are making us a better team. We’ve just got to continue in that direction."

PICKS: Northeastern, 3-2, in overtime on Friday night. Maine, 4-3, on Saturday.

UMass-Lowell (11-13-3, 8-8-3 HEA, 6th) vs. Merrimack (9-19-1, 4-15-0 HEA, 8th)

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

Saturday, 7 p.m., Volpe Complex, North Andover, MA

UMass-Lowell stunned Boston University on Saturday, beating them in all phases of the game as well as 5-2 on the scoreboard.

"It was a good team effort and that was our focus tonight," said coach Tim Whitehead after the game. "We wanted to play 60 or 65 minutes from start to finish with no letups. Win, lose or draw, we just wanted to play the game hard and let the chips fall from there.

"We worked hard. I was pleased with the team effort and that every one was contributing in one way or another."

One week earlier, BU had used a flurry of power-play goals to dust off the River Hawks 7-3.

"We made a couple adjustments, but there really were no secrets," said Whitehead. "We just worked hard, five-on-five and shorthanded. That was our goal."

Some dismissed Lowell’s performance, preferring to chalk it up to a Beanpot hangover for the Terriers.

"I’ve heard that in the past," said Whitehead, "but I’ve been in the league eight years now and BU does not seem to be fazed by it. So that was the last thing on our minds. We didn’t even talk about it."

Beanpot hangover or not, Lowell was greatly aided by finally having a healthy lineup. For the first time since late November, Mike Nicholishen and Chris Libett, the two River Hawk senior defenseman, both played in the same game. Several other players returned from short-term injuries for the game at the intimidating Walter Brown Arena.

"We had some seniors back in the lineup and they were a good calming effect on all the freshmen and sophomores," said Whitehead. I hope we can keep them in there for the stretch run. It’s really nice to have these guys back from their injuries.

"They’ve been through the atmosphere [here at Walter Brown Arena] and have been through some tough games here, so I think that was a big difference for us. Their leadership was real strong."

Marty Fillion played in his second straight game — the first a 3-1 win over UMass-Amherst — and made three terrific saves late in the first period to keep BU off its game.

"It had been a while since he’d been in there," said Whitehead. "We felt that in the stretch run it was going to be important for our seniors to really lead the way. He got the call against Amherst and I thought it was a great first game for him.

"Scott Fankhouser has done a nice job, too. It’s good to know that there’s a chance that we’ll have two strong goaltenders down the stretch. We just felt that as a senior, Marty would come to play. Down the stretch, the games are going to mean a lot to the seniors."

Another senior, Shannon Basaraba, the only upperclassman to have played in all this year’s games, scored a goal and added an assist. He noted, "When guys see that we can beat BU like this, then there’s no reason we can’t go into other games with the same attitude and know that we can win."

Unfortunately for the River Hawks, though, they couldn’t make it a back-to-back sweep over BU the way they did two years ago on the way to an NCAA quarterfinal appearance. In the rematch, BU scored three times in the first ten minutes en route to a 5-1 win.

"BU really came out to play early in the game and our guys did not," said Whitehead. "That first 10 minutes knocked us out. Falling behind three goals to BU is a tough one to climb back from.

"We had a real strong second period; we outshot them two-to-one, but that was after the fact. They did the damage they needed to do in the first and they played well and continued to do what they had to do to win the game. They clearly outplayed us.

"We outplayed them on the first night and they soundly outplayed us on the second night."

Fankhouser gave up the three early goals on Saturday and was replaced by Fillion a few minutes later. Although no decision has yet been made on who will start this weekend, Fillion seems a solid bet to start at least one of the two games.

Still, splitting with BU has given the River Hawks an outside chance at home ice, depending on how the Northeastern-Maine series pans out. If those two teams split while Lowell sweeps Merrimack, the River Hawks will have passed Maine and be only one point astern of Northeastern for home ice. "We’ve got to play well at home on Friday," said Whitehead, whose Hawks lost their first two games in the new Tsongas Arena. "We’ve been like a visiting team here. Part of that is understandable with a new arena, but we had such a big home ice advantage at the Tully, we really have to grab that back.

"We can’t wait till next year to grab home ice advantage because every game is crucial. We’ve got to play well in our own building on Friday night and then worry about Saturday night when that happens."

Although they’re 0-2 in the new facility, both crowds have been great. A sellout crowd of 6,496 christened the building on Jan. 27, but many of the high rollers in attendance didn’t know the proverbial blue line from a clothes line. Lowell followed that up, however, with 4,685 against BU.

"We’re real pleased at the crowd that was there," said Whitehead. "We just need to get some more students out and we’ll be set. We’re getting great community support. Hopefully, the students will jump on board and then we’ll be really happy.

"But we’re really excited about the crowds we’ve had the first two nights. That was more than any game we ever had at the Tully."

Prior to the hatchet job performed on coach Ron Anderson, the Merrimack Warriors took Boston College into the final 13 seconds before a Brian Gionta goal gave

the Eagles a 4-3 Friday night win.

One night later, BC completed the sweep, 4-1.

"[Friday night,] we had a lot more energy," said Anderson after the game. "We’re not a real swift-skating team, so it’s hard for us to play two nights in a row against a team that can handle the puck the way BC can.

"We didn’t have as good legs tonight as we had last night. And they looked a little quicker than they were last night. That’s a bad combination when you have the talent that they have. Our effort was there and our will and determination were there, but we just didn’t have the physical presence tonight."

Both nights, BC scored twice on the power-play, capitalizing on its league-leading man-advantage unit against Merrimack’s league-worst penalty-kill.

"We need experience back there [shorthanded]," said Anderson. "It’s a combination of goaltending, defense and our forwards recognizing situations. When they get the man advantage and have the firepower they have out there, they should score goals, no matter who you have out there."

Merrimack’s trio of Martin Laroche, Kris Porter and Rejean Stringer — who should also score goals, no matter who is out there against them — has struggled of late and are no longer a unit. Porter has only one point, a goal, in the last four games; Stringer has only one point, an assist, in the last six; and Laroche has only one point, a goal, in the last seven.

"They’re being checked a little tighter and all of a sudden they’re not freewheeling as much as they were," said Anderson. "They’re not playing as strong as they were before because of that. Instead of fighting their way through the traffic into opportunities, they’re looking around for them and they’re just not there. People are covering them pretty close."

At the other end, goaltender Tom Welby turned in his most impressive performance to date on Friday night, stopping 44 of 48 shots.

"He played well," said Anderson. "He’s given us a couple of good games. We’re reasonably pleased with his progress. He’s gone through a bit of transition as a freshman, but he’s making some strides."

Despite Welby’s fine performance, Anderson came back with usual starter Cris Classen on Saturday.

"Cris is like a freshman as well, so we’re trying to develop them both," said Anderson. "We’d like to think that come next year, we’ll have two guys that will have played a lot this year and can both play next year."

Newcomer John Pyliotis, a freshman who joined the team in January, has started to show his stuff and is now left wing on a line with converted defenseman Ryan Guzior and Casey Kesselring. He has recorded three points in his last four games.

"He’s working real hard, trying to improve himself," said Anderson. "That’s all you can ask. He’s really like a first-semester freshman. He’s going to be a fine player because he works hard and he pays attention to the little things."

The Warriors will try to stop their seven-game losing streak this weekend against UMass-Lowell.

"They’re playing well," said Anderson. "We have periods of good play, but we just have to pull it together and be a little more consistent over two nights."

PICKS: UMass-Lowell sweeps, 4-2, 4-1.

Northeastern’s Toews Career Ended

USCHO Staff Report
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Northeastern sophomore defenseman A.J. Toews, who has been out since sustaining an injury against New Hampshire on Jan. 30, has been diagnosed with a congenital spinal condition which has ended his collegiate career.

The condition — which is not related to the injury — was discovered during treatment, at which point Toews was advised to avoid all contact sports.

“It’s a tremendous loss for our program,” said Northeastern head coach Bruce Crowder, who was nonetheless thankful, alluding to the possibility of a severe injury had the condition gone unnoticed. “We’re very lucky that we were able to find this out when we did, instead of finding it out under very different circumstances.”

Toews, the son of former Pittsburgh Steeler Loren Toews, had 3-6-9 in 26 games. He will reportedly remain with the team in some capacity.

The Rivalry

By Lisa Morrison, Mike Ward, Daniel Rees Mills and Scott Brown
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This weekend, the Michigan Wolverines and the Michigan State Spartans renew one of college hockey’s greatest traditional rivalries. Students, parents and alumni of both schools, as well as fans of all stripes, will stream to the games: Friday at Munn Arena in East Lansing, and Saturday at Detroit’s Joe Louis Arena.

It’s an old rivalry, dating back to Jan. 11, 1922, when the University of Michigan hosted an upstart team from Michigan Agricultural College — later Michigan State College, later Michigan State University — and beat them 5-1.

At the time, no one could have guessed that the two schools would go on to play another 221 games, or that they would jointly produce ten NCAA national championships: two by the Spartans and eight by the Wolverines, including the first-ever in 1948.

One thing is for sure. This weekend, two programs separated by scarcely an hour’s drive, and joined by three-quarters of a century of tradition in competition, will face off once again.

May the best team win.

Michigan by Lisa Morrison and Mike Ward

Is this the greatest hockey rivalry in collegiate sports? Quite simply, if you’re a Michigander — or a player for either team — it is. And that makes this weekend the biggest weekend of hockey this season.

“It’s the weekend we circled very early on when we saw the schedule,” said Michigan goalie Marty Turco.

Wolverine captain Matt Herr appreciates the importance. “It doesn’t matter what type of year it is, you’re always playing for something. Whether it’s state pride, whether it’s first place, whether it’s bragging rights. Whatever it is, it’s Michigan-Michigan State. You can’t play it down.

“I’m a true Michigan guy and I will always think this is the greatest rivalry in the nation.”

The Wolverines enjoy a slight edge in the overall series, 118-98-6, and a 15-7-1 advantage at neutral sites. Further, this storied rivalry has seen a 31-game Michigan unbeaten streak and a 17-1 Wolverine victory. The last ten games have favored the Wolverines, who have garnered six wins and a 3.9-2.2 per-game advantage in scoring.

But that’s all in the past. For Michigan, the weekend will not make or break their season, but it can bring them closer to their goals. A sweep would virtually guarantee them the CCHA regular-season title, not to mention giving them an inside track on a bye in the NCAA West Regional.

On the other hand, an MSU sweep on the road and at a neutral site would put the lower-ranked Wolverines one point back in the CCHA race, though that likely would not cost them a bid to the NCAA tournament. Michigan’s senior leadership believes that most of the pressure is on the Spartans.

“Michigan State has more pressure on them in this game. They’re favored, expected to beat us and they’re ranked higher than us,” asserted Turco.

“The coaches don’t have to worry about getting guys pumped for this weekend, with two against the Green. It’s an individual challenge right down the whole row — every guy in practice and even the guys not playing in the game. We welcome the challenge and we look forward to it. We have destiny in our hands this weekend, and that’s the way we want it.”

The Wolverines are undaunted at the prospect of traveling to East Lansing. Goalies are often the target of home crowds, but Turco thinks the Wolverines are up to the challenge.

“Munn Ice Arena is a great place to play. The fans are right on you. It’s a great atmosphere, it’s someplace you look forward to going into. The rivalry against Michigan State makes your experience at Michigan all that much better. You look forward to the games against your arch-rivals, even on the road.”

Michigan coach Red Berenson appreciates the fact that the teams schedule the third game in the series at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

“It’s a great venue — everybody’s fans can go. It’s great when you fill that building, when you have half Michigan and half Michigan State fans,” he said, adding, “It’s really great when you get three-quarters Michigan fans and a quarter Michigan State fans.”

But perhaps it is Herr who best sums up both the series and the rivalry.

“Anytime you’re playing Michigan State, no matter where it is, it’s a fun game to play in — and that’s why you come to Michigan. You come to Michigan to play in the Michigan-Michigan State game. This is what hockey is.

“This is what the University of Michigan is all about.”

Michigan State by Daniel Rees Mills

Michigan State fans have filled Munn Arena to capacity for the past 214 regular-season games. The Spartans are 12-2-4 at home this season and 3-0-0 on neutral ice, and Michigan State hockey enthusiasts are long used to exciting games and strong performances.

So what makes these games stick out in the minds of Spartan faithful?

It’s not because head coach Ron Mason’s next win will be his 800th, a plateau never before achieved.

It’s not even because Michigan State’s opponent is ranked fifth and holds onto first place in the CCHA, three points ahead of the Spartans.

It’s because that opponent is the University of Michigan.

That’s right, Spartan fans. The Wolverines are coming to town, and they are bringing their pride with them. And watch out Saturday, when Michigan State and Michigan head to Joe Louis Arena to duke it out in the regular-season finale.

Michigan State senior Sean Berens, with his 26 goals this season, knows that the outcomes of these games are important to a lot more people than just the ones down on the ice.

“It’s a big weekend for the school,” he said, “Not only for the two teams but for all the fans, and all the faculty and staff. This weekend…determines a great rivalry.”

Any Spartan knows that there is nothing like beating Michigan, especially in a big game. Anyone who’s ever studied next to the Red Cedar River takes pleasure in watching a Wolverine stare at the clock in despair during the final seconds of a game about to be lost.

Michigan State has defeated Michigan twice this season — once in Ann Arbor, and once at Joe Louis Arena to take the Great Lakes Invitational title away from Michigan for the first time in nine years. You can be sure the Wolverines have not forgotten either game.

Similarly, the Michigan State squad is well aware of the magnitude of this weekend. Captain Tyler Harlton has been in this situation before, and no one knows better how it feels when his team spends its Friday and Saturday nights with Michigan.

“The adrenaline’s flowing because it is Michigan,” he said. “Being near the end of the season and both [teams] fighting for first place makes it that much bigger.”

Nonetheless, Harlton said there are no special provisions, no secret weapons that the Spartans can call on for a game like this.

“It’s the same mental preparation as we do for every game,” he said. “It’s basically just working hard Monday through Thursday at practice and trying to follow the same routine.”

Harlton and Berens are part of a five-man senior class for Michigan State which includes goaltender Chad Alban, right wing Kevin O’Keefe and defenseman-turned-left-wing Jon Gaskins. More than anyone, these veterans can appreciate a game against Michigan.

“We know the rivalry more now, being through four years and having some big losses to Michigan — and having a couple big wins,” Berens said. “Now is our chance to shine.”

Shine away, boys.

Merrimack Terminates Anderson’s Contract

USCHO Staff Report
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Merrimack College has announced that it will not renew the contract of head coach Ron Anderson, the winningest coach in the school’s history. Anderson will remain until the end of the season.

Anderson’s teams recorded a 244-223-23 record in the 14 years prior to this season, with their greatest moments occurring while the Warriors were still a Division II power. In their final years before moving up to Division I and joining Hockey East, they won three consecutive ECAC East championships (1987, 1988, 1989) and advanced to the quarterfinals of the 1988 NCAA Division I tournament.

The program struggled in its early D-I years, but experienced a breakthrough last season when it achieved a .500 record in Hockey East, earning its first playoff home-ice. As a result, the New England College Hockey Writers named Anderson the Division I Coach of the Year, and he was also a finalist for the Spencer Penrose National Coach of the Year award.

He was offered only a one-year contract extension, however, and after a 9-19-1 start was informed that he would not return next year.

Anderson also leaves a legacy of academic excellence among his athletes. He coached five Distinguished Scholars while in recent years Merrimack has led Hockey East in players named to the All-Academic Team. His achievements have come despite handicaps which included a rink widely considered the worst in Division I.

“I’m disappointed that I’m not going to be back,” said Anderson. “I’m proud that we have a program that’s gone from missing the playoffs in Division II when I came over to being a contender on any given night at the Division I level.

“I’m proud of the work that I’ve done and my coaching staff has done. I’m proud of the kids here now and all of the ones that came before. I leave here with many more good memories than bad.”

Reportedly, assistant coaches Stu Irving, Andy Heinze and Mike Geragosian will be retained for next season.

UMass-Amherst’s Lovell Suspended Indefinitely

USCHO Staff Report
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UMass-Amherst co-captain Tim Lovell has been suspended indefinitely by head coach Joe Mallen, the Bangor (Maine) Daily News reported Friday. Lovell, the Minutemen’s leading scorer with 20 points in 22 games, was punished for an unspecified violation of team rules.

“He violated a team policy,” said Mallen. “When I came here five years ago, I wanted to start a program based on integrity and class and a level of discipline. Tim Lovell hasn’t lived up to that. I think the guys on the team are satisfied the right move has been made here.”

Lovell, who transferred to UMass-Amherst after Maine’s self-imposed postseason ban following an investigation of NCAA violations, sat out last season as an academic redshirt. His suspension means that neither of the Minutemen’s original co-captains is currently with the team: Jeff Norton left UMass-Amherst two weeks ago to join the International Hockey League’s Detroit Vipers.

Sacred Heart Sanctioned By ECAC

USCHO Staff Report
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The Sacred Heart men’s hockey program, like Fairfield and Quinnipiac before it, has been declared ineligible for the ECAC playoffs because it awarded athletic scholarships, the Associated Press reported Friday.

According to ECAC officials, Sacred Heart’s games will not count towards the ECAC North/Central/South league standings. The penalties are identical to those levied against the other two schools, Fairfield earlier this week and Quinnipiac last December.

All three programs are preparing to join the newly-created Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, which will start play as college hockey’s fifth Division I conference next season.

This Week in Hockey East: February 13, 1998

By
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BC and Northeastern were the week’s runners-up, and not just because they faced each other in the Beanpot consolation. The Eagles’ win in the early game on Monday positioned them nicely for an NCAA at-large bid, moving them up to eighth in the Pairwise Rankings.

The Huskies, despite their loss in the consolation game, went a long way towards insuring a home-ice berth with a 5-3 win at Maine, a game that earned Hockey East KOHO Player of the Week honors for Todd Barclay. Barclay’s hat trick and assist triggered the win at Alfond Arena.

BU’s Carl Corazzini earned Rookie of the Week honors after scoring the game-winner against Northeastern in the Beanpot semifinal and then adding another two against UMass-Lowell. Last week’s record in picks: 6-2 Season’s record in picks: 101-58, .635

(As far as the picks go, since it’s been asked, if two teams tie and anything other than a tie was picked, that’s counted as a wrong pick. And if a Friday night win and then a Saturday night loss is picked for a series, then a split the opposite way — a Friday loss and a Saturday win — is considered two incorrect picks. It ain’t easy, folks. Please don’t try this at home. It requires a trained professional.)

No. 2 Boston University (20-4-2, 11-3-2 HEA, 1st) vs. UMass-Lowell (10-12-3, 7-7-3 HEA, 5th)

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

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

After knocking off Lowell 7-3 in a Friday night prelude, Boston University continued its Beanpot dominance in the nineties, taking its seventh title in nine years. As noted in last week’s column, the six senior Terriers — Chris Drury, Chris Kelleher, Mike Sylvia, Tom Noble, Jeff Kealty and Peter Donatelli — now become the the first class to win a Beanpot championship in all four of its years.

(And an apology is extended to the energetic Donatelli, whom I omitted last week due to an error in the Hockey East media guide. I knew he was a senior, but scanned the guide for the full list. He was incorrectly listed as a junior, so I missed him. It was one case where this geezer would have been better off just using his brain and forgetting the reference materials.)

The championship didn’t come easy, though. Harvard, the Rodney Dangerfield "I don’t get no respect" team of the Beanpot, took BU into overtime, tied 1-1. Crimson netminder J.R. Prestifilippo was exceptional and Noble, for whom BU’s goaltender rotation was juggled to give the start, also had to come up big while facing much less action.

"I’m so happy for the seniors," said coach Jack Parker after the game. "No one would second-guess playing Tommy Noble, but just the fact that we got out of the rotation, people could have thought that Michel Larocque should have played. But I talked to Rocco about it today and said, ‘This is something the seniors have a chance to do. Let’s let Noble be part of it instead of just watching it.’ He was not only part of it, he won it for us."

Going into the overtime, Parker told his team, "We’re playing well. Let’s just keep playing hard and see what happens. Let’s not worry about losing and trying not to lose. Let’s just play well. This is a great college hockey game. You ought to be proud of how you’re playing. You ought to be glad that they’re a worthy opponent."

In the overtime, tournament MVP Tom Poti made a stellar offensive play to set up the game-winner, putting a pass between a Harvard defender’s legs to Nick Gillis at the goalmouth. It was Poti’s second big assist of the game.

"I could sit here for days and talk about what he does for this team," said Drury, the beneficiary of Poti’s first helper. "He’s one of the best defensemen in the country, in any league. The things he does out there are indescribable. He puts on an even better show in practice."

Gillis, who seems to have found a home on the right wing with Drury and Tommi Degerman — a mighty nice neighborhood, that — tipped the game-winner into the net.

The win marked BU’s third ever Beanpot championship game overtime. The Terriers dropped the first such game to Boston College, 5-4 in 1957, but defeated Northeastern 4-3 in 1987. Any overtime win is dramatic, but this one took on an extra luster because of how well both teams were playing.

"There were times when everyone was close-checking and then all of a sudden it would break out and there would be some great opportunities and great saves," said Parker. "Then it would be back to control again. From a coaching point of view, it was a pretty sound technical game by both clubs."

The Terriers now turn to a home-and-home with UMass-Lowell this week, just seven days after their 7-3 win over the River Hawks. In that game, BU’s freshman came to the fore, led by Carl Corazzini, winner of the league’s Rookie of the Week award, who scored twice. Scott Perry and Russ Bartlett contributed a goal and an assist each, Joe DiPenta had two assists and Juha Vuori added another helper.

"They’re all coming along pretty well," said Parker. "We thought that we had a great freshman class. They’ve been contributing all year, but they’re getting much more confident now."

UMass-Lowell lost to the Terriers 7-3 in a contest sandwiched by the Beanpot semifinal and championship games. It was still anyone’s game late in the second period with BU leading 3-2, but a rash of penalties resulted in four Terrier power-play goals in the span of nine minutes.

By game’s end, BU would capitalize on five of its 10 man-advantage opportunities, with Lowell’s 17 penalties resulting in 51 minutes in the box. The Terriers took 11 penalties for 38 minutes.

"For that game to end up 7-3 was frustrating for us," said coach Tim Whitehead. "They’re definitely a very talented team, and when they get ten power-play opportunities, they’re going to score. Certainly that was the difference in the game."

More ominously, leading scorer Greg Koehler was assessed his second game disqualification for a tangle with Drury. As a result, he missed Lowell’s 3-1 win over UMass-Amherst, and will also miss the Friday night BU rematch.

John Campbell and Mike Mulligan, who both scored against BU, repeated their efforts against the Minutemen to help the River Hawks overcome Koehler’s absence.

PICKS: With Koehler out, Friday night could get ugly unless a post-Beanpot letdown occurs. BU wins 5-3, and completes the sweep with a 3-2 win in the second-ever game at Lowell’s Tsongas Arena.

No. 4 New Hampshire (19-5-1, 11-4-1 HEA, T-2nd) vs.

Providence College (13-11-3, 7-8-2 HEA, T-6th)

Friday, 7 p.m., Whittemore Center, Durham, NH Saturday, 7 p.m., Schneider Arena, Providence, RI

After three games in six days, New Hampshire took the ice only once this past weekend. The Wildcats defeated UMass-Amherst 4-1, taking control with two Tom Nolan first-period strikes.

Time out for an editorial comment.

Is there anything that better symbolizes Nolan’s career than the fact that the senior has never once been named Player of the Week? There’s always been someone else’s shadow for this kid to fall under, but all he’s done this year is lead Hockey East in league scoring and be second in the country overall.

That’s not to endorse a spate of nasty-grams to the league office, but simply to point out what a well-kept secret the kid from Springfield is. If plans for an USCHO All-Underrated feature article materialize in the next few weeks, look for his ironic inclusion.

End of editorial comment and back to the win over UMass-Amherst.

"We came out better in the first period than in our last two encounters with Boston College and Maine and went ahead 2-0," said coach Richard Umile. "We played well overall, went 2-for-3 on the power play and did a good job of killing penalties. So overall, I thought we played okay."

For Umile, some topics are getting extra emphasis now that the stretch run to the playoffs is underway. "You’ve got to win the low-scoring games," he said. "It’s going to be tight checking down the stretch. It’s like we’re into playoff hockey now."

The Wildcats are perhaps better prepared for that type of game than ever before. Second only to BU in team defense — Northeastern is a distant third — UNH is poised to break a team record for fewest goals allowed in a season. The Wildcats have allowed 62 to date and the thrice-achieved top mark is 77.

"That was our major goal coming into the season," said Umile. "The entire coaching staff and the players knew that that’s what we needed to do. It became a major team goal for us to accomplish."

A few weeks back, Providence’s scoring drought and goaltending woes might have made the Friars seem like cannon fodder for the Wildcats, but not now.

"It’ll be a tough weekend, " said Umile. "We’ve got a good rivalry going with Providence. They’re well-coached and well-disciplined. They play a very solid, defensive-type game and get good transition off their solid defense. I think they’re a team that matches up well with us."

Providence College took three out of four points last week and ended an eight-game winless streak with a 3-3 tie at BC and a 2-0 shutout over Merrimack.

The return of Jerry Keefe came not a moment too soon. The skilled forward jump-started the Friar offense, and the second line in particular, with four points on the weekend. Not only did that line total 10 points, but against BC it also matched up against the Marty Reasoner line. Perhaps it’s coincidence, but during Keefe’s two extended absences, most recently for eight games due to a broken thumb and five games earlier with a shoulder injury, PC recorded a 3-8-2 record, compared with 10-3-0 with him in the lineup.

That’s not to say that the kid is the next Gretzky, but he’s the catalyst on a second line with Mike Mader and Nick Lent. If the second line isn’t scoring, then the offensive burden falls entirely on the shoulders of the Mike Omicioli-Fernando Pisani-Jon Cameron line.

"Jerry has a tremendous amount of skill," said coach Paul Pooley. "He adds a lot to our lineup. Earlier in the year, we had two lines that could score, and that’s what we’ve been missing. The Omicioli line was the only line that was scoring for us after Christmas when Keefe and Heath Gordon were out. Getting two lines going frees you up for match-ups and lets your third and fourth lines be big and strong and bang."

Being big, strong and banging is what the Friars are all about. They may be the biggest team in the league. Other than scattered exceptions like Omicioli and Keefe, their roster is replete with 6-3, 6-4, 6-5 bruisers. They then use this to good advantage, working the puck down low and in the corners and cycling as well as any team in the league.

Gordon is expected back this weekend.

With freshman goaltender sensation Boyd Ballard — a strong Rookie of the Year candidate in the first semester — struggling, junior Mark Kane has filled the void nicely. His shutout against Merrimack was his first as a collegian.

"He adds a lot of energy for us," said Pooley. "He moves the puck really well. That adds another element back there, because when they dump it in and you just let it sit there, they’re barreling in on the forecheck and are going to create turnovers off it."

On the negative side, the Friar power play continues to struggle, going 0-for-6 on the weekend, including a glittering five-on-three opportunity for over a minute against Merrimack that could have put the game away. Going into that game, Providence had capitalized on only 7.5 percent of its chances in the last 11 games. During that stretch, PC posted a 1-8-2 record. Prior to the drought, the Friar power play had clicked at a 23.9 percent clip, while the team enjoyed a 11-3-1 mark.

"Honestly, I thought we got a lot of easy goals in the first half," said Pooley. "We’d go 3-for-6 and get a junk goal at the end. We got some easy goals early, but we had two lines that could score. If the power play goes dry, with Keefe and Gordon out, there’s a second unit that’s no good or a first unit that isn’t going. There’s no competition within the team."

It’s a good thing for the Friars that they got back to their winning ways and developed some momentum, because this weekend they face New Hampshire, a team second only to North Dakota in offensive prowess. PC is coming off a shutout over Merrimack, one of the league’s better offensive teams, but UNH poses some unique problems.

"Merrimack does it a little differently than UNH, " said Pooley. "[Rejean] Stringer has really turned his speed on, but they mostly do it with good puck skills and being opportunistic in transition. UNH is just flat-out fast. Their third line is as fast as their first two.

"We’ll have to play great defense and capitalize on the chances we get. Our power play has got to get a little bit better. Our PK did well against Merrimack, but up there on that big sheet against a team as talented as UNH, we’ll have to make sure that we’re doing a good job on the PK. We’ll need to play smart and not give up any odd-man rushes or easy back-door goals.

PICKS: UNH continues to run the board into the playoffs, winning 5-2 and 4-3.

No. 10 Boston College (17-8-4, 10-5-3 HEA, T-2nd) vs. Merrimack (9-17-1, 4-13-0 HEA, 8th)

Friday, 7 p.m., Volpe Complex, North Andover, MA

Saturday, 8 p.m., Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill, MA AudioNet

Boston College came off the heartbreak of its Beanpot semifinal loss to Harvard and salvaged a 3-3 tie with Providence before the Monday night consolation game.

"We beat Providence handily the first two times in January," said coach Jerry York, "but everything we did was right and everything they did was wrong. The score was no indication of the caliber of the two teams. We expected a hard game and it was a tough, hard grind for us."

The Eagles played without Marty Hughes, sidelined with a broken right ankle, and Chris Masters, out with a separated shoulder. With Ken Hemenway in a limited role due to the flu, they played most of the game with four defensemen.

York has reunited Brian Gionta with Marty Reasoner on a line with Andy Powers. When Gionta and Jeff Farkas played together in the World Junior Tournament, York initially kept the pairing together when the two returned, leaving Blake Bellefeuille on Reasoner’s wing. Now, however, York has restored the Gionta-Reasoner mix that was so effective in the first half.

"I like Gionta with Reasoner," he said. "With the World Juniors, Brian left us for such a long time that Blake went back there. But Blake is a natural center, so that’s where we’d like him."

Gionta continues to lead Hockey East freshmen in scoring with 35 points in 27 games.

"He’s been an instrumental part in the success we’ve had this year," said York. "He’s gotten better and better as he’s gone around the league a few times. He’s a better player now than he was earlier, and he was real good early."

BC then took on Northeastern and an unconscious Marc Robitaille in the Beanpot consolation game. The "losers’ bracket" is never where anyone wants to be, and frequently results in a go-through-the-motions performance by both teams. But with an at-large NCAA tournament bid potentially hanging in the balance, the Eagles poured on all kinds of offensive pressure, outshooting the Huskies 34-9 in the first two periods, only to be foiled by Robitaille’s heroics. They broke it open in an ironically even-played third period, however, to win 4-1.

Powers scored twice in the pivotal third period, with linemates Reasoner and Gionta assisting on the second, and Reasoner sending him off on a breakaway for the first.

"We’ve been looking for someone to play [with those two]," said York after the game. "Andy made a statement tonight. That was an excellent goal, beating Robitaille top-shelf. He had a lot of jump on his shot. He played well with Marty and Brian."

As a result, Boston College now jumps to eighth in the Pairwise Rankings, which determine the selections for the national tournament.

"We want to play in the NCAA tournament as an at-large entry, so it was unbelievably important," said York. "We’d like to win the [regular-season] championship or win the playoff championship. That guarantees you a spot. But if you don’t win either of those, this game becomes very important. Plus, it’s just good to win games.

"We’ve just got to continue to play as well as we did. I thought against Harvard last Monday we played 55 minutes as well as we’ve played all year. We’ve talked about how you have to play 60 minutes against good teams. If you’re playing Our Sisters of the Poor, you can play 30 minutes and win, but against Harvard and Northeastern, you have to play for a full 60 minutes. It’s easy to say, but it’s hard because the other team influences the 60 minutes.

"I think we’ve played well defensively over the course of the year. Not many teams get more than 20-22 shots on our goaltender. But we’ve got to make sure that of the 20-odd shots, the quality chances aren’t real high. We’ve had a tendency to break down and all of a sudden give up a tremendous opportunity."

The Eagles now take on Merrimack, a team that upset them earlier this year, 6-4.

"They have some excellent goal-scorers," said York. "The line [of Martin Laroche, Kris Porter and Rejean Stringer], in particular, is as good a line as we’ll see in Hockey East. That makes them a dangerous team. They’ve beaten us the only time we’ve played, so we’re going to have to play well. Up at Merrimack, it’s a hard, physical game.

"We really have to get Marty Hughes back on our club. We’re surviving without him, but he’s an integral part of our team. There’s a chance that he might be able to play this weekend. He’s been a tough loss for us. As we look forward to Merrimack, we’ve got to get him and Chris Masters back. Those have been two tough losses for us."

Merrimack lost its only game of the week, suffering a 2-0 shutout at the hands of Providence. The surprise starter in the nets, Tom Welby, performed adequately in the loss.

"We didn’t have a lot of zip in our game offensively," said coach Ron Anderson. "We played a pretty solid game defensively and I thought our goaltender did a good job, but they were just a little sharper than us offensively.

"It isn’t something we’re going to hang our heads about. I just told the guys that it’s not going to get fixed unless we fix it. So we’re going to show up this week, work really hard and get ready to go for the weekend. We know what we’re capable of and we know what can happen if we’re not real sharp. We just have to sharpen ourselves up a little bit."

The Warriors have now lost five straight. While they have improved their league-worst defense, the offense, once ranked one of the top ones in the league, has disappeared. In the five losses, they have scored a total of only nine goals.

"When you’re getting goals, it feeds itself," said Anderson. "When they’re not going in, you start to press a little harder. You’re a little more sluggish and your legs don’t seem to be there. You stop anticipating and all of a sudden you’re reacting to situations instead of pro-acting. I think that’s what’s been happening. We’ve lost our zip a little bit, lost our confidence and our anticipation."

Along with the rest of the offense, the power play — which is still ranked first overall in the league with a 27.0 percentage — has struggled of late, going only 1-for-13 in the last three games.

"It ties into not scoring goals, period," said Anderson. "We’re not really moving our feet, getting after pucks, driving to the net, forcing mistakes and forcing opportunities for ourselves. We’re waiting for opportunities to happen. You’re not going to get any if you wait for them to happen."

Life doesn’t get any easier for Merrimack this week, with a home-and-home on tap against No. 10 Boston College.

"They’re really explosive offensively," said Anderson. "We have to sustain the way that we’ve been playing defense lately and try to find some way to get our offense going. It’s important that we’re playing well defensively, playing against a team like BC. We have to make sure that we don’t neglect that, but we still have to get some offense going as well."

PICKS: Boston College 4-2 and 6-3.

UMass-Amherst (5-18-2, 2-13-1 HEA, 9th) at Maine (10-12-3, 7-10-2 HEA, T-6th)

Friday, Saturday, 7 p.m., Alfond Arena, Orono, ME

Maine hosted Northeastern in the Black Bears’ only game of the week and lost 5-3.

"We just didn’t play very well," said coach Shawn Walsh. "A lot of credit has to go to Northeastern. They outworked us and dominated us on faceoffs. We had a 2-1 lead, but they got two goals in the second period, and we’re not a good come-from-behind team.

"When we did get it to 4-3, they got a goal 16 seconds later, so give them all the credit in the world. They were very impressive. I think they’ve got a vastly underrated talent pool there."

Walsh isn’t so sure that the usual line about Northeastern — "not much talent, but great work ethic" — doesn’t sell the Huskies short.

"I’m not so sure," he said. "Todd Barclay got three goals and he looked pretty good."

The loss could prove the deciding factor in Northeastern hosting Maine in the playoffs instead of the busses traveling in the opposite direction. Although the Huskies hold a six-point advantage and game in hand, the Black Bears have a much easier schedule down the stretch.

The loss likely makes a sweep at Northeastern next weekend mandatory. For Walsh, however, if wins are the "means to an end" of home-ice, it’s important to concentrate on the former.

"We have to keep our focus on the means," he said. "And that is the upcoming game on Friday night and then worry about Saturday night once that occurs. We can’t get caught up in the ends. Home ice hasn’t been very good to us anyways. We’ve played much better on the road."

The Black Bears are a surprising 4-6-1 at home against NCAA teams, with most of their impressive performances on the road: a 3-1 win over UNH, a tie with BC and one-goal losses to BU.

"Whether we get home ice or not isn’t a major concern as much as getting some ‘W’s and getting some momentum going into the playoffs," said Walsh.

The drop in Maine’s fortunes at home prompts a search for reasons. The knee-jerk reaction is to wonder if the fans have lost their edge during the difficulties of the last couple years.

"I wouldn’t blame it on the fans," said Walsh. "I don’t think we’ve played particularly well at home and given them a reason to really get involved. That’s our responsibility. We’ve had a couple great games here and they’re anxious to help us when we’re playing well. But we just haven’t put together our best efforts at home."

The fans may have an extra incentive this weekend, however, when Maine expatriate Tim Lovell returns to the Alfond ice with the UMass-Amherst Minutemen. It will be Lovell’s first time back after his transfer a year and a half ago.

"We understand that they’re playing much better," said Walsh. "Their backs are against the wall, so I know they’ll give it a great effort. I’m sure Tim will be a great leader this weekend."

UMass-Amherst couldn’t keep its momentum going from its wins over Providence and Merrimack one week earlier, falling 4-1 to New Hampshire and 3-1 to UMass-Lowell.

"Against UNH, Brian Regan was spectacular in goal — it was one of his best outings of the year," said coach Joe Mallen. In his last four starts, Regan has posted a 2.50 GAA and a .919 save percentage. "He realizes that we’re getting down to the last part of his senior year. He has a lot of pride in his game and he’s really picked it up. He knows that if we’re going to win games, he needs to play well."

Unfortunately, the rest of the team’s defensive performance against UNH did not match Regan’s.

"We did not play well defensively on the blue line," said Mallen. "We allowed four or five breakaways and two power-play goals. But I thought we played a decent game in terms of it being David versus Goliath. We came out of the game with the satisfaction of playing them pretty tough overall."

Less satisfying was the loss to Lowell, which gave the River Hawks a sweep of the season series. Initially a slow game that saw the first-period shot totals at a snoozing 5-4 — "like two boxers feeling each other out," according to Mallen — it came awake in the second period, but not in the way the Minutemen had hoped for. Lowell seized the lead while outshooting its sister school 17-8, and continued to the win.

UMass-Amherst now travels to Alfond Arena, where the Black Bears may not be as dominant as in the past but still present many problems.

"You certainly can’t go up there thinking that it’s going to be an easy night, that’s for sure," said Mallen. "It’s one of the toughest places to play in the league, despite the record. They may not be where they want to be in the standings, but it’ll be interesting to see where they finish up.

"Their 3-1 win over UNH a couple weeks ago just shows you what kind of team they can be. They’re not going to sit back in their rink against us; I think it’ll be a real up-and-down game."

PICKS: Maine 5-3, 4-2.

Army (13-13-1, 1-11-0 vs. aligned D-I) at

Northeastern (17-10-2, 10-6-2 HEA, 4th)

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

Those who thought Northeastern’s Cinderella season would turn midnight last Thursday at Alfond Arena got a big surprise when NU topped Maine 5-3. The Black Bears had just upset UNH 3-1, while the Huskies were coming off a Beanpot loss to BU and were losing a war of attrition on the blue line. Maine appeared to be the heavy favorite and, with a comparatively light schedule down the stretch, appeared a reasonable bet to catch Northeastern for the final home ice spot.

"That was a tremendous win," said coach Bruce Crowder about the four-point swing. "The kids went up there a little disappointed and shorthanded with injuries, but they played well and found a way to win."

Todd Barclay, this week’s KOHO Player of the Week, sparked the offense with a hat trick and an assist, breaking a personal drought of four games without a point. He now leads the Huskies with 16 goals and five assists for 21 points.

"He had a tremendous game for us," said Crowder. "He shot the puck very well. We’d love to see that out of him every night, obviously. He does have the capabilities to do that."

Although the remaining schedule contains a succession of land mines, the Huskies now hold a five-point edge over UMass-Lowell and a six-point lead over Providence and Maine in the battle for home ice. The Black Bears, though, continue to be the likeliest challenger after considering all the stretch-run games.

"We don’t have home ice yet, but it helped put a couple nails in the thing," said Crowder. "But we’ve got a tough row to hoe, and schedule-wise they might have it a bit easier. What it’s going to boil down to is that we’ve got control of our own destiny. We play Maine twice at home and if we take care of the task at hand, then we’ll have home ice."

After the strong play up north, however, the Huskies hung Marc Robitaille out to dry for two periods in the Beanpot consolation game, one with NCAA tournament implications for the Huskies. Although they came alive in the third period, it was too little, too late and BC won 4-1.

"Nobody comes in this tournament and says, ‘Wow, I hope I can play in the consolation game!’" said Crowder. "But the one thing college hockey has is that these become important games for teams battling for the NCAA postseason picture.

"I have no excuses. We just didn’t play well. We got beaten in every aspect of play. It’s just something the coaches will try to evaluate."

On the plus side, Robitaille was spectacular. For the second straight year he won the Beanpot Eberly Award, given to the goaltender who competes in both games and achieves the highest save percentage. Last year’s .944 mark was tops, as was this year’s .916.

On the injury front, defenseman Mike Jozefowicz has finally returned and not a moment too soon. Aaron Toews’s neck injury is requiring further medical opinions. He will definitely not play this weekend. David Dupont and Scott Campbell also missed the Beanpot consolation game and are day-to-day.

Army has been following a predictable pattern. They’ve beaten up on many of their non-Division I and Independent foes, but lost to teams from the four conferences. Although the Cadets have had many close-but-no-cigar losses to these teams, including two in overtime, they can put only one game against UMass-Amherst in the win column.

Linemates Andy Lundbohm, Greg Buckmeier and Jon Toftey continue to lead team scoring.

PICK: Northeastern 4-2.

This Week in the WCHA: February 13, 1998

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Yet perhaps the biggest news in the conference this week occurred off the ice, as Michigan Tech decided not to follow archrival Northern Michigan into the Central Collegiate Hockey Association.

After four long months of self-evaluation, Husky coach Tim Watters, in conjunction with athletic director Rick Yeo, the school’s senior administration, local community, fans and alumni, decided not only to stay put, but also to recommend the construction of the proposed Hockey Education Center, which would include expanded facilities for players, coaches and alumni, and the establishment of a hockey endowment fund to bolster the school’s hockey program.

"I will say I’m very pleased with what has transpired over the last four months," Watters said. "I feel good about the commitment to our program, both from our university administrations and from our former players and fans.

"It’s healthy to continually evaluate your program and this was pretty in-depth. I will say that personally I’m very happy we’ll be staying in the WCHA."

The school’s decisions put to rest one of the hotter topics not just around the school, but around the league. In addition to maintaining the league’s nine-team membership, WCHA officials will be spared the troubles of searching for a piece of hardware to replace the McNaughton Cup, which the Huskies would have taken with them.

"Certainly the issue of which league Michigan Tech belongs in has been the hottest topic externally," Yeo said. "But that is one of many significant issues we have looked at over the last several months."

Of great local importance will be the Hockey Educational Center, which will include an expanded varsity locker room and sauna, a strength and conditioning room, a training room, an equipment room, a classroom/study room, a lecture hall/film room, and a video editing/conference room. But can Yeo, Watters and Co. raise the necessary funds to complete construction of this college-hockey Disneyland? Yeo thinks so.

"We’re confident that with the help of the Hockey Advisory Council we can raise the money necessary to get the project done immediately," Yeo said. "The establishment of an endowment fund for hockey is something the Hockey Advisory Council was vehement about getting in place."

Endowment funds? Video editing rooms? CLASSrooms? Let’s get back to what’s shaping up to be an exciting spring to the finish.

Michigan Tech (13-14-2, 8-13-1 WCHA) at No. 9 St. Cloud State (16-8-2, 13-6-1 WCHA) Friday-Saturday, 7:05 CT, National Hockey Center, St. Cloud, Minn.

Tech went out and celebrated its announcement by getting swept at home by Minnesota-Duluth. Not only did the sweep sour the good feelings surrounding the trio of announcements and end the momentum created with the Winter Carnival sweep of Minnesota, but in suffering its first home sweep against the Bulldogs in 20 years, Tech dropped four points out of the all-important number-five slot in the WCHA standings.

"It was a very disappointing weekend," Watters said. "We didn’t play particularly well Friday and then on Saturday, I thought we played pretty well; however, you can’t allow seven goals and expect to win."

David Weninger saved just 75 percent of the shots he faced against Duluth, but was handicapped by two UMD power-play goals each night. Defenseman Andy Sutton was a Tech bright spot, going 2-1–3 in Saturday’s loss.

As simple as it seems, high scoring is the key to the Tech attack: the team is 8-1-1 this season when scoring four or more goals, but just 5-13-1 when scoring three goals or fewer.

Tech will have its work cut out for it this weekend against the WCHA’s other Huskies: St. Cloud allows just 2.85 goals per game, third-best in the league.

"We have a difficult challenge this weekend in St. Cloud State," Watters said. "Certainly we’ll have to contend with Brian Leitza, who is no doubt as good a goaltender as there is in the league."

Leitza, fifth in the WCHA with a 2.77 GAA, is protected by a largely-anonymous group of defensemen, including Josh DeWolf, Geno Parrish and Andy Vicari. The blueliners will be weakened by the loss of DeWolf, who injured his ankle two weeks ago against Denver.

St. Cloud, which owns a 7-1-2 record in its last 10 games against Tech, has been getting its offensive punch from center Matt Noga, who is 5-1–6 during a five-game scoring streak, and right wing Mike Rucinski, who is 3-3–6 over his last six.

Picks: Tech appears to be struggling at a time when it can least afford it. But though Watters’ team is on the road, its hosts are rusty, coming off a bye week. Also, St. Cloud may be complacent, content to hold the conference’s number-three slot, which would ensure a first-round bye at the Final Five. On the flip side, the week off may have given SCSU ample time to heal its minor wounds, excepting DeWolf. SCSU 5-4, MTU 6-4

Denver (9-18-1, 6-13-1 WCHA) at No. 8 Wisconsin (19-8-1, 14-5-1 WCHA) Friday-Saturday, 7:05 CT, Dane County Coliseum, Madison, Wis.

Yet another of the compelling coaching-alumni matchups in the WCHA. There’s ex-Wisconsin star Dean Talafous coaching at Alaska-Anchorage. There’s Colorado College alum Jeff Sauer coaching at Wisconsin. There’s Dean Blais, who attended Minnesota before coaching at North Dakota (more on that later).

And here’s Denver, coached by UW alum George Gwozdecky, and coached rather well. In three years at the helm, Gwozdecky has guided Denver to three Final Fives and two NCAA tournament bids while compiling an 80-60-10 record. But he is just 5-8-0 against his alma mater, while Sauer is 38-17-4 against Denver. In fact, the Badgers have been Denver’s greatest nemesis, as the Pioneers’ .357 all-time winning percentage versus UW is their worst against any opponent.

Yet while Gwozdecky’s team has struggled mightily this season, dangling just a single point outside the conference cellar, Denver is 5-2-1 in its last eight games, and scored an emotional series win over CC last weekend, reassuming control of the Gold Pan.

Anders Bjork has been on fire of late, going 7-4–11 in his current eight-game scoring streak. The senior center notched his 100th career point in Friday’s 6-6 tie. Aiding Bjork (8-8–16 in league play) has been rookie winger Mark Rycroft (8-10–18), who recorded his first three-point collegiate game Friday, and leading scorer Paul Comrie (7-12–19).

Denver will be without forward Mike Dairon (4-7–11), who suffered a sprained medial collateral ligament two weeks ago against St. Cloud. On the plus side of the ledger, defenseman Ryan Hacker and forwards Bryce Wallnutt and Joe Casey return from nagging injuries.

Stephen Wagner has backstopped the current DU hot streak, but his numbers continue to lag, allowing almost three and a half goals per game.

"They’re playing better than they were when we beat them the first time, they’ve got a couple players back in there lineup," said Sauer, whose team swept Denver on the road in early January. "But it’s a team on the big ice surface here in Madison, and I’m going to put the pressure on my team to win two games."

Sauer hasn’t had much to be pleased with in the past 10 days. Number-one goaltender Mike Valley had minor surgery to fix a knee injury, center Joe Bianchi separated his shoulder and forward E.J. Bradley hurt his, um, groin. Oh yeah, and the Badgers were spanked by Minnesota, losing 4-1, 7-0, stretching their Twin Cities losing streak to six years.

Still, Sauer sees the losses as a positive.

"Maybe it’s good for us," Sauer said. "We were starting to read our press clippings and all that sort of thing; people start telling us we’re pretty good, and maybe we believed all of that."

And even though the team saw its grip on first place loosened after just one week, Sauer likes his team’s end-of-the year schedule, which also includes a home series against St. Cloud and a visit to North Dakota.

"We didn’t lose that much ground, we’re two games out of first, but we’ve got that team ahead of us, on our schedule," Sauer said. "We’ve got eight games left to play. Let’s just make sure we’re making a run when we go to Grand Forks, have a chance to finish first."

Valley will not return yet this weekend, so the net will be protected by freshman Graham Melanson, whose impressive eight-game run was brought to a screeching halt by Minnesota. Many of Melanson’s allowances were the result of a mistake-prone UW defense, which granted the Gophers numerous quality scoring chances.

"Graham will bounce back, he’s a strong kid," Sauer said.

There is a good chance that Bianchi will play this weekend, while Bradley seems like a probable scratch.

Of note: UW defenseman Craig Anderson, who led the WCHA in scoring for a while, has not scored in four games.

Picks: Sauer made note this week of his team’s up-and-down nature, starting the season hot, suffering a November-December swoon, then going unbeaten for 13 games before last weekend. Strangely, these streaks have not seemed to intersect individual series, but this weekend may change that as Wisconsin goes through another "growing-process" game before starting its late-season run. DU 3-1, UW 7-2

Minnesota (12-16-0, 8-12-0 WCHA) at No. 1 North Dakota (21-4-1, 15-4-1 WCHA) Saturday-Sunday, 2:05 CT, Engelstad Arena, Grand Forks N.D.

North Dakota quietly slipped back into the top spot in both the WCHA and the nation last weekend, thanks to Wisconsin’s losses at Minnesota and Michigan State’s struggles against Ohio State and Miami. As the Sioux methodically took care of business several time zones away, thoughts of a Gopher team which may finally be getting its act together must have been prevalent.

"They’re not a good hockey team right now, but they played well against us," Sauer said. "As we walked out of the rink Saturday night and Doug was surrounded by a bunch of press guys, I just said, ‘Now go up to North Dakota and do the same thing.’"

Easier said than done. Just about everything clicked for Minnesota last weekend, starting with goaltender Steve DeBus. The much-maligned reigning first-team all-WCHA goalie, DeBus came up huge at home, saving 54 of 55 shots on the weekend.

"Stevie gives up one goal in 120 minutes, and that’s pretty much the weekend," said Minnesota coach Doug Woog. "Everything went our way — we got the bounces and we got the saves."

The Gophers were opportunistic on the other end of the ice, capitalizing on numerous bonehead Wisconsin mistakes to grab early leads. Forwards Ryan Kraft, Wyatt Smith, Dave Spehar and Reggie Berg combined to score 18 points in the series, highlighted by Smith’s first career hat trick and Kraft’s third career four-point game Saturday. With his four-point series, Berg wrestled the WCHA scoring lead away from Wisconsin’s Steve Reinprecht and UND’s Dave Hoogsteen.

"We played with the lead the whole series, and that was different," said Smith.

Minnesota will be hard-pressed to lead the whole series on the road against the nation’s top team. No player on Minnesota’s roster has beaten North Dakota in Grand Forks, going 0-5-1 over the last three seasons.

The Sioux currently lead the conference by two games, but after looking at the sheer volume of impressive statistics the team has accrued, one might come to the conclusion that the lead is too small. Consider:

The Sioux lead the WCHA in scoring, netting almost a full goal per game more than St. Cloud’s second-best average. Conversely, North Dakota yields a league-low 2.45 goals per game.

North Dakota converts 20.8 percent of the time in man-advantage situations, while killing 89.3 percent of opponents’ power plays, both league bests. The Sioux have also scored a WCHA-high six shorthanded goals.

Individually, rookie sensation Karl Goehring leads the conference, allowing a mere 1.51 goals per game, and has earned the win in each of his last 13 appearances. Offensively, six of the league’s top 19 scorers call Engelstad Arena home.

So is North Dakota’s modest lead a sign of underachievement or scrappy challengers? Let’s just call it a little bit of both.

Picks: Two weeks ago, I surmised that a healthy Minnesota squad was ready to embark on a late-season run. They then proceeded to lose two games at Michigan Tech. Now, the Gophers are coming off two emotional home victories over a hated rival, and it remains to be seen if they can keep improving. On the other side, is it time the law of averages caught up with the Sioux? Here’s predicting a little bit of both.UM 6-5, UND 8-0 (The Sioux lost to Minnesota 6-5 on Halloween, so UND evens the season’s holiday score here).

Alaska-Anchorage (6-20-3, 5-15-2 WCHA) at Minnesota-Duluth (15-14-1, 10-11-1 WCHA) Friday-Saturday, 7:05 CT, Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center, Duluth, Minn.

Stand back, Seawolves, because Mike Peluso is starting to heat up. After a slow start, Peluso has amassed 15 of his team-high 32 points in the last six games, including a 3-3–6 effort in last weekend’s sweep of Michigan Tech.

But Peluso isn’t the only hot Bulldog of late. Center Jeff Scissons has gone 5-10–15 over his last nine games, and is tied with Peluso, North Dakota’s Curtis Murphy and CC’s Brian Swanson for fourth place in the WCHA scoring race.

But if you think that’s all UMD has going for it right now, think again. Sophomore blueliner Curtis Doell enters Friday’s game with a career-best eight-game scoring streak, and the man with the mask, goalie Brant Nicklin, is 6-1-0 with a .915 save percentage in his last seven appearances at the DECC.

Want more? Duluth is 24-4-1 all-time against UAA, 14-1-1 at the DECC.

As for the Seawolves, how many different ways can you say "no offense"? In addition to scoring just two goals at home against North Dakota, UAA allowed 10 scores itself after allowing just five goals in its previous three games.

Certainly injuries can be blamed for many of Anchorage’s recent problems, as only 18 skaters dressed for Saturday’s series finale. Even captain Stacy Prevost — he of the 127 consecutive games played — missed the UND series with a shoulder injury.

Still, even the Seawolves’ healthy gunners aren’t scoring: leading scorer Rob Douglas has gone five games without, his longest drought of the season. Droughts have been in abundance this season in Alaska, and this series seems to be no different.

Picks: Why is it that every week, after hours of careful analysis, the Anchorage series seems like the only easy pick? Looks like another sweep here, as Duluth continues to separate itself from Tech and Minnesota in the race for the number-five slot.UMD 5-1, 2-0

This Week in the ECAC: February 13, 1998

By Becky Blaeser & Jayson Moy
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ECAC Standings

It’s starting to sound like a broken record, but what can you say when it’s true?

So what stayed the same after this past weekend’s action? Yale is still in first place, Union is still in last place, and the middle is still clogged up. Someone please help me.

Last week’s predictions: 5-8 (I repeat, someone please help me) Year to date: 80-74, .519, 3rd (I’m your so-called expert?)

Clarkson (13-6-3, 9-3-2 ECAC, 2nd) and St. Lawrence (5-16-1, 4-9-1 ECAC, 11th) at Rensselaer (12-9-3, 6-5-3 ECAC, T-4th) Friday – Saturday, 7:30 – 7 pm Empire, Houston Fieldhouse, Troy, N.Y. St. Lawrence (5-16-1, 4-9-1 ECAC, 11th) and Clarkson (13-6-3, 9-3-2 ECAC, 2nd) at Union (5-16-3, 2-10-2 ECAC, 12th) Friday – Saturday, 7:30 – 7 pm, Achilles Rink, Schenectady, N.Y. Previous Meetings Nov. 21: St. Lawrence 1, Rensselaer 0; Clarkson 3, Union 3 Nov. 22: St. Lawrence 7, Union 0; Clarkson 11, Rensselaer 0

Clarkson is arguably the hottest team in the ECAC right now. The Golden Knights have only lost one ECAC game in 1998, going 5-1-1 in that span. The Knights have gone from a tie for third place to second place all alone, but at the same time have actually lost a point in the standings to frontrunning Yale.

Never mind that, though, the Knights have been playing great hockey — led by many. The goaltending tandem of Dan Murphy and Chris Bernard is playing spectacular hockey, and are number two and three in goals-against average, with marks of 1.88 and 2.37, respectively.

At the same time, freshman Erik Cole is making his run for Rookie of the Year. In those seven games Cole has scored five goals and three assists. Chris Clark has five goals and five assists, and Buddy Wallace two goals and four assists.

St. Lawrence lost a pair of games this weekend to Dartmouth and Vermont, dropping the Saints from a tie for eighth place to the 11th spot, a spot not in the playoffs.

While Eric Heffler has been spectacular in goal for the Saints (2.50 GAA, .924 SV%), the Saints have not been scoring goals: an average of 2.00 goals per league game while giving up 2.71 per. That stat doesn’t bode well for any team, and it’s even worse for a team that is not in the playoff picture at the moment.

"Obviously our backs are to the wall," said head coach Joe Marsh. "We have to find a way to score some goals and win some hockey games. This past weekend was a real setback for us…the effort was there for the most part, but you can see the frustration we are experiencing."

Similarly, Union is dangerously close to not making the postseason. The Dutchmen are four points out of a playoff spot, and three of their next four games are against the teams immediately ahead of them: that starts with St. Lawrence on Friday evening.

The Dutchmen are 0-8-1 in their last nine ECAC games, though five of those losses have been by less than two goals — and it would have been six had Brown not scored two empty-netters Saturday. A win is all that anyone is looking for on the Dutchmen team.

"We have to win a game soon to get ourselves back on the beam," said head coach Stan Moore to the Schenectady Gazette’s Ken Schott.

"Time is definitely running out," said defenseman Jeff Sproat.

"It just seems like we’re getting further and further away," said captain Charlie Moxham. "We make just a couple of little mistakes, and you can’t afford to do that. We can’t seem to learn that it’s going to cost us."

"Inconsistent" is definitely the word that describes the Rensselaer Engineers. They dropped a 3-2 game to Brown and then came back to dominate Harvard 5-1 the next day.

"We needed a game like [Saturday’s] to put Friday’s game behind us," said head coach Dan Fridgen.

The Engineers know the sense of urgency in the last four weeks of ECAC play.

"[Friday’s] game was a heartbreaker," said goaltender Scott Prekaski. "The [Harvard] game was big for us. We only have eight games left, and if we want home ice, we’ve got to win nearly all of them."

The last time the Engineers played the North Country duo, they were shut out by a combined score of 12-0, with 11 of the goals coming off Clarkson sticks.

PICKS: Clarkson at Rensselaer: The hotter team over the inconsistent one. Clarkson 5, Rensselaer 2 St. Lawrence at Union: Who wants to get in the playoffs? St. Lawrence 3, Union 1 St. Lawrence at Rensselaer: The other side of inconsistent. Rensselaer 4, St. Lawrence 2 Clarkson at Union: Four points to set up a meeting with Yale. Clarkson 7, Union 1

Dartmouth (9-9-3, 5-8-1 ECAC, 9th) and Vermont (7-15-2, 4-8-2 ECAC, 10th) at Colgate (14-8-2, 8-5-1 ECAC, 3rd) Friday – Saturday, 7:30 pm – 7 pm, Starr Rink, Hamilton, N.Y. Vermont (7-15-2, 4-8-2 ECAC, 10th) and Dartmouth (9-9-3, 5-8-1 ECAC, 9th) at Cornell (11-8-2, 7-6-1 ECAC, T-4th) Friday – Saturday, 7:30 pm – 7 pm, Lynah Rink, Ithaca, N.Y. Previous Meetings: Nov. 14: Cornell 4, Dartmouth 1; Colgate 7, Vermont 0 Nov. 15: Cornell 1, Vermont 1; Colgate 7, Dartmouth 2

Vermont came through with a win over St. Lawrence, but dropped a decision to Clarkson. The 5-2 victory against the Saints vaulted the Catamounts into sole possession of tenth place — the final playoff spot under the ECAC’s new postseason format.

Kevin Karlander scored twice in the win, and goals were added by Jean-Francois Caudron, Eric Lundin and B.J. Kilbourne while Andrew Allen made 39 saves, following a 26-save performance against Clarkson the night before. Stephane Piche scored both goals in the 5-2 loss that night.

Dartmouth had the same results — a loss to Clarkson and a win over St. Lawrence. The Big Green are in sole possession of ninth place.

Mike Byrne, David Whitworth, Jon Sturgis, Tom Ruzzo and Jeremiah Buckley scored in the 5-2 win over the Saints. The next evening, Buckley scored the only goal of the game for the Big Green in their 5-1 defeat.

Cornell was decimated by Yale on Saturday, 11-0, but then went out and defeated Princeton 4-1.

"There isn’t much to say," said Cornell head coach Mike Schafer after Friday’s loss. "Things like that happen in hockey. All night, everything we touched went extremely wrong for us. Every aspect of the game, they played well and things went wrong for us. After a while it was a matter of surviving the course of the game."

Luckily for the Big Red, the team persevered and came back the next night.

"Like I said [Friday night], it was just a bad night," said Schafer. "When you get beat like that, it puts doubts in people’s minds. But, I thought [Saturday night] we played a very solid hockey game. It could have been that situation where we got down on ourselves, but our team’s got a lot more experience than that, and we did a good job bouncing back."

Unfortunately the injury bug continues to hit the Big Red, as Ryan Moynihan joins Jason Dailey with a broken hand. It is doubtful that either will play this weekend.

Colgate failed to score a single goal this weekend in losses to Princeton and Yale, losses which dropped the Red Raiders into third place in the ECAC standings.

"We never challenged at all," said head coach Don Vaughan. "It definitely was not the kind of hockey you need to play in order to be a home-ice contender."

The Red Raiders are closer to sixth than second right now, as they lead the three-team pack of Cornell, Rensselaer and Harvard by two points; they trail Clarkson by three.

"We’re still in a position to take a run at home ice," said Vaughan. "But we need to start with some good games on home ice. This is your typical ECAC season — it’s right down to the wire."

PICKS: Dartmouth at Colgate : The Big Green pulls one off. Dartmouth 5, Colgate 4 Vermont at Cornell : The Big Red fight through injuries. Cornell 3, Vermont 1 Vermont at Colgate : The Red Raiders break their losing streak. Colgate 4, Vermont 1 Dartmouth at Cornell : Four points for the Big Red. Cornell 3, Dartmouth 2

Brown (7-12-1, 6-7-1 ECAC, T-7th) and Harvard (8-10-2, 7-6-1 ECAC, T-4th) at Yale (17-4-0, 12-2-0 ECAC, 1st) Friday – Saturday, 7:30 pm – 7 pm, Ingalls Rink, New Haven, Conn. Harvard (8-10-2, 7-6-1 ECAC, T-4th) and Brown (7-12-1, 6-7-1 ECAC, T-7th) at Princeton (11-6-4, 5-6-3 ECAC, T-7th) Friday – Saturday, 7:30 pm – 7 pm, Hobey Baker Rink, Princeton, N.J. Previous Meetings: Nov. 14: Princeton 2, Harvard 2 (OT); Brown 3, Yale 2 (OT) Nov. 15: Princeton 6, Brown 5; Yale 3, Harvard 1

Yale continues to ride the wave of a spectacular season with two shutouts over the past weekend, against Cornell and Colgate. Alex Westlund had a big weekend: he gained the decision on both evenings, was named the ECAC Player of the Week and extended his shutout streak to 162:28.

"He’s been a rock," said head coach Tim Taylor on Westlund. "He’s gained a lot of confidence and a lot of knowledge. He is the number-one goaltender."

The Bulldogs enjoy a four point lead in the ECAC, and only need one point to clinch the first playoff berth in the ECAC this season.

Princeton shut out Colgate 4-0 on Friday night, then dropped a 4-1 decision to Cornell the next evening. Tiger head coach Don Cahoon didn’t care for the turnaround.

"I don’t think Cornell had much to do with the outcome of the game — that’s my perspective. I know Mike Schafer might disagree," he said. "[But] we beat ourselves tonight, and [Cornell] was happy to oblige.

"It was one step forward, two giant steps backward," he added.

Jeff Halpern is definitely one Tiger who has his scoring skates on, with four goals this past weekend, including a hat trick on Friday and a shorthander each evening.

At the Beanpot, underdog Harvard almost pulled the upset, but Boston University took the title in overtime, 2-1. For the Crimson, that score followed a loss to Rensselaer and a win over Union.

"We definitely were the underdog," said head coach Ronn Tomassoni on the Beanpot. "From the beginning of the tournament, all we heard about was BU, BC and Northeastern. And understandably so — all three are having great seasons. But we have a very young hockey team that was very determined and was very proud of the rich tradition that we have."

One thing that Tomassoni pointed towards is scoring. The Crimson scored five goals in three games this past weekend, with three coming against Union in a win, and one each in the two losses to BU and Rensselaer.

"If you’re going to score, you have to put the puck on the net," he said. "We’re not doing that."

Brown just motored through its best ECAC weekend under first-year head coach Roger Grillo, as the Bears swept Union and Rensselaer to move into a tie for seventh place in the ECAC. This is a team that has really turned things around since the Christmas break, going 5-2-1.

"The guys are moving the puck and attacking with confidence, and we’re skating," said Grillo. "In the beginning of the season we were afraid that we weren’t going to be able to skate with people.

"A big part of it is confidence, and a lot of it is that we’ve finally figured out what our systems are," Grillo added. "Within the systems that we’ve set up, the players are allowed to go out and have fun and play the game."

Netminder Scott Stirling has been a big part of that recently, posting all three wins and allowing just six goals in those games.

"Any team that is successful, the guy between the pipes you have to start with him," said Grillo. "[Stirling’s] allowed us to have our goals in the game and the opportunity to get back into games as well."

PICKS: Brown at Yale: Does lightning strike twice? Brown 4, Yale 2 Harvard at Princeton: The Tigers stay in the hunt for the top half. Princeton 4, Harvard 2 Harvard at Yale: Yale clinches the playoff spot. Yale 3, Harvard 1 Brown at Princeton: Clutter for the last home-ice spots… Princeton 5, Brown 3

There are some good battles next weekend, highlighted by the fight for first place in Potsdam between Yale and Clarkson.

Next week in the ECAC:

Friday, February 20: Colgate at Harvard Cornell at Brown Princeton at St. Lawrence Yale at Clarkson Rensselaer at Vermont Union at Dartmouth

Saturday, February 21: Colgate at Brown Cornell at Harvard Princeton at Clarkson Yale at St. Lawrence Rensselaer at Dartmouth Union at Vermont

Thanks to the ECAC game reporters who contributed to this preview.

This Week in the CCHA: February 13, 1998

By
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No, it’s not what you’re thinking. With four weeks left in regular-season CCHA play, it’s understandable that your mind would jump to the home stretch of the season.

But, come on, CCHA fan. What does mid-February mean to most folks? It may be hard to imagine, given how involved we all are with college hockey right now, but there’s something sweet going on, something that has to do with matters of the heart.

It’s Valentine’s Day, and what other sport do you know of more closely related to romance than hockey?

After all, we learned from a hockey player that love means never having to say you’re sorry.

Doesn’t hockey mean the same thing?

Given the current race for the playoffs in the CCHA, love–or rather, love lost–may be on the minds of many CCHA teams this weekend.

It was the English poet Algernon Charles Swinburne who wrote:

Love, that sounds loud or light in all men’s ears Whence all men’s eyes take fire from sparks of tears, That binds on all men’s feet or chains or wings; Love, that is root and fruit of terrene things.

Substitute the word "hockey" for "love," and who could argue?

No. 5 Michigan held on to the top spot in the CCHA last weekend with a 4-1 win over Lake Superior Saturday in Joe Louis Arena. The win gave the Wolverines 35 points, three ahead of No. 3 Michigan State. Michigan hosts No. 7 Miami and Northern Michigan this weekend.

With a rare one-point weekend, the No. 3 Michigan State Spartans remain in second place in the CCHA, while dropping out of first in the USCHO Poll. The Spartans fell 4-2 to Ohio State and tied Miami 0-0, both games on the road. This week, Michigan State hosts Western Michigan and Ohio State.

No. 7 Miami beat Alaska-Fairbanks 3-2 and tied with Michigan State 0-0 last weekend. The three points keep Miami in the hunt for the CCHA title; with 30 points, the RedHawks are two points behind Michigan State and a point ahead of Ohio State. This week, Miami travels to Michigan and Bowling Green.

With their 4-2 win over Michigan State and a 4-4 tie with Alaska-Fairbanks, Ohio State moved into fourth place in the CCHA last weekend. This week, the Buckeyes travel to Notre Dame and Michigan State for their final regular-season game against each team.

Northern Michigan fell out of the top four simply because the ‘Cats didn’t play. With 27 points and a game in hand, the Wildcats are in hot pursuit of the fourth-place Buckeyes, this week hoping for points in road games against Bowling Green and Michigan.

Notre Dame and Lake Superior are tied with 22 points each. Last week, Notre Dame tied 1-1 with Bowling Green, and beat Ferris State 7-1. Notre Dame hosts Ohio State and travels to Western Michigan this week.

Lake Superior lost a game to Michigan last week. The Lakers travel to Ferris State for two.

Ferris State holds on to eighth place with 19 points, in spite of two losses last weekend. In addition to losing 7-1 to Notre Dame Saturday, the Bulldogs lost 4-2 to Western Michigan Friday.

With 11 points, the resurgent Bowling Green Falcons look to play the spoiler this week in the CCHA. The Falcons took three points last weekend, tying Notre Dame and beating Western Michigan 3-1. Bowling Green hosts Northern and Miami.

With their win over Ferris State, the Broncos broke their seemingly-endless losing streak, then dropped a game to Bowling Green. Western, tied in points with the Falcons, travels to Michigan State, then hosts Notre Dame.

"It is that powerful attraction towards all we conceive, or fear or hope beyond ourselves…" The quote is from Percy Bysshe Shelley’s On Love, but isn’t he really talking about this CCHA playoff race?

Last week’s record in picks: 3-6 Overall record in picks: 97-65

"…Regrets which glide through the spirit’s gloom, And with ghastly whispers tell That joy, once lost, is pain."

After all, I’m no Jayson Moy.

No. 7 Miami (18-6-4, 13-6-4 CCHA) at No. 5 Michigan (23-6-1, 17-4-1 CCHA) Friday, 7:08 p.m., Yost Ice Arena, Ann Arbor, MI Northern Michigan (14-10-4, 12-8-3 CCHA) at No. 5 Michigan (23-6-1, 17-4-1 CCHA) Saturday, 7 p.m., Yost Ice Arena, Ann Arbor, MI

At the start of the season, when Western Michigan head coach Bill Wilkinson welcomed Northern Michigan back to the CCHA–then welcomed Michigan back to the CCHA in the same breath–everyone chuckled at the thought of the Wolverines coming back to earth.

Guess who’s laughing last?

The Wolverines have surprised everyone–including head coach Red Berenson–by holding on to the top spot in the CCHA for most of the season.

"We weren’t expecting to be at the top of the league, not at the beginning of the season," says Berenson. "We’ve won a lot of one-goal games."

Week after week, Berenson reminds anyone who will listen that this Wolverine team is not the team of last season, that one fronted by The Michigan Nine. In doing so, Berenson doesn’t necessarily mean to compare his current squad unfavorably with the team that won a national championship two years ago; rather, he’s pointing out how hard this team has had to work this season.

"Nothing is easy in this league," says the coach. "Turco was the difference in a lot of games."

Marty Turco has earned his scholarship this season, compiling a 16-4-1 league record, a league save percentage of .911, and an impressive league GAA of 2.08.

Helping Turco keep the Wolverines afloat have been Bill Muckalt and Bobby Hayes, second and third in league scoring, respectively. Everyone knows about Muckalt (16-16–32), but Hayes has to be one of the CCHA’s unsung heroes, with 15 goals and 16 assists.

If you look at Turco, Muckalt and Hayes, you see nearly the sum total of the reason for Michigan’s success in the early part of the season, when Matt Herr was still out with a groin injury.

But if you look at the second half of the season, you see a trio of rookies who have helped Michigan hold onto first place when the going got a little tougher.

Defenseman Mike Van Ryn and forwards Josh Langfeld and Mark Kosick are all three legitimate Rookie of the Year candidates, and all three testimony to Michigan’s recruiting prowess.

Van Ryn (3-12–15) is ninth in scoring for Michigan, and Berenson has been singing his praises all season. But Langfeld (14-13–27) and more recently Kosick (9-25–34) are two Wolverines who have been getting a lot of attention.

"Langfeld has been a horse right from day one," says Berenson. "I think he’s been a strong, physical player. He’s an older freshman, too, and that makes a difference.

"Kosick is a young freshman–a true freshman, as is Van Ryn–and I’ve been amazed at how well he’s played under the circumstances. I think in the last month he’s really come on."

Veteran leadership and young, enthusiastic talent. Welcome back to the CCHA, Michigan.

Miami at Michigan

When the Wolverines traveled to Goggin Arena last month, few people thought Miami could pull off one win. When the dust settled Miami had four points to Michigan’s zero.

"Those were good games," says Berenson. "I think we’ll see the same type of game here. It’s a big game for both teams. They’re still in the hunt for first place."

"It’s a huge game if you want to win the league," says Mark Mazzoleni. "But we’re not necessarily looking to finish first.

"Our goal from day one was to finish in the top four, to be the best team we can going into the playoffs." The Miami head coach says that his team is more concerned about the CCHA tournament rather than with winning the regular-season title.

Along the road toward the CCHA tournament, Miami has had to make adjustments to its signature fly-out-of-the-gate style of hockey. With the season loss of defenseman Todd Rohloff, the RedHawks have had to change the way they play defense.

With Dan Boyle on your team, changing the way you play defense changes the way you play offense.

"Todd Rohloff was every bit the player that Tyler Harlton is," says Mazzoleni, adding that losing the defensive defenseman has forced one of his top scorers–Boyle (10-11–21)–to play a more defensive game.

"I think we’re adjusting all the better each week. I like playing good defensive hockey."

Mazzoleni is, after all, a goalie at heart.

This game should be every bit as entertaining for the fans in Yost as it was for the fans in Goggin. RedHawk goaltender Trevor Prior (2.37 league GAA, .916 SV%) proved to be the better goaltender in the previous pairing, but Turco has been playing his game ever since the weekend in Oxford.

Miami will get an added lift from the return of Alex Kim (10-6–16), whose style compliments Dustin Whitecotton. Whitecotton, with 20 points in league play (3-17) is Miami’s most underrated players.

If Mark Shalawylo can play with his hand injury taped up tight, the Kim-Whitecotton-Shalawylo line could make a big difference.

On the Wolverine side of things, keep an eye on Dale Rominski, who is fifth on the team in league scoring with nine goals and nine assists. Rominski has improved throughout the season, and he makes the second Michigan line click.

This game is in Yost Arena. CCHA fans know what that means. According to Berenson, "Home ice can be an advantage."

And you thought Ron Mason was the master of understatement in the CCHA.

PICK: Michigan 4-2

Northern Michigan at Michigan

Last week, the Wolverines beat Lake Superior 4-1 at Joe Louis Arena, a contest that was a "home" game for the Lakers in a place Michigan fans like to call Yost Arena East.

"The first period was pretty close," says Berenson. "Once we scored one, we had the feeling we had the momentum. Toward the end, Turco shut Sessa down on the breakaway, and that was a big lift.

"Overall, I like the way our defense played."

So, note to other CCHA teams: not only has Michigan scored more league goals than anyone else, but now the defense is working, too.

Perhaps it’s a good thing that Northern Michigan had last weekend off.

The Wildcats are 5-4-1 in 1998, splitting their last two games with Ferris State two weeks ago, a 3-2 overtime loss, and a 5-3 win.

While they were idle, the ‘Cats slipped to fifth place behind Ohio State, a team that beat them three times this season.

Northern Michigan has a game in hand on the Buckeyes, but the ‘Cats need points to climb back into one of the top four spots.

Helping them in their efforts will be the line of Buddy Smith (3-15–18), Roger Trudeau (11-8–19) and J.P. Vigier (8-8–16). The two weeks off will have helped Smith, who’s been banged up all season.

One real advantage the Wolverines have is in net; or, perhaps more accurately, the Wildcats have a disadvantage in net.

Duane Hoey is capable of astounding saves in any game, and he can rise to any challenge in big games. He can make saves, and he can come up big, but he’s inconsistent.

The young goaltender has a respectable league GAA of 2.93, but his league save percentage tells a different story; .878 doesn’t seem to be a number that would be competitive by CCHA standards.

In fact, as a team, Northern Michigan’s league save percentage–.875–is considerably lower than its opponents’ collective .891.

How is Northern Michigan winning games? By playing well as a team, by making the most of offensive opportunities and by finishing checks.

Do not underestimate the importance of finishing checks. We’re not talking dirty hits, but we ain’t talking love-taps, either. The Wildcats are simply the toughest-checking team in the league. When they’re on their game, the ‘Cats have the ability to dictate the pace of the game just through checking.

They’re so hard-hitting–so clean-hitting, but hard-hitting–that you may feel bruised after having just watched them from a safe distance.

This season series is tied, with a 5-3 win for Michigan and a 1-0 win for Northern–a rare shutout of the Wolverines.

Like most coaches, Berenson says he’ll play Friday’s game, then think about the Wildcat-Wolverine match. "We really are playing one game at a time. I’ve told our team where we finish depends on how we play in each of our games."

So while Friday’s match is foremost on the minds of the Wolverines, come Saturday morning, perhaps they’ll be thinking about an early-season 1-0 loss.

PICK: Michigan 4-2

Ohio State (17-10-2, 14-9-1 CCHA) at Notre Dame (14-13-4, 9-10-4 CCHA) Friday, 7 p.m., Joyce Arena, South Bend, IN Ohio State (17-10-2, 14-9-1 CCHA) at No. 3 Michigan State (22-4-5, 14-4-4 CCHA) Saturday, 7 p.m., Munn Ice Arena, East Lansing, MI

The team whose school colors most fit the holiday weekend is Ohio State. Lately, Buckeye hockey fans have been wearing the colors with pride, but it wasn’t so long ago that this hockey program typified the "gray" in Scarlet and Gray.

Head coach John Markell said he never dreamed at the start of the season that his team would be in the position of defending fourth place. "We were looking at .500."

The Buckeyes are just one point behind third-place Miami and just one point ahead of fifth-place Northern Michigan–and each of those teams has a game in hand on Ohio State. "We know we have a hard stretch. We have one game left at home out of our last six, and it’s against a top-ten team [Miami]. It’s going to be tough for us from here on in."

Markell, in his third full year as head coach, says that the current Buckeye nine-game unbeaten streak has led to positive feedback from the success-starved OSU hockey fans, which has fed the Buckeye players’ desire to win.

"When I was recruiting them, I told them, ‘You’re going to get a pat on the back that’s an elation you won’t be able to feel anywhere else because if you go to some program and you don’t win and they’re used to winning, there’s pressure to win.’

"Here, everything is appreciated. People come up to me wide-eyed and ask, ‘How are you doing this?’

"People appreciate what they’re doing, and the players are reaping the benefits of it. Now it becomes tough, because now the players pressure themselves to win. Now they want to win. They want to do it for everybody."

The Buckeye pep band made its first appearance at Ohio State’s 7-0 win over Lake Superior. The teeny, tiny OSU War Memorial has been sold out ever since.

For the Buckeye players, the experience of playing to a packed, enthusiastic house is a new one. After beating Michigan State 4-2 at home last Friday night, Todd Compeau–the senior forward who had a goal 29 seconds into the game and the game-winner–said that he’d never seen anything like it in his four years at Ohio State. "It was like winning the Rose Bowl."

"Everything is going good for them," says Markell, "and they see what they’re doing for hockey, the town, and this university, and it’s a good feeling. They want that to continue.

"We know we have a lot work for, a lot to look forward to if we play well."

Ohio State at Notre Dame Grudge Match, Part I

In football, the OSU-Notre Dame rivalry is huge. If these two hockey teams keep playing each other the way they have under coaches Markell and Dave Poulin, the intensity on ice may rival that of the gridiron.

The season series is tied, and each team won its games with two shorthanded goals. Notre Dame won 3-2 in November and Ohio State won 5-3 in January, both games in Columbus at the Fairgrounds Expo Center.

There’s no shame in giving up shorthanded goals to the team that’s second in the league in scoring shorthanded goals, but don’t tell Irish head coach Dave Poulin. "We gave up two shorthanded goals, the only shorthanded goals we’ve given up all season."

The Irish are playing well, but inconsistently, as has been their story all season. Last week, Notre Dame tied Bowling Green 1-1 and beat up on Ferris State 7-1, both games at home, where–this season, at least–the Irish have been struggling. The 7-1 win was the biggest Irish margin of victory against a Division I opponent in 15 years.

"From a confidence standpoint it was huge," says Poulin. "We simply scored a lot of goals."

Markell knows this game is going to be very tough, and he’s concerned about the sold-out crowd in South Bend.

"Notre Dame will be ready for us. Hopefully we’ll be ready for them. We’re prepared to go to war here.

"They’re at home. ‘Ohio State-Notre Dame’ says enough in itself. It will be a hard one. There’s a revenge factor there, too, for what we did to them last year."

What Ohio State did last year was beat Notre Dame at home, twice, in the same weekend, in early February, knocking the Irish out of the CCHA playoffs.

"We’re going to have to go in there with a really good game to beat them," says Markell. "For us and for them, these points are huge."

Not only is Ohio State trying to hold on to fourth place, but Notre Dame is trying to catch them. Finishing fourth or higher "was a goal at the beginning of the year, and it’s still our goal," says Poulin.

This game against OSU is all that much more important, Poulin says, because Notre Dame’s remaining games are very tough. "We play Northern three times." And Lake Superior and Michigan once each.

On paper, Ohio State is the better team. Three players in the top ten in league scoring. A league plus/minus ratio of plus 83 to Notre Dame’s minus 24. A team league goaltending save percentage of .906 compared with Notre Dame’s .888. OSU has rookie defenseman Andre Signoretti (3-11–14); Notre Dame has rookie defenseman Mark Eaton (5-15–20).

Both teams have breakaway potential, and the most dangerous offensive breakaway threat for Notre Dame is Aniket Dhadphale, whose five-point weekend earned him last week’s CCHA Offensive Player of the Week honors.

What this game will come down to is depth and emotion. The Buckeyes are the deeper team, and if they play their game, the should win. They also have the nine-game streak on their side.

On the other hand, Notre Dame has the packed crowd and the more pressing desire for points.

This one is going to be close.

PICK: Ohio State 4-2

Ohio State at Michigan State Grudge Match, Part II

For Ohio State fans, there may never have been a brighter moment in Buckeye hockey history than last Friday’s upset of Michigan State. When Compeau scored that first-minute goal, the little barn exploded. The Plexiglas shook from the noise even before the fans started to beat on it.

The story led the evening sports on two local network television affiliates, and was the first story behind the Olympics on the third.

For a team that hasn’t seen any press in years–a team that sits in the shadow of a winning football team or even a losing men’s basketball team–this is heady stuff.

It’s a shame the Columbus daily newspaper didn’t pick up the story. Not a single Buckeye hockey game has been covered by the local daily, including Michigan State game. Says Markell, "We’ve not been given a whole lot of respect."

But Markell is happy with a different kind of respect he’s watched grow this season: self-respect. After beating the Spartans on Friday night, Ohio State tied Alaska-Fairbanks 4-4 on Saturday, blowing the 3-0 lead the Buckeyes held after one.

"I was glad to see that they [the OSU players] were very upset with what happened with Alaska," says Markell. I’m not discrediting Alaska; I think Alaska played a great game. But we certainly did not play our ‘A’ game. We were a step behind the whole night.

"But we earned a point. We could have easily lost that game, and we earned a point. I was glad to see in the dressing room that they were upset with themselves. That’s what you need from a team. They have to be able to look in the mirror and understand that they blew one."

Markell says he’s not looking ahead to Saturday’s game against Michigan State, but don’t you believe it. "We know a bit about Michigan State because, luckily, we just played them."

Spartan head coach Ron Mason says the same thing, but don’t you believe it. "We’re not a juggernaut by any means we hope that when we play hard we give ourselves the best chance to win." Yeah.

This season series is tied at a game apiece, with Michigan State winning 2-1 in November, and OSU taking the more recent game. Believe it or not, these are evenly matched teams.

The key to Ohio State’s win was the second line of Chris Richards, Dan Cousineau, and Todd Compeau. Markell put this line up against the Spartan first line centered by the phenomenal Mike York (21-17–38 overall) to allow Ohio State’s first line centered by league-leading Hugo Boisvert (16-21–37 league) some room against the second Michigan State line.

This strategy did more than work in the last game, as that second line was responsible for three goals.

Expect the same again this weekend, but with a twist or two. Now that Bryan Adams is out with a separated right shoulder suffered in the game against Ohio State, Mason will have to shuffle his lineup again to compensate.

But he’s done that before–with winning results.

Even if Michigan State struggles offensively–which is doubtful, given the way that Sean Berens (17-7–24 league) is playing–the Spartan defense is, simply put, the best in the country.

But don’t take our word for it.

Michigan State is allowing just 1.65 goals per game, a GAA that is 0.35 better than the next-best team in college hockey (Yale). Michigan State hockey’s superb SID, Nate Ewell, researched the defenses in 12 leagues amateur and professional (NCAA Division I, NHL, AHL, IHL, ECHL, Central, United, West Coast, Western Pro, OHL, QMJHL, WHL) and found that this is the largest margin between the first- and second-best defensive teams in any league.

While you’ve been cautioned repeatedly that numbers can lie, here are numbers to take to the bank.

This rematch should be every bit as exciting as least week’s game. Keep in mind that Ron Mason and his team have a healthy respect for the Buckeyes–who took two of three from the Spartans last season–and that’s a serious advantage in this game.

PICK: Michigan State 4-2

Lake Superior (12-12-4, 9-10-4 CCHA) at Ferris State (11-15-3, 8-11-3 CCHA) Friday and Saturday, 7 p.m., Ewigleben Arena, Big Rapids, MI

This is the battle between two teams in need of points and some hope going into this last stretch of the season. "One of us could end up in eighth place," says Laker head coach Scott Borek. "We’re two teams going in the same direction."

The Lakers lost 4-1 to Michigan in Joe Louis Arena last weekend, but Borek says that–until the third period, at least–the game was closer than the score indicates.

"It was our kind of hockey game. The shots after two periods were 12-10."

It’s that last 20 minutes of hockey that’s been the real killer for Lake Superior this season. "We’re not a real confident hockey team right now. We’ve lost a lot of games in the third period, and that works on our psyche right now." The Lakers are being outscored 35-31 in the third period.

While Terry Marchant flirts with the league scoring title this season (his 13 goals and 18 assists tie him for third in the league with Michigan’s Bobby Hayes), and every CCHA fan is familiar with Laker names like Jason Sessa, Ted Laviolette and Joe Blaznek, it’s three freshman defenseman that Borek is especially pleased with this season.

"Matt Frick from West Bloomfield, Michigan–I thought he’d be good in the future. Ryan Knox is playing well. Klem Kelgar from Slovenia, too. Those three guys have really played well, and we haven’t been able to take them out."

While the names may not be of the household variety, and of the three only Knox has made an offensive impact (2-8–10), Borek says that these three have anchored his defense, giving them valuable experience they can take into next season.

The Lakers lost 6-1 at home against the Bulldogs very early in the season, but that was a long time ago; Borek says he’s not sure what to expect, but he adds, "It’s such an important game that both teams will be playing well."

Both teams will be trying to snap losing streaks, two games for Lake Superior, and a four-game streak for Ferris State.

Ferris has an offense with the potential to cause some damage, with Joel Irwin leading the way (8-13–21). Senior captain defenseman Brett Colborne is second for the Bulldogs in scoring with 20 points (6-14), followed by Rookie of the Year candidate Kevin Swider with 19 points (7-12).

Ferris State has a good defense–one that can, or should, outmatch Lake Superior. The real battle for this game, however, may be played between the pipes, with two freshmen goaltenders doing the honors.

For Lake Superior, Rob Galatiuk has been the go-to guy all season, and has earned respectability with a .898 save percentage and a league GAA of 2.87 in nearly 1,400 minutes of league play.

Vince Owen is the man for Ferris State. In over 1,400 minutes in net, Owen’s save percentage leaves something to be desired–.874–and he’s giving up 3.44 goals per game.

Both of these teams need points, and the in-state rivalry between the Bulldogs and the Lakers will insure a good crowd.

PICKS: Ferris State 3-2, Lake Superior 5-3

Western Michigan (6-23-2, 5-17-1 CCHA) at No. 3 Michigan State (22-4-5, 14-4-4 CCHA) Friday, 7 p.m., Munn Ice Arena, East Lansing, MI Notre Dame (14-13-4, 9-10-4 CCHA) at Western Michigan (6-23-2, 5-17-1 CCHA) Saturday, 7 p.m., Lawson Arena, Kalamazoo, MI

Don’t ask which of Bill Wilkinson’s talismen–the houndog tie, the clapping monkey, the miracle grapefruit–did the trick. He doesn’t care. The Broncos snapped their 18-game losing streak with a 4-2 win over Ferris State, and that’s all that matters.

"We played very well, especially for the first two periods," says the Western Michigan head coach. "We kind of sat back in the third period."

Wilkinson said that there were a couple of moments in particular that gave Bronco fans something to cheer about. "Chris Slater’s post-goal celebration brought some excitement back to our team. [Matt] Barnes made a great breakaway save on [Kevin] Swider in the last minute."

After winning for the first time in many months, you’d think that the Broncos would have been ready to face Bowling Green on Saturday.

Not so, says Wilkinson. "As well as we played Friday, we played poorly Saturday."

Wilkinson and the Broncos are not resigned yet to the role of spoiler; even though the Broncos have just 11 points, they’re still working toward making the playoffs.

Wilkinson says he hopes his players are "scared" going into this weekend. "If we don’t win this weekend, we’re totally done."

Western Michigan at Michigan State

Michigan State’s last game was a 0-0 tie with Miami. "It was a gut check for us," says Spartan head coach Ron Mason. "We had to play well and we did. It could’ve gone either way for both teams."

In spite of the difference between the records of the Broncos and the Spartans, Mason is not taking this game for granted.

"We have tough games with Western. We tied them here at the start of the season. I thought they’d be a contender but it just hasn’t worked out for them."

But, Mason says, "We know how good we can be when we’re on our game."

It’s no secret that from top to bottom the Spartans are the better team. Defensively, they’re the best team in the CCHA, and the Bronco offense may be no match for Alban, Harlton et al.

In 23 games, Frank Novock (11-10) has scored 21 points for the Broncos, and he’s received precious little help. If the once-famed Western Michigan defense can hold the now-fabled Michigan State offense, the Broncos will have a chance.

It isn’t, however, likely.

PICK: Michigan State 4-1

Notre Dame at Western Michigan

Western Michigan and Notre Dame are two teams with similar goals: the Broncos need points to make the playoffs, and the Irish need points for fourth place and home-ice advantage.

Notre Dame has the edge in this game on several levels.

Western has been outscored in league play by 20 goals (72-52), while Notre Dame is outscoring league opponents 72-70.

Western is averaging 2.13 goals per game, while Notre Dame is scoring 3.23 goal per game on average.

While both teams have been outscored in the third period, the Irish have been outscored in third-period play by just seven goals, while Western has been outscored 46-28 in the last twenty minutes.

Western has two players with 20 or more points overall, compared with Notre Dame’s seven.

If the game is close, the Irish may have the advantage. Western is 1-8 in one-goal games, while Notre Dame is 5-6.

The most important advantage the Irish may have is that they’re playing on the road, where they’ve won more games. Like the Irish, the Broncos have struggled at home, posting just a 3-12-1 record in Lawson Arena.

PICK: Notre Dame 3-1

Northern Michigan (14-10-4, 12-8-3 CCHA) at Bowling Green (6-21-3, 4-15-3 CCHA) Friday, 7 p.m., BGSU Ice Arena, Bowling Green, OH No. 7 Miami (18-6-4, 13-6-4 CCHA) at Bowling Green (6-21-3, 4-15-3 CCHA) Saturday, 7 p.m., BGSU Ice Arena, Bowling Green, OH

Finally, Bowling Green is seeing some daylight after several dark and stormy months.

"We’ve got a few games where Shawn Timm has stolen a couple of games for us," says Falcon head coach Buddy Powers. "And there have been some games where we’ve scored enough goals to win.

"Offense is still the problem."

Just a quick look at Bowling Green’s season stats tell the story of an offense that hasn’t been able to do much of anything. While junior Dan Price was suspended for more than a month for his involvement in an auto accident that led to the death of a passenger, Price remained the Falcons’ lead scorer.

That was until Adam Edinger took over the top spot in the last week of Price’s suspension.

Which would be good news if Edinger weren’t out for the season with a torn ACL and MCL.

From the accident that shadows this season to injuries, it doesn’t seem to end for the Falcons. Along with the negative press the Falcons have received is criticism over Dan Price. Some people have accused Bowling Green of bringing Price back to the lineup as a last-ditch effort to make the playoffs. That kind of talk makes Powers angry, and what makes him angrier still is the perception that alcohol played a role in the accident.

Police tests have proven that it was excessive speed–not alcohol–that made Price lose control of the car he was driving last summer, but Powers said since the word "alcohol" was the initial buzzword, people prefer to believe the worst.

"What the bottom line is that this is just a tragic accident, and this is something Price have to live with for the rest of his life. Now that he’s back playing, we hope he can focus on getting on with his life."

Powers says his team is still "grinding away," and says that the Falcons just haven’t had the points they expected from their top four returning players–Price, Edinger, Holzinger and Fox.

"It’s one thing to ask guys who are returning to go from no goals to fifteen goals, but these guys all scored last year, and all of our returning guys have struggled.

"Price, Edinger, Fox and Holzinger–you’ve got to figure those guys, if they play according to their past, those four players would be looking at anywhere from 45-65 goals."

After Edinger (18 points) and Price (14), Chris Bonvie (8-4–12), Curtis Valentine (5-5–10), Mike Jones (2-8–10) and Doug Schueller (1-9–10) are the only Falcons scoring in double digits.

The Bowling Green power play is capitalizing on chances just 14.4 percent of the time in league play. The team has a combined league plus/minus ratio of minus 168.

"Bonvie’s our leading goal scorer and he’s got 11 goals." Powers says that "for freshmen [Bonvie and Valentine] are doing pretty well," but they shouldn’t be expected to carry the team. And, Powers adds, the CCHA is a tough place for freshmen to make an impact.

"Our one outstanding freshman has been Shawn Timm. He’s gone from the outhouse to the penthouse, so to speak."

Since taking over the starting duties in December, Timm as earned a 3-9-2 record, with a league GAA of 3.20, and an excellent save percentage of .899.

Powers says that the way in which the Falcon freshmen have been playing points to a promising future for Bowling Green. "Our young guys, our freshmen defense and our freshmen goaltender have all played pretty well. But we have to live in this moment.

"The biggest thing has been to keep the guys’ spirits up. No one expected this kind of a season to happen. Some guys get so uptight about trying to be good, and once that sets in they make plenty of mistakes."

Powers says the challenge is to get his players to think about what they can accomplish this season. "We try to keep everybody right in the moment. We’ve shortened the practices up and try to make sure there’s some fun in practice."

And the Falcons now will take pleasure in every win, since nearly every win is an upset. "We’re going to have the opportunity to make a few teams absolutely miserable, and we’re playing for that now."

Northern Michigan at Bowling Green

"We’ve been playing pretty well since that awful game against Northern Michigan." Powers is referring to the Falcons’ 8-2 loss to Northern just a few weeks ago."

Are the Falcons thinking about that loss going into Friday’s game? Powers laughs. "We keep reminding them every day about it."

Northern has Bowling Green beat offensively, but the Falcons have the edge in net. Both teams are very hard-hitting, and there may be quite a few bruised bodies after this one is over.

Northern owns this series with Bowling Green, but the Falcons know that the Wildcats are chasing points, trying to regain fourth place in the league. Given how much Powers and the Falcons want to play the spoiler, this could be make for a very good game.

PICK: Northern Michigan 5-2

Miami at Bowling Green

This is the first meeting between these two teams, and there’s more than pride at stake; there’s the Ohio Cup.

Mention the cup to either Mark Mazzoleni or Buddy Powers, and each will chuckle a little. The Ohio Cup is awarded to team in Ohio with the best record against other Ohio teams.

Right now, Miami and Ohio State each have a win in their season series, and Bowling Green and Ohio State each have a win in their season series.

This is the first meeting of the season between Miami and Bowling Green. So, of course, The Cup.

"Well, we do have an Ohio Cup banner hanging in our rafters," says Mazzoleni when pressed for comment.

In their last game, the RedHawks tied 0-0 with Michigan State. "Even though it was a 0-0 game, it had pretty good flow to it. Either team was in a position to win it. It was a very good game, and I was pleased because we competed through the end of the game."

Even though the ‘Hawks are a top-ten team, Mazzoleni is concerned about this Falcon team. "Bowling Green–the way they’re playing now, we don’t know what to expect, but we know they’ll be tough. And that’s a hard building to play in."

Although the Falcons have played well "in spurts," according to Powers, he’s not overly optimistic. "The simplest way to explain it is if you don’t score goals you can’t win. We’re averaging two goals a game."

But he’s not overly pessimistic, either. "Our bad games have been guys not executing on certain shifts."

In order to counter the lack of offense, Powers has tried different techniques to try to get something going.

"We’ve varied things to find out what system is going to benefit the players. We wanted to turn the forwards loose to see if they could score, but we know now that that doesn’t work.

"We still don’t play a trap or anything like that. We want to make sure we have a third man back to help the defense, so that we’re not giving up too many odd-man rushes."

If the Falcons like to play a game that opens up at the start–and that’s the system they like best–they’ll have their hands full with this Miami team. In spite of the slight slumping lately (and let’s face it: three "slumps" have been against the then-top-ranked team in the country), Miami has plenty of firepower, and the RedHawks have an adequate defense and excellent goaltending.

The Falcons have been bolstered by the return of Dan Price, and by the play of rookie goaltender Shawn Timm, whose play last weekend earned him the CCHA Defensive Player of the Week.

Believe it or not, this one is hard to call, since each team is a bit unpredictable lately. But, if all goes by the books, Miami should win this one.

Let’s just hope that no one gets hurt in the quest for The Cup.

PICK: Miami 5-2

Fairfield Ruled Ineligible for Postseason Play in ECAC

USCHO Staff Report
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The New Haven (Conn.) Register reported today that Fairfield has been declared ineligible for the ECAC playoffs, due to its awarding of athletic scholarships in preparation for a move into the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.

Fairfield, a Division I institution, currently is a member of the ECAC’s North/Central/South conference, which operates under Division III rules, including the banning of athletic scholarships.

The announcement, made by ECAC hockey commissioner Jeff Fanter, also means that games involving Fairfield will not be counted in the conference’s 1997-98 standings.

Fairfield is the second ECAC N/C/S school to be sanctioned for offering athletic scholarships this season, following Quinnipiac in December. Both schools will move into full-fledged Division I play next year in the MAAC, college hockey’s fifth D-I league.

Sudden Impact

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T.R. Moreau doesn’t even remember it happening.

Fifteen minutes, two seconds into the first period of Wisconsin’s game against Minnesota-Duluth Jan. 9, Moreau and Duluth forward Joe Rybar followed the puck into the corner. Rybar checked Moreau into the boards, and the Badger winger’s neck whiplashed into the glass.

Moreau fell to the ice and lay there for 15 minutes without moving, as medical personnel attended to him.

“All I could hear was our trainer [Mike Johnson] going, ‘Wake up, wake up,'” Moreau said. “I could kind of hear him, but I couldn’t open my eyes yet. As I opened [them] up, I’m like, ‘Where am I?’ and ‘What’s going on?'”

The 5-10 sophomore from Rockford, Ill., said Johnson explained to him where he was, and Moreau started to piece together what was going on. But three weeks later, he still can’t remember what happened.

“I don’t remember anything playing-wise,” he said. “I remember the warm-ups and the dedication they made to coach [Jeff] Sauer. That’s the last thing I remember.

“They say the memory might come back, it might not.”

X-Rays on Moreau’s neck came back negative, and he eventually returned to the Dane County Coliseum to see the end of the game.

But Moreau had suffered a concussion, his second of the season, in fact. He also fell to a concussion, albeit a much less severe one, against Alaska-Anchorage in the first week of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association schedule.

The team has also lost the services of senior Brad Englehart twice this season with concussions. It is now to the point of weighing on Sauer’s mind.

“It’s a real concerning thing, especially when you get a T.R. Moreau, who’s had two now this year, and a Brad Englehart who’s had two,” he said. “The real problem with the concussion is the only cure really is the player telling us when he feels better, and when he really feels right.”

The actual definition of a concussion, according to Johnson — in his eighth year as head athletic trainer for Wisconsin hockey — is an agitation and irritation of the brain that causes a change in mental status, but rarely involves a loss of consciousness.

How to grade the severity of the injury, however, depends on who you talk to.

“There’s something like 26 or 28 different guidelines as to how to grade the severity of a concussion right now, from different medical groups,” he said. “There’s not a lot of consensus on what they are and how you determine how bad they are.”

Moreau said the aftermath of the concussion is noticeable.

“After that, your head’s out of sorts,” he said. “Sometimes you have headaches; you get lightheaded if you walk up stairs; it’s really hard to concentrate. “[Badger defenseman] Craig Anderson said it best when he said it’s like watching yourself through a TV, but it’s you. You’re looking at it, but you don’t seem like you’re there.”

Even though the number of concussions on the Badger team is rising, Sauer said there’s not a lot anyone can do to prevent these types of head injuries.

“The more I talk to the doctors, the more we discuss things, the actual concussion really has not a lot to do with the helmet the guys are wearing or the mouthguard or anything,” he said. “It’s just if guys get banged hard enough, with the way the brain sits in the skull, if it’s banged the right way, it’s possible to get a concussion.”

One part of the debate on the emergence of head injuries is the equipment players wear. By NCAA rules, players must wear a helmet with a face shield and a mouthguard when on the ice. But Johnson said the debate goes further.

“There’s a lot more to it than just those two things,” he said. “T.R. had his mouthguard in, he had his helmet on, it was all in place, and yet still he had a significant head injury.”

In an effort to be able to take action to reduce injury, the WCHA three years ago began keeping track of every injury that takes place during a practice or game. Each league school submits confidential data to a company which analyzes the detailed information.

“The purpose of this recording system is, under some objective system, to try to look at all that and then come up with patterns and come up with what’s happening,” Johnson said. “Then, hopefully, we can advise the coaches and the administrators and people who make the rules on this is what we’re seeing and this is how they’re happening.

“We feel good that we’re trying to do something. It’s not by any means perfect, but we feel that it’s the best system out there to utilize.”

Sauer said the recent rise may be due to the new monitoring. “We’re keeping track of them more,” he said. “There may have always been a lot of concussions, but people just didn’t talk about it. Now, the last three, four years, we’ve been keeping track of them.”

But Johnson said the rise in occurrences this year may just be due to a cycle. “Injuries, in general, of all kinds, go in cycles,” he said. “So some years, you get a lot of one type of injury and very few of others. This year, we’re getting a lot of concussions — not a lot, but more than we have in the past.”

For Moreau, a concussion is certainly not the worst he could have faced. Take Boston University’s Travis Roy, for example. In October of 1995, in his first collegiate shift, Roy went head-first into the boards while following a check. A cracked fourth vertebra left him paralyzed from the neck down.

Moreau, in fact, met Roy while in prep school. Roy told Moreau what happened to him.

“He mentioned that he really didn’t know what was going on, and he thought he could move stuff — in his own mind,” Moreau said. “And [in my case] when they were like, ‘Can you move your arms and legs?’ I thought I moved them. I did move them.

“But they started putting me on the back board and stretcher, and I’m like, ‘Did I think I moved them and not move them, what’s going on?’ Then I started thinking, ‘Oh God, that’s what he was talking about before.'”

But Moreau, who continued his rehabilitation Jan. 29 by returning to practice with the team for the first time since the injury, was fortunate in that he only had a concussion. Still, it keeps him out of what he loves to do.

“It’s pretty frustrating, to be honest,” he said. “The thing you love most in your life, you can’t do. It’s been pretty hard so far to see everyone play and you’re not able to.”

As far as getting back in uniform for the team, Moreau feels helpless. “It’s not something I can do, it’s not in my control at all,” he said. “There’s not like a certain exercise I can do or a test I can pass. I just have to wait.

“Patience is a virtue, but I don’t have it right now.”

Wrapup: Jeff Fanter

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(Note: this is the third and final installment in USCHO’s interview series with ECAC commissioner Jeff Fanter. The first two parts were entitled “Man On A Mission” and “Five Months And Counting“)

What other things are on Jeff Fanter’s mind? Are there more items on the agenda that he wishes to pursue? If so, how will he address them? How is he working with his predecessor, Joe Bertagna? How is he handling Division III schools and women’s leagues?

Final Five

The ECAC always had one of the most unusual playoff structures in all of college hockey. In the past few years, the format has allowed ten of the twelve league teams to participate in the playoffs — the four teams finishing at the top of the standings earned home ice for a quarterfinal series, the next two teams received a road quarterfinal series, and the last four teams played in a Tuesday-night preliminary game. That setup created a situation where almost everyone was always playing for something.

That all changed last fall, when the ECAC adopted a five-series playoff structure identical to the WCHA’s. In that system, five first-round winners advance to the championship tournament, with the fourth and fifth seeds squaring off in a play-in game on the first night, and then the two semifinals the next day.

The change was already in the works when Fanter took office, and he followed it up with the finalization of the new structure and called WCHA commissioner Bruce McLeod for advice.

Perhaps the biggest reason for the switch was the coaches’ hatred for the Tuesday preliminary game; still, there are a lot of critics of the new playoff structure, but Fanter sees positives for the ECAC, Lake Placid and the teams.

“You have to look at the big picture,” he said. “What happens when you get five teams at Lake Placid? You don’t know what it’s all about until you get there. I don’t know if there is any championship out there that has the aura of Lake Placid.

“Can the CCHA come in and take over Detroit? No. (The ECAC tourney is) the biggest thing going on (at Lake Placid).”

The new playoff structure also makes for new twists to both the regular season and the playoffs.

“If you finish in the top 10, you know your next step could be Lake Placid,” Fanter said. “I think there is more to fight for out there in the regular season now.

“It gives the school that traditionally may have been in the eighth spot a chance to get to Placid,” he added. “Take Union (which finished fifth last season), for example. They would have been in great shape to go to Placid.”

Fanter also points out another advantage to the new arrangement. “Why not reward the three teams that finish up top?”

“You also really reward your regular-season champion. Their first opponent at Placid is coming off a game the night before, and then they (only) need to win one more,” he added. “We’re giving our regular-season champion the best opportunity to get a bye in the NCAA Championships.”

Sponsors

One of the biggest efforts Fanter has undertaken is the push to get more sponsors for the ECAC, all of which go hand-in-hand.

“We’ve opened some sponsors’ eyes with the combination of Empire and NESN, and we hope that spells more sponsors,” he said. “At this point we have more sponsors for ECAC ice hockey than we ever have. It shows that we’re on the right course.”

The ECAC versus Hockey East

“I don’t play the game of (the ECAC) versus Hockey East because I think we need to promote Eastern college hockey and that’s what we’re going to do. I can sit here and rattle off all the numbers about how the ECAC dominated Hockey East last year, but I don’t know what good that does us. We’re not going head to head, ECAC vs. Hockey East. We need to get over that and look at the big picture.

“We’ve got a clear vision ahead of us,” he added. “We want to talk about what the ECAC does on a national level and not what it does against just Hockey East. That’s the game plan that we’re going to take in the future.”

Joe Bertagna

Speaking of Hockey East, that league’s new commissioner is Joe Bertagna, the man whom Fanter succeeded. He is also a man whom a lot of people believed was ECAC Hockey, and still more believe that he is college hockey. Fanter sees Bertagna as a guiding force in his new position.

“I want to thank Joe for what he has done for me,” he said. “We got to know each other at Colgate, and now he’s been great. We’re consistently bouncing ideas off each other. It’s good that we’ve got two people out there. The combination of Joe and I has never been done before. We’ll have a great relationship in the future.

“He had things so organized, and we have such a relationship that I can just pick up the phone and ask him questions. We both talk a lot about promoting college hockey in the East. We don’t talk about how Hockey East can promote itself so it does better than the ECAC and vice versa, and we’re both on the same page.”

There is no competition here either, just respect.

“We work together all the time, and from a commissioner’s standpoint, Clay Chapman has been my number-one mentor and Joe has been 1A,” he said.

That cooperation has already led to the creation of a holiday hockey festival at Madison Square Garden featuring two teams from each conference, beginning next season.

Expansion

The ECAC is the largest of the Division I conferences at the moment, but that doesn’t mean that expansion isn’t a possibility.

“We have a structure in the ECAC called the Future Growth Committee,” said Fanter. “(Expansion) is for them to discuss. A school may come to me and ask how (it) can be a member of the ECAC, and it goes through them. We talk about them — the decisions are not made by me as the commissioner, but by the 12 athletic directors.”

With the explosive growth of ice hockey at the collegiate level, there are more and more teams out there that might want to be a part of the ECAC. One of those schools might be Niagara.

“I’m sure we’ll get a letter from Niagara’s athletic director,” said Fanter. “And then it will go to a committee. I won’t go on record to say whether or not we’ll add teams. That’s not my decision.”

There is also the formation of the MAAC conference in ice hockey, and Fanter sees an important role for himself in the success of the MAAC.

“When we find out who the commissioner is there, we’ll be picking up the phone to call them,” he said. “That’s key because we need to keep everyone on board with the big picture. I want to be a source for them to grow. Joe and I want to be there to help them grow.”

There has also been talk over the past few years of teams leaving the ECAC. For example, note the public flirtation a few years ago between Rensselaer and Hockey East.

“I’ve talked to coaches, and people aren’t talking about (leaving) anymore,” he said. “People are excited about what the future is going to hold for this league. People are saying that we don’t have a problem with what’s going on on the Cape anymore. Joe didn’t want to live on the Cape, that was his choice. I live here on the Cape, I work in these offices, and it makes a difference, I’ve seen it. So what’s happened before, let’s not talk about that anymore, it’s old news. Our coaches and administrators aren’t talking about it.

“This is my show, along with all the administrators and the coaches out there, and we’re running this league the way we want it to be run, and people are happy now,” he added. “Things happened in the last few years that people have had grudges about, but it’s going to change and it’s going to change in the next three years — no ifs, ands or buts.

“I can tell you right now that there is no talk with my teams of anyone leaving.”

Tradition

The ECAC has had a storied tradition in the past, and Fanter wants to carry it on.

“I want to be able to talk about the tradition of the league because some of it has been lost in recent years,” he said. “We have Hobey Baker winners, we have national champions, we have had great teams go through here. We’re going to have those teams again, we’re going to have a national champions, we’re going to have a Hobey Baker winner.

“And when that happens, because we’ve done our homework with the media, and we’ve talked about the tradition, people won’t say `Who is this guy and where does he play?'”

“There’s no league out there that can say they have the history that we do,” said Fanter. “We need to bring back the tradition of this league, and it’ll open people’s eyes. We’ve lost that tradition recently.”

The other six leagues

Let’s not forget the other six leagues of ECAC ice hockey. In addition to the Division I men’s league, the ECAC is also comprised of the ECAC East, ECAC West, ECAC North/Central/South, ECAC SUNY, Women’s League and the Women’s Alliance.

Fanter was hired to oversee all seven leagues, though there has been a lot of talk of consolidation, restructuring or dissolution of the Division III conferences.

“I have 80 other teams that I am commissioner of,” he said. “I can go to a sponsor with 92 teams — Division I, II, III, and women’s leagues — and it opens more eyes than the other three conferences can. When you go to an equipment sponsor and you tell them you have 92 teams to work with, they listen to you.

“I’m pretty sure all 92 of those teams have to wear helmets, pads and jerseys when they are out there, he added. “These other 80 teams are helping us in our marketing, and I don’t think it cheapens the product at all.”

Fanter has a plan for the other leagues as well.

“My focus is to let people know what is going on,” he said. “For example, Middlebury is the three-time national champion, and women’s ice hockey is huge, especially after the Olympics. It’s just a matter of informing people right now.

“It’s been a poor job at the top in the way that it was done. We’ve changed that completely, tenfold, on the work that we’ve done with Division III and women’s hockey. They’ve never gotten the attention that we are giving them, and they are loving it.

Of course, nobody in men’s hockey cared more about the women’s programs than Bertagna. But with 92 teams to oversee, Bertagna had enough of dealing with it all on his own. It must be a tough job for one person to handle — except, perhaps, for the un-shy Fanter.

“No it’s not,” said Fanter. “I’m very well organized and that’s why I got this job, and that’s why I was the most qualified candidate for this job. Period.”

Parting Thoughts

The ECAC is in a new era with Jeff Fanter as its new ice hockey commissioner. There are critics who say age and experience made Fanter a questionable choice, but in the end, results are the only thing that matter.

“I think you’re going to see people in the age group of 25-30 start to be the leaders in college hockey, and they’re going to make the difference,” he said. “I am the first full-time commissioner that the ECAC has had, and it’s made a difference.

“On the average we get two calls a day that say, `Hey you’re doing a great job,’ and, `We didn’t realize what the ECAC has to offer college hockey and we’re seeing it now.'”

Fanter is trying to make a difference in the ECAC, and only time will tell if he succeeds.

“I’m trying to get out as much as I can to talk to fans, media, administrators and support groups to let them know what we’re doing here,” he said. “It’s never been done before. It’s not real hard to make a real difference.

“We’re making the difference and people are taking notice. It’s not going to happen overnight, (but) people are saying, `I can’t wait to see three years from now what you have accomplished.'”

NCAA Announces Playoff Schedule, PPV Package

USCHO Staff Report
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The NCAA announced Wednesday (Feb. 4) the television schedule for the 1998 Division I men’s ice hockey championship, which will be only the second ever to feature televised coverage of all games.

As well as over-the-air network and cable distribution, regional games for the first time will be available nationally on pay-per-view. NCAA Productions will coordinate with ESPN Enterprises to distribute all eight regional games to the DirecTV and Echostar direct broadcast satellite services.

The PPV plan also will be available on selected cable television systems. Viewers should call their local cable or satellite dish provider for details. All games will be shown live and be available at a suggested pay-per-view retail price of $29.95 for the entire eight-game package, to be broadcast March 27-29.

The semifinals and championship game will be played April 2 and 4 at the FleetCenter in Boston, and televised by ESPN2 and ESPN, respectively.

This Week in the ECAC: February 6, 1998

By Becky Blaeser & Jayson Moy
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Pearl Jam. A perfect score. The number of fingers and toes most people have. Bo Derek. The number of ECAC games left.

Now we get down to the root of the number ten. There are ten ECAC games left, ten games to decide who plays on the road the weekend of Mar. 13-15, who plays at home that weekend, and who plays golf early on.

Ten, such a nice and even number.

The ECAC, such a nice and jumbled picture.

There are seven points separating sixth place from first, six points between second and seventh, seven points separating fourth and twelfth. It’s tight.

You think?

ECAC Standings

Last week’s predictions: 1-8 (Thank you, Dartmouth) Year to date: 75-66, .531, 3rd

Colgate (14-6-2, 8-3-1 ECAC, 2nd) and Cornell (10-7-2, 6-5-1 ECAC, T-4th) at Princeton (10-5-4, 4-5-3 ECAC, 7th) Friday – Saturday, 7:30 pm – 7 pm, Hobey Baker Rink, Princeton, NJ Cornell (10-7-2, 6-5-1 ECAC, T-4th) and Colgate (14-6-2, 8-3-1 ECAC, 2nd) at Yale (15-4-0, 10-2-0 ECAC, 1st) Friday – Saturday, 7:30 pm – 7 pm, Ingalls Rink, New Haven, Conn Previous Meetings Nov. 21: Yale 5, Colgate 1 Nov. 21: Cornell 2, Princeton 1 Nov. 22: Colgate 8, Princeton 4 Nov. 22: Yale 2, Cornell 1 (OT)

At the start of the season, the Colgate Red Raiders thought they would have a goaltending controversy. But Dan Brenzavich took care of that, and has been the main netminder all season long. Shep Harder has only played in seven games this season, though one was a win over St. Lawrence Friday evening.

"I am really proud of [Harder]," said Colgate head coach Don Vaughan. "It hasn’t been easy for him all season. We haven’t played well in front of him all season, and Danny [Brenzavich] has been playing really well this year. Shep worked really hard all week in practice. He prepared, performed and produced for us.

"Shep’s saves really turned the game for us," Vaughan added. "You don’t ask your goaltenders to make every save, just the right ones."

Brenzavich was sitting out due to a game disqualification he received in his last game. He returned to the pipes the next night and tied Clarkson 3-3.

As Colgate looks to maintain its second-place standing, the schedule seems to favor the Red Raiders; they are 7-2-1 against the ten remaining teams on their schedule.

Cornell played with great intensity last Friday, and Jason Elliott made the difference in net as the Big Red knocked off Clarkson, 2-1. The next evening, the Big Red dropped one to St. Lawrence.

"Our team didn’t come ready to match [Friday] night’s performance," Cornell head coach Mike Schafer said. "I’m grasping for straws to find out what motivates our team to put back-to-back wins together, and that search is going to continue."

It has been a while since Cornell has done that. In fact, it hasn’t happened since November, when the Big Red started out the ECAC season with a 3-0-0 record. Since then they are 3-5-1 in league play and 6-7-1 overall.

Ryan Moynihan has been shooting the big guns lately for the Big Red. The previous week’s ECAC Player of the Week scored in each game this past weekend, and is on a five-game scoring streak.

Princeton dropped a 3-2 decision to Yale last Saturday. The Tigers held a two-goal lead at 2-0 during the period on goals from Robbie Sinclair and Steve Shirreffs, but the Bulldogs came back with three unanswered goals by Matt Cumming, Mark Sproule and Ben Stafford to seal the victory.

Defense is the key for the Bulldogs. They have given up an average of just 1.92 goals per game in ECAC play, and a large part of that is due to Alex Westlund and Ray Giroux. Westlund leads goaltenders in the ECAC with a 1.91 goals-against average while Giroux anchors the defense in front of him.

The power play is another key for the ‘Dogs, who are tied with Rensselaer for the lead in league play with a 22.6 percent conversion rate (12 of 53). Giroux leads the league with 14 power play points (1-13–14).

Likewise, the Tigers are also strong on the power play. They have a 17.9 percent conversion rate, with 12 goals in 67 attempts.

Interestingly, the Tigers have gone the wrong way in goal differential, one of their strong points last season. Coming into the weekend, Princeton had scored 37 goals in ECAC play and given up 41.

PICKS: Colgate at Princeton: Princeton, 4-2 Cornell at Yale: Cornell, 3-2 Cornell at Princeton: Princeton, 3-1 Colgate at Yale: Yale, 5-2

Vermont (6-14-2, 3-7-2 ECAC, 11th) and Dartmouth (8-8-3, 4-7-1 ECAC, T-8th) at Clarkson (11-6-3, 7-3-2 ECAC, 3rd) Friday – Saturday, 7:30 pm – 3 pm, Cheel Arena, Potsdam, NY Dartmouth (8-8-3, 4-7-1 ECAC, T-8th) and Vermont (6-14-2, 3-7-2 ECAC, 11th) at St. Lawrence (5-14-1, 4-7-1 ECAC, T-8th) Friday – Saturday, 7:30 pm – 7 pm, Appleton Arena, Canton, NY Previous Meetings Jan. 16: St. Lawrence 3, Vermont 2 Jan. 16: Clarkson 4, Dartmouth 3 Jan. 17: Clarkson 5, Vermont 3 Jan. 17: Dartmouth 4, St. Lawrence 1

Vermont and Dartmouth met last Saturday and it was no contest as the Big Green skated away with a 6-1 victory, bolstered by a pair of Charlie Retter goals and 40 shots on goal. Jon Sturgis also added two goals in the game, which — along with his overtime goal against UMass-Lowell last Tuesday — earned him honors as the ECAC Player of the Week.

The Catamounts were outshot 40-17 in that game as their only goal came off Kevin Karlander’s stick. The Cats continue to struggle offensively with just 51 goals in 22 games on the season. Within the league, the Cats have scored just 28 goals.

The Big Green have turned themselves around, dropping their goals against per game by over one goal a game since last year, and have scored an average of 3.32 goals per game. The Cats, on the other hand, give up over a goal per game more than they are scoring.

St. Lawrence lost to Colgate on Friday evening, but rebounded with a win in tough Lynah Rink against Cornell.

"We got a huge lift out of the Cornell game," said Saint head coach Joe Marsh. "Our confidence was pretty battered after playing well, but not being able to cash in our chances at Colgate. We came back and played well in a very tough environment on Saturday night, and we were able to break out a little bit offensively.

"Not only did we score some goals, but we created a lot of chances in their end against a very good defensive team," he added. "It was a very physical game, and I am very pleased with the way the guys responded."

Marsh hopes that the Saints can carry that momentum through to this weekend as the Saints are fighting for a playoff spot.

"We’ve got another big weekend coming up, but we can head into it coming off a big win," he said. "We’re going to try to take things one period at a time and see if we can get some momentum going."

Clarkson dropped a game to Cornell and then tied Colgate to salvage a point on the weekend.

The game of musical goaltenders returned to the Golden Knights, as Dan Murphy made 13 saves in the 2-1 loss to Cornell and the next evening Chris Bernard got the start and made 25 saves as he moved his overall record to 5-0-1.

Murphy’s GAA is 1.99 in the league, Bernard’s 2.46. Bernard’s ECAC save percentage is .907, Murphy’s is .916. Murphy is 4-3-1 in ECAC play, and Bernard is 3-0-1. Tough decisions in Potsdam.

On another front, the man advantage for the Golden Knights hasn’t really been much of an advantage at all. In 55 ECAC attempts, the Knights have seven power-play goals — a 12.7 percent success rate which puts them 11th in the league.

PICKS: Vermont at Clarkson: Clarkson, 6-2 Dartmouth at St.Lawrence: St. Lawrence, 3-2 Dartmouth at Clarkson: Clarkson, 5-2 Vermont at St. Lawrence: St. Lawrence, 4-1

Union (4-15-3, 2-8-2 ECAC, 12th) and Rensselaer (11-9-2, 5-4-3 ECAC, T-4th) at Harvard (7-9-2, 6-5-1 ECAC, T-4th) Friday – Saturday, 7:30 pm – 3 pm NESN, Bright Hockey Center, Cambridge, Mass Rensselaer (11-9-2, 5-4-3 ECAC, T-4th) and Union (4-15-3, 2-8-2 ECAC, 12th) at Brown (5-12-1, 4-7-1 ECAC, T-8th) Friday – Saturday, 7:30 pm – 7 pm, Meehan Auditorium, Providence, RI Previous Meetings Jan. 9: Brown 3, Union 2 Jan. 9: Rensselaer 6, Harvard 4 Jan. 10: Rensselaer 4, Brown 4 Jan. 10: Harvard 3, Union 2 (OT)

Union fought a hard battle against Rensselaer, tying the Engineers 3-3. The Dutchmen now have a modest two-game unbeaten streak — only the second time that has happened this season: Union defeated Nebraska-Omaha and Cornell back in late November and early December.

"After we went ahead in the second period, we went right into the hopper — the kids were scared, petrified," said Union head coach Stan Moore. "I called them out on it. I said, `I want those guys that were here in the first period to come back out here,’ if you’re going to go down I wanted them to go down on their toes.

Rensselaer held 1-0 and 3-2 leads in the game, but could not quite get over the hump after the Dutchmen went ahead 2-1.

"I thought we played well for a period and a half, but we didn’t get going until the second period," said Rensselaer head coach Dan Fridgen. "We had a lot of opportunities throughout the game, and in order to win these kinds of games you have to capitalize on them."

The last time the Engineers faced the Bears and the Crimson, they got three points. That tie and win, respectively, are part of Rensselaer’s 3-1-3 record over their last seven games.

The Engineers are also clicking on the power play, having scored 12 times on their last 35 attempts, a conversion rate of 34.3 percent. The streak has brought the Engineers to first in the league in that category.

The Dutchmen, meanwhile, lost to Brown and Harvard when the two teams met four weeks ago.

"You like to think that the point that we got [over Rensselaer] will help us get into the right direction," said Moore. "We’re playing two teams that I thought we played real well against in our barn.

"I don’t want to address it with [the team]," he added. "I want to let them stew on it a little bit as to how those games turned out."

Union was tied in the third period against Brown, and the Bears scored the lone goal of the period for the win. Union then lost in overtime to the Crimson.

Brown hasn’t played a league game since Jan. 10, when the Bears tied the Engineers 4-4 in Troy. Since then, the Bears have lost to Northeastern, had a game cancelled with New Hampshire and took the Mayor’s Cup from Providence for the third consecutive year.

Damian Prescott continued his torrid streak with a hat trick and Brent Hoiness scored two goals in the 6-3 victory over the Friars.

"I think that long goal that Brent Hoiness scored turned the whole thing around for us," said Brown coach Roger Grillo. "I thought that territorially, [Providence] outplayed us. They did a real good job of working the puck down low in our zone. We were running around and panicking. But we got a couple lucky breaks.

"We killed off two penalties in a row and they had us pinned in our zone for about six minutes, but then we got a breakaway and scored," he added. "Certainly, I’m not pleased with our overall play, but it was nice to be on the other end of some lucky breaks for once – that was the difference."

The Bears will try to continue their climb towards a playoff spot against the same two teams they last saw in league action.

Harvard had three weeks off between games before the Crimson played in the Beanpot last Monday. After falling behind 3-0 and 4-2, the Crimson won the game with an overtime goal by Chris Bala.

"We looked like we hadn’t played in 22 days but we got stronger as the game went along," said Harvard head coach Ronn Tomassoni. "I have to take my hat off to my guys because we don’t know the word quit."

Henry Higdon, Trevor Allman, and Bala scored to bring it to a 4-3 deficit before Ben Storey scored with an extra attacker on the ice for the Crimson with only 26 seconds left in the third period.

The last time Harvard played, the result was also an overtime victory. The Crimson rebounded after a loss to Rensselaer to defeat Union 3-2 in overtime, after falling behind 2-0. Rob Millar provided the winner in that one.

PICKS: Union at Harvard: Union, 3-1 Rensselaer at Brown: Rensselaer, 5-2 Rensselaer at Harvard: Rensselaer, 4-2 Union at Brown: Brown, 4-2

Beanpot Championship Harvard (7-9-2, 6-5-1 ECAC, T-4th) vs. Boston University (18-4-2, 10-3-2 Hockey East, T-1st) Monday, 9 pm, Fleet Center, Boston, Mass

Harvard is looking to break Boston University’s three-year Beanpot streak, having already ended its own string of three consecutive fourth-place finishes with a 5-4 overtime victory over Boston College.

For a look at Boston University please refer to the Hockey East preview.

PICK: Harvard, 4-3

There’s a full slate again next week in the ECAC, with only four more weekends to go until the playoffs.

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

Saturday, February 14: Harvard at Yale Brown at Princeton Clarkson at Union St. Lawrence at Rensselaer (Empire Sports) Vermont at Colgate Dartmouth at Cornell

Some information gathered from ECAC game reporters.

This Week in Hockey East: February 6, 1998

By
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Speaking of which, BU has advanced to its 14th championship game in 15 years in the annual battle for Boston bragging rights. Only a dramatic Harvard comeback over BC avoided another Battle for Comm Ave.

The league pecking order is starting to take form now. It’s always dangerous to try handicapping such a race, but after driving a flaming automobile, nothing much scares this writer anymore. Nothing much, that is, other than a FleetCenter hot dog.

And so, knowing that this is bound to annoy those fans who may be overly optimistic about their team’s chances, let’s check out the race.

No. 3 Boston University, No. 4 New Hampshire and No. 8 Boston College should finish 1-2-3, in some order. BU and UNH, both with two games in hand over the Eagles, are the heavy favorites to take the top two spots.

Of the remaining teams fighting for home ice, Maine and Northeastern have by far the best chances. Although the Huskies hold a four-point lead over the Black Bears and a game in hand to boot, the remaining Northeastern schedule is as tough as it gets, while Maine has a much easier time of it. The three head-to-head tilts approaching between these two teams, including one this week, should settle it.

Although UMass-Lowell and Providence might have an outside chance at moving up, both will face the league’s three top-ten teams in six of their last nine contests.

Meanwhile, Merrimack and UMass-Amherst appear likely to duke it out for the final playoff spot. The Warriors have a big advantage in this battle. Although their three-point advantage may be negated by the two games in hand the Minutemen hold, the remaining schedule favors Merrimack greatly. The Warriors actually stand a better chance of moving up than moving down.

Of course, the age-old caveat remains: you never know what’s going to happen until you play the games.

This week’s Hockey East KOHO Players of the Week are Tom Poti, the BU defenseman who now has five goals and three assists in his last four games, and Tim Lovell, whose 3-3–6 weekend led UMass-Amherst to its first two Hockey East wins.

The Rookie of the Week is UNH’s Matt Swain, who scored two goals and added an assist against Boston College for his first collegiate points. Last week’s record in picks: 2-7 (the curse of the Slob-mobile)

Season’s record in picks: 95-56, .629

The Beanpot: Championship Game No. 3 Boston University (18-4-2, 10-3-2 HEA) vs. Harvard (7-9-2, 6-5-1 ECAC)

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

Boston University’s seniors can go down in history as the only class to win four Beanpots if they knock off the underdog Crimson. The Terriers did win four straight from 1970 through 1973, but that was in an era prior to freshman eligibility.

Five years ago, in 1993, they had the same opportunity, but fell to the Ted Drury-led Crimson 4-2. This year, the Drury is on the other foot.

"We couldn’t do it a few years ago," said coach Jack Parker. "It would be nice if Chris Drury, Mike Sylvia, Chris Kelleher, Tom Noble and Jeff Kealty become the only people in Beanpot history to win four.

"Not that we’re thinking about that," he added wryly.

The Terriers put themselves in position for the feat by following up their Friday night 6-3 win over Merrimack with a 4-1 victory over Northeastern in the Beanpot semifinal. Just two weeks earlier, the two teams had split one-goal games in a home-and-home series.

"This easily could have been a one-goal game, too," said Parker after the game. "One of the differences is that we had everybody back and they had two of their best players out, [Scott] Campbell and [Aaron] Toews. When you take those two guys out of their lineup and we got Tommi Degerman back and Albie [O’Connell] much healthier, that’s a pretty big swing."

Northeastern held a 1-0 lead until midway through the second period, when BU took advantage of a Northeastern defensive zone blunder to even the score.

"Once they got their goal and got halfway through the second," said Parker, "they had to be thinking, ‘Hey, we can win this game 1-0, if we play hard defense because we’ve got a great goaltender. It was a good break that we got that goal, because it got us going a little bit and took away that possibility. It’s not going to be 1-0 shutout, boys. You’re going to have to score again. And maybe we will, too."

Three and a half minutes later, the Terriers held a 3-1 lead. Until that point, they had relied on goaltender Michel Larocque’s predictably strong play to keep them close in an evenly-played game .

"You saw two great goaltenders who were working their craft pretty good," said Parker. "We kind of take Larocque for granted, to tell you the truth. ‘Geez, that’s what he’s supposed to do for us.’

"When you run into a guy like Marc [Robitaille], you say to yourself, ‘He’s playing great tonight,’ but he plays great every night, too. And they probably take him for granted.

"But that’s one thing that’s great about Hockey East this year. The league is filled with great goaltending. There’s a lot of low-scoring games in our league. It’s not for lack of shots and it isn’t because of the trap. There are great opportunities and goalies are making big saves."

Parker’s recent Beanpot goaltending rotation would result in Larocque playing in BU’s Friday night match-up against UMass-Lowell and Tom Noble getting the Beanpot final for the second consecutive year.

When Harvard captain Jeremiah McCarthy was asked to recount his favorite Beanpot memory, he said, "We lost two games in my freshman year. We lost two games in my sophomore year. And we lost two games in my junior year. So I guess my favorite Beanpot memory was my first warmup."

Well, guess what? McCarthy has a new highlight.

After falling behind 3-0, the Crimson roared back, tying the game with 25 seconds left before winning it in overtime. The contest marked Harvard’s first game action in 22 days because of exam break.

"We looked like we hadn’t played in 22 days, but we got stronger as the game went along," said coach Ronn Tomassoni. "I have to take my hat off to my guys, because we don’t know the word quit."

Chris Bala, the team’s leading scorer with 17 points in 18 games, scored twice, including a critical shorthanded goal and the game-winner. Reportedly, the scouts are keeping a close eye on the freshman, a posture that BU defensemen would be best to adopt.

(For more on Harvard, see this week’s ECAC Preview.)

PICK: The class of Drury, Kelleher, Noble, Sylvia and Kealty moves into the record books with a convincing 5-2 win.

The Beanpot: Consolation Game

Northeastern (16-9-2, 9-5-2 HEA) vs. No. 8 Boston College (16-8-3, 9-5-2 HEA)

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

In the Beanpot semifinal, Boston College suffered a gut-wrenching 5-4 loss in overtime to Harvard. What added insult to injury, though, was the way the Eagles lost it. They held a 3-0 second-period lead and a 3-1 advantage until Harvard’s Chris Bala scored a shorthanded goal with 11 minutes remaining.

They then reestablished a two-goal cushion, holding a 4-2 lead with under six minutes to play. Harvard then scored on two shots from the point, the first one deflected in front by Trevor Allman and the second by Ben Storey with the goalie pulled and 25 seconds left.

"I thought we had a good lid on it," said crestfallen coach Jerry York. "The shorthanded goal hurt us. And at the end, we had just killed a penalty there and we had our five guys back, but we were in disarray when they scored. "In retrospect, we had two or three chances to chip the puck out of the zone. They’d pulled their goaltender and the clock was winding down. It just didn’t seem to get out into the neutral zone. Harvard kept coming and Storey got good wood on it from the point."

Bala then broke hearts on the Heights off a set faceoff play in OT.

"I thought we had this one tonight and we let it slip away," said BC coach Jerry York. "It was a real disheartening loss for our kids and our program. We wanted to win a Beanpot and it’s not going to be this year. It’s a tough pill for us to swallow."

Chris Masters, one of BC’s key defensive players who scored one goal and provided a great setup to Nick Pierandri on another, was injured midway through the game and is probably out until next weekend.

Northeastern succumbed to UNH, 5-2, before also falling to Boston University in the Beanpot semifinal, 4-1. The Huskies are now hurting physically, just as they enter the toughest segment of their schedule. Forward Scott Campbell missed the Beanpot semifinal game due to an ankle injury suffered against UNH.

On the blue line, Aaron Toews also missed the game with a neck injury. Mike Jozefowicz, perhaps NU’s top defenseman, has missed the last eight games following an injury during the Saskatchewan tournament. And David Dupont went down in the first period, leaving a blue line corps that was already playing four freshmen woefully thin.

"I give the kids, [Doug] Carlson, [Matt] Brown, [John] Peterman and [Arik] Engbrecht a lot of credit because they were double-shifted a lot," said coach Bruce Crowder. "Playing a team of BU’s caliber with their type of players, we just got worn down a bit.

"I don’t think anybody would say it’s enough to go out in the first round. Everyone comes here to win this thing, but we’re young. We’ll be back. We’re going to have a lot of fun down the road here. We just have to continue to work at it and get better."

The results, and Crowder’s reaction to them mirror those in the Friday night loss to UNH.

"There are going to be mistakes along the way even though you try to minimize them," he said, "but we played one of the best teams in the country hard for 60 minutes.

"There are little character things that we’re constantly trying to pull out. We’re so young that we’re just going to pull a positive out of this. There’s no use getting down on these guys, for goodness sakes. They’ve been the biggest surprise in hockey this year and we came close to pulling out another surprise."

PICK: Unless a team has a realistic shot at an at-large NCAA berth, tournament consolation games are murder for a coach to get his troops revved up for. BC, currently number 11 in the Pairwise Rankings, does have a shot, while Northeastern’s odds at number 18 are a lot longer.

Add that to Northeastern’s injury woes and this one looks like BC, 4-2.

UMass-Lowell (9-11-3, 6-6-3 HEA, 6th) at No. 3 Boston University (18-4-2, 10-3-2 HEA, T-1st)

UMass-Lowell (9-11-3, 6-6-3 HEA, 6th) at UMass-Amherst (5-16-2, 2-11-1 HEA)

Sunday, 2 p.m., Mullins Center, Amherst, MA AudioNet

Boston University is profiled above.

In its lone game last week following the Tsongas Arena opener, UMass-Lowell fell behind Boston College 3-0, rallied back to the tie it in the second period, but lost 4-3 on a Brian Gionta strike.

"It’s tough to spot a good team like that three goals and then expect to win the game," said coach Tim Whitehead. "We did have a good second period so we were in position to win and it was a pretty good third period, but unfortunately they got a goal on a faceoff and we couldn’t tie it up. The slow start was disappointing, but it was a good sign the way we came back against a good team."

Midseason addition Jeremy Kyte has been hampered by injury of late and missed the BC game. Although eventually he should make a bigger contribution than his three assists in six games to date, the forward is still in the process of assimilating the ins and outs of Division I hockey.

"He’s doing all right," said Whitehead. "It’s been a bit of an adjustment for him coming from junior hockey in midseason. Trying to pick up systems, defensive systems especially, has been tough. Those are the types of things he hasn’t been expected to do in the past."

In facing BU this week, Lowell is faced with the age-old predicament. Do you focus on your opponent’s top gun, in this case Chris Drury, or not? Last year, the River Hawks had a lot of success shadowing Drury in a 3-1 win at Tully Forum.

"We have to be aware of Drury, but we can’t spend a ton of time on him," said Whitehead. "They’re such a well-rounded team. You have to be careful that if you spend too much time worrying about Drury, the rest of the guys will burn you. You have to have a balance there. He’s an outstanding player, but you can’t overdo it.

"You have to respect their defense. They can carry the puck. They can shoot it. They’re good on the power play at the point. So you really have to respect what they’re going to do out there from the point and you have to watch those guys jumping in on the rush late. You just have to really be aware of a five-man offense with them."

Although BU has claimed a share of first place, and Lowell’s other opponent this weekend, UMass-Amherst, sits in last place, Whitehead sees similarities between the two teams.

"They’re actually similar to BU, because their strength is in their defense and goaltending at Amherst," said Whitehead. "They’ve got some young talented forwards like BU, and you’ve got to respect the points getting involved with them as well. They’re not just a one-man show.

"With Amherst, that’s becoming a big rivalry for our two schools, so there’s a bit more involved there as well. They’re playing real good hockey now, so they’re a team that we have to be very aware of."

UMass-Amherst had the weekend that coach Joe Mallen has been waiting for, defeating Providence 3-1 and stomping Merrimack 6-2. For a team that had only one win, and that over Air Force, and two ties in the 14 games dating back to Nov. 15, it could not have come at a more welcome time.

"It was a breakthrough weekend," said Mallen. "We’ve been so close so many nights, it doesn’t surprise me. We had a couple of our seniors step up and play the way they’re capable of playing, starting with Timmy Lovell. Tommy O’Connor had five assists on the weekend, Mike Gaffney really stepped it up and had a goal and Brian Regan played real good back-to-back games."

Ironically, the two wins and big senior contributions came after senior captain Brad Norton left the team to turn pro.

"It was just a parting of the ways," said Mallen. "We wish him the best of luck. He had an opportunity and he chose to take it.

"But I think that Mike Gaffney and Tom O’Connor took it as a positive, that it would be an opportunity for them to shine a little more. And Tim Lovell the same way. Those guys really responded."

Two senior role-players, Dan Juden and Dean Campanale, and sophomore Nathan Sell also stepped up to give the Minutemen goal scoring from unexpected sources.

"For us to be able to get scoring from different people, which is something we’ve been waiting for all year long, made a big difference," said Mallen. "It’s been a lack of goal scoring all year long that has hurt us.

"[In the Merrimack game], it was, to be honest, so rare for us to have a five-goal lead in a Hockey East game. It was a unique situation for us, but it came about because Juden had two, Campanale had one and Gaffney had one."

Although the Minutemen are now in striking range in their quest for the final playoff berth, they will have a tough time getting over the top because of their remaining schedule. Six of their 10 games are against the BU, UNH and BC top-ten troika and three more are against a Maine squad much better than its 10-11-3 record.

"That’s a pretty tough schedule, but, to be honest, that’s Hockey East," said Mallen. "There’s not much we can do about it. We have to play each of those teams three times. It’s better at least to be playing these games after having some success in the league."

The Minutemen begin the stretch against perhaps the most intimidating team of them all, UNH. They then host UMass-Lowell in their one game that, on paper, looks most win-able.

"If we play a team game, and play like we did this past weekend, we can play with anybody," said Mallen.

PICKS: UMass-Lowell gains a split on the weekend, losing 4-3 to BU, but completing a sweep of the season’s series with UMass-Amherst, 4-2.

UMass-Amherst (5-16-2, 2-11-1 HEA) at No. 4 New Hampshire (18-5-1, 10-4-1 HEA, 3rd)

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

New Hampshire almost pulled off the trifecta last week. The Wildcats took no prisoners in a 9-3 victory over Boston College and defeated Northeastern 5-2 to begin the weekend, but fell short against Maine, 3-1.

Against Northeastern, UNH used its killer penalty-killers to prime advantage, scoring two shorthanded goals in the first period to seize control.

The Wildcats hold the top mark in Hockey East for overall success on the PK (89.6 percent) and, even after allowing a Maine power-play goal on Sunday, still have as many shorthanded goals as they have allowed their opponents on the man advantage.

"There’s no doubt that we’re a threat on it, but we’re more concerned with killing the penalty, to be honest," said coach Richard Umile. "They do it so well. They know when to jump. We have some real clever players out there. That’s why we get the goals and are a scoring threat.

"They’ll do it when they have the opportunity to, and they know when to do it. But we’re primarily trying to kill the penalty, not score goals."

Derek Bekar’s fifth shorthanded goal of the season put him atop that category in national statistics.

"You want to kill the penalty," he said, "and if you’re scoring, then it means that they’re not and that means that you’re killing the penalty.

"It starts right back with the goalie and the ‘D’. We’re all on the same wavelength. The defensemen are stripping their forwards; they’re on them; they’re banging and getting it up to us. The [other team’s] defense isn’t ready sometimes and so we’re able to find some offensive opportunities."

With Northeastern’s goaltender pulled near the close of the 5-2 win, Bekar turned down an open net to instead feed Jason Krog for a hat trick.

"They don’t care about personal stats," said Umile. "They just want to win."

The trifecta attempt did fall short, however, when Maine’s strong defense corralled a Wildcat team playing its third game in six days.

"We had the opportunity to win three big ones," said Umile after the game. "It’s a missed opportunity on our part to have a great week and go on top, but I told the players it’s not the end of the world to win two out of three.

"We just hoped that we could get through today. Give credit to them. It was a hard-earned win on their part. Their team defense in the second and third period was just sitting back and picking us up. They played solid D, tried to slow us down, and obviously were successful."

UMass-Amherst is profiled above.

PICK: After a one-game respite, the Wildcats go back to taking no prisoners, 6-2.

Providence College (12-11-2, 6-8-1 HEA, 7th) at No. 8 Boston College (16-8-3, 10-5-2 HEA, T-1st)

Providence College (12-11-2, 6-8-1 HEA, 7th) at Merrimack (9-16-1, 4-12-0 HEA, 8th)

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

Sunday, 7 p.m., Volpe Complex, North Andover, MA

Boston College is profiled above.

Providence’s 0-6-2 tailspin worsened last week with a 3-1 loss to UMass-Amherst and a 6-3 defeat by Brown in the Mayor’s Cup.

"I don’t know how you totally dominate a team for sixty minutes and lose 6-3," said frustrated coach Paul Pooley after the Brown loss. "Territorially, it was unbelievable. Hey, give them credit for winning an ugly game, even though we had tons of chances."

The game turned on two critical goals. Boyd Ballard surrendered one on a shot from outside the blue line, shades of Dan Dennis against BU last year. Then, after minutes of sustained Friar pressure in the offensive zone, a mishandled puck at the point led to a Brown breakaway goal and, effectively, the game.

"That’s what happens when you start pressing," said Pooley. "We came ready to play for 60 minutes and we should have won the game, but we didn’t. I thought that was a great game that we played. We outworked them and did some great things. I think we can use this as a springboard."

After an 0-for-26 power-play drought spanning seven games, the Friar man-advantage connected not once, but twice.

This week, PC first takes on a talented BC team that has to be licking its wounds after a stunning overtime loss to Harvard in the Beanpot semifinal.

"We’ve got to play tight ‘D’ and check, check, check, check, check and just keep working," said Pooley. "We’ve got to check and score on our opportunities."

The Friars then travel to Merrimack, for a game important in the race for the 6-7-8 playoff spots.

"We’re just a struggling team that needs something positive to happen," said Pooley.

Merrimack opened last week with a 6-3 loss to No. 3 Boston University, a game dominated by Poti (two goals, two assists) and Drury (one goal, two assists).

"I thought we played pretty well, but they’re pretty talented," said coach Ron Anderson. "We made some mental mistakes and they just capitalized."

Nobody likes to lose, but when it’s at the hands of BU, you’ve got a lot of company. Getting embarrassed, 6-2, at home by UMass-Amherst, however, is another story. A win would have all but clinched a playoff spot for Merrimack and would have dropped the odds against a seventh or even sixth place finish. The blowout rankled many fans and certainly ranks among the most disappointing Warrior losses in a long time.

"They’re all disappointing, but it’s very hard to beat any team three times in a year," said Anderson. "[The Minutemen are] coming on. They’ve been in a lot of close games this year that have just gotten away from them, including the two against us before. We fully expected it to be a tough fight. Early on, we had our chances and didn’t capitalize. They got theirs and they did."

In the latter stretches of the game, Anderson sat his top guns, though not for disciplinary or motivational reasons.

"One of the things we’ve trying to do is play to our strength, which is our veterans, and develop our young guys as well," he said. "We’re playing the best players we have when the game is on the line. But when a game gets out of reach, you’ve got to give the rest of your players some time if you can. When the game was over, when it was 6-2 or 6-1, we wanted to get some other guys some playing time.

"Plus, I’ve been using those other guys a lot. And they’ll have some off-nights as you wear them out a little bit, too."

Two silver linings could be found among the thunderclouds. First, on a team top-heavy in its offensive talent, third-line freshman Joe Gray popped in a goal, his second of the season, against BU.

"Joe has been playing a lot lately and he’s been playing well," said Anderson. "He just hasn’t made much of an offensive contribution. It’s good to see him get one and help us out there. I’m sure it’ll boost his confidence as well."

Additionally, backup goaltenders Tom Welby and Tim Thompson each appeared in short relief stints and neither allowed a goal.

"They both came in and did a good job for us," said Anderson. "Both nights we got them a little bit of experience. It was good to get them some playing time."

This week, the Warriors host Providence, another team that has been struggling of late, and is one spot ahead of them in the standings.

"Every game is important," said Anderson. "We’re certainly in a battle with UMass and Providence and Lowell to see who’s going to get themselves solidified for the playoffs. This is one of three games we’re going to play against Providence in the next couple weeks, so it’s an important game for us."

PICKS: Fox New England has had good fortune with its first four broadcasts. The first three included two overtimes and a regulation one-goal game. Even last week’s 9-3 UNH-BC blowout was a 3-1 game going into the third, at which point the voyeurs in the audience clicked over to the State of the Union address, and not because they were interested in the budget deficit.

With PC in a tailspin and BC raring to atone for its Beanpot defeat, this one could get ugly.

Look for a Fox-friendly evenly-played game with BC taking a 5-3 win by capitalizing more on its chances.

The Friars then top Merrimack, 5-4.

Northeastern (16-9-2, 9-6-2 HEA, 4th) at Maine (10-11-3, 7-9-2 HEA, 5th)

Thursday, 7 p.m., Alfond Arena, Orono, ME

Northeastern is profiled above.

Maine completed a six-game stretch against BC, New Hampshire (three games) and Boston University (two games) with a 3-1 victory over UNH. In doing so, it avoided a five-game losing streak, which would have been its longest since the 1985-86 season.

"I’m really pleased for our players," said coach Shawn Walsh. "We had played the toughest schedule in the country and we were playing the number one [Ratings Percentage Index] team. We’re hanging around now and we’re getting better."

Alfie Michaud’s early-season inconsistency seems to be behind him. In the six games against ranked opponents, he has posted a 2.58 goals-against average and a .907 save percentage.

The team defense has also been markedly improved.

"We’re defensively more sound than we were earlier in the year," said Walsh. "We’ve dramatically turned that around. When you look back at it, how many unbelievable saves did Alfie make? I count one. I bet Sean [Matile] made three or four."

At the beginning of the season, the upcoming home stretch looked like easy pickings with only Northeastern, UMass-Amherst and Nebraska-Omaha remaining. Go straight to eight wins, do not pass go, do not collect two hundred dollars.

Now, however, UMass-Amherst is coming off two wins and Northeastern has been the blue-collar success story of the league.

"God, this league is so tough," said Walsh, with a shake of the head.

The strategies that worked successfully against UNH will have to be tailored for Northeastern.

"They’re probably as different as any two teams in our league," said Walsh. "Every time UNH gets an odd-man rush, they make a play. So obviously, you don’t give them odd-man rushes. And they like to attack through the middle of the ice.

"So we wanted to make sure that we took away the middle and limited their odd-man rushes. I don’t think they got a two-on-one all night. [Mark] Mowers got a semi-breakaway on the power play, but that was a bang-bang pass.

"Northeastern plays a different style. They certainly aren’t blessed with the offensive individual skill guys that New Hampshire has, but they’re working hard as a team. They’re kind of a hard-working, grind-it-out team."

With Northeastern playing four freshmen and one sophomore defenseman even before its recent spate of injuries, teams could be expected to try to take advantage of that inexperience. Walsh, however, discounts that emphasis.

"They’re young, but they’re playing well," he said. "They’re right there among the league leaders in team defense. When you get to January and February, you can forget about freshmen or sophomores because those guys have played a lot of hockey. They’re playing like veterans."

After facing Michel Larocque, Tom Noble and Sean Matile in the last five games, the Black Bears now must beat Marc Robitaille. Where’s a good sieve when you need one?

"That’s called playing in Hockey East," said Walsh. "You’re going to run into this. I put Michaud in that category the way that he’s playing now.

"It’ll probably be a low-scoring game, much like [the win over UNH] and much like our two BU games. That’s just the way it goes. You just have to capitalize on your chances."

PICK: Maine capitalizes its way to a 3-2 win.

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