Home Blog Page 1526

Bertagna named Commissioner of Hockey East

By Adam Wodon
-

Joe Bertagna was named the fourth commissioner of Hockey East on Tuesday in an announcement made by the conference’s Board of Directors.

The Arlington, Mass. native leaves the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC), where he was employed for 15 years, including the last three as the conference’s first Hockey Commissioner.

Bertagna will stay with the ECAC until his current contract expires on June 1. He is expected to take a month off before assuming his post with Hockey East on July 1.

“I am sincerely excited about the opportunity to work for the schools of Hockey East,” said Bertagna, 45. “My 15 years with the ECAC have been terrific and this decision did not come without some difficulty. But I look forward to new relationships and new challenges in one of the nation’s premier athletic conferences.”

Bertagna is a respected ambassador of the game who has worn many hats for the ECAC since his hiring in 1982-83 as tournament director. Bertagna has served as the Executive Director of the American Hockey Coaches Association since 1984.

“I am very excited and I know all of the Hockey East athletic directors are as well to have Joe moving into the job this summer,” said Gary Strickler, Chairman of the Hockey East Executive Committee and Director of Athletics at Boston University, “Joe brings a national hockey reputation and I know he will make our strong conference even stronger.

“We know what a good job Joe has done for ECAC hockey, and look forward to him doing the same for Hockey East.”

Bertagna started working primarily as the public relations coordinator for the ECAC following a stint as the sports information director at Harvard, his alma mater. He is credited for creating the ECAC’s tournament television package, regular season television package and corporate sponsorships with Bauer and Karhu. He was a driving force behind the Hockeyfest Tournament at the Boston Garden in 1991 and 1992 and played an instrumental role in moving the ECAC Championships to Lake Placid, N.Y., the tournament’s home since 1993.

“The entire ECAC ice hockey community of over 90 programs is heavily indebted to Joe for the tremendous job he’s done for us all,” said Clayton Chapman, Commissioner of the ECAC. “He has given us strong and inspired leadership, taking our ECAC Division I Men’s League to national prominence year in and year out, was a pivotal force in the creation of our successful ECAC Women’s League and Alliance, and in the establishment of the only women’s conference championships in the country.

“Joe Bertagna’s name will always be remembered as synonymous with ECAC Hockey, and we all join in wishing him well as he moves on to new challenges with Hockey East.”

Bertagna, a 1973 graduate of Harvard University, enjoyed a fruitful playing and coaching career as a goaltender. He starred at Harvard under Bill Cleary and at Arlington High School under Eddie Burns. Bertagna played professionally for the Milwaukee Admirals and in Cortina, Italy. He authored “Goaltending,” a textbook on the fundamentals of the position, and “Crimson in Triumph,” a book dedicated to Harvard athletic history.

Bertagna began his coaching career in 1985 with the Boston Bruins, staying with the Bruins as the goaltenders coach until 1991 and rejoining the team for the 1994-95 season. He also has coached with the Milwaukee Admirals (1994-96). Bertagna has operated his own goalie camps in the summer since 1973.

“I am excited with Joe’s decision to become our commissioner,” said Robert M. DeGregorio, Jr., the director of Athletics at Merrimack College and former Hockey East Commissioner. “I have known Joe for many years. I have worked with him both as a commissioner and as an athletic director and I feel his expertise will help move Hockey East into the next century.

“He is well-known and well-respected throughout the hockey community and his expertise will only further enhance the greatness of the Hockey East Association.”

Abbott and Costello Visit Hockey East

By
-

Over 50 years ago, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello created arguably the most famous comedy routine in history, “Who’s on First.” It is with great pleasure that we welcome them to the Hockey East stage.

LOU: Heeyyy, Abbott! You’ll never guess what happened. I saw my first college hockey game and, boy, was it terrific! I didn’t really understand what was going on, but I loved it when they crashed into each other. Smash! Bam! Pow! Now I can’t get enough of it.

BUD: I’ve been a fan myself for years.

LOU: Just do me one favor.

BUD: You name it.

LOU: Don’t confuse me like you did with “Who’s on First.” Just speak English.

BUD: I couldn’t do that.

LOU: Couldn’t do what?

BUD: Speak English.

LOU: Why not?

BUD: He redshirted. English, I mean. Brad English. UNH.

LOU: Abbott, I don’t care if the shirts he wears are red, or green, or brown or white!

BUD: That would give you your penalty-killers.

LOU: What would?

BUD: Green or Brown or White. Don’t you know what you’re saying?

LOU: Of course I don’t know what I’m saying!

BUD: David Green is a senior at Providence. Craig Brown is a UMass-Lowell freshman. They both play forward. Tony and Brian White are defensemen for Merrimack and Maine. The four of them would make a great penalty-killing unit.

LOU: Penalty-killing? You’re killing me!

BUD: Weren’t you watching the players while they were crashing and smashing and bashing? Knowing the players is half the fun. Lou, you really need to buy a program.

LOU: All I’m asking is that you just speak English!

BUD: I told you he redshirted.

LOU: Abboooott!!

BUD: Let me explain.

LOU: How noble!

BUD: Isn’t he a great goaltender?

LOU: Who?

BUD: Who’s on first. You were talking about Noble.

LOU: Noble, who?

BUD: Noble is in the nets. Who is on first. Please stick to hockey, Lou.

LOU: You’re doing it again! You’re trying to drive me crazy! Am I right?

BUD: Matt and Dennis. BU and UMass-Amherst.

LOU: There you go again!

BUD: Say, did you know that when Matt Wright enrolled at BU, he didn’t even expect to make the team? And he won a national championship! What a story. Gotta love the success of a walk-on.

LOU: Now what are you talking about? I thought we were talking about hockey.

BUD: We are, except when you bring up Who, the guy on first base.

LOU: So what’s this about a walk-on? I may be stupid, but I know that you skate in hockey. You don’t walk.

BUD: You don’t understand.

LOU: Nooo kidding!

BUD: Let me explain.

LOU: I don’t want to hear it! All I know is that Noble is in the nets. I don’t know if he’s acting noble there, but that’s where he is. And he isn’t speaking English because English is redshirting. Not greenshirting, or brownshirting, or whiteshirting. Because those are David, Craig, Tony, and Brian. Whatever that means! And maybe I’m wrong but I’m certainly not right because right is a walk-on named Matt even though he’s supposed to be skating.

BUD: Lou, you’re brilliant. That’s perfect.

LOU: I don’t even know what I said!

BUD: You said that…

LOU: Stop! I don’t want to hear another word! I’m one word away from going over the edge, Abbott, and it’s all because of you. There’s a punishment for guys like you. If I hear one more word out of you, I’m gonna cane you.

BUD: Goaltender. Providence. Mark Kane.

LOU: Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!

Note: UNH’s Brad English has not yet been officially designated a redshirt. He has, however, not played this year primarily due to knee problems and would seem an obvious redshirt candidate. Our mythical Abbott and Costello felt that technicalities should not get in the way of a good routine.

This Week in Hockey East: February 21, 1997

By
-

Hockey East Preview: Feb. 21-22, 1997 by Dave Hendrickson

Boston University and New Hampshire made Hockey East a two-team race for the regular-season crown so long ago that fans might easily ignore two other teams that are playing very well down the stretch. In fact, since the Christmas break, Maine and Merrimack have supplanted the two powerhouses as the league’s hottest teams.

Maine 11-2-0 .846 Merrimack 7-3-0 .700 BU 6-2-3 .682 UNH 7-5-0 .583

Although the above doesn’t account for scheduling differences, there’s no dismissing the Lazarus act done by Maine and Merrimack, both of which looked dead in the water at the Christmas break.

Maine must consider this week’s three games against Boston University and UNH — the latter won by a 5-1 score — as its "playoffs." With the the denial of the Black Bears’ NCAA appeal, they have only those games and a finale against UMass-Amherst to close out their season.

Merrimack, on the other hand, now stands poised to earn its first playoff home ice since moving up to Division I. Coach Ron Anderson and his squad deserve admiration for not rolling over after a 3-11-1 start. They have rebounded with a vengeance, winning six out of their last seven. Considering the struggles that program has endured, fans of the underdog will have an obvious favorite come playoff time.

Hockey East Standings

Last week’s record in picks: 4-6 (ugh!) Season record in picks: 111-66

No. 4 Boston University (18-6-6, 14-2-4 HE) at Maine (21-10-1, 13-7-1 HE) Friday and Saturday, 7 p.m., Alfond Arena, Orono, ME

After hearing that its NCAA appeal had been denied, Maine showed no letdown, beating UMass-Amherst 6-4 and 8-1. The games prompted UMass coach Joe Mallen to say, "From what I saw on Saturday night, they played as well as BU or UNH have played during the course of the year."

Cory Larose earned Rookie of the Week honors with two goals and four assists on the weekend. He has recorded 10 goals and 24 assists in 31 games this season, tops among Hockey East rookies.

"He’s been terrific," said Maine coach Shawn Walsh. "He’s really made a case to be Rookie of the Year. [Not only did] he get six points, he did it when the game was on the line early in both games. He really was a dominant guy."

Another freshman, goaltender Alfie Michaud, has dramatically turned around his season. He has played in four straight games after previously sharing duties with Javier Gorriti, allowing only a single goal in the last two.

"We made a decision last week that we were going to go with Alfie," said Walsh. "Maybe not every game, but he’s certainly our number one guy. He showed this weekend that he’s ready for it. He wasn’t, earlier in the year, but he proved himself in January when he was Rookie of the Month. His confidence is up and he’s playing better."

The youngsters are playing well even though Walsh chose not to adopt a rebuilding philosophy in the absence of a post-season.

"I owe it to our players to try to win each game," he said. "Forget about the future. The future is going to happen by itself. Our players are developing fine. We’ve only had four seniors in the lineup in this stretch of being 13-3 since December 20th.

"I think what’s speeded up the development of our young players was [Jeff] Tory, [Brett] Clark, [Blair] Allison and [Tim] Lovell leaving. All of these young guys have gotten their ice time, guys like David Cullen. I think he’s coming into his own.

"These guys deserve to have fun and feel good about themselves. We certainly do right now. My number one priority is to see how we stack up against two truly great teams [UNH on Tuesday and BU on the weekend].

"It’s a great schedule, because we can actually consider this a national tournament week because the calibre of the opposing teams will be Final-Four calibre. You can’t ask for anything better. We’re just doing it three weeks ahead of time."

Maine opened its "national tournament week" with a 5-1 win over a UNH squad depleted by seven players suspended after a brawl with Providence. That win all but ensures that the Black Bears will finish third in Hockey East. They now look to continue that success against a BU team they beat 3-1 last month.

"BU has a style of play that is very predictable," said Walsh. "That’s because they’re well-coached. Jack does a good job of having them play his way and it’s a fairly obvious way. We’ve had success with them over the years, over an eight- or nine-year span, so we just have to play our game.

"I’m fully cognizant that they will probably play better than they played against us in January because they want revenge. So we’ll have to raise our level. I think it’ll come down to execution on both team’s parts.

"Anyone who loves college hockey will love this series."

BU coach Jack Parker poured cold water on Walsh’s "national tournament week" concept, hardly surprising given the strained relations between the two.

"Shawn says a lot of things," said Parker. "This is not the national championship, this is not a playoff game, it’s a regular-season game for both teams. It counts for one, it doesn’t count for the other. That’s all it is. It counts for us, so we’ll definitely be up. Whenever we play Maine we’re up for it."

This past weekend Parker watched his club open with a clear-cut 6-1 win over UMass-Lowell. Michel Larocque kept the Terriers in the game during a wide-open first period before BU seized control in the second and the third.

"Both goalies are playing great," said Parker after the win. "Noble played great in the Beanpot the other night. It’s almost like it’s one-upsmanship. One guy puts on a show and spins a three-hitter and the next guy tries to pitch a two-hitter. That position has been our most consistent all year long."

The fourth line of Bill Pierce, Brendan Walsh and Matt Wright continued its recent offensive contributions. The line scored the tying and winning goals in the Beanpot championship and then figured in three of the six goals on Friday night.

"They’re playing real well," said Parker. "They’re playing real smart. I’m very, very happy for those guys, all three of them. They’ve worked really hard all year. Billy Pierce has really been snakebitten. Brendan has had a great year. Matty has been up-and-down but has been playing great of late. To see them chip in with some goals and some nice plays is great. It’s very, very important to have that line going."

Parker then watched in dismay as the River Hawks came back to tie BU 5-5 on Saturday. In a telling moment, Parker referred to the tie as a loss, a Freudian slip if there ever was one.

"I thought we were a completely different team in a 24-hour span," Parker said. "We didn’t play nearly as focused or as hard. Lowell played much harder than us. I was very disappointed in our overall effort. Frankly, that hasn’t happened too many times this year. Maybe twice we haven’t shown up this year and that was one of them.

"[Tom Noble] wasn’t the reason we lost; I don’t think he played real sharp but he didn’t play horribly either. He wasn’t the problem. The problem was all six defensemen played horribly, unfocused and lackadaisical. We had about half of our forwards playing well and the other half out to lunch."

The Terriers now trail New Hampshire by two points in the standings, but hold two games in hand. With UNH inactive this weekend, this series gives BU the opportunity to cash in the extra games and move into first place.

"These games are two points in the league so they’re important to us," said Parker. "We’re playing a team that’s not going to be in our playoffs, so it’s not that important to them but they’re really important to us. We’re trying to stay abreast of, and [within] striking distance of UNH. Anyway you look at it, it’ll probably come down to the last weekend of the year."

PICK: BU 5-4 on Friday. Maine 4-2 on Saturday.

UMass-Lowell (13-17-1, 9-11-1 HE) vs. Providence (13-17-1, 10-10-1 HE) Friday, 7 p.m., Schneider Arena, Providence, RI Saturday, 7 p.m., Tully Forum, Lowell, MA NESN

Providence appeared on the verge of a major upset on Friday, leading third-ranked New Hampshire 4-2 going into the final period. But the Wildcats showed why they’ve earned the nickname

"The Detonators" by scoring seven, count ’em, seven goals to blow the game open.

"We just made a lot of mental mistakes," said PC coach Paul Pooley. "Three faceoff goals and two back-door goals on their power play. We made poor reads off two center-ice faceoffs and off an end-zone faceoff just didn’t pick our guy up. It was unfortunate. I thought we were playing very, very well up to that point."

Saturday night back at Schneider Arena, they took the lead and held it for a 3-2 win. "It was a game of inches," said Pooley. "We played very well. We got our sticks on a lot of passes and blocked a lot of shots that didn’t get to the net. Our [penalty-kill] was good…. Specialty teams were very big. We scored two power-play goals and killed off some key penalties down the stretch."

Dan Dennis returned after being supplanted by sophomore Mark Kane for the last four and a half games. "Danny really answered the bell," said Pooley. "Danny really played solid in his net and looked like he had that spark back again. That was good to see.

"It’s Senior Night here on Friday and you always want to start your senior [so he’ll play]. But I feel we have two goaltenders right now, Mark Kane and Dan Dennis, who both have the capabilities to play."

Overshadowing the game, however, was a postgame brawl that resulted in the suspensions of seven players from each team. The suspended Friars include Leigh Dean, Travis Dillabough, Josh MacNevin, Mike Mader, Mike Omicioli, Tom Sheehan and Nick Sinerate.

"It’s unfortunate that emotions ran over," said Pooley before the suspensions were announced. "A lot of animosity built up between the teams quickly. At the end of the game some things happened that maybe shouldn’t have happened. When you look back in hindsight, emotions got the best of everybody.

Some reports indicated that coach Umile and Pooley were none too happy with each other. "No, I don’t think that," said Pooley. "That gets blown out of proportion for the most part. We were out there trying to get our players back and away from everybody. We were obviously talking back and forth but it wasn’t anything personal. It was, ‘Hey, you take care of your players and I’ll take care of mine.’ That type of thing. Then it just erupted.

"It’s a negative thing and you don’t want to dwell on it. It’s not part of the game and its unfortunate that it happened. It’s going to hurt both of our teams. I gave [the league] a tape of what happened because I don’t want to hide anything. I want to come forward and just deal with this thing as up front as I can because it’s not going to go away."

The short-handed Friars will face Lowell on Friday at home. They will then welcome their suspended seven back for the final regular-season game to be played at Lowell’s Tully Forum. In taking on the River Hawks, they face a team that seemed headed south before grabbing a 5-5 tie with BU.

"They’re very resilient," Pooley said. "I think [the tie] was a real emotional boost for them. It’s a big weekend for us that’s going to [go a long way in deciding playoff positions.] It’s unfortunate that this thing last Saturday night could decide the outcome of the game.

"We feel we’re playing really well right now. Both goaltenders are playing well and our specialty teams are coming around and our lines are balanced. We’re playing hard and we’re excited no matter how many guys we’ll have. We’re not going to use that as an excuse.

"We feel we’re coming together. People have accepted their roles. We seem to be responding to the situations we’re put in, whether we’re checking or on the power play or on the PK. You have certain people you know you want to put out onto the ice in certain situations and that’s really comfortable. Early in the year I didn’t know that. People had not emerged. It’s good to know that we have certain people that can do certain things really well at this stage."

Lowell struggled in a 6-1 Friday night loss to BU at Tully Forum.

"Our guys are working hard and trying to generate more shots on net, which we’ve definitely done the last three games," said UML coach Tim Whitehead after the loss. "But that’s a tough team to spot a goal against and that’s what happened.

"We definitely wanted to come out and get a couple in the first and we had our chances — quality chances — but they didn’t fall for us. We just can’t let ourselves get frustrated because we’re getting the chances."

Lowell took advantage of those chances the following night, coming back with a surprising 5-5 tie at Walter Brown Arena. "Coming back" was the operative phrase, as the River Hawks overcame 2-0, 3-1, 4-2, and 5-4 deficits, continuing their 340-minute stretch without a lead.

"The guys showed a lot of composure and did a nice job going into BU’s rink," said Whitehead. "BU was obviously a team that was playing really well. We were playing well too, but weren’t getting any results for it. After losing the night before 6-1, coming out with a comeback tie like that was a big step for us [even though ties aren’t] exactly where we want to be at."

Senior tri-captain Neil Donovan was selected to play for Team USA in the World University All-Star Game against a Canadian university all-star squad. The game will be played April 4 at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

"He’s been a great leader on and off the ice," said Whitehead. "He leads by example on the ice. He’s a very hard worker. He’s always the first guy here at practice. He’s working on his game before we even get on the ice as a team. He sets a great example as a guy who plays well in the big games and gets some really big goals for us. Whenever we need a big play, he’s the guy who does it for us."

The River Hawks now go head-to-head with Providence. A sweep by either team would seem to give the victor home ice and the loser a seat on the bus to someone else’s rink.

"They’re a strong team and they’re playing really well," said Whitehead. "They’re a good defensive team so it’ll be a great challenge for our guys. We’re excited about it."

The back end of the series will mark the final regular season game played in the Tully Forum. The River Hawks will move to a new, on-campus facility next year. They will be honoring their 30-Year Anniversary Team as part of the final-game ceremonies.

PICK: PC’s seven absentees tilt the scales toward Lowell 5-3 in the opener. PC comes back to gain the split 4-3 in Lowell’s barn.

Merrimack (13-16-1, 9-10-1 HE) vs. Northeastern (7-21-2, 2-17-1 HE) Friday, 7 p.m., Matthews Arena, Boston, MA Saturday, 7 p.m., Volpe Center, North Andover, MA

Merrimack fans, as long-suffering a lot as there is in the league, have begun pinching themselves to make sure they’re not dreaming. With their red-hot team making a charge for home ice, they must wonder if they are like the person married and divorced nine times who is convinced that this time it really is true love. Will Cupid pull out his bow-and-arrow and shoot them in the butt one more time?

The arrows stayed in the quiver last week, when the Warriors swept Boston College in a pivotal series, 5-2 and a jaw-dropping 11-5. In the opener, the Warriors caught BC goalie Greg Taylor on a severe off-night and won despite being outshot 38-19. Taylor’s counterpart in the Warrior nets, Martin Legault, received his coach’s plaudits but won the netminding battle essentially by default.

"Our guy played very well on Friday night," said Merrimack coach Ron Anderson. "We came to play but BC played very well. I think our goaltender stole us a game."

Not in his wildest dreams could Anderson have expected the offensive explosion his team set off to win 11-5 the following night. Defenseman Darrel Scoville led the way with a first-period hat trick.

"It was a pleasant surprise for us, a team that doesn’t score a lot of goals," said Anderson. "They had a bad night, the kind of night we had on Friday, except that we survived Friday."

Anderson deflected talk about his team being one of the hottest in Hockey East. "I can’t say whether we’re the hottest team in the league or not because I’m not looking at anyone else. I’m looking at us, making sure that we’re playing our best hockey every night."

"A year ago, we turned this team over to [what is now our] senior and junior classes. We had some discussions at the end of last year and early this year about how this was their team. Now they’re really carrying the team."

Two-year captain Rob Beck stands front and center among the senior leaders. Last week Hockey East named him the Player of the Week after he scored three goals and added three assists over the weekend. The red-hot Beck now has six goals and 10 assists in his last six games.

Legault broke former All-American Jim Hrivnak’s school record for career saves on Saturday, and now totals 3,005. After splitting time early in the year with Eric Thibeault, he is shouldering most of the netminding duties these days.

The biggest surprise during the team’s resurgence has been Merrimack’s goal-scoring prowess. The Warriors averaged less than three goals per game over the first half, but have scored at a 5.86 clip in their last seven.

A key contributor has been the power play. Far and away the worst in the league prior to Christmas (around 10 percent), Merrimack’s man-advantage has climbed near a 25 percent success rate during 1997. Casey Kesselring has also grabbed the league’s longest scoring streak, picking up points in his last 13 games.

The Warriors now take on last-place Northeastern, which received a shot in the arm when Maine’s postseason appeal fell through. The odd man out if Maine had qualified, Northeastern will now have playoff life.

"We’ve been right where Northeastern is right now a lot of times," said Anderson. "[When you’re in that position] all of a sudden you focus on a three- or four-game season. So what’s happened to them over the course of the year… we’re not going to get decoyed by that.

"Our objective is to make sure we stay on top of our own game and play as well as we can play, and not look at anything behind us. After we discuss the past weekend and any problems we had, when we hit Tuesday we’re just looking at what’s coming up on Friday. We’re all right now as long as we don’t do something stupid mentally."

Northeastern hit rock bottom in a free-fall season, losing 2-1 to Army last weekend.

"Our inability to score goals really hurt us," said coach Bruce Crowder. "We put 41 shots on net and their kid stopped 40. Some of them were of the spectacular type and some were ‘let’s hit the "A" or "R" on the guy’s chest.’ It just wasn’t meant to be. I thought we got great goaltending from Robitaille to keep it close, but the guys just have a real inability to finish."

Northeastern’s new-found life in the Hockey East playoffs will likely prove short since it will be staring into either the BU or UNH howitzer.

"We’ve been given a little bit of life per se with the playoffs," said Crowder. "Anything can happen. It’s just that our scenario is that we’re going to have to play some pretty good games when we get into the playoffs to get past the first round.

"Obviously we haven’t fared very well against UNH this year. Even though the results against BU have been the same in terms of wins and losses, I think we played them a little tighter than we did against UNH, so I guess that means ‘Go Terriers!’ We’ll see what happens."

Of course, the playoffs are still a couple of weeks away, and the Huskies have the immediate misfortune to catch Merrimack at the worst possible time.

"Ronnie [Anderson] has got them going," said Crowder. "When we went to play them last time, Ronnie mentioned that they were having trouble scoring goals but that they were playing well. Obviously since then, they haven’t any trouble scoring goals against us or Providence or BC. Considering what he’s done, maybe I should go over and watch one of his practices.

"They’ve got good goaltending and are getting some timely goals. This is one of those weekends in the schedule where we’ve got to put some pucks away. We’ve scored only [seven goals in our last five games] and I don’t care who you play, you’re not going to win a lot of hockey games with that."

PICK: Merrimack rolls on, 5-2 and 6-2.

Boston College (11-17-3, 7-11-3 HE) vs. UMass-Amherst (12-19-0, 7-15-0 HE) Saturday, 7 p.m., Mullins Center, Amherst, MA

In the last month, BC has posted a 2-6-2 record, beating only UMass-Amherst and Northeastern, the bottom two teams in the league, and playing impressively against BU and gaining two ties, a loss and a lot of respect.

Nonetheless, the Eagles have played oft-undistinguished hockey in their other five losses. The enigmatic squad fell to new depths last weekend, getting swept 5-2 and 11-5 by Merrimack.

The Eagles exhibit the greatest dynamic range of any team in the league. Their peaks against BU show a highly-skilled team that isn’t far away from being a contender. Their valleys, however, against almost everyone else are baffling. Since the Merrimack series held the key to playoff home ice, BC’s double-dip causes much head scratching.

"I thought Friday night we played exceptionally well, limiting Merrimack to 19 shots on goal while we had 38 shots on them," said BC coach Jerry York. "I thought we controlled the tempo of the play and played very, very well. The score didn’t indicate how well we played. We missed some tremendous scoring opportunities and gave up some soft goals.

"I’m not blaming it all on Greg [Taylor]. Some of the soft goals were the result of miscues on defense. They just had very few chances. As a matter of fact, when we were trying to get back into it, it was 3-2 going into the third period and we had one save in the third period. We had two goals against and one save. We had the puck that whole period but Legault was exceptional. We created chances but couldn’t get any red lights.

"But Saturday night was all Merrimack. We played poorly in all facets of our game. They were extremely strong, so it was a complete role reversal for both teams. Generally you get a split in that type of weekend but that wasn’t the case. Now we have to look forward to three games left in our season.

"We started what we called our brand new training camp here on Monday. We started all over from scratch. Despite the fact that last Monday we played probably our best game of the year against BU [in the Beanpot final] and followed that Friday night with a tremendous effort against Merrimack, Saturday night’s loss just stays in our system because of how poorly we played.

"So we went back to Training Camp Phase II and really worked very hard this week in preparation for the final three games of the season. Hopefully, that will produce some solid results and some victories going into the playoffs."

The Eagles now take on a team in even worse straits. UMass-Amherst has lost seven of its last eight and seems a near certainty to finish next-to-last and face either BU or UNH in the playoffs.

"These are two struggling teams that are looking for something positive heading into playoffs," said York. "We’ll travel down the Pike this Saturday afternoon and look for a typical, hard-fought Hockey East game."

Last weekend UMass-Amherst hung with Maine only to lose 6-4 on Friday and then got whipped 8-1. Is Maine that good, or are the Minutemen playing that poorly?

"I think we ran into a real fired-up Maine team," said UMass-Amherst coach Joe Mallen. "They had the previous weekend off, they’d lost to Merrimack in overtime in their last game, and they had the announcement that they weren’t going to be allowed in the playoffs.

"They really deserve a lot of credit. They were down to their last few games and they played real well. Their special teams executed real well and from what I saw on Saturday night, they played as well as BU or UNH have played during the course of the year."

Mallen, like York, sees similarities in the two teams matched up on Saturday.

"At this point you’re looking at two teams that have lost some games in a row and are trying to get back on the winning side," he said. "The one thing that our team knows is that we’re playing in the playoffs no matter what.

"We’ve got two more games before we get there, so it’s up to us to make the improvement that can put us in a position to do something special in the playoffs. That’s what we’re pointing to now. That’s good team play, good systems play and good discipline on the ice."

PICK: Boston College wins 6-3.

Dave Hendrickson is the Hockey East Correspondent for U.S. College Hockey Online.

Copyright 1997 Dave Hendrickson . All Rights Reserved.

Return to Feature Articles Return to News and Game Recaps Return to US College Hockey Online

This Week in the ECAC: February 21, 1997

By
-

ECAC Preview: Feb. 21-22, 1997 by Jayson Moy

Twelve little Indians. One by one they fall. until now two are left.

When the ECAC weekend started, four teams were tied for first place. After all was said and done, only two remained — Clarkson and Cornell. The Big Red and the Golden Knights swept their weekend series, Princeton and Yale for Clarkson, and Harvard and Brown for Cornell.

RPI looked destined to keep pace with the two teams, but a late comeback by Vermont forced a tie, and now RPI sits one point behind the leaders while Vermont is three points back. This week’s battle between the leaders is Cornell at RPI on Saturday.

Meanwhile, a fight is brewing just three points behind the lead pack, with four teams separated by just two points. Princeton and Union have 20 points, Harvard and Colgate 18. There are some key matchups within this group, highlighted by Union-Colgate on Saturday night.

And yet another battle is underway among the four teams at the bottom of the league, with five points separating St. Lawrence in ninth and Brown in last. Dartmouth and Yale are 10th and 11th, respectively.

ECAC Standings

Pivotal games in this group this weekend include St. Lawrence playing Brown, and Yale against Dartmouth.

The jockeying continues this weekend, with nothing close to being settled.

Colgate (14-12-2, 8-8-2 ECAC, T-7th) and No. 10 Cornell (15-6-4, 12-4-2 ECAC, T-1st) at RPI (16-8-4, 11-4-3 ECAC, 3rd) Friday-Saturday, 7:30 p.m.-7 p.m., RPI Fieldhouse, Troy, N.Y.

No. 10 Cornell (15-6-4, 12-4-2 ECAC, T-1st) and Colgate (14-12-2, 8-8-2 ECAC, T-7th) at Union (16-10-2, 9-7-2 ECAC, T-5th) Friday-Saturday, 7:30 p.m.-7 p.m., Achilles Rink, Schenectady, N.Y.

Cornell remains in first place with a sweep of Harvard and Brown, 2-1 and 7-2, respectively. The Big Red have done it with both offense and defense.

They are the third-highest scoring team in the ECAC with 68 goals in 18 games, though only one member of the Big Red, Kyle Knopp (9-10–19), is among the ECAC scoring leaders. Knopp had four points (3-1) on the weekend and stretched his goal-scoring streak to six games. This means the Big Red are getting balanced scoring from all lines, and even from the defense.

In nets, the Big Red have two of the top six goaltenders in the ECAC. Jean-Marc Pelletier is third in GAA (2.36) and has a save percentage of .922. Jason Elliot, who won both games this weekend, has a GAA of 2.65 and a save percentage of .914.

Head coach Mike Schafer has mentioned that he likes one goaltender to carry the team through the stretch run and the playoffs. Perhaps Elliot’s two starts this weekend mean that Schafer has chosen him to bear the load.

Colgate’s first-period field goal was enough to keep Brown at bay, 10-7 on Friday, but the Red Raiders returned and dropped a 5-2 contest to Harvard on Saturday. Now, instead of putting points between themselves and Harvard, they are tied for seventh in the standings.

The man for the Red Raiders this weekend was Mike Harder. Harder had six points (2-4) and now stands just six behind Steve Smith in his quest for the all-time scoring mark at Colgate.

RPI came oh so close to keeping pace with the leaders in the ECAC, but a Vermont comeback to tie the game kept RPI one point behind the leaders. RPI won in overtime the night before, 5-4 against Dartmouth. The Engineers also lost a two-goal lead in the third period of that one before winning it in overtime on an Eric Healey goal.

"It goes to show that you’ve got to focus for 60 full minutes," said RPI coach Dan Fridgen. "Against a good hockey team, if you lose focus for 15-20 seconds, bad things happen.

"I told those guys that if you want to be a championship team, you have to focus for 60 minutes. Good teams keep coming, and if you give them an opportunity, they’ll get you. It’s all a learning experience for these guys."

Fridgen says the basics are important at this time of year. "We’ve got to keep the game simple. Just get the puck over the blue line."

There are two games this week, and that’s how the Engineers are looking at it.

"You have to put it in perspective," said sophomore right wing Matt Garver. "We have to come back and win two games next weekend."

"We’re not worried about what the other teams are doing at this point; we have to worry about what we do," said Fridgen. "All the other teams can win for that matter — it doesn’t really matter [since] we’re the ones that are in the race."

Union is also in the race, and in a big way. With two consecutive shutouts this weekend over Vermont and Dartmouth, Union has pulled into a tie for fifth place with Princeton. In goal for both 2-0 victories was Trevor Koenig, the ECAC Player of the Week for the second straight time. Koenig now has four shutouts, and leads the nation in save percentage and goals-against average.

Union’s two wins this weekend were a milestone in several ways. The win on Saturday clinched an ECAC playoff spot; also, they were the first consecutive shutouts for a Union squad since the 1938-39 season. It was also the 16th win for Union, their most in a season since they upgraded the program to Division I in 1991.

"I’m very pleased and happy for the players," said head coach Stan Moore after the Dartmouth game on Saturday night. "I’m very pleased that they can not only boast a playoff spot, but they can boast the career number of wins by a Union team. It’s an important milestone."

PICKS:

Cornell at Union: These teams battled to a tough 3-3 tie in Ithaca back in December. Expect no less when they get together this weekend. Neither team really opens it up, so it will be low-scoring and tight-checking. Playing at home gives Union an advantage. Union 2 Cornell 2

Colgate at RPI: These two teams also played a 3-3 tie back in December. Which Colgate team will show — the one that put up 10 goals against Brown, or the one that lost to Harvard? The Jekyll-and-Hyde persona of the Red Raiders has to be figured out. For its part, can RPI bounce back from a disappointing tie to Vermont? It has the offense. RPI 5 Colgate 2

Colgate at Union: Stan Moore sees his old team for the second time this season, with a quarterfinal-round bye possibly on the line. Both teams are certainly different now, and Union has it.Union 3 Colgate 1

Cornell at RPI: RPI played the perfect game the last time these two teams met, winning 4-2. Cornell is looking to exact revenge some on the Engineers. It will be a matter of stopping RPI’s offense. RPI 4 Cornell 2

Harvard (9-13-2, 8-8-2 ECAC, T-7th) and Brown (6-17-2, 3-14-1 ECAC, 12th) at No. 5 Clarkson (20-8-0, 13-5-0 ECAC, T-1st) Friday-Saturday, 7:30 p.m.-7 p.m., Cheel Arena, Potsdam, N.Y.

Brown (6-17-2, 3-14-1 ECAC, 12th) and Harvard (9-13-2, 8-8-2 ECAC, T-7th) at St. Lawrence (9-17-4, 4-10-4 ECAC, 9th) Friday-Saturday, 7:30 p.m.-7 p.m., Appleton Arena, Canton, N.Y.

Harvard had a good weekend despite losing one game. That loss, to Cornell, 2-1 on Friday night was a hard-fought battle defensively, right up the alley of Harvard. J.R. Prestifilippo was impressive again in goal, but did not get the offense he needed for the win.

The next night Harvard came back and Prestifilippo did get some scoring in a 5-2 win over Colgate. The Crimson need to keep the offense going in order to win games, though Prestifilippo is certainly keeping pucks out of the net.

Brown is fighting for its playoff life. After a shocker over Princeton, Brown lost to Colgate 10-7, and then 7-2 to Cornell. Brown’s big game this weekend will be against St. Lawrence. The Saints are in the same grouping with the Bears at the end of the ECAC standings, and Brown cannot afford to lose any more points.

The Bears are a combination of four points away from being eliminated from the playoffs, the combination occurring with Dartmouth.

Meanwhile, St. Lawrence earned two ties this weekend, and the points pushed the Saints past Dartmouth into ninth place in the standings. Two ties would often leave a coach unhappy, but not Joe Marsh.

"I’m not frustrated," said Marsh. "It would’ve been nice to hang on, but the way we’ve been going in the struggle for points, we have to take that one point and go with it. We took two points on the road the hard way, I guess, but I don’t care."

"[Ninth place is] where we’re at right now," said Marsh. "And I think in some cases we made our own bed. We’ve had a season that’s been rocky in a lot of areas.

"I was really pleased with the effort in both games [this weekend]…. That’s indicative of our season; we’re not quite finishing. We sustain some pressure for a while, then we’re prone to unforced turnovers. Nothing’s going real easy for us. But we’ll just keep working and plugging, and get into the playoffs, and hopefully we can get a second lease on life."

Clarkson remains in first place with a 2-1 overtime win over Princeton Friday, and a 2-0 shutout of Yale the next night.

"To come out with a win is a bonus, because we didn’t play our best hockey tonight," said head coach Mark Morris after the overtime thriller.

It was Hobey Baker candidate and ECAC Player of the Year favorite Todd White that came through for the Golden Knights.

"He’s the best all-around, two-way player in the country," said Morris on White. "He is. There’s no question in my mind. I’ve seen all the best players. And he’s a plus-25 right now.

"I compare him with a Brendan Morrison, a (Martin) St. Louis and (Eric) Perrin. He’s a better player at all facets of the game. He can play defense, he can play offense. He’s strong, he’s quick, and he does a lot of things well. And on top of that, he’s a 3.6 (GPA) academically. He does it all and it’s pretty impressive."

With just two losses in 1997, the Golden Knights are brimming with confidence as they head into the last two weekends.

"Confidence can do unbelievable things for individuals and teams, and it’s nice to know we’re headed in the right direction," said Morris.

PICKS:

Harvard at Clarkson: Harvard defeated Clarkson the last time out in December, 5-4. That was last time, though. Clarkson is red-hot, and full of confidence. Clarkson 6 Harvard 2

Brown at St. Lawrence: Brown is trying to avoid elimination from the playoffs, but it looks like it’s just a matter of time. The Saints — at home — make that time now. St. Lawrence 5 Brown 3

Brown at Clarkson: This game won’t mean a whole lot to the Bears, except in the pride category. They will put up a fight, but against a team going for first place, it’s not enough. Clarkson 7 Brown 3

Harvard at St. Lawrence: These two tied in December, 3-3. Can the Saints earn their first sweep of the year? Probably not. Harvard 4 St. Lawrence 3

Princeton (14-8-3, 9-7-2 ECAC, T-5th) and Yale (7-15-3, 4-12-2 ECAC, 11th) at Dartmouth (10-14-1, 5-12-1 ECAC, 10th) Friday-Saturday, 7:30 p.m.-5 p.m., Thompson Arena, Hanover, N.H.

Yale (7-15-3, 4-12-2 ECAC, 11th) and Princeton (14-8-3, 9-7-2 ECAC, T-5th) at No. 8 Vermont (18-7-3, 10-5-3 ECAC, 4th) Friday-Saturday, 7:30 p.m.-7 p.m., Gutterson Fieldhouse, Burlington, Vt.

Princeton has had a tough go at it since returning from its break. The Tigers lost senior Mike Bois, the best defensive forward on the team, to academic ineligibility. The Tigers have also last three of their last five ECAC games. In the meantime, Princeton has fallen from first place to a tie for fifth.

The latest ECAC weekend saw Princeton lose to Clarkson with 11 seconds left in overtime, and tie St. Lawrence on Saturday.

"I believe wholeheartedly that (the recent losses are) not through lack of effort," said Princeton coach Don Cahoon. "The first period was OK (against St. Lawrence), the second period was deplorable and the third period we got on them."

Through it all, Cahoon thinks that only good things lie ahead for his Tigers.

"We struggled at Cornell, last night was tough, and we struggled at Brown," Cahoon said after Saturday’s tie. "There was definitely some concern about being in the blahs, and I think we’re out of the blahs now. Now it’s a question of whether we can package a couple of good games to be able to get back in the hunt."

Yale is another team fighting for a playoff chance. The Elis are currently in 11th place, but are only one point behind Dartmouth and two behind St. Lawrence. That, of course, makes the Bulldogs’ game with Dartmouth an important one.

In order for the Bulldogs to get into the playoffs, they must score. Yale is now the lowest-scoring team in the ECAC after getting just four goals on the weekend. Yale’s top three scorers, Keith McCullough, John Chyz and Jeff Hamilton, have only scored nine, nine and two points respectively since the start of 1997. Not one single Bulldog is averaging over a point a game.

Dartmouth lost a place in the standings when the Big Green were swept by RPI and Union. Friday’s loss to RPI was extremely disappointing, as it came in overtime after the Big Green overcame a two-goal deficit in the third period.

"I thought the guys did a great job battling back to get it tied at 4-4," said head coach Roger Demment. "It’s a shame it had to end like that.

"It’s extremely frustrating, and we’re fighting for points for a playoff spot. I thought we matched up well against them. We battled back, and to give up a goal (in overtime) is pretty tough."

The last time Dartmouth faced Yale and Princeton, it was swept, 5-4 and 4-2, respectively. The game against Yale is one that looms large.

Vermont suffered the biggest fall of the four teams tied for first this weekend — shut out by Union and forced to battle back to tie RPI.

"I think we had a few things bouncing for us at the end of the game," said Vermont coach Mike Gilligan after the RPI game. "The puck hasn’t bounced for us the last couple of nights, but it started to in the last four minutes. We were very fortunate to come out of here (RPI) with a point.

"It was a real important point. It’s something I give the kids a lot of credit for hanging in there and getting it."

Gilligan hopes that things can carry over to this coming weekend, especially in the scoring department. "We were shooting at legs, sticks, and bodies," he said. "We have to convert, and we started to convert."

PICKS:

Princeton at Dartmouth: Princeton won the first matchup, 4-2. It looks like Princeton has gotten things together. Dartmouth also had things together, but could not get a point this past weekend. Princeton 4 Dartmouth 3

Yale at Vermont: Vermont will enjoy the game at home. Yale is young and fighting for a playoff spot, while Vermont will get scoring from the French Connection this weekend. Vermont 6 Yale 2

Yale at Dartmouth: The winner of this game has the upper edge on the last playoff position. At home, Dartmouth will hold a slight edge, and its offense increases that margin. Dartmouth 5 Yale 4

Princeton at Vermont: Vermont won a close one back at the beginning of January, 3-2. This is the last regular-season home game for the French Connection and Tim Thomas; for Princeton, that means tough luck. Vermont 3 Princeton 2

It’s here, ladies and gentlemen. The final weekend of the regular season is coming up, and it’s highlighted by a matchup between two potential first-place teams, Clarkson and Cornell.

The last weekend of the regular season:

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

Saturday, March 1: Clarkson at Colgate St. Lawrence at Cornell RPI at Princeton Union at Yale Vermont at Harvard Dartmouth at Brown

Thanks to Adam Wodon for help on this article.

Jayson Moy is the ECAC Correspondent for US College Hockey Online.

Copyright 1997 Jayson Moy . All Rights Reserved.

Return to Feature Articles Return to News and Recaps Return to US College Hockey Online

This Week in the WCHA: February 21, 1997

By
-

WCHA Preview: Feb. 21-22, 1997 by Scott Brown

Despite a split against Northern Michigan, the North Dakota Fighting Sioux edged ever closer to the MacNaughton Cup last weekend. Although the Sioux managed only two points on the road, their competitors fared no better: Minnesota split a home series with Minnesota-Duluth, and Denver and Colorado College each won one game of a home-and-home series. Among the contenders, only St. Cloud, which took four points at home from Wisconsin, managed to gain ground on UND.

Farther down the standings, Michigan Tech moved out of the basement for the first time in recent memory, sweeping Alaska-Anchorage in Houghton. Northern gained the aforementioned split with the conference leaders, but dropped into last place anyway.

WCHA Standings

Meanwhile, the battle for home ice rages unabated. Second-place Minnesota, with 36 points, and third-place St. Cloud, with 35, seem good bets to finish in the top five, but Colorado College, Wisconsin, Denver and Minnesota-Duluth are all still in the hunt.

In particular, Minnesota plays at CC this weekend, Denver visits Wisconsin and St. Cloud heads to Duluth in three series which will have considerable impact on the arrangement of the standings. Rounding out the schedule are UAA’s visit to Grand Forks to play North Dakota, and Michigan Tech versus Northern Michigan in a home-and-home between in-state rivals.

This week’s games:

No. 7 Minnesota (21-11-0, 18-10-0 WCHA) at Colorado College (18-12-2, 16-10-2 WCHA) Friday-Saturday, 7:35 p.m. MT, AFA Cadet Ice Arena, Colorado Springs, CO

This one is probably the biggest series in the WCHA this week. Minnesota, despite blowing a chance to get within one point of North Dakota last weekend, is still in contention for the title, while Colorado College, five points behind the leaders, is gunning mainly for home ice.

The Gophers were blown out on their home ice last Friday, dropping an 8-4 decision to Minnesota-Duluth. In that game, a five-goal Duluth second period erased what had been a 3-1 Minnesota lead. The loss kept the Gophers from gaining ground on first-place North Dakota, which had been beaten earlier in the evening by Northern Michigan.

Minnesota’s team effort did not sit well with many players, some of whom referred to the result as an embarrassment.

But Minnesota did come back to post the split. The Gophers won the recap going away, by a final score of 7-1. Minnesota goalie Steve DeBus (18-10-0, 3.23 GAA, .888 SV%), who made 20 saves, came within two minutes of his first shutout of the season before Brad Federenko got on the board for UMD.

The Saturday win, which kept the Gophers in sole possession of second place in the conference, was head coach Doug Woog’s 350th. Ryan Kraft totaled a career-high five points (1-4) in the win, and now has 5-7–12 in his last four games. Kraft leads the Gophers in goals (19), and is second in points (36).

In the meantime, Dave Spehar (14-17–31) scored three goals on the weekend (two in Saturday’s win) and was named WCHA Rookie of the Week for the first time.

Of even greater note was the performance of Minnesota’s special teams: on Saturday, the Gophers enjoyed an astonishing fifteen power plays, and converted five, both season highs. Simultaneously, the Gopher penalty-kill held UMD to an 0-for-5 performance on power plays.

Colorado College is coming off a home-and-home with traditional rival Denver. The Tigers split, 4-3 and 1-6, which means that it’s been 60 series since they lost a sweep.

CC’s impressive offense is headed up by WCHA scoring leader Brian Swanson (14-30–44), who has 20 points in his last 13 games despite being held to two assists on the weekend. Stewart Bodtker (14-17–31) missed Saturday’s contest thanks to a DQ the previous night — one assessed with only seconds to go in the game. He should be well-rested for Minnesota.

Scott Swanson (3-13–16), who has had a tough time generating offense this season, assisted on two scores Friday. Rookie of the Year candidate Toby Peterson (10-15–25) scored the game-tying goal.

Head coach Don Lucia went to Jason Cugnet (5-2-1, 3.24 GAA, .868 SV%) for netminding duties Friday, and was rewarded with a 4-3 victory. Number-one goaltender Judd Lambert (13-10-1, 3.40 GAA, .878 SV%), however, allowed six goals on 36 shots in the loss on Saturday.

Picks: Although Minnesota would love four points on the road, it ain’t likely to happen. Make it 61 straight for the Tigers. CC 4-2, UM 5-3

St. Cloud (19-10-3, 16-9-3 WCHA) at Minnesota-Duluth (17-13-2, 14-12-2 WCHA) Friday-Saturday, 7:05 p.m. CT, DECC, Duluth, MN

St. Cloud was the big winner last weekend, moving into third place in the WCHA via its sweep of the Badgers.

Mark Parrish (18-13–31) earned his Offensive Player of the Week award, scored four goals and assisting on another. But he got plenty of help from Dave Paradise (19-15–34), whose three goals included both game-winners, and defenseman Randy Best (5-10–15), with a goal and two assists. Saturday’s win also featured the first goal of defenseman Geno Parrish’s (1-8–9) collegiate career.

Brian Leitza (13-5-0, 3.29 GAA, .884 SV% WCHA) played both games in net for the Huskies, making 47 saves for the two-game series. Leitza has been the primary goaltender down the stretch for SCSU, after splitting time most of the season with Tim Lideen (3-4-3, 3.07 GAA, .905 SV% WCHA).

The Huskies are 4-1-0 in their last five, and have not been swept during the 1996-97 season. They should face a stout test in Duluth, where UMD is 12-6-0 this season, versus only 5-7-2 on the road.

The friendly confines of the Duluth Entertainment and Convocation Center are home to a team that looked to be on its way out of contention a few weeks ago. First, the Bulldogs were swept in their own building by a charging Wisconsin team; then, the very next weekend, UMD granted Michigan Tech its first win in nearly three months, and followed that up with a tie for a one-point weekend in Houghton.

But the Bulldogs showed there’s no quit in them, bouncing back to sweep Denver and split a series with Minnesota at Mariucci Arena. Friday’s game against the Gophers cemented the UMD surge, as the Bulldogs used a five-goal second period to ice the victory.

In that game, UMD got consecutive goals by leading scorer Mike Peluso (18-17–35); freshman goaltender and Rookie of the Year candidate Brant Nicklin (17-12-2, 3.13 GAA, .900 SV%) turned in a 32-save performance against a pressing Gopher squad. Nicklin is on the verge of becoming the first Bulldog goaltender in 30 years to play every single minute of the WCHA season.

The next night, the Gophers turned the tables despite 39 saves from Nicklin (who did allow seven goals in the process). Only Brad Federenko’s (9-10–19) late goal prevented the shutout.

Picks: As mentioned above, the ‘Dogs are tough at home, and a sweep isn’t out of the question, especially since this could be the last home series for UMD. But St. Cloud’s probably too strong to let that happen. SCSU 4-3, UMD 6-3

Alaska-Anchorage (9-18-3, 7-18-3 WCHA) at No. 2 North Dakota (22-8-2, 19-8-1 WCHA) Friday-Saturday, 8:35 p.m. CT, Engelstad Arena, Grand Forks, ND

The Seawolves of Alaska-Anchorage finish up the season the hard way, traveling to North Dakota before coming home to wrap up the regular season against Colorado College.

UAA looked for much of the season to be a half-step better than its brethren — Michigan Tech and Northern Michigan — at the bottom of the WCHA; but after a 1-5-1 stretch which culminated in a road sweep by Tech last weekend, one that moved MTU out of the cellar and pulled UAA back toward it.

Friday’s loss was especially difficult to stomach, as Anchorage lost a 3-2 lead with nine seconds left in regulation and went on to lose in overtime. UAA also lost the recap, 5-3, with goaltender Doug Teskey (7-12-3, 3.27 GAA, .891 SV%) making a total of only 31 saves in the two games combined — that’s a .775 save percentage for the weekend.

The Seawolves, by the way, are winless (0-4-3) in OT this season.

The only piece of good news for the team last week came out of Detroit: senior center David Vallieres (7-18–25 WCHA) was selected to play for Team USA in the inaugural World University Games, to be played at the Joe Louis Arena in April.

Conversely, fans in North Dakota are getting closer and closer to being able to celebrate a WCHA regular-season title and the resulting NCAA tournament berth. The Fighting Sioux are now in a commanding position to claim the title — a three-point lead with only four games to play. In addition, the Sioux became the first team to clinch home-ice, with Saturday’s 5-3 win over Northern Michigan.

That game was critical for UND, which feared the consequences of being swept in what is still an open race to the MacNaughton Cup.

"We thought if we lost [Saturday’s] game, we’d probably lose first place, and we could lose the league title," said Kevin Hoogsteen in Tuesday’s Minneapolis Star Tribune.

But the Sioux didn’t lose, despite spotting the Wildcats a 2-0 lead through two periods; the UND snipers came through again late in the game, scoring five goals in the last 20 minutes to win. Sophomore Jesse Bull (11-6–17) was vital to the comeback, notching his first two-goal game with the first two Sioux tallies. Ian Kallay (16-20–36) had two goals as well, including the game-winner.

Going into this weekend, the Sioux’ confidence level might be further enhanced by a little history: although the all-time series between UND and UAA is fairly even (12-9-0 in favor of the Sioux), North Dakota has never lost to the Seawolves in Grand Forks.

Picks: Much as in the UM-CC series above, there’s a trend to consider here. Can Anchorage win its first game at North Dakota now? Probably not. UND 4-1, 5-2

Michigan Tech (8-21-4, 5-19-4 WCHA) at Northern Michigan (10-22-2, 6-21-1 WCHA) Friday, 7:05 p.m. ET, Lakeview Arena, Marquette, MI Saturday, 7:05 p.m. ET, MacInnes Student Ice Arena, Houghton, MI

Michigan Tech is riding high this week, the product of its weekend sweep of Alaska-Anchorage, a performance that lifted the Huskies out of last place for the first time in some time.

Andre Savage (14-14–28 WCHA) was the hero in Friday night’s OT win, scoring both the game-tying goal (a six-on-five with an empty net behind him) and the game-winner (just 29 seconds into overtime, on the first shot on goal for either team). Savage was quiet the next night, but his teammates didn’t need his help; Bret Meyers scored his seventh and eighth goals of the season to lead the way.

In net, Luciano Caravaggio (5-9-4, 3.36 GAA, .904 SV% WCHA) didn’t get a lot of work, facing only 43 shots on the weekend, including a bare 13 on Friday — none of which came after the second period. Caravaggio can undoubtedly use the rest: coming into the weekend, he was among the WCHA leaders in saves per minute of play.

The Wildcats should also be pleased with the results of their weekend, as they managed a split with the conference-leading Fighting Sioux. Friday’s 2-1 victory earned goaltender Dieter Kochan the Defensive Player of the Week award, despite the fact that he was held out of Saturday’s game with a knee sprain.

Kochan made 37 saves in the game, including 16 in the third period, and had a shutout spoiled at 19:59 of the third period, seconds after Aaron Cain scored an empty-net goal to secure the victory.

Northern is led on offense by its freshmen: Bud Smith (9-15–24) leads the team in points; Marquette native Roger Trudeau (10-5–15) is tops among the Wildcats in goals; Tyson Holly (9-3–12) scored the first goal on Friday; and J.P. Vigier (8-9–17) rounds out the rookie class of snipers despite missing the last five games with an ankle sprain.

Denver (17-11-4, 13-11-4 WCHA) at Wisconsin (15-15-2, 15-11-2 WCHA) Friday-Saturday, 7:05 p.m. CT, Dane County Coliseum, Madison, WI

This series could go a long way toward deciding home ice in the first round of the playoffs. Both the Pioneers and the Badgers are on the bubble right now — Wisconsin holds down a tenuous fifth, and Denver is just two points behind them, tied with Minnesota-Duluth for sixth.

It’s unfortunate for the Pioneers that they have to play this series on the road, since they have a current 11-game unbeaten streak (8-0-3) in Denver. That streak was preserved last Saturday against Colorado College, a 6-1 thrashing of the Tigers in the second game of their home-and-home twin bill. That victory broke a less-welcome streak the Pioneers had built — six consecutive losses against their in-state rivals.

Eight different Pioneers scored the nine Denver goals against CC last weekend, with Gavin Morgan, who scored his fifth of the season on Friday and his sixth the next evening, the only repeater. In goal, the tandem of Jim Mullin (6-6-4, 2.96 GAA, .889 SV% WCHA) and Stephen Wagner (7-5-0, 3.10 GAA, .896 SV% WCHA) performed credibly, though Mullin took the loss on Friday, allowing four goals on 29 shots. The duo are currently one-two in WCHA goals-against average.

In contrast to their home record of success, the Pioneers are only 6-9-1 on the road this year, including a 1-4-0 record in their last five. That’s just fine with the Badgers, who host Denver this weekend. Wisconsin was swept out of the National Hockey Center last week, losing a 5-4 battle on Friday before being blown out, 7-1 on Saturday.

There wasn’t much for Jeff Sauer’s bunch to cheer about after those games. The defeat in the opener was Wisconsin’s first loss to a WCHA foe on Friday all season (11-1-1), although Brad Englehart (16-16–32) managed a goal and an assist.

On Saturday, all-time Badger saves leader Kirk Daubenspeck (13-13-2, 3.91 GAA, .883 SV%) suffered the ignominy of being pulled midway through the second period, after allowing a shorthanded goal to make the score 7-0. Daubenspeck’s replacement, Mike Valley, had better luck, with nine saves on nine shots over the final 30:10.

The lone Badger goal on Saturday came courtesy of Joe Bianchi (15-16–31), whose unassisted tally gives him 11 points in his last eight games. Freshman Dustin Kuk (7-17–24), who scored Friday, is tied for the WCHA rookie lead in assists (with Minnesota’s Dave Spehar).

Next week’s action, listed below, is the final week of WCHA regular-season play. After that, fans can look forward to U.S. College Hockey Online coverage of the WCHA first round, and reports from the Final Five at the St. Paul Civic Center.

Friday, Feb. 28 Colorado College at Alaska-Anchorage North Dakota at Denver Wisconsin at Minnesota (at Target Center) Minnesota-Duluth at Northern Michigan Michigan Tech at St. Cloud

Saturday, March 1 Colorado College at Alaska-Anchorage North Dakota at Denver Wisconsin at Minnesota Minnesota-Duluth at Northern Michigan Michigan Tech at St. Cloud — End regular season —

Scott Brown is Features Editor for U.S. College Hockey Online.

Copyright 1997 Scott Brown. All Rights Reserved.

Return to Feature Articles Return to News and Recaps Return to U.S. College Hockey Online

This Week in the CCHA: February 21, 1997

By
-

CCHA PREVIEW: Feb. 21-23, 1997 CCHA Preview: Feb. 21-23, 1997 by Paula C. Weston

With just two weeks of regular-season hockey left in the CCHA, several teams are scrambling to make the playoffs. Others are working for NCAA recognition.

The No. 1 Michigan Wolverines held firm to first place last week, beating the Notre Dame Fighting Irish to sweep that season series. This weekend — the last weekend of regular-season play for Michigan’s core of amazing seniors — finds the Wolverines hosting Lake Superior, a team tied for second in the CCHA with Miami.

Last weekend, the Lakers beat Ferris State on Friday, but allowed Michigan State to gain some ground, losing to the Spartans on Saturday. Lake Superior and Miami each have 33 points, and it’s highly unlikely that either team will catch Michigan before the regular season ends.

Miami had a great weekend north of the border, beating both Ferris State and Michigan State. Miami will host its next four games, beginning with a Mid-American Conference rivalry game against Bowling Green on Friday night. Miami then hosts the rubber match of its series with the Spartans on Saturday.

The fourth-place Spartans finish their swing through Ohio with another series-deciding game. This one will be against the Buckeyes; last weekend, the Spartans lost to Miami, and beat Lake Superior.

Fifth-place Bowling Green is coming off a conference win and a non-conference loss. The Falcons beat Western Michigan at home, and lost on the road to the Buckeyes. The Falcons are on the road, but in their home state this weekend — playing Miami on Friday, and Ohio State on Saturday.

Western Michigan lost two conference games last weekend, to Ohio State and Bowling Green. The Broncos had been on quite a tear before the losses. They’ll try to recapture that momentum this weekend in a home-and-home series against Notre Dame.

Ohio State has moved into seventh place, at least for the moment. The Buckeyes surprised Western Michigan, then beat Bowling Green in a non-conference game, both at home. Ohio State will try to extend its four-game win streak when it hosts Bowling Green on Saturday, and Michigan State on Sunday.

Eighth-place Ferris State travels to ninth-place Alaska-Fairbanks to battle for the eighth and final CCHA playoff spot. These three games are the last for either team in the regular season. Ferris lost last weekend to two of the top teams in the conference, Lake Superior and Miami. Alaska-Fairbanks beat Division III leader St. Norbert in two games at home.

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are in last place in the CCHA, after losing two games to Michigan last weekend. The Irish want to make the games against Western count this weekend, since they’ll have just one game remaining after this series.

Last week’s record in picks: 7-4 Overall record in picks: 87-62

Lake Superior (19-11-4, 15-7-3 CCHA) at No. 1 Michigan (28-2-3, 19-2-2 CCHA) Friday and Saturday, 7 p.m., Yost Ice Arena, Ann Arbor, MI

These two games will be emotionally charged for both teams — they are the last games Lake Superior will play in the regular season, and the last games the Wolverine seniors will play during the regular season at Yost. Expect tears, and lots of them.

But no one should cry about the matchup itself. Lake Superior at Yost — what a way to end a season!

"When the Lakers go to Yost," says Laker head coach Scott Borek, "the crowd noise is not twice as bad, but it’s at least one and half times as bad as it usually is. What a great test for our team. We’re playing the team most people consider the odds-on favorite in the country to repeat for an NCAA title."

Although the Lakers would like the points, Borek says there’s little pressure on his players. They know they have home ice for the playoffs, they know they can’t catch Michigan, so all they have to do is go to Yost to play their best hockey.

"No matter what we do, Miami and Michigan State can pass us. The pressure’s off us. With only two games left, you can focus on these guys [Michigan] totally. You don’t have to worry about anyone else."

Michigan head coach Red Berenson expects tough games against the Lakers this weekend. The Lakers and the Wolverines have met twice before this season, and both decisions went to Michigan: once for the Great Lakes Invitational title, and then a three-goal victory in a conference game at Joe Louis earlier this month.

"We’ve had good games against them," says Berenson. "I can’t say that we’ve handled them easily. We’ve scored timely goals in close games. It’s important to them to look good at the end of the year."

Berenson says his team is not invulnerable, in spite of only two losses and two ties this season. "We expect this will be a good test for us. We’re like any other team. If we don’t work hard and play together, we don’t play well. We really need our role players to play well as well as our talented players."

Berenson says that most people think of only those graduating seniors and star players when they think of the Wolverines, but if the other players on the team don’t play well, Michigan can — dare we say it? — lose.

"You know the opposition is going to give you that second effort against Michigan," says Berenson, "so you’d better give the second effort [too]."

Michigan is more than a team of talented seniors. Don’t forget junior goaltender Marty Turco, who has logged 1,239 league minutes in the net for the Wolverines while maintaining an astonishing 2.42 goals-against average.

Only a couple of other CCHA goaltenders have matched the time Turco has spent in the net this season, and one of them plays for Lake Superior. Laker John Grahame has 1,478 league minutes, and his GAA is 3.33.

The emotion of Lake Superior’s last regular-season games and the last regular-season home games Michigan’s seniors will play, combined with some veteran CCHA goaltending, should make for great games this weekend in Yost.

PICKS: Michigan 3-2, 4-2

Ferris State (11-21-2, 7-16-1 CCHA) at Alaska-Fairbanks (12-20-0, 6-18-0 CCHA) Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 6 p.m., Carlson Center, Fairbanks, AK

If you want drama on ice, forget the Ice Capades — this is the real thing. These are the final three regular-season games for both of these teams, and they’re potentially the final three games of the season for each of the these teams. As unlikely as it may be, both teams could miss the playoffs. Both really, really need these points.

The Nanooks are hot right now, having won six of their last seven games. Unfortunately, only one of those was a conference game. The momentum they’ve gained, however, could carry them through this weekend.

The Nanooks will be bolstered by the welcome homecoming of injured player Erik Drygas. As most hockey fans know, Drygas injured his spine during a practice before the beginning of the season, and has spent the last few months in therapy in Colorado. Drygas, a Fairbanks native, will be present at the Ferris series, and there will be a special presentation to him between the second and third periods of the first game against the Bulldogs.

Drygas’ presence alone will lift Nanook spirits.

The Nanooks are getting some nice goaltending from freshman Chris Marvel. Marvel played inconsistently at the start of the season, but has lowered his GAA to 3.87. His save percentage is .871.

The Bulldogs, for their part, don’t know yet which goaltender will get the start Friday. "They’re goaltending has been good lately," says Ferris State assistant coach Drew Famulak. "Our goaltending has been inconsistent. [Jeff] Blashill played well early. [Mike] Szkodzinski played well in the middle. We don’t know who we’ll go with."

Famulak acknowledges that the Bulldogs’ season comes down to this weekend. "Both teams will be battling for the playoffs. Right now we are in the playoffs. Fairbanks could change that for us this weekend."

The Nanooks have 12 points, the Bulldogs 15. Nothing is decided yet. A sweep by either team could mean more than just a playoff spot — it could mean a finish higher than eighth place, and a first round against someone other than Michigan.

"Right now Fairbanks is full of confidence," says Famulak. Ferris State is coming off a two-loss weekend. "We need to concentrate on playing good, solid hockey and creating more scoring opportunities."

Ferris State may be a little overwhelmed by UAF’s Olympic-size ice sheet.

PICKS: UAF 4-2 Friday, Ferris 4-2 Saturday, UAF 5-3 Sunday

Western Michigan (13-14-4, 9-10-4 CCHA) vs. Notre Dame (8-23-1, 5-18-1 CCHA) Friday, 7 p.m., Joyce ACC, South Bend, IN Saturday, 7 p.m., Lawson Arena, Big Rapids, MI

These are two teams that need to rebound. After going 4-2-2 in their games previous to last weekend, the Broncos dropped two league games while traveling through Ohio. They will make the playoffs, but where they finish and who they play may be determined by the games this weekend.

The Irish, on the other hand, are trying to break an eight-game losing streak. With just 11 points and three games left, Notre Dame will have a hard time making the playoffs.

"We’re hanging in, just," says Irish head coach Dave Poulin. "We still have a hope, but we need some help."

The Irish own the series against their closest competitor in the standings, Alaska-Fairbanks. But both Ferris State and Ohio State have the edge in their respective series against the Irish, so it’s going to take more than Notre Dame victories to give the Irish a playoff berth.

Notre Dame had the chance to put some distance between themselves and the Buckeyes in a more positive way two weeks ago. Instead, as Poulin puts it, "We put them on a roll.

"It was very disappointing that weekend [against Ohio State]. We just didn’t respond — flat-out didn’t respond. It was the most pressure we’ve experienced since I’ve come here. You can get away with a couple of people not responding, but when the whole team lacks response, you lose."

The Irish lost two to Michigan last weekend, but Poulin says that his team rebounded from the losses against the Buckeyes to play the Wolverines well in Yost.

Michigan head coach Red Berenson agrees. "Those are games we were expected to win, but we had to work hard to score against [Irish goaltender] Eisler on Friday. He was outstanding. The Irish put themselves in a tough position. They’re a team that’s up-and-coming."

But maybe not this season. Poulin admits that he and his team have a lot to learn, and experience may be the key to this weekend’s games. Western is a team that is more used to winning than is Notre Dame, and they’ve done so more recently.

Just one point behind Bowling Green, Western Michigan has almost as much to gain as the Irish do in this series. Home ice is out of the question at this point, but playoff position can be key. Although who finishes where hasn’t yet been decided, you can bet that Western would rather play the fourth-place team than the third-place team.

PICKS: Western Michigan 4-3, 4-3

Bowling Green (15-14-3, 10-11-3 CCHA) at No. 6 Miami (22-9-1, 16-6-1 CCHA) Friday, 7 p.m., Goggin Arena, Bowling Green, OH

This in-state rivalry pits two schools whose other teams compete in the Mid-American Conference. According to Miami head coach Mark Mazzoleni, that revs up an already exciting matchup.

"With Bowling Green," says Mazzoleni, "because we’re MAC schools, our fans get into it. Also, since I’ve come here, they’ve been a very good team. They’ve been a team we’ve been chasing."

The roles are reversed this season for Miami and Bowling Green. BGSU, picked as high as eighth nationally in preseason polls, has been plagued with injuries and inconsistencies. Miami, picked to finish no higher than sixth in the CCHA in preseason polls, has been a team to chase this season.

Miami won two road games last weekend, one against Ferris State, and one against Michigan State. Miami broke a four-game losing streak with a road tie against Bowling Green; since that game, Miami has won three straight.

Since that tie with Miami, Bowling Green has been 2-3-1. The Falcons have been up and down and back and forth all season. If it hasn’t been the injuries, it’s been the goaltending. If it hasn’t been the goaltending, it’s been lack of leadership. At this point, Bowling Green is no longer playing for home ice, and the Falcons are likely no longer playing for NCAA recognition.

Miami has the distinct advantage of playing at home after two road wins. Bowling Green lost a non-conference game to Ohio State last weekend after soundly beating Western Michigan at home.

Also, Miami is playing like a team. For many reasons, especially injuries, the Falcons haven’t resembled one of those much this season. Throw in Miami’s ability to score "opportunistic" goals and its superior goaltending, and it’s tough to pick against them.

PICK: Miami 3-1

No. 9 Michigan State (18-10-3, 14-6-3 CCHA) at No. 6 Miami (22-9-1, 16-6-1 CCHA) Saturday, 7 p.m., Goggin Arena, Oxford, OH

The most recent meeting between these two teams was just last weekend in Munn, and Michigan State head coach Ron Mason was not too pleased with the outcome.

"Miami played well," says Mason. "They had some opportunistic goals." But, added the Spartan chief, "I didn’t feel too good about the game." The final score was 2-1, and Miami held the Spartans scoreless until 13:49 of the third period.

Miami head coach Mark Mazzoleni says he’s certain that the Spartans will be motivated when they come to Oxford Saturday night. "The guy [Mason] hasn’t won 800 games for nothing."

Mason says he knows something of what to expect when his team plays the rubber game of this series. "Miami will continue with their same style — good checking, and their goaltender comes up with big saves.

"They’ll probably play a little better than they did here," says Mason, in his typically-understated way. "And they played O.K. here."

Both teams have secured home ice during the playoffs, but each team want to play well for NCAA recognition. "Right now we’re motivated to win as many games as we can," says Mason. "We’re right on the NCAA bubble."

Mazzoleni says, "We went into the stretch with six games, and we haven’t put any more emphasis on any one game. We’re a team that’s not good enough to look ahead at any games beyond the one we’re playing next."

Miami plays Friday night. This game is Michigan State’s first game of the weekend. Revenge is an ugly word to use in college hockey, but the thought has probably crossed a Spartan mind or two. Both teams will be motivated by nearly identical reasons. What a game.

PICK: Miami 3-2

Bowling Green (15-14-3, 10-11-3 CCHA) at Ohio State (11-22-0, 8-15-0 CCHA) Saturday, 7 p.m., OSU Ice Rink, Columbus, OH

It’s been called "The Ice Dink." Ah, the much-maligned Ohio State Ice Rink. Small, no bathrooms or concessions, and if the puck hits the ceiling — which it frequently does — play is usually stopped to clean up the debris that’s fallen to the ice.

"The guys are excited to come back to the small rink," says Ohio State head coach John Markell. "They call it the War Memorial."

After many seasons that must have felt more like campaigns, it may seem absurd for the Buckeye players to want to play in the tiny Ice Rink. But if you attended last week’s Thursday night game between Western Michigan and Ohio State at the Ohio Expo Center, you might know how the "guys" feel. Only 560 people attended that game in an arena that holds over five thousand. At the Ice Rink, 560 can make some noise.

The Buckeyes get to bunker in their happy place when Bowling Green comes to town, and location may make the difference in this game.

These two teams met in a non-conference game last Sunday, and Ohio State won 4-2. That was at the Expo Center, with a small, non-noisy crowd, and little at stake for either team. Ohio State did manage to keep its win-streak alive; four games in a row is as many as OSU has won since the 1991-92 season.

Defense has been a big part of the recent Buckeye turn-around. "I think what’s really helped is that Ryan Skaleski has come in and solidified our defense," says Markell. "The defense is doing the little things right. They’re giving themselves the chance to get things right. It’s just little things."

Arguably, one of the best "little things" is freshman Buckeye goaltender Ray Aho. Much has been made of Aho’s height — he’s five feet, six inches tall — but this freshman has shown that he has absolutely everything he needs to play at this level. "He’s got confidence," Markell explains. "His reaction is quicker because he’s become more acclimated to the league."

Markell knows that Bowling Green will come in ready to play. "I think they’re going to come in with a better effort. We only played two periods of hockey [in last Sunday’s win], and we have to have a better effort."

Lately, the Buckeye effort has not gone unnoticed. In the past five weeks, Buckeye players have won Player of the Week four times: Aho earned the honor two weeks in a row. Two weeks later, Dan Cousineau was named Defensive Player of the Week. Just this week, Jarret Whidden was named Offensive Player of the Week for his five points — including the game-winning goal against BGSU — last weekend.

A little momentum can go a long way.

PICK: Ohio State 4-2

No. 9 Michigan State (18-10-3, 14-6-3 CCHA) at Ohio State (11-22-0, 8-15-0 CCHA) Sunday, 1 p.m., Ohio Expo Center, Columbus, OH

A little momentum may travel far, but maybe not too far. This is, oddly enough, the rubber match of the series between these two teams. Michigan State won one in Munn Ice Arena; Ohio State also took one in Munn. It used to be that no one but the Spartans won there.

"Our building is not as intimidating as it used to be," claims Michigan State head coach Ron Mason. "Also, our kids put a lot pressure on themselves to win at home."

Sometimes that pressure backfires. Not only did the Buckeyes beat the Spartans in Munn, so did Miami, just last week. And so did the Nanooks, earlier in the season.

Ohio State head coach John Markell expects Michigan State to come to play for revenge. "They have four games left," he says. "They could move up the ladder."

Mason knows the key to beating Ohio State is getting to them early in the game. "Ohio State plays a more laid-back, defensive style of hockey. They have that good neutral-zone trap. If you can get to their goaltender and open the game up, you have a good chance with them."

The confidence that Ohio State feels is shared by the coaching staff. "Every team is aware of us now," says Markell. "Teams are going to have to come in here with their ‘A’ game. We’re starting to get attention. People know that we’re not an easy game.

"If we could win our next four, we could catch Western."

With Bowling Green, Michigan State, Western Michigan and Michigan remaining for the Buckeyes, that could be the biggest "if" in history. On the other hand, all four of those games are at home, and two are at the "War Memorial."

Nah.

Ohio State needs points to secure a playoff berth, but Michigan State really wants to go to the NCAA tournament. Ohio State won’t lay down, but Michigan State’s experience — at every level — will give the Spartans the definite edge.

PICK: Michigan State 5-3

Paula C. Weston is the CCHA Correspondent for U.S. College Hockey Online.

Copyright 1997 Paula C. Weston . All Rights Reserved.

Return to Feature Articles Return to News and Recaps Return to US College Hockey Online

UMass-Lowell Announces 30-Year Team

USCHO Staff Report
-

UMass-Lowell announced their 30th Year Anniversary Team to commemorate three decades of varsity hockey. The team will be honored during the final regular season home game on Saturday against Providence.

The program marked its beginning in 1967 when it formed a Division II team, became a powerhouse in the late seventies and moved into Division I in 1983-84. Players from all eras populate the 12-man squad.

Dwayne Roloson (1994 graduate) and Brian Doyle (’80) backstop the team.

Roloson, a 1993-94 Hockey East Player of the Year and Hobey Baker finalist, recorded 1,148 saves in 1992-93, still a school record. In his senior year he led UMass-Lowell to the Hockey East championship game and into overtime in the NCAA quarterfinals. He currently plays in the NHL for the Calgary Flames.

Doyle holds the Lowell career records for wins (74) and lowest goals against average (3.26). He ranks second with most wins in a season (25) and save percentage in a year (.905). Doyle backstopped the 1978-79 NCAA Division II championship team.

Paul Lohnes (’82), Bob Kearin (’73), Paul Ames (’87), and Ed Campbell man the anniversary team’s blue line.

Lohnes earned Division II Hobey Baker honors in his senior year after leading his team to its third NCAA championship in four years. A three time All-American, Lohnes remains the top-scoring defenseman in Lowell history with 58 goals and 109 assists, good for eighth place overall. The New England Hockey Writers Association named him the top defenseman in New England after his senior year.

Kearin represents the earliest player selected. He helped lead UMass-Lowell to its first-ever postseason appearance in the ECAC tournament in 1972. He holds school records for most shorthanded goals by a defenseman in both a game and a season. His four goals against Connecticut also stands as a school mark for defensemen.

Ames, a two-time All-Hockey East selection, scored 17 goals and added 57 assists during his career. As a senior, he led UML to 22 wins, good for their first second-place finish in the league.

Campbell, scored 20 goals to go with 71 assists in three years before signing with the New York Rangers. He holds the dubious school record for career penalty minutes (326).

All six forwards — Mike Carr (’83), Jon Morris (’88), Craig MacTavish, Greg Bullock, Dean Jenkins (’81), and Tom Jacobs (’79) — earned All-America honors at least once during their careers.

Carr won the 1983 Divison II Hobey Baker, giving the school back-to-back winners with Lohnes. His 134 goals, 145 assists and 279 points all rank as school records. In his senior year he led UMass-Lowell to a 29-2 record and earned All-America honors.

Morris trails only Carr with career marks of 97 goals, 134 assists, and 231 points. As a junior he earned All-America honors and a berth on the All-Hockey East team. Morris won the G. Harvey Chandler Award as the team’s top scorer in all four of his seasons.

MacTavish, winner of five Stanley Cups, totaled 62 goals and 71 assists in just two years. In 1978-79 he helped lead Lowell to its first NCAA championship. His 88 points that year — still a school record — earned him All-America honors.

Bullock registered 49 goals and 75 assists in his two years. After a Rookie of the Year season in 1993-94, he then added All-America and Hobey Baker finalist honors the following year. That year the New England Hockey Writers Association also named him top forward in New England.

Jacobs ranks third in career scoring, his 97 goals, 103 assists and 200 points surpassed only by Carr and Morris. His 42 goals during the 1978-79 NCAA championship season still stands as a school record. His 80 points that year is bettered only by MacTavish’s 88 and garnered him All-America honors.

Jenkins, a sophomore on the 78-79 squad, added another NCAA crown in 1980-81. He earned All-America honors as a junior and senior during which Lowell went 50-12. His 73 goals and 118 assists puts him fifth in career scoring.

The team was selected by a committee consisting of UML Director of Athletics Dana Skinner, Assistant Director of Athletics Tim Burton, Sports Information Director Jim Seavey, former head coach Bill Riley, former player and assistant coach Norm Bazin ’94, Assistant Athletic Trainer Artie Poitras, Tully Forum rink manager Don Lampron, Lowell Sun writer Chaz Scoggins, WLLH Radio Sports Director Bob Ellis, and former sports information director and current SID at Southern Maine B.L. Elfring.

A Whole Lotta $&#?ing Going On

By
-

One thing can be said for certain about hockey in Yost Ice Arena: there’s a whole lot of sucking going on. Don’t take this writer’s word for it; ask the fans. Or don’t — they’ll tell you anyway.

Trevor Prior is in net for Miami. The press box phone rings. On cue, the crowd chants. “Hey, Prior. Phone call. It’s your mother. She says — you SUCK!”

The crowd at Yost is nothing if not fair. Goaltenders from other schools also suck.

After a Wolverine score against the Buckeyes, Ray Aho gets the ever-popular “sieve” cheer. “You’re not a goalie, you’re a sieve. You’re not a sieve, you’re a funnel. You’re not a funnel, you’re a vacuum. You’re not a vacuum, you’re a black hole. You’re not a black hole — YOU JUST SUCK! YOU JUST SUCK! YOU JUST SUCK!”

Visiting goaltenders don’t just suck at Yost; they’re also to blame.

“It’s all your fault! It’s all your fault! It’s all your fault!”

For that matter, the phenomenon is not limited to goaltenders. Sometimes, whole teams suck.

After Michigan State kills a penalty, the P.A. announcer tells the crowd, “Michigan State is at full strength.” Most of the 6,000 assembled fans respond, “And they still SUCK!”

And it isn’t limited to players, either.

CCHA referee Matt Shegos blows the whistle, and a Wolverine heads to the box. The crowd chants, “Ref, you SUCK!” and repeats as needed.

Of course, the crowd can be nice — when someone tells them something they want to hear. When the announcer says that there’s one minute left in a given period, the crowd at Yost always remembers to say, “Thank you.”

Yost Ice Arena, home of the 1996 NCAA Champion University of Michigan Wolverines, is the place to see a hockey game in the CCHA. Don’t like the Wolverines? Who cares? Don’t come to cheer the game — come to watch the crowd in action.

It’s hard to get a ticket to see a game in Ann Arbor, but it wasn’t always this way. There was a time in the 1980s when student fan support was virtually nonexistent.

Longtime season ticket holder Angie Hall says the fans started to come when the Wolverines started winning. “It started in about ’90,” she says.

“When I started coming in ’86-’87, this was only half-filled most of the time,” says Angie. She says there’s always been a core of non-student fans.

“It’s fun to hear the fans get into it,” Diane Hatfield says, “because they weren’t always that way when we started coming to hockey games.”

Diane and her husband, Fred Hatfield, have been season ticket holders for 20 years. Both have been active in the Dekers, a Wolverine hockey booster club. Fred’s been president twice. Diane’s been treasurer “two or three” times. “I’ve been membership vice-president for the last five years,” she says.

“Dekers comes from the hockey term ‘deke,’ which means to fake out your opponent,” says Diane. “When people started the club in 1964, for some strange reason, they picked ‘Dekers.’ Since nobody knew what dekers meant — half the time they’d say ‘deckers’ — we officially changed it to the Dekers-Blue Line club about ten years ago.

“When Red first came,” says Diane, “we were at the very bottom. He brought in a team and was trying to build this program. It takes a while to do that. When we didn’t have a lot of people in the stands, we were the quietest people you’ve ever heard in your life.”

Things have changed at Yost, where chanting in unison is now expected. “The fans are very into it,” says Diane. “It’s intimidating for the opposing team.”

John Hauessler writes D’Scream, a fanzine for “the section formerly known as D,” It’s known now as Section 3, in the aftermath of the recent Yost renovations. Hauessler has been coming to Michigan hockey games since the 1987-88 season, and he says the Yost fan phenomenon built for several years before becoming the standard form of behavior fans and visitors alike have come to expect.

“It took root in the late 1980s, when UM passed the .500 mark (1987-88). Michigan was a rough-and-tumble team trying to get into the CCHA first division. There was a loyal group of obnoxious fans, but not enough to fill Yost by any means. But, each year the regular fan base increased and seemed to get more fanatical.

“All hell broke loose in 1990-91, when UM not only made the NCAA tourney for the first time in recent history, but hosted Cornell at Yost in the first round. That three-game series is often looked to as the turning point in Yost fandom.

“It was building, building, building for about four years, and that series put Yost over the top. It became the most obnoxious arena in the CCHA in March 1991, and has remained so ever since. But it didn’t happen overnight. Many people have forgotten the crescendo of the late 1980s.”

Diane Hatfield credits the Michigan hockey pep band for starting the tradition of chanting in unison. “The band really started the chant for the most part,” says Diane. “The students picked it up.” At first, she says, the band members would show up at the beginning of games because they were getting credit for being there, but they’d “slowly disappear” during the contests.

Now, says Fred Hatfield, the band is one of the best components of the Michigan hockey crowd. “They know when to play and not to play.” (You might ask the non-Michigan fans at last year’s NCAA tournament in Cincinnati about that — but that’s a whole ‘nother article.)

The Michigan hockey pep band is responsible for more than just introducing cheers to the crowd. It’s responsible for the marriage of Jennie and Pete Dalton.

“I got to Michigan in the fall of ’81,” says Pete. “I was in the marching band as a tuba player, and I found that there was a hockey pep band. All I wanted to do was go play my horn. It took me four or five years just to figure out what icing was. The program was not very good, and I didn’t know anything about hockey.

“Jennie, who I met in the hockey band, grew up in the U.P. [Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, a land of forests and snow], where hockey is life. She was also in the marching band, [and] her perspective was, ‘You mean, all I have to do is be in the hockey band and I can get into the games for free?'”

Jennie says, “I grew up with the Michigan Tech band, where it was very competitive, freshmen don’t get tickets, you’re lucky to get standing room — it’s a real big deal to get to go to a game. As I was working my way through school, season tickets were so expensive that I didn’t figure I’d get to go to the games here.”

Pete joined the band to play; Jennie joined the band to see hockey. With a story like that, how can anyone complain about the fans at Yost? Well, some do.

“The students get out of hand, a little bit,” says Fred.

“I’d like people to know that we have some of the best non-profane hecklers in the sport,” says Hauessler. “Yost is known for the often too-obnoxious student section, but students come and go every year.

“There are some great ‘regular’ fans around Yost, many of whom started their days as students. These people are too often lumped in with the students when other folks talk (usually unflatteringly) about UM’s fan base. “I don’t mind other CCHA fans not liking us … but I’d rather they disliked us because we’re witty and our team happens to be winning, than dislike us because we’re jerks.

“Some fans are jerks and will always be jerks,” says Hauessler, “and they give the rest of us a bad name.”

News of Hauessler’s “wit” has spread beyond the confines of Yost. As editor and primary writer for D’Scream, he has made a name for himself as a funny man.

The first issue of D’Scream for the 1996-97 season is subtitled “Back by Popular Apathy Issue.” The issue of D’Scream produced for the weekend series against Miami was the “Where’s Kevyn Adams? Issue.” Adams left Miami before his senior season to pursue professional hockey, and not much has been heard from him since. (He’s currently playing with the Grand Rapids Griffins of the IHL.)

On the subject of Miami’s mascot name change, Hauessler suggests “of Ohio.” “Then,” he writes, “when someone says, ‘Miami of Ohio,’ they’d actually be somewhat correct.”

Last season, Hauessler devoted an entire issue of D’Scream to senior Ohio State defenseman Craig Paterson. “Who else can hip-check like that in this league?” quipped Hauessler at the time. The issue rankled the coaching staff at Ohio State, who were heard to refer to Hauessler as “that jerk up in Michigan” as recently as January of this year.

Hauessler’s had tickets in the front row of Section D — er, Section 3 — since 1991-92. He started D’Scream one season ago.

“Section D is great because it’s familiar,” says Hauessler. “It’s largely comprised of veteran season-ticket holders, so you can count on seeing the same people from year to year. It’s geographically blessed in that we get to see the Michigan offense for two periods; that puts us in prime location for heckling the visiting goaltender.

“The Section D regulars would always say ‘hello’ to each other, but I think the inception of D’Scream has increased the chatter in the section. I don’t actually know everyone that sits in the section, but sometimes I feel like I do.”

These longtime fans all agree that the crowd is just as important as the team to their Michigan hockey experience.

“The crowd never gives up,” says Fred. “It could be 18 to nothing, and they’d still want more.”

Of course, the whole reason for the crowd is the Wolverine team, a team that plays good college hockey.

“The best thing,” says Fred, “is college hockey. It’s different than pro hockey. It’s a cleaner game. It’s a faster game to watch.”

Diane says, “The kids are here because they love the game. It’s not because they’re getting paid big bucks.”

While the players don’t see the big bucks, sometimes the fans get to see the evidence of the revenue generated by hockey. During the off-season last year, Yost Ice Arena underwent renovations that cost $5.5 million. Fans can see changes in the pro shop, concessions, rest rooms, locker rooms, and the lobby area. The press box is amazing, spanning the length of the building. With those renovations, all the “obstructed view” seating was swallowed; now every seat at Yost is a good one.

With 75 years of hockey at Michigan, a very recent NCAA Championship, a virtual guarantee of an appearance at this year’s tournament, and an improved Yost Ice Arena, it’s no wonder that Wolverine fans make all the noise they can.

And if you go to Yost, and you don’t like what you hear — well, you might just suck. Just ask them.

Competition And Responsibility

By Adam Wodon
-

It’s a long time since St. Lawrence reached the 1988 NCAA final, and seems just as long since its last ECAC tournament title, in 1992.

From 1986-1992, St. Lawrence won 20 games or more every season except 1989-90, including back-to-back 29-win seasons. In that span, St. Lawrence won three ECAC Tournaments and was runner-up in two more.

But the Saints started to decline in 1992-93, finishing sixth, tenth and ninth in succeeding seasons before a third-place finish last year, as shown below. This year, St. Lawrence is struggling to make the playoffs:

                      ECAC                      OVERALL
PL  YEAR        G  W-L-T  PTS    GF-GA   ||  G   W-L-T    GF-GA
 3  1986-87    22 15- 7-0   30  109- 73  || 35  24-11-0   180-114
T1  1987-88    22 18- 4-0   36  124- 70  || 38  29- 9-0   200-112
 2  1988-89    22 18- 4-0   36   99- 56  || 36  29- 7-0   169-96
 5  1989-90    22 12- 8-2   26   87- 74  || 32  13-15-4   113-123
T2  1990-91    22 15- 6-1   31  101- 79  || 35  21-13-1   147-121
T2  1991-92    22 15- 6-1   31  104- 66  || 34  22-10-2   160-111
 6  1992-93    22 12- 8-2   26   89- 77  || 32  17-12-3   133-116
10  1993-94    22  8-14-0   16   75- 95  || 31  10-21-0    99-134
T9  1994-95    22 10-12-0   20   83-110  || 33  15-17-1   116-150
 3  1995-96    22 15- 4-3   33  107- 74  || 35  20-12-3   145-134

Perhaps it can be chalked up to normal cycles, but St. Lawrence, a Division III institution using its one-sport exemption to play Division I men’s ice hockey, has found it more and more difficult to keep up with ECAC counterparts that award scholarships, like RPI, Vermont and North Country neighbor Clarkson.

“The parity now is unbelievable,” said St. Lawrence head coach Joe Marsh, whose arrival at St. Lawrence in 1985-86 marked the transformation of the Saints into a national power.

“If people go back to 10 years ago and all of a sudden step into the present, they’d be like, ‘What the heck is going on?’ The days of Dartmouth, Brown and Princeton being automatics are long gone, and I don’t see them coming back. I think all these teams are good, solid, quality programs.”

To stay competitive, last year the school administration authorized the allotment of 18 scholarships per year for the program. Now, with the first recruiting season as a scholarship school under his belt, Marsh says things went well.

“I think the kids we have are some really good kids,” said Marsh. “They’re young — we’ll be a fairly young team — but I think it’s going well.”

Marsh said he has seen immediate benefits from the ability to award scholarships.

“It’s certainly made us more competitive,” said Marsh. “And we’ve lost some pretty good kids too. We’ve gone after some really good kids academically. We lost some to the Ivies, lost some to BU, and that type of thing. But that’s going to happen, you’re still going to lose players to other schools.

“But I think in the overall mix, we’ve been dealing with some pretty good solid kids.

“I think it’s pretty important with a school like St. Lawrence, where we are (geographically), being a non-Ivy, and so forth, to be able to be as competitive as we can. You look at Vermont, RPI, Clarkson, it’s hurt us.”

But, as Marsh is quick to point out, there are new challenges upon the program now. For example, the administration will be keeping an even closer eye on the type of player that’s recruited. If the school is dedicating $20,000 a year to a player, it wants a top-notch individual.

“I think the trustees and the higher-ups have to look at this, and I know they’re going to look at this through a microscope,” Marsh said. “How we deal with these grants, and more importantly, how we protect the integrity of the grant. I want to bring in the best kids I can.

“(The administration is) going to want to know how I spend it. We can’t bring in a guy that’s a (problem). So what if he gets 75 goals in juniors, if he’s gonna be a pain in the ass downtown, we’re going to hurt our own cause.”

Along with the responsibility to bring in a quality person, Marsh said it’s also the responsibility of the player to live up to his end of the bargain. Marsh says that fact is too often lost these days.

“I want to protect the integrity of the scholarship in every aspect of the scholarship,” said Marsh. “Kids come in today — and every program will tell you — and everyone is well aware of what their rights and privileges are. What we’re trying to say is, ‘You do have some responsibilities that go along with this.'”

Responsibility isn’t exactly a new concept to Marsh, the 1989 and 1996 ECAC Coach of the Year. Marsh is accustomed to ensuring discipline on his team. He’s a stickler for it, and comes down harshly on players who make “mistakes.”

Last year the school suspended Joel Prpic for getting into a fight in March in downtown Canton, the result of which left forward Derek Ladouceur unable to play for a weekend. This year it was sophomore goalie Clint Owen who was suspended for the first month and a half of the season for undisclosed disciplinary reasons, and the team suffered without its 1996 All-Rookie Team member.

“We’re not in the classroom, but we are still in the business of education,” Marsh said. “Obviously, you have to win or you won’t be in education any more, so it’s a double-edged sword, but at the same time, I’m not about to treat my guys like a piece of meat.”

Owen responded well and came back to help St. Lawrence pick up the pace a bit, though an injury to him and others — like Jason Windle, Prpic and Troy Creurer — set him and the team back again. Regardless, Marsh thinks the point was made.

“It’s obviously more than your average (situation),” Marsh said. “It was a pretty stiff suspension. (But Owen) is a good kid, and maybe it’s something that down the road is going to help him. He’s come back, he’s worked hard, he’s humble.

“You can see how things are when things are going tough for a kid. A lot of kids could have blamed somebody else, a lot of kids could’ve gone sour, got real sullen either toward me because I’m the resident (jerk), or whatever. He didn’t do that. To his credit he took it like a man and dealt with it. He did the things we asked him to do, met the conditions, and that was that.”

In fact, Marsh is more upset these days with the local upstate New York media for not just forgetting the incident already.

“The reporters here won’t let it go,” said Marsh. “Every time they mention his name, they bring it up. It’s become part of his name, like some sort of Indian moniker.”

Without giving away the nature of the transgression, Marsh said he never tried to hide the fact that it was a severe incident worthy of a long punishment. “Owen got suspended and we dealt with it honestly,” he said. “I’m not going to run around and lie to people. He’s got to deal with it like a man, but it’s over.”

What’s not over is the season, and St. Lawrence still believes it can make a run. The talent should be there. But players like Paul DiFrancesco and Derek Ladouceur seemed to take a while to get over the loss of go-to-guy Burke Murphy.

“I don’t think it was a conscious thing without Burke,” Marsh said. “But, sure, losing a player of that ability affects you where over the long period of time you just got to work that much harder for goals. I mean Burke might have been the best shooting-percentage forward I ever saw. He was very selective and really buried his chances.

“We have guys working hard. We’re in the 40-shot range a lot. We’re not a bad team offensively, our special teams is OK.

“What we’ve been guilty of is momentum swings. If a team scores against us … we give up goals in bunches.”

Even if things don’t materialize this year, and the breaks never start going the Saints’ way, and the injuries never stop happening, Marsh can look down his roster and know the tools are there for the makings of another long run at the top of the standings.

And thanks to the ability to offer scholarships, Marsh’s toolbox has gotten that much bigger.

Bois’ Career Over, Declared Ineligible By Princeton

By Adam Wodon
-

Princeton senior Mike Bois was declared academically ineligible by the school, thus ending his college hockey career.

Though his grades were well within the generally accepted levels, Bois, 22, fell victim to Princeton’s own higer standards. He has gone back to his home in Longlac, Ontario, but intends to return in the fall to finish his degree.

Bois, the 1994 Baker Trophy winner as team Rookie of the Year, was one of coach Don Cahoon’s favorite players. Other players were more skilled, but Cahoon was always impressed with Bois two-way play, ability to deflect shots, and amazing balance on his skates.

This year, with the Tigers depleted defensively, Bois was moved to the backline for the first time since midgets, and didn’t complain.

In 103 career games, Bois totalled 26 goals and 38 assists for 64 points. His best season statistically came in 1994-95, the year the Tigers made it to the final game of the ECAC Tournament, when he compiled 10 goals and 13 assists.

As a junior, Bois won a Centennial Cup (Junior A national championship) as a member of the Thunder Bay Flyers.

This Week in the ECAC: February 14, 1997

By
-

ECAC Preview: Feb. 14-15, 1997 by Jayson Moy

"Every win this time of year is critical." — Cornell head coach Mike Schafer.

"It’s been a crazy year." — Clarkson head coach Mark Morris.

"It just gets a lot tighter in league play." — Colgate head coach Don Vaughn.

"The team you played the first time is certainly different now." — Union head coach Stan Moore.

"With the situation like this (only ECAC games left), there will be a lot of anticipation."– Yale head coach Tim Taylor.

"It will be the typical ECAC season in that nothing will be decided until the last weekend." — Dartmouth head coach Roger Demment.

"It’s crunch time, there’s just six games left." — St. Lawrence head coach Joe Marsh.

"They just get bigger and bigger from here on in." — RPI head coach Dan Fridgen.

They all sound like clicheés, but they all are true. Each win is important, it’s crazy, it’s tight, teams are different, the anticipation is high and the games are big.

What makes it so big is that there are four teams tied for first place in the league, something that has never happened this late in the ECAC season.

It all came about because Clarkson swept, Vermont took three points, and Cornell and RPI each won one game and lost one. All four teams are now in the lead.

That’s not the only battle going on. Princeton leads a four-team pack in places five through eight, three points ahead of Colgate, Harvard and Union, all with 16 points.

Following not far behind are Dartmouth, St. Lawrence, Yale and Brown. Dartmouth picked up a win, St. Lawrence was swept, Yale lost its only game, and Brown got back in the thick of things with an upset of Princeton.

Take a closer look at the ECAC as it stands: ECAC Standings

Each team now has six games to go over the final three weekends.

There is only one game pitting top-four teams against each other this weekend — Vermont travels to Troy to take on RPI. Another battle to watch is Clarkson at Princeton on Friday, and don’t forget the annual grudge match between Harvard and Cornell at Lynah Rink.

No. 6 Vermont (18-6-2, 10-4-2 ECAC, T-1st) and Dartmouth (10-12-1, 5-10-1 ECAC, 9th) at Union (14-10-2, 7-7-2 ECAC, T-6th) Friday-Saturday, 7:30 p.m.-7 p.m., Achilles Rink, Schenectady, N.Y.

Dartmouth (10-12-1, 5-10-1 ECAC, 9th) and No. 6 Vermont (18-6-2, 10-4-2 ECAC, T-1st) at RPI (15-8-3, 10-4-2 ECAC, T-1st) Friday-Saturday, 7:30 p.m.-7 p.m., RPI Fieldhouse, Troy, N.Y.

Vermont tied Colgate, 5-5, and defeated Cornell, 7-5, for its claim to first place after the weekend. Head coach Mike Gilligan was in the middle, because he saw good things and bad things.

"I thought it was a decent weekend," he said. "[But] I wasn’t happy with the amount of goals that were scored on us."

Last week, goalie Tim Thomas was player of the week for his pair of 40-plus save performances in a sweep at St. Lawrence and Clarkson. This week, he looked human.

"Last week we worked on goals for, and this week we have to work on goals against," Gilligan said. "We kind of slipped a little bit in that department.

"We’re also going to the box at the wrong time. We’re not going in there to save goals, and that’s not what we want to do."

Gilligan shuffled his lines a couple of weeks ago, and it has shown some dividends. The reformed second line for the Catamounts has Stephane Piche, Matt Stelljes and J.C. Ruid. Piche made the ECAC Honor Roll this week for his three-goal and two-assist performance last weekend.

"That second line is going well," he said. "The first line will get their share of goals, but if we can get some from the second and third lines, it only helps."

The first time Vermont met RPI and Union, it was number one in the country, and RPI unceremoniously dropped the Cats from the top spot, 4-2. Union played tough, but Tim Thomas shutout the Dutchmen, 1-0.

"Revenge is not a word I use in the locker room," said Gilligan about this week’s RPI game. "They deserved to beat us up here…. [Union] plays good defense, and they have good goaltending."

Dartmouth head coach Roger Demment also notes the defense of the Dutchmen. "Against Union, it will be more of a dig down deep and work-real-hard game," he said. "They just have a great defense and a great goaltender."

But before the Big Green face Union on Saturday, they square off against RPI.

"We have to play great defense against their big offense," said Demment about RPI. "That will be the focus on Friday." Dartmouth lost both games against Union and RPI at home in November, 7-3 and 5-4 respectively.

"That we lost to them is an incentive to get some wins on the road," Demment said. "But you look at those games, and it was a long, long time ago."

David Whitworth broke into the top ten in scoring in the ECAC over the weekend, with two goals and two assists.

"He’s playing well with Ryan Chaytors and Jon Sturgis," said Demment. "We’ve had a number of guys step it up for us this year offensively, him included."

A split in the North Country for the Union Dutchmen lifted them into a sixth place tie with Harvard and Colgate.

"I think we were outplayed most of the game," Union head coach Stan Moore said about the Clarkson game. "In terms of the last few minutes, I’m pleased that we didn’t give up."

Trevor Koenig was spectacular in the nets, making 40 saves on Friday, and 34 saves against St. Lawrence on Saturday. His efforts were rewarded with the ECAC Player of the Week Award.

Union continues to play solid defense, leading the ECAC in goals allowed — a mere 2.42 goals per game.

RPI also split a pair in the North Country this weekend, defeating St. Lawrence 7-2, and falling to Clarkson 5-1. Despite only getting two points, the Engineers have a share of first place.

Head coach Don Fridgen thinks there’s a reason for that. "These guys are really focusing and they’re really preparing themselves mentally well," said Fridgen. "From the drop of the puck to the execution of the game plan."

One area where the Engineers need work on is the penalty-kill, and the taking of penalties. RPI has rocketed to second in the league in taking penalties, averaging 21.9 minutes per game. RPI has also dropped to 9th in the penalty kill statistics, dropping to a 79.5 percent kill ratio. It’s a deadly combination.

"In a situation when you’re trailing by a goal, you want to be expending your energy and your efforts trying to come back 5-on-5, instead of trying to score down 5-on-4," said Fridgen. "You wear down your penalty-killers, and it takes away a little bit of momentum."

Big games are on the agenda for RPI, and Fridgen hopes his team capitalizes on playing in them.

"We have played big games, but they just get bigger and bigger from here on in," he said. "Hopefully we’ll learn something from [the Clarkson] game. At least I hope we’ll learn something from it."

PICKS:

Dartmouth at RPI: RPI’s offense is a major concern for Dartmouth. But it seems that Dartmouth has been able to keep up with the offense in recent games with RPI. It’s not enough though. RPI 7 Dartmouth 4

Vermont at Union: Union will try to stop the French Connection and bottle up the passing lanes. It’s a lot easier at Achilles, and Union only lost 1-0 the last time at the wide-open Cathouse. At home, it will be more of a defensive game. Vermont 1 Union 1

Vermont at RPI: The Cats want some payback — it has to be in their minds. Can RPI keep up with the offense, or will it be a defensive game? It should be Danny Riva’s line against the French Connection, and the offense must come from elsewhere for both teams. Matt Stelljes will probably be out there whenever Eric Healey is. RPI has to stay out of the penalty box. RPI 4 Vermont 3

Dartmouth at Union: Union had a high goal total against Dartmouth the last time out. It won’t be like that again. Union 4 Dartmouth 2

Brown (6-15-2, 3-12-1 ECAC, 12th) and Harvard (8-12-1, 7-7-2 ECAC, T-6th) at Colgate (13-11-2, 7-7-2 ECAC, T-6th) Friday-Saturday, 7:30 p.m.-7 p.m., Starr Rink, Hamilton, N.Y.

Harvard (8-12-1, 7-7-2 ECAC, T-6th) and Brown (6-15-2, 3-12-1 ECAC, 12th) at Cornell (13-6-4, 10-4-2 ECAC, T-1st) Friday-Saturday, 7:30 p.m.-7 p.m., Lynah Rink, Ithaca, N.Y.

"I feel real good about our guys," said Brown head coach Bob Gaudet a few weeks ago. "Our record doesn’t show it — we just have to keep plugging away."

The plugging was evident as Brown pulled a bit of a shocker over Princeton on Saturday with a 3-2 win. Senior Marty Clapton, who always saves his best for games against Princeton, scored the game-winning goal with 44 seconds remaining in the second period, just moments after Princeton had cut the Brown lead to 2-1.

Last year, Clapton scored the game-winner late in regulation in the ECAC preliminary round playoff game between the two teams in Providence.

The inspiration to play Princeton derives from a playoff series two years ago, when No. 7 Princeton defeated No. 2 Brown in three games that often got rough and chippy. One can debate who the instigator was, though Princeton is regarded as one of the league’s best skating teams, and the Bears are a perennial penalty-minute leader. But those facts don’t sway Clapton’s opinion of the Tigers.

"They’re a cheap team, no skill," said Clapton. "They’re more of a football team. They do (have some fast guys), but we do too. We got the best of them. Hopefully we’ll get another chance at them in the playoffs."

The goal by Clapton capped a three-goal period for the Bears. Bill McKay and Mike Flynn also added goals.

Despite the record of the Bears, people fear them. Most ECAC coaches have mentioned that Brown’s record is not indicative of its strength. Gaudet would agree, and sees the Princeton win as a big boost.

"They’re a good team, they’re well-coached and they have good players," Gaudet said of the Tigers. "So it was a good effort. It’s a confidence-builder because we have played hard, and we just haven’t had the results."

Sophomore Adrian Smith, one of the team’s leaders in both scoring and penalty minutes, resumed skating this week and might play. He stretched ligaments in his knee two Friday’s ago against Union.

"We’ve got a tough stretch," said Gaudet. "We have two road weekends, but if we can play with that grit and that determination, then we’ll be all right, because we’re there in the game, and hopefully we’ll just get a bounce here or there to put us over the top.

"But it makes it interesting, because now we have something to shoot for."

The question once again for Harvard is offense. The Crimson scored three in a win over Yale, but were shutout by Northeastern in the Beanpot consolation game.

"It’s tough to win a hockey game if you don’t score," said head coach Ronn Tomassoni after the loss. "It’s no secret we’ve struggled to score goals all season long."

It’s no secret, either, that you don’t win many games if the team’s goals allowed is more than the team’s goals scored. This is exactly the case for Harvard — 3.36 goals allowed per game, 2.59 scored.

Colgate sits in a three-way tie for sixth place. The Red Raiders gained one point over the weekend in a wild 5-5 tie with Vermont.

"It was disappointing, but we played a good game against Vermont," said head coach Don Vaughn. "It was more disappointing that we lost on Saturday (to Dartmouth) because we played well Friday. We just weren’t able to carry anything over to Saturday night from Friday."

Dartmouth raced out to the lead and never looked back to win 5-3.

"Our focus has to be on us," said Vaughn. "We have to find a way to get our play to the way it was on Saturday.

"We have to get the puck down low. We are also not throwing the puck at the net enough. We’re trying to be a little to cute with the puck instead of just throwing at the net and hope for something to happen. We’ re trying to make too much happen with the puck."

Colgate returns home to face Harvard and Brown, teams that it has defeated once already this season.

"It might be in the back of some of our guys’ minds," said Vaughn of the earlier victories. "But both of those teams have come a long way. We’re expecting two totally different teams."

Cornell gained two points with its win over Dartmouth Friday, but lost to Vermont 7-5 after edging to within 6-5 late in the game.

Head coach Mike Schafer believes that his team is prepared for the stretch run, and just needs a few adjustments week-to-week in order to prepare for the upcoming weekend’s games.

"This is that time of year," he said. "You try to utilize as many players as possible, but the best people play in all of those times. At this point in the season, you’re done experimenting."

Cornell swept Harvard and Brown the last time the teams got together in November, 3-2 and 5-4, respectively.

PICKS:

Brown at Colgate: Can Brown claw its way back to the playoffs after it seemed that all was lost? A two-game winning streak would be great for its playoff hopes, but it won’t happen. Colgate 5 Brown 3

Harvard at Cornell: The annual rivalry continues at Lynah. The Lynah Faithful look forward to this game all year long, and will be ready as the seventh man. Harvard doesn’t stand a chance. Cornell 5 Harvard 1

Harvard at Colgate: Colgate has returned to the high offensive line of Mike Harder, Andy McDonald and Dave DeBusschere. It paid off last weekend, and will again. Colgate 5 Harvard 2

Brown at Cornell: Two defensive teams, but Cornell can play the defense better at home. Cornell 4 Brown 2

No. 7 Clarkson (18-8-0, 11-5-0 ECAC, T-1st) and St. Lawrence (9-17-2, 4-10-2 ECAC, 10th) at Princeton (14-7-2, 9-6-1 ECAC, 5th) Friday-Saturday, 7:30 p.m.-7 p.m., Baker Rink, Princeton, N.J.

St. Lawrence (9-17-2, 4-10-2 ECAC, 10th) and No. 7 Clarkson (18-8-0, 11-5-0 ECAC, T-1st) at Yale (7-14-2, 4-11-1 ECAC, 11th) Friday-Saturday, 7:30 p.m.-7 p.m., Ingalls Rink, New Haven, Conn.

"We made some strides this week," said Clarkson head coach Mark Morris.

The strides the Golden Knights made were two wins over Union and RPI, and a share of first place. The two wins gives Clarkson nine wins in its last ten games, with the only loss being to Vermont.

Todd White continues his Player of the Year campaign, getting support for his bid with three more goals this weekend, bringing his league leading total to 28, 19 of them in league play.

The story of the weekend for Morris was his freshmen, most notably Phillippe Roy, the ECAC Rookie of the Week.

"He’s playing center for the first time in his life," said Morris about the converted defenseman. "We’ve done a good job with our younger guys, and they seem to be forming solid third and fourth lines. It gives us some real depth."

The package seems to be all there for Morris, from the defense to the offense, as the team rounds into shape for its usual January-February run.

"Dan Murphy has been solid," he said. "We’re also happy with our defensive pairs. They seem to be playing in sync. I’m happy with the offense, because outside of Todd White, we don’t have a superstar."

Earlier in the year, the Golden Knights defeated Princeton, but were upset by Yale.

"Don Cahoon has gotten his guys to play hard and he’s maximized their talent," said Morris. "Tim Taylor has surprised a lot of people with his youngsters. They believe in his system."

Clarkson has roared back to top the ECAC standings, and Morris believes being down early has helped his team.

"It may be a blessing in disguise," he said. "That we lost a lot of those games early and we’ve had to fight to get back to where we are at."

St. Lawrence remains in the bottom third of the ECAC after getting swept at home by RPI and Union.

"We didn’t play very well against RPI," said head coach Joe Marsh. "We broke down defensively and all over the place. We weren’t ready to play.

"Against Union, it was an up-and-down kind of game. It was a good one. They got a power-play goal, and we didn’t. That was the difference."

With six games to go, Marsh is trying to evoke other things from his club as the season winds down.

"We’re concentrating on quality," he said. "It’s not a matter of a lot of adjustments, it’s a mental thing. We don’t want practice to be drudgery, practice will be more of the mental aspect of the game."

Marsh points to Friday’s game against Yale as a large one.

"It’s the biggest game of the weekend," he said. "We’re fighting for a playoff position with them, and we just have to take it one shift at a time."

Yale is fighting for playoff position with St. Lawrence, as mentioned above, and it got tougher after a 3-2 loss to Harvard.

The bright spot for the Bulldogs was freshman Jeff Brow, who tallied the two goals in the loss, but head coach Tim Taylor is still concerned with his team and its consistency.

"We’ve been inconsistent all year long," he said. "We’re a team that can’t afford a few mistakes if we’re to be successful. If any side of our game, offense or defense, suffers."

After a 2-2-1 start in the ECAC, and an upset of Cornell, the Elis have gone 2-9-0 since in the league.

Princeton’s two losses in three ECAC games over two weekends dropped the Tigers from first to fifth in the standings — that’s how quickly things can change this year.

A 3-2 loss to Brown was perhaps the Tigers’ worst performance of the year, though the 4-2 loss to Cornell the week before, just off the 20-day break, was probably worse.

Early in the season, Princeton got standout performances from its young defense, and the top line of Jeff Halpern-Scott Bertoli-Casson Masters led the way on offense. The offense seems to be more spread out now, but the top line is slumping, and the defense is starting to make those rookie kind of mistakes it wasn’t making earlier.

Goalie Erasmo Saltarelli, after a 5-1 start, has lost four straight decisions, and Princeton is 3-4 in the last seven games.

Still, at the start of the season, if you told Don Cahoon he’d be fifth, three points out of first, going into the last six games, he’d probably have taken it.

This week will be the real test for Princeton, with home games against Clarkson and St. Lawrence. Three points would prove to everyone else, and especially itself, that the Tigers are indeed a force to be reckoned with, and aren’t just going to go away quietly.

PICKS:

Clarkson at Princeton: Clarkson is the team on the roll, and Princeton has cooled off following its 20-day break. This does not bode well for the Tigers. But Princeton is home for the first time in a month, and Baker Rink should help, but Clarkson is on fire. Clarkson 3 Princeton 2

St. Lawrence at Yale: A battle for 10th place here. These games are overlooked because they’re at the bottom of the league, but they nonetheless are important for both teams. The Saints have a little more experience, and it helps. St. Lawrence 5 Yale 2

St. Lawrence at Princeton: Princeton will get back on its feet after this game, but the Saints will make it close. Princeton 4 St. Lawrence 3

Clarkson at Yale: This is a revenge game for Clarkson. No matter what anyone says, when you lose the first game of the series, you want to destroy the team the next time around. Clarkson 8 Yale 2

It just gets tighter and tighter next week. The matchups to watch are Cornell-RPI and Princeton-Vermont.

Friday, February 21: Colgate at RPI Cornell at Union Princeton at Dartmouth Yale at Vermont Harvard at Clarkson Brown at St. Lawrence

Saturday, February 22: Colgate at Union Cornell at RPI Princeton at Vermont Yale at Dartmouth Harvard at St. Lawrence Brown at Clarkson

Jayson Moy is the ECAC Correspondent for US College Hockey Online.

Copyright 1996 Jayson Moy . All Rights Reserved.

Return to Feature Articles Return to News and Recaps Return to US College Hockey Online

This Week in the CCHA: February 14, 1997

By
-

CCHA PREVIEW: Feb. 13-16, 1997 CCHA Preview: Feb. 13-16, 1997 by Paula C. Weston

With just a few weeks left in the CCHA regular season, the question of which team will finish eighth is as interesting as which will finish first.

"With only four games to go," says Michigan State head coach Ron Mason, "every game is important. It’s all going to come down to the last weekend of play this year, just as I thought in the beginning of the season."

"Right now we’re at the point of the season where every game is big," says Western Michigan head coach Bill Wilkinson.

"I would say that at this point of the year, everything is big," agrees Miami head coach Mark Mazzoleni.

Can there be any doubt?

A rare thing happened to the No. 1 Michigan Wolverines last weekend — they lost a game. The Wolverines beat the Lakers on Friday, but lost the rubber game of the Michigan State series on Saturday. Nevertheless, the Wolverines are still in first place with 36 points. This weekend, they host two games against Notre Dame.

Lake Superior remains in second place in spite of the loss to Michigan. With 31 points, this weekend’s road games against third-place Michigan State and Ferris State will be big for the Lakers.

Miami had last weekend off. They remain in third place with 29 points. Miami travels to Michigan State and Ferris State.

Michigan State is tied with Miami for third place. Last weekend the Spartans lost to Western Michigan, but won that series with the Wolverines. This weekend, it’s a battle for second place as the Spartans host both Miami and Lake Superior.

The "second tier" in the CCHA is just as interesting as the battle of the Titans. Western Michigan is the hottest team in the CCHA. With 22 points, the Broncos are in fifth place, just a point ahead of Bowling Green. The Broncos are 4-1-2 in their last seven games; they’ve won four in a row, and that loss was to Michigan. The Broncos meet the Buckeyes in Columbus on Thursday, then travel to Bowling Green for a mid-field match-up.

Given the way the Falcons slumped in the early part of the season, it’s mildly surprising to see them in sixth place, just behind Western Michigan. The Falcons split a pair of games at home last weekend to the UAF Nanooks. Thus, their single conference game this weekend — against visiting Western Michigan on Saturday — matters. The Falcons also play a non-conference game at Ohio State on Sunday.

Nothing is guaranteed for the remaining four teams, including Ferris State. The Bulldogs are playing good hockey lately, but other teams have managed to gain some ground at the bottom of the standings; for instance, via their loss to Western last weekend. This weekend, the Bulldogs (in seventh place with 15 points) host Lake Superior and Miami.

At the moment, Ohio State hangs on to that all-important eighth spot, just a point behind the Bulldogs. The Buckeyes have won three of their last six games, including back-to-back wins over Notre Dame last weekend, and a rare road win at Munn Arena against the Spartans. Thursday, the Buckeyes host Western Michigan; Sunday, the Falcons come to Columbus for a non-conference game.

Notre Dame sits uncomfortably in ninth place with 12 points. Last weekend the Irish lost a pair to Ohio State — including another one-goal defeat. This weekend, Notre Dame travels to Yost to play Michigan for two.

With 11 points, the University of Alaska-Fairbanks Nanooks anchor the bottom of the conference, but have shown recent improvement. Before splitting a pair of road games in Bowling Green last weekend, the Nanooks took four consecutive nonconference matches at home. UAF’s only remaining CCHA contests are a three-game series at home with Ferris State

This weekend, however, UAF hosts two games with the St. Norbert College Green Knights, a Division III school from Wisconsin that just clinched its first-ever regular season title in the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association.

Don’t blink, CCHA fans. You don’t want to miss a moment of this weekend’s action.

Last week’s record in picks: 5-3 Overall record in picks: 80-58

Western Michigan (13-12-4, 9-8-4 CCHA) at Ohio State (9-22-0, 7-15-0 CCHA) Thursday, 7 p.m., Ohio Expo Center, Columbus, OH

This game pits the two shortest CCHA goaltenders against each other. At 5′ 4" and 5′ 6", respectively, Western Michigan’s Matt Barnes and Ohio State’s Ray Aho have been showing some of the taller guys on the ice the way a net should be minded.

Both Barnes and Aho have been the goaltenders of record for their teams’ recent winning ways.

"Ray Aho is playing extremely well in goal," says Western Michigan head coach Bill Wilkinson. "We’ve played Ohio State up here twice, and both of them were great games. They took us to overtime."

Wilkinson is not taken in by Ohio State’s position near the bottom of the CCHA. "They beat Michigan state in Munn, and not too many teams can do that. It’s a pretty big accomplishment for John’s [OSU head coach Markell] team."

The Buckeyes are coming off their first back-to-back wins of the season, and Markell says it’s given the team welcome confidence.

"We needed both of those wins," says Markell. "Western is the hottest team in the CCHA. We have to realize that the team we play this weekend is better than the team we just beat. We have to prepare our team. If you prepare, there’s no room to panic."

The key to the Ohio State’s steady progress, says Markell, is a combination of good work from freshmen — such as Aho — and greater leadership from two of the team’s three seniors.

"Seniors have to take a leadership role," Markell asserted, complimenting the way that co-captain Chad Power and Pierre Dufour have stepped up. Power had two goals in the Buckeyes’ Friday win over Notre Dame, while Dufour had the game-winning goal in each game.

The leadership comes at a crucial time for the Buckeyes, who are fighting to hold on to that last playoff spot without the help of three-year senior captain Steve Brent, who is out with a knee injury.

Wilkinson says that as big as this game is for both teams, his Broncos are more concerned with bettering themselves than with outdoing their opponents. "We’re concerned [about] the Buckeyes, but you have to prepare yourself, focus on yourself."

Matt Barnes may be shorter than Ray Aho, but he has the edge in a couple of key hockey-related categories. Barnes’ save percentage is a healthy .886, and he’s allowing just 3.19 goals per game.

By contrast, Aho’s save percentage is .857, although that figure has risen during the last couple of months. His goals-against average is 4.61, down nearly a full goal from the first half of the season. Both Barnes and Aho have been playing consistently well lately, so this goaltending match-up should be something to watch.

PICK: Western 4-3

No. 8 Miami (20-9-1, 14-6-1 CCHA) at No. 9 Michigan State (17-9-3, 13-5-3 CCHA) Friday, 7 p.m., Munn Ice Arena, East Lansing, MI

"This is a crucial weekend," says Michigan State head coach Ron Mason. "We have the best shot at second place this weekend."

Michigan State is hosting both Miami and Lake Superior this weekend. The first game in the battle for the title of "The Team That Finished First Behind Michigan" is this one, on Friday night.

The Spartans are coming off a mixed weekend, but one that definitely ended on a high note. After dropping a game Friday night to Western Michigan, the Spartans defeated the Wolverines in front of more than 19,000 screaming fans in Joe Louis Arena in Detroit on Saturday. The win gives the Spartans the season series over their arch-rivals.

Mason was characteristically understated about the game and series over Michigan. "It was another good game with Michigan. During the game down at their place we didn’t play well. They won that one pretty easily.

"This game was a sell-out. Being at the rubber match, winning two out of three, it means something."

The Spartans hope to use that momentum to get the edge on Miami, who had last weekend off. Miami head coach Mark Mazzoleni knows that Michigan State’s win over Michigan could motivate the Spartans, especially at home.

"I would say that’s given them a bit of boost in confidence," he remarked.

Like Mason, Mazzoleni is aware of the importance of this weekend’s games. "The biggest thing we have to do is take each game for itself." Mazzoleni says his team just wants to play in Munn before thinking about the rest of the weekend, or even the rest of the season.

This is the second game between these two teams this season — Michigan State won the first, 4-3, in Oxford. "Miami, of course, has been solid all year," says Mason. "They’re playing with real good poise; they’re just a really good team. Of course, we came down and beat them at home earlier this year. That took them a little bit by surprise, I think. But that game was so long ago that I don’t even remember it."

Even though Miami will be looking to return the favor, few teams beat the Spartans in Munn.

PICK: Michigan State 3-2

No. 10 Lake Superior (18-10-4, 14-6-3 CCHA) at Ferris State (11-19-2, 7-14-1 CCHA) Friday, 7 p.m., Ewigleben Ice Arena, Big Rapids, MI

Both the Lakers and the Bulldogs are looking for some points as they approach the final games of the season. The Lakers are playing for position in the top tier of the CCHA; it’s almost a given that they’ll have home ice in the first round of the playoffs.

The Bulldogs, on the other hand, still need to clinch a playoff spot. Points are important to the them for another reason; the team in eighth place in the CCHA plays the team in first place, and no one wants the likely-champion Wolverines in the first round.

The Lakers own this series, having beaten the Bulldogs twice by the score of 3-2 earlier this season at the Soo. Laker head coach Scott Borek says that the Bulldogs always play his team tough.

"When we have success against them, it’s only because historically we have the edge on them." Borek says that Bulldog hockey is similar to Laker hockey in fundamental ways. "I think they’re a model of our program."

Borek is another coach who is not fooled by the difference in points between his team and the one he’s playing Friday night. The game is no given, says Borek. "When Ferris plays as defensively as they do, it’s going to be hard to beat them. When we play there, it’s extremely loud, extremely exciting, and it’s a great hockey barn."

The Lakers couldn’t capitalize on an opportunity to gain on first-place Michigan last weekend. The Wolverines beat them, 5-2, at the Joe Louis Arena last Friday night. The Lakers allowed five goals in the second period of that game.

"Frankly, I think what we did going into the Michigan game was look ahead at what that game could do for us, instead of looking at the game we had to play. As a team, that left us flat, and we were looking at the post-game before we even played the game."

Don’t expect the Lakers to make that mistake again on Friday night. This should be a good defensive battle. Ferris State has the home edge, the Lakers have the experience.

PICK: Lake Superior 3-2

No. 10 Lake Superior (18-10-4, 14-6-3 CCHA) at No. 9 Michigan State (17-9-3, 13-5-3 CCHA) Saturday, 7 p.m., Munn Ice Arena, East Lansing, MI

The second game of the weekend for the Spartans pits third-place Michigan State against second-place Lake Superior. "These games this weekend will be very highly contested," says Michigan State head coach Ron Mason. "All three of these teams [including Miami, the Spartans’ Friday opponents] are relatively equal in the standings."

Lake Superior head coach Scott Borek is well aware of this implications of this weekend’s little round-robin between the second- and third-place teams. "Both State and Miami have two games in hand on us . There’s points to be had for them. If one of them stumbles, however, we could end up higher than we were picked to finish in pre-season."

Mason said early in the week leading up to this game that he couldn’t even think about Lake Superior until his team had played Miami. He wasn’t kidding. The only comments Mason made about Lake Superior were general ones; he acknowledged the Lakers’ physical style of play, tough defense, and overall competence.

Borek knows what he’s up against in his second road game of the weekend. "These are two very difficult buildings to play in. Michigan State is playing very well. They were slumping a little bit, but they’re coming out of it; they’ve played us three times, so we’re familiar with them."

This series couldn’t be more even. In conference play, the teams skated to a 4-4 tie, two nights in a row in Sault St. Marie. The Lakers beat the Spartans in the first round of the non-conference Great Lakes Invitational Tournament.

The edge in this game may be Munn Ice Arena.

PICK: Michigan State 3-2

Western Michigan (13-12-4, 9-8-4 CCHA) at Bowling Green (14-13-3, 9-11-3 CCHA) Saturday, 7 p.m., BGSU Ice Arena, Bowling Green, OH

Bowling Green head coach Buddy Powers no longer has any illusions about gaining ground on the upper tier for home-ice advantage in the CCHA.

"Our situation for big games has gone by the board here until the playoffs," says Powers. "I don’t think we can get fourth place, so we’ll be on the road. If we’re going to win all of our games, are we going to catch western? Our focus is going to be on ourselves."

The Falcons were surprised by last-place Alaska-Fairbanks in Bowling Green last weekend. The Falcons won Friday, but lost Saturday. Powers says that his players need to reexamine what they’re doing on the ice. He says needless mistakes contributed to the loss, and calls the loss a team effort.

"We have execute in our end of the rink, and we have to do it consistently. It was different guys on every goal in that loss," Powers says.

Much of the resurgence of the Falcons can be traced to the improvement in net by goaltender Bob Petrie. "He’s played pretty well since coming back from Christmas," says Powers. The Falcons are 6-2-2 so far in 1997.

Western Michigan’s tour through Ohio is crucial for the Broncos. "Both of them are key games," says Bill Wilkinson.

"If you focus on the far, you lose sight of what you have to do right now. We’re looking at Ohio State first, then we’ll think about Bowling Green."

This should be one of the better games of the season. It’s tough to play at Bowling Green, but Western may have an attitude edge.

PICK: Western 4-3

No. 8 Miami (20-9-1, 14-6-1 CCHA) at Ferris State (11-19-2, 7-14-1 CCHA) Saturday, 7 p.m., Ewigleben Ice Arena, Big Rapids, MI

"Ferris is a good team," says Miami head coach Mark Mazzoleni. "I watched them play the other night. They only gave up 17 shots. They play with tremendous heart and intensity. They’re capable of beating any team at any time."

That’s something that Mazzoleni knows firsthand. This series is tied. Each team has a win by two goals at home; the most recent game went to Ferris, just a few weeks ago.

"The core of their team is their sophomore class," says Mazzoleni. "They’re going to be someone to reckon with in the future." Or, perhaps, right now.

It’s unlikely that Ferris will repeat against Miami — not because the Bulldogs aren’t good enough, but because Miami is hard to surprise twice. Add to that the outstanding goaltending of Trevor Prior, the offensive power of Randy Robitaille, and the offense and defense of Dan Boyle, and Miami is just a hard team to beat on any given night.

This will both teams’ second game of the weekend, but Miami had a full weekend off. "We’ve got a couple of players who were banged up, so the rest is good," says Mazzoleni.

PICK: Miami 4-2

Notre Dame (8-21-1, 5-16-1 CCHA) at No. 1 Michigan (26-2-3, 17-2-2 CCHA) Friday and Saturday, 7 p.m., Yost Arena, Ann Arbor, MI

The University of Michigan Wolverines have lost just two games this season. Both of those are to Michigan State, the most recent being last Saturday.

Early in January, the Wolverines tied Cornell in Yost, a game the Wolverines fully expected to win. The Wolverines don’t take such games well. Just ask the Alaska-Fairbanks Nanooks, who were the next team to play at Yost. To make themselves feel better about the Cornell tie, the Wolverines pummeled the Nanooks 13-1.

Should the Irish be a little concerned? Perhaps.

In many ways, these games — these points — mean more to the Irish than to the Wolverines. It’s true that Michigan’s pride is a little wounded, but with just a handful of games left in this season, few people doubt that Michigan will tumble from the top of the CCHA. Conversely, few people believe Notre Dame can make the playoffs. Notre

Dame had a great opportunity to put the Buckeyes away last weekend in South Bend. Two wins over the Buckeyes would have meant a season sweep of the Bucks — important in the playoff picture — as well as four crucial points, and an eighth-place spot in the CCHA.

Instead, Notre Dame lost two games at home, practically handing the Buckeyes the privilege of losing in the first round of the CCHA playoffs to … the Wolverines.

It’s starting to sound a bit like a soap opera. At any rate, it feels personal enough to all parties involved.

One single point taken from the Wolverines in Yost this weekend would be an upset.

PICKS: Michigan 7-2, 5-2

Bowling Green (14-13-3, 9-11-3 CCHA) at Ohio State (9-22-0, 7-15-0 CCHA) Sunday, 3 p.m., Ohio Expo Center, Columbus, OH

This non-conference game probably means more to Ohio State than it does to Bowling Green. The teams play again next weekend in a conference game in Columbus, and the Buckeyes need those points more than the Falcons do. The Buckeyes have yet to secure a playoff spot, and they’ll be looking for anything that will give them an edge over the Falcons next week.

They may not have a lot to look at. Each coach has said that he’ll play some guys who haven’t seen much action lately, so it’s unlikely that either goaltender who will appear in the conference match-up will see action in this game.

"We’ll get the kids in there who haven’t been playing very much," says Buckeye head coach John Markell. This means that freshman goaltender Tom Connerty will probably start in net for the Buckeyes. Connerty hasn’t seen action since being pulled from an 8-2 loss to Miami in Columbus several weeks ago. Since then, Ray Aho has earned the starting job for the Buckeyes, and was named CCHA Defense Player of the Week for two consecutive weeks.

Connerty’s league save percentage is .812, and he’s allowed 6.06 goals per league game. A Connerty-Mike Savard match-up may be a high-scoring game for each team. Savard’s league GAA is 4.02, while his league save percentage is .848.

Markell is a little concerned about playing men who haven’t seen much time this season. "We intend to do well on Thursday, and we don’t want to stop any momentum Sunday," says Markell.

Powers acknowledges that the Falcons’ place in the standings affects how little this game actually means for his team. "It’s a different scenario at other times in the season, even in other seasons. At other times, we’d be concerned about the NCAA and power rankings…" Powers doesn’t finish his sentence. If the Falcons were doing better in CCHA play, this game could be a prime opportunity for the Falcons to show the NCAA why they should be invited to the tournament.

Expect a high-scoring game. You may even call this by the number of goals each netminder allows on average.

PICK: Bowling Green 6-4

St. Norbert (20-4-1, 16-4-0 NCHA) at Alaska-Fairbanks (10-20-0, 6-18-0 CCHA) Friday and Saturday, 7 p.m., Carlson Center, Fairbanks, AK

The Nanooks won four consecutive home non-conference games before traveling to Bowling Green last weekend, where they split with the Falcons. The non-conference wins and the important road win bolster the Nanooks’ spirits, but with just three games left in CCHA play, moral victories have to be wearing a little thin.

Still, a win is a win to the heart of team. Several weeks ago, a discouraged-sounding Nanook head coach Dave Laurion said before the scheduled four home non-conference games that wins in those games could help his team salvage some dignity for the season

The Nanooks don’t need to salvage their dignity — they are a team whose dignity in the face of hardship can be an inspiration to others. But they’ll take a couple more non-conference wins, no matter how you package them.

They’ll have a chance this weekend against the St. Norbert College (WI) Green Knights, but it won’t be easy. This Division III team just finished first in its conference, the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association, in regular-season play for the first time ever, and is currently tied for first place with St. John’s University in the NCAA Division III ice hockey poll.

The Green Knights have one of the best goaltenders in the NCHA. Junior Roby Gropp has a save percentage of .919 and a GAA of 2.56.

This should be a very good series. Teams from the NCHA have played D-I teams well this season, so Nanook fans shouldn’t expect easy wins. In fact, good games against the Green Knights will prepare the Nanooks for their final series of the year, three home games against Ferris State next weekend.

PICKS: Alaska-Fairbanks 4-3, 5-3

Paula C. Weston is the CCHA Correspondent for US College Hockey Online.

Copyright 1996 Paula C. Weston . All Rights Reserved.

Return to Feature Articles Return to News and Recaps Return to US College Hockey Online

This Week in the WCHA: February 14, 1997

By
-

WCHA Preview: Feb. 14-15, 1997 by Scott Brown

North Dakota refused to yield ground to its pursuers over the weekend. The first-place Fighting Sioux, edging ever closer to the MacNaughton Cup, swept last-place Michigan Tech to maintain a three-point lead in the standings over Minnesota. The Gophers, for their part, took four points against ninth-place Northern Michigan to take over sole possession of second place in the WCHA.

Colorado College and Wisconsin are on the Gophers’ tail, followed by St. Cloud, Denver and Minnesota-Duluth. At this moment, all of these teams still have a shot at a top-five finish in the conference, and hence home-ice advantage for the first round of the playoffs.

Alaska-Anchorage, Michigan Tech and Northern Michigan bring up the rear of the WCHA; their games will now decide who gets the honor of taking on the regular-season champions in the first round.

WCHA Standings

Games this weekend include a home-and-home between in-state rivals and an intraschool conflict in Minneapolis. The nominations, please:

Denver (16-10-4, 12-10-4 WCHA) vs. Colorado College (17-11-2, 15-9-2 WCHA) Friday, 7:35 p.m. MT, AFA Cadet Ice Arena, Colorado Springs, CO Saturday, 7:05 p.m. MT, DU Arena, Denver, CO

The Pioneers’ meteoric rise through the ranks of the WCHA came to a halt last weekend. Denver, which had been 10-2-2 in its last 14 games, was swept in Duluth, 7-4 and 3-2.

The losses were doubly surprising in that they came at the hands of the Bulldogs, who had not been performing well of late. But Denver goalie Jim Mullin (6-5-4, 2.89 GAA .891 SV% WCHA), who took the loss on Friday, allowed six goals on 29 shots before emptying the DU net with a minute to go in the game. The defeat was the first in 11 games for Mullin, who still leads the WCHA in goals-against average.

DU’s other goalie, Stephen Wagner (6-5-0, 3.29 GAA, .890 SV% WCHA) fared somewhat better on Saturday, but the Pioneers lost again. On the plus side for Denver, defenseman Joe Ritson had an assist on Friday and a goal on Saturday to extend his point-scoring streak to six games.

The sweep dropped Denver into a tie for sixth with UMD, making this weekend’s series with Colorado College critical to the Pioneers’ home-ice hopes. Friday’s game will be played at the Air Force Academy, CC’s home-away-from-home this season, where the Tigers are 9-4-0.

For their part, the three-time defending champions fared somewhat better last weekend against Wisconsin. Playing at the raucous Dane County Coliseum, the Tigers managed a split, winning the recap 6-2 after being soundly defeated, 5-2, in the opener.

The Saturday win meant that CC has now gone 59 straight series without being swept, going all the way back to 1994. Brian Swanson (14-28–42), who leads the WCHA in scoring, assisted on the game-winner, the fifth consecutive CC win in which he has done that. Jason Cugnet (4-2-1, 3.27 GAA, .867 SV%), installed in net after a shaky performance by number-one goaltender Judd Lambert (13-9-1, 3.29 GAA, .881 SV%) in Friday’s game, faced only 14 shots in earning the win.

The Tiger penalty-kill continued to click, as Wisconsin went 0-for-5 on the power play during the weekend. CC has now gone six games since allowing a power-play goal, and is third in the WCHA (81.7 percent) for the season.

Picks: Colorado College swept this series earlier in the year, but the Pioneers are playing better now, last weekend notwithstanding. Denver has a ten-game unbeaten streak at home (7-0-3). CC 4-2, DU 4-3

Minnesota-Duluth (16-12-2, 13-11-2 WCHA) at No. 5 Minnesota (20-10-0, 17-9-0 WCHA) Friday-Saturday, 7:05 p.m. CT, Mariucci Arena, Minneapolis, MN

The Bulldogs, as mentioned above, came into last weekend hoping to stay alive for home ice. They ended the weekend four points richer, with a vastly improved position for the stretch run.

UMD can thank WCHA Defensive Player of the Week Brant Nicklin (13-11-2, 3.20 GAA, .898 SV% WCHA) for its good fortune. Nicklin, a top candidate for the Rookie of the Year award, made 62 saves on 66 shots over the course of the series.

Playing in front of him, Ken Dzikowski (13-18–31) had two goals and an assist, while Jason Haakstad scored his second and third goals of the year, including the game-winner Saturday. UMD therefore split the season series with Denver, 2-2, a statistic which may become relevant in the WCHA’s tiebreaker system.

This Friday, for head coach Mike Sertich’s 600th game behind the Duluth bench, the Bulldogs will try to accomplish what they have not been able to do since 1994 — win at Mariucci Arena. And despite Minnesota’s sweep of Northern Michigan last weekend, the Bulldogs might be catching the Gophers at the right time to do just that.

Yes, Minnesota beat the ninth-place Wildcats, but they weren’t very happy about it. Both victories came by one goal against a team the Gophers felt they should have beaten handily.

"By no means are we satisfied with our effort tonight," said co-captain Mike Crowley (5-31–36) after Friday’s game, in which the Gophers stormed out to a three-goal lead before letting Northern Michigan back in with penalties and sloppy play.

Crowley had little reason to fault his own play, as he scored a goal and added three assists on the weekend. The Gophers were also bolstered by the return of defenseman Brian LaFleur and the scoring of WCHA Offensive Player of the Week Ryan Kraft. Kraft scored three goals against NMU, including both Gopher goals on Saturday, and added two assists to claim the honor.

Freshman winger Dave Spehar scored the game-winner Friday for Minnesota, but was shut out Saturday, ending his point-scoring streak at 14 games.

Pick: So, are the Gophers vulnerable, or just angry? UMD has to hope for the former, but the latter seems at least as likely. UM 4-2, 6-3

Wisconsin (15-13-2, 15-9-2 WCHA) at St. Cloud (17-10-3, 14-9-3 WCHA) Friday-Saturday, 8:35-8:05 p.m. CT, National Hockey Center, St. Cloud, MN

Much like the Bulldogs vs. Minnesota, Wisconsin has something to prove this weekend. The Badgers, who were picked to finish eighth in the conference in the preseason coaches’ poll, have instead climbed all the way into a tie for third, just five points off the lead.

Now they face a road series at the National Hockey Center, where the Badgers have not won since early 1993. Now seems an apropos time for Wisconsin to break that streak. Center Joe Bianchi (14-15–29), who has been on a tear lately, was slowed by CC’s defense, but the team made up for that with balance: seven goals, seven scorers during the two-game series.

Goalie Kirk Daubenspeck (13-11-2, 3.66 GAA, .869 SV%) became Wisconsin’s all-time leader in career saves in the Friday win, but was pulled after the second period Saturday, having allowed five goals on 30 shots. His replacement, Mike Valley, allowed one goal on seven shots to finish the game.

St. Cloud also split a series last weekend, against the eighth-place Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves. Their loss Saturday left the Huskies in fifth place, two points behind Wiscosin and Colorado College and three ahead of Denver and Minnesota-Duluth.

Obviously, SCSU would prefer to improve its playoff position, but there’s probably more to fear from falling back than there is to gain by moving up. Unless the Huskies can get into third place or better, they face a contending team in the first round no matter what, while dropping below fifth costs them the comforts of home for that series.

Speaking of which, it was definitely an up-and-down weekend for the Huskies. Case in point: goaltender Brian Leitza (11-5-0, 3.38 GAA, .882 SV% WCHA), who has been seeing the lion’s share of playing time lately, made 16 saves both Friday and Saturday. Friday, he allowed two goals en route to a 4-2 victory, but Saturday, five pucks got by him in the loss.

The St. Cloud scorers were equally inconsistent. Matt Cullen (12-18–30) had two goals Friday and no points at all Saturday; likewise, team scoring leader Sacha Molin (15-21–36) had both his weekend points in the first game. The principal exception to this rule was Mark Parrish (14-12–26), who tallied two assists on each day.

Picks: These are two strong teams, both with an awful lot at stake. The games are in St. Cloud, but Wisconsin has yet to lose to a WCHA rival on Friday this season (11-0-1). UW 3-2, SCSU 5-3

No. 2 North Dakota (21-7-2, 18-7-1 WCHA) at Northern Michigan (9-21-2, 5-20-1 WCHA) Friday-Saturday, 7:05 p.m. ET, Lakeview Arena, Marquette, MI

The conference-leading Fighting Sioux hold their fates in their collective hand. With six games remaining in the regular season, North Dakota is a strong favorite to hold on to its lead and claim the title.

North Dakota has everything going for it right now — a favorable schedule, an offense hitting on all cylinders and sharp coaching from Dean Blais and his staff. The Sioux have six players with 30 points or more already, led by young scorers Jason Blake (18-25–43) and David Hoogsteen (19-22–41).

On D, the Sioux feature Curtis Murphy (9-22–31) and Dane Litke (3-18–21), both capable two-way players. And in goal, Aaron Schweitzer (7-0-0, 2.77 GAA, .896 SV%) has won all of his starts this season, including the Sioux’ last four games: two against Minnesota, and two last weekend against Michigan Tech.

And, as if all that weren’t enough, the Sioux also have the reigning WCHA Rookie of the Week. Brad DeFauw won that award for his two-goal weekend vs. MTU.

However, they play the games for a reason. Its easy to win on paper, but as the Golden Gophers found out, even a ninth-place team like the Wildcats is capable of making things hot for a contender.

Curtis Sheptak (two goals and an assist), team-leading scorer Bud Smith (9-15–24) (one goal, one assist), defenseman Darcy Dallas (one goal, one assist) and freshman John Coyle (two assists) carried most of the offensive load for the Wildcats last weekend. When the games had ended, the Wildcats had lost two close ones.

Head coach Rick Comley, a two-time national coach of the year, found it hard to be too upset. "We were overmanned early on," he said, adding that he was pleased with his team’s ability to hang in after going down three goals on Friday.

Now the Wildcats face a team which swept the Gophers just two weeks ago. Despite a seven-game losing streak against the Sioux, Northern Michigan holds an all-time home record of 13-5-2 against UND.

Picks: Northern Michigan can be dangerous at Lakeview, but the Sioux are still on that mission mentioned last week. It’s going to be tough for the Wildcats to slow them up. UND 4-1, 4-2

Alaska-Anchorage (9-16-3, 7-16-3 WCHA) at Michigan Tech (6-21-4, 3-19-4 WCHA) Friday-Saturday, 7:35-7:05 p.m. ET, MacInnes Student Ice Arena, Houghton, MI

The Seawolves head for Houghton a week after turning in a credible performance against the St. Cloud State Huskies in Anchorage. This series is about pride more than anything else, since both UAA and MTU are among the bottom three teams in the WCHA, neither with a chance of climbing out of that group.

That does not mean that good hockey isn’t being played in Anchorage this year. The Seawolves have established themselves as an opponent to be wary of. Leading scorer David Vallieres (6-17–23 WCHA) and Eric Silverman (10-10–20 WCHA) head up the Seawolf offense, while Doug Teskey (7-10-3, 3.15 GAA, .898 SV% WCHA) provides a stable presence between the pipes.

UAA showed its resilience on Saturday, when the Seawolves came back from a 3-1 deficit in the third period to defeat SCSU. Eric Tuott got the game-winner for Anchorage with just five minutes left in the contest, and Teskey made 14 saves after replacing a shaky Chris Davis in net.

Michigan Tech rests at the bottom of the WCHA, having been swept last weekend in Grand Forks by the Fighting Sioux of UND. Andre Savage (12-13–25 WCHA) leads the team in scoring, totaled two goals and an assist in the losing effort against North Dakota and has 18 points in his last 13 games.

In nets, Luciano Caravaggio (3-9-4, 3.41 GAA, .907 SV% WCHA) saved 42 shots on Friday, but lost 4-2. Saturday, Caravaggio replaced David Weninger after one period and made 21 more stops for a total of 63 on the weekend. Caravaggio allowed only six goals to the ferocious UND offense in that span, and showed why he leads the WCHA in save percentage, despite his very modes goals-against average.

On the down side for MTU, senior defenseman Travis VanTighem will be out several weeks — probably the rest of the regular season — with an injury to his right knee.

Picks: Michigan Tech, as the home team, gets the edge here, but don’t be surprised to see the Seawolves take some points. MTU 3-2, UAA 2-1

Next Week in the WCHA:

Friday, Feb. 21 Minnesota at Colorado College St. Cloud at Minnesota-Duluth Alaska-Anchorage at North Dakota Michigan Tech at Northern Michigan Denver at Wisconsin

Saturday, Feb. 22 Minnesota at Colorado College St. Cloud at Minnesota-Duluth Alaska-Anchorage at North Dakota Michigan Tech at Northern Michigan Denver at Wisconsin

Scott Brown is Features Editor for U.S. College Hockey Online.

Copyright 1996 Scott Brown. All Rights Reserved.

Return to Feature Articles Return to News and Recaps Return to U.S. College Hockey Online

Face Off: Week 6

USCHO Staff Report
-

Welcome to U.S. College Hockey Online’s roundtable discussion. We’ll be debating a college hockey topic each week in this space, where various members of our staff meet to argue. Sometimes serious, sometimes silly — but either way, watch the feathers fly: no punches will be pulled, and no quarter given, when these people face off.

Who Should/Will Win Rookie of the Year in the Four Major Conferences?

Dave Hendrickson, Hockey East Correspondent: Ask Hockey East coaches which one rookie they’d most want for the next three years and it would be near-unanimous. Hands down, they’d take BU’s Tom Poti.

After a game early this season, one coach said that the Terriers had three game-breakers: Chris Drury, Shawn Bates and Poti. Pretty nice company for a freshman defenseman. Poti has earned such accolades with his skillful offensive play as well as his generally dependable work in his own end.

But Poti won’t win it. Defensemen, even flashy ones like Poti, rarely get a fair shake at awards time. It’s easier to check scoring totals and pick the high man, or determine which goaltender stood on his head most often, such as Marc Robitaille and Sean Matile this year.

Hockey East will instead honor the second-best rookie in the league, BC’s Jeff Farkas. At the halfway point, he deserved minimal consideration. Lesser-known recruits like UMass-Lowell’s Greg Koehler and Maine’s Corey Larose — not to mention teammate Blake Bellefeuille — regularly outscored Farkas.

But since the World Junior Tournament, Farkas has been on a rampage; his play down the stretch puts him head and shoulders above other rookie forwards. So, with apologies to Poti, his forward brethren, and Robitaille and Matile, Farkas will carry home the hardware.

Lee Urton, Media Relations: For the WCHA, Dave Spehar, F, Minnesota.

I love this guy! Someone once described him as not necessarily fast, but quick. At the time, I thought that was ridiculous, but after watching him play I see that it’s completely true.

It took Spehar some time to adjust to the college game, but after a half-season, he really took off — he just had a 14-game scoring streak snapped. This guy has a great nose for the net and excellent passing abilities. He also draws a lot of penalties with his talent and size (a modest 5-foot-7, 172 lbs).

He’s already a good player — in future years look for him to become a great one.

Mike Machnik, Special Projects: In Hockey East, the decision will be as tough as it ever has been. One can make a case for about a half-dozen different players, so instead, here’s a look at the leading candidates for the All-Rookie Team.

At forward, Boston College’s Jeff Farkas (9-17–26) has garnered the most accolades, but right behind him are Mass Lowell’s Greg Koehler (11-18–29) and Maine’s Cory Larose (8-20–28). Also deserving of votes are BC’s Blake Bellefeuille (10-15–25) and New Hampshire’s Mike Souza (13-7–20).

Defense is a little clearer, as Boston University’s Tom Poti and BC’s Mike Mottau have distanced themselves from the pack as superb two-way players.

In goal, there is again a logjam, with three freshman netminders playing key roles on their teams. UNH’s Sean Matile and Northeastern’s Marc Robitaille may fight it out for the honor, with Matile having the better numbers, including a Hockey East-record three shutouts. But Robitaille has been an impressive workhorse for a Husky squad that has often depended solely on him to keep them in games. Also, Maine’s Alfie Michaud has rebounded from a slow start to have a strong second semester, and has been a key to his team’s turnaround.

When the voting is tabulated, chances are that Farkas, Koehler and Matile will receive the strongest support for Rookie of the Year, but whatever happens, Hockey East’s bumper crop of freshmen promises to be a class to keep an eye on in the upcoming years.

Jayson Moy, ECAC Correspondent: I think it’s down to just a few players right now in the ECAC, three of which are goaltenders: J.R Prestifilippo of Harvard and Scott Prekaski and Joel Laing of RPI.

Prestifilippo has embarked on a huge streak of consecutive games played. He is the future of Harvard goaltending, but is playing for a team currently in sixth place. Prekaski and Laing play for a team tied for first, which automatically gives them higher consideration.

Prekaski has been Rookie of the Week twice, Laing once. Preakski gets the nod over Laing here because of his record (6-1-1 ECAC vs. 4-3-1 ECAC).

Others in consideration: At forward, Jeff Hamilton of Yale and Pete Gardiner of RPI. Hamilton was a rocket in the first half of the season, but has tailed off (three points since the Denver Cup). Gardiner has quietly become the leading rookie scorer in the ECAC. He has 24 points on the season (8-16) and is tied for 12th in the league in scoring (5-11-16).

On defense, there’s Dominique Auger of Princeton. He has six goals and 12 assists on the season, and is clearly one of the finest offensive defensemen to step into the ECAC in recent years. The other would have to be Brian Pothier of RPI — one goal and 10 assists. His numbers are not those of Auger, so Auger gets the nod here.

If I had to make a choice, I’d go with the offense and Pete Gardiner of RPI.

Scott Brown, Features Editor: The CCHA has not had a bumper crop of rookies this season, but a few guys do come to mind.

The overall leader among CCHA freshmen is Ohio State’s Hugo Boisvert (10-23–33), the only rookie among the top 20 overall scorers in the conference. Boisvert’s club has languished in the basement most of the season, but the Buckeyes have now moved into seventh place, which may improve his prospects.

Also at forward, Adam Edinger (11-14–25) of Bowling Green and Joe Dusbabek (12-12–24) of Notre Dame have made significant contributions. However, the award just might end up in the hands of a defenseman: Daryl Andrews (4-18–22) of Western Michigan, who leads all CCHA blueliners in points. However, the Broncos have not performed up to expectations this year, despite a solid recent run. That may handicap Andrews’ chances.

BGSU also has a defensive candidate in Peter Ratchuk (8-9–17), who scored goals in both games against Fairbanks last weekend. Between the pipes, no goalies are viable candidates this year, though Ray Aho (5-14-0, 4.47 GAA, .866 SV%) has been improving while soaking up most of the minutes for OSU.

All things being equal, Andrews might be the most deserving candidate — a scoring defenseman in a year when rookie point totals are down. However, he probably won’t get it, as the league will honor either Boisvert or Edinger, who has the advantage of playing for a team which has really turned it on lately.

This Week in Hockey East: February 14, 1997

By
-

Hockey East Preview: Feb. 14-18, 1997 by Dave Hendrickson

After a scintillating Beanpot championship game, the return to league play this week will be hard-pressed to maintain either the excitement level or the quality of play shown at the FleetCenter.

The jockeying for third to sixth place continues, with Providence potentially starting yet another late-season run under Paul Pooley. They play a home-and-home with sizzling New Hampshire, though, so their recent push could be stalled. Merrimack had been the hottest second-tier team in the league until the Friars pounded them 9-4 on Saturday. Their home-and-home with Boston College will prove pivotal to both teams’ playoff positions.

After overachieving all season long to hold onto third place, UMass-Lowell has now dropped five straight and faces the daunting BU Terriers in another home-and-home. Maine, waiting to hear the results of their NCAA appeal, plays two at UMass-Amherst before entertaining UNH on Tuesday in what promises to be the best game of the week.

Last week’s record in picks: 6-2 Season record in picks: 107-60

Providence (12-16-1, 9-9-1 HE) vs. No. 3 New Hampshire (23-6-0, 16-3-0 HE)

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

In their only action of the week, New Hampshire beat UMass-Lowell 4-0.

"We played a little better last weekend," said coach Dick Umile. "We didn’t give up as many good scoring chances." The previous weekend, of course, was a pretty tough act to follow. UNH outscored Northeastern and UMass-Amherst a combined 17-1.

When Jason Krog opened the scoring a mere 54 seconds into the UMass-Lowell game, it marked the 23rd time in 29 games the Wildcats have gotten on the board first, many in the first few minutes. Although Umile is happy with those numbers, he also said, "We have a lot of confidence, whether we get the first goal or not."

Sean Matile, who has played and won UNH’s last six games, recorded his second shutout in a row and third of the season. Surprisingly, his three shutouts set a new Hockey East season record, an especially impressive feat since he’s played in only 12 games this year because of earlier ineligibility and medication problems.

Matile likes to roam far from the net to help his defense, especially on the Olympic ice surface at home where the demands placed on defensemen to get back for the puck are maximized.

"It’s an important part of the game," said Umile. "The top goaltenders, both in the NHL and in college, can all handle the puck. It gives a team an extra edge."

Although UMass-Lowell outshot the Wildcats 38-31, Matile faced the problem of all netminders on dominant teams. While their team is controlling play in the offensive zone for long stretches, a goaltender must stay physically loose and mentally sharp. UNH dominated the first 17 minutes of the game, allowing the River Hawks no serious chances. Lowell then swarmed around him in the period’s closing minutes. Matile proved up to the challenge during that flurry and for the rest of the game.

"With this team, I know I’m not going to get a lot of shots on most nights, so I just have to concentrate," said Matile after the game. "I really don’t care if I get eight shots or eighty."

Voters for postseason All-Rookie teams will have a tough choice between Matile and Northeastern’s Marc Robitaille. For most of the season Robitaille has looked like a consensus pick, an ironman playing well on a weak team. Matile’s recent play, however, makes the choice difficult. He now boasts staggering statistics in league play (1.99 goals against average and a .941 save percentage) and still-impressive numbers including all games (3.03 GAA and .911 save percentage).

Working against him will be his limited role (12 games) on a great team, compared to Robitaille’s 27 games while performing for the league’s worst. Robitaille has also shut out three teams this year, but two were in non-league contests. To this eye, they’re neck-and-neck at the turn.

Providence took both games last weekend against teams that had been coming on strong. The Friars beat Boston College 4-2 and Merrimack 9-4. In fits and starts, they are showing signs of once again becoming the playoff behemoth they’ve been ever since coach Paul Pooley took over.

"Our first thought [against BC] was playing good defense," said Pooley. "I think we did that. Our penalty-kill did a good job against their power play. And [Mark] Kane played well in net. When he had to make the big save, he was there.

"[Saturday night against Merrimack] was a funny game. We jumped on them early, but they were coming back in the second period. It was 4-2, but the tide was turning for them and they were on the power play. Then Russ Guzior scored a shorthanded goal. That was the major goal of the game. It deflated them a bit. We played with more confidence and played well for the rest of the game."

Guzior’s play sums up the Providence season in a microcosm. Their leading scorer last season with 20 goals, he’s spent much of this year unable to throw the puck in the ocean. In the closing minutes against BC, however, he tallied an empty-net goal to seal the win. The score, empty net or not, might have acted as a bung-puller for Guzior, allowing the two-goal bubbly to flow the next night against Merrimack.

"He had two or three breakaways against BC and didn’t score on any," said Pooley. "The empty-netter may have relaxed him a bit in the sense that he had so many good chances that game before he scored into the empty net. The next night against Merrimack his first one maybe wasn’t a great goal; he just went over the blue line, took a slap shot and scored. The other one he worked hard in the corner, came out and just jammed it in. Getting him going will help us a lot."

Of perhaps even greater significance is the surprising play of sophomore goaltender Mark Kane. Kane rode the pine for much of this season while Pooley tried to get Dan Dennis on track. Dennis, an All-Hockey East selection last year and a preseason pick this year, struggled.

"Obviously Dan can’t be happy that he’s not playing," said Pooley, "but Mark’s won four in a row and he’s earned the right to be in there. What we want from Danny is for him to say, ‘Hey, I’m a competitor. I know that Mark deserves to play, but I’m gonna work my butt off and get my game back. And if the opportunity arises for me to get called upon, I’m going to be ready to play and show what I can do.’ That’s the type of attitude we need from him right now.

"There’s no question that Mark deserves to play. He’s played well. He gives our team jump. He talks, he moves the puck well, and he’s playing with confidence. That gives our team confidence because we can relax a bit more because we aren’t letting in the goals that we were earlier. That’s given us a little more opportunity to score, feel better about ourselves, and maybe take chances at times. Instead of being back on our heels, we’re going forward."

As well as his team is playing, however, Pooley knows he’s running into a buzzsaw against UNH.

"Obviously we have to try to limit their scoring opportunities because they are very, very talented," he said. "They can beat you just ad-libbing out there one-on-one, playing shinny hockey, because of their skill. We can’t get into that game. We’ve got to try to control the ice and dictate tempo as much as possible, especially on that big sheet of ice up there on Friday night. We also need to stay out of the penalty box and keep it five-on-five."

PICK: New Hampshire sweeps, 5-3 and 5-2.

No. 4 Boston University (17-6-5, 13-2-3 HE) vs. UMass-Lowell (13-16-0, 9-10-0 HE) Friday, 7 p.m., Tully Forum, Lowell, MA WNDS-TV50 Saturday, 7 p.m., Walter Brown Arena, Boston, MA NESN

BU rallied back against UMass-Amherst, using five power-play goals to beat the Minutemen 6-3. They had to also come back in the Beanpot championship game, via a Dan LaCouture goal only 22 seconds after falling behind 2-0, and a tying score about a minute later. Captain Bill Pierce got the game-winner on a breakaway and a Chris Drury open-netter iced the thrilling 4-2 win.

"The building sounded pretty good," said BU coach Jack Parker after the game. The FleetCenter, a mausoleum for sleepy Bruins and Celtics games since its opening, came alive for one of the top rivalries in college hockey. "I thought this was going to be a real test for the FleetCenter to see how enthusiastic the crowd was and how enthusiastic the players were. "I thought the emotion could be felt on the bench and on the ice. Now all we have to do is make sure we put 17,000 in the building," Parker said. "We know now we can get the roar of the crowd out there. It certainly was pumping us up and BC up. "This was quite a show with BC and BU in the Beanpot final. Playing as well as we had against each other in the first three games of the year [in two 5-5 ties and a 6-4 BU win that included an open-netter], no matter who won the game it was going to be good for our history and our rivalry and something good for college hockey in Boston again. And that’s certainly how I felt tonight. It was a great college hockey game to watch.

"It was nice to have Tom Noble show once again why he does a lot of things well and win. There’s a lot of goalies who do a lot of things well, but Tommy’s got the will to win. He’s won a lot of third periods because he’s just said, ‘That’s enough!’ and he certainly said that tonight."

UMass-Lowell didn’t have quite the same thrill in their Alumni Cup competition with UMass-Amherst. Their budding rivalry has little of the history of BU-BC, but over time could turn into one of the better ones. Lowell lost the Alumni Cup 6-4 on Saturday after losing to third-ranked New Hampshire 4-0 the night before. The losses now give the River Hawks a five-game losing streak dating back to their 3-1 win over BU.

"Actually we played real well on the weekend," said UML coach Tim Whitehead. "Unfortunately it didn’t bounce for us, but we’re not going to panic or anything. You can’t always use wins and losses as a barometer for how well you’re doing. Sometimes you can, sometimes you can’t.

"This past weekend we were really pleased with the effort that the guys showed. Unfortunately, we outshot both UNH and Amherst on the weekend and still lost, but we’ve been on the other end of that earlier in the year so we can’t complain. There are no excuses, they just came out on top. It all evens out in the end. The effort is there, we’re just a little snakebit as far as putting it in the net.

"We’re really excited about getting the enthusiasm behind the Alumni Cup. That was a nice win for Amherst. We’re excited about keeping that tradition going each year and it’s something we want to build. That’s becoming a big rivalry."

Whitehead faces a tough challenge getting his young team out of its losing streak and ready for Boston University.

"There are no easy games," said Whitehead. "We’ve played BU [and won] so we know that we can beat them. On the other hand, we certainly know that they can beat us. They’re a tremendous team. It’s definitely going to be a challenge for us this weekend."

PICK: BU sweeps 4-2 and 6-3.

Maine (18-10-1, 10-7-1 HE) at UMass-Amherst (12-17-0, 7-13-0 HE) Friday and Saturday, 7 p.m., Mullins Center, Amherst, MA

Maine resumes play after a week off; prior to their break, they bested BC in an 8-6 shootout before losing 5-4 in overtime to Merrimack. The Warriors tied that game in the last minute with an extra skater and posted their second win over the Black Bears, Maine’s only two blemishes in an 8-2 record in 1997.

"We actually played [Merrimack] fairly well," said Maine coach Shawn Walsh. "We out-attempted them 71-48. They got very good goaltending and opportunistic goal scoring. It makes you look at yourself a little closer and there’s some areas we want to try to improve on but we don’t want to overreact either."

Recently, blueliner David Cullen was named Hockey East Player of the Week. "He’s really coming into his own," said Walsh. "His confidence and his strength are catching up with his puck skills. He’s always been good with the puck. It’s a Cullen trademark, the good soft hands and sense. "We’ve moved him to our top power-play unit and he’s really helped them. We were seven for nine on the power play over the weekend. He’s a very, very good offensive player who is improving dramatically defensively."

Goaltender Javier Gorriti, who Walsh has rotated in the nets to take the pressure off Alfie Michaud, has been sick and still wasn’t practicing as of Tuesday. He also played poorly in the BC game before getting the hook. As a result, this weekend Michaud could see his first full back-to-back games since November. The top recruit has settled down after a rocky start and, in contrast to the walk-on Gorriti, is likely viewed as the Black Bear future between the pipes. As such, he could command more than a split of playing time down the stretch.

Maine travels to UMass-Amherst for two games on their large ice surface. How well the Black Bears use their speed there could prove decisive.

"The biggest thing you have to do is stay close as units and not get too far ahead of the puck. We did a good job of that at Northeastern which isn’t as big as UMass’s rink but it’s bigger than regulation.

"I also want us to get a little better focus. We drifted a little bit in that last Merrimack game. We’d kept up great intensity and I just didn’t sense that same enthusiasm, if you will, that we’d had in our previous 10 or 11 games. Maybe that was a wakeup call."

UMass-Amherst hung with Boston University for two periods on Friday but lost 6-3.

"For the second time we’ve played [BU], we played even with them five-on-five," said UMass-Amherst coach Joe Mallen. "We actually outscored them five-on-five 3-1. I thought there were some questionable calls by the officials in the second period that allowed them to get back into the game. You have to deal with those things but obviously when you go five-on-three with BU a couple of times, you’re opening the door for them to take advantage of it.

"I thought we played a good game and had a chance to win it. It’s the second time this year that at home we entered the third period tied with BU. That’s a good sign."

They then took the Alumni Cup, awarded annually to the winner of the Amherst-Lowell series, with a 6-4 win. The Minutemen also took home the Cup last year, in its first year of existence.

"When I first came on here three and a half years ago, UMass-Lowell and Bruce Crowder wanted to start this Alumni Cup between the two schools," Mallen said. "My first thought was that I didn’t even have a team yet. [We waited two years and started it last year.] If you’d told me we were going to win it the first year, I’d have told you you were crazy." If you’d told me we were going to win it the first two years I’d have told you that you were even crazier. For us to win the Alumni Cup two years in a row may not be the Stanley Cup, but for us it’s a huge step in the right direction. They’re an established program and have played very well the last 10 years."

The win over Lowell also proved notable since that gave the Minutemen another series win to go along with ones they’d already taken against Providence and Northeastern.

Defenseman Tom O’Connor returned to action on Saturday after missing time due to a knee injury. "He felt that he could give it a go [against Lowell] so we put him in the lineup," said Mallen. "That was a big boost for us. I don’t know how coincidental it is, but for five games we were in a slump and he was out of the lineup every game. All of a sudden, he returns and we win."

Every point in the standings is critical now for UMass-Amherst. They have a remote chance of taking playoff home ice, but also could be one of the bottom two seeds, drawing UNH or BU in the first round.

"No matter what, we can’t fear anybody," said Mallen. "If it’s BU or UNH, that’s fine. But the fact is that we’ve played very well against Providence, BC, Lowell and Merrimack. They’ve all been tight games. To put ourselves in the position to go to one of those places or perhaps have them have to come to us, that would be huge."

The Minutemen now face two games with a Maine squad that has played excellent hockey since Shawn Walsh’s return. Of the four remaining UMass games on the docket, three are against the Black Bears.

"It seems like right now they’re surging forward," said Mallen. "That loss against Merrimack must have hurt a little bit, but it seems that all the pieces are back into place and they’re playing a real good brand of hockey. Any time you face one of Shawn’s teams, you’re going to see a real well-organized and well-executed game plan.

"The one thing they have right now is a lot of speed, and in a big rink that should be an interesting matchup. But they have proven they are a beatable team this year. They aren’t undefeated. We’ve just got to play our best game."

PICK: Maine 5-3 and 5-4.

Merrimack (11-16-1, 7-10-1 HE) vs. Boston College (11-15-3, 7-9-3 HE) Friday, 7 p.m., Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill, MA Saturday, 7 p.m., Volpe Center, North Andover, MA

BC lost 4-2 to Providence before their Beanpot championship game against arch-rival BU. The Friars, a tough team to beat under coach Paul Pooley in the last months of the season, may have also caught the Eagles glancing ahead to their Monday night game.

That title contest against BU turned into an epic battle. The Eagles seized a 2-0 third-period lead only to have the Terriers rebound within seconds and soon knot the game at 2-2. A breakaway goal, BC’s Achilles’ heel all season long, decided the contest.

"Greg [Taylor] gave us every chance in the world to win the hockey game," said coach Jerry York after the game. "But our other players did too. Our forwards and defense did everything necessary to give us a chance to win the Beanpot, but we just had a miscommunication that sent Pierce in for the [breakaway]. We had a chance to win it against an excellent hockey team, certainly one that deserves to be ranked in the top five or six teams in the country.

"I’m disappointed, of course, because we lost the game, but certainly not disappointed in anything else but the play that lost us the game…. Our goal is to win the Beanpot and we didn’t do that so we’re disappointed in that respect, but not in the effort we had.

"Our team is becoming a better team, but we still have a ways to go in a number of areas. There’s improvement in this team but we’re still a little bit away from being a championship-level team. Tonight’s game was a championship-level game, but we haven’t been as consistent on the year as I would have liked. But this particular game was a well-played game."

Merrimack has been on a much-ignored roll since the start of 1997. In that time they’ve gone 7-4, including the only losses Maine has sustained during that same stretch. They continued that with a 7-2 win over Northeastern on Friday night, but then hit a 9-4 brick wall against Providence.

"To be honest, I thought we played better on Saturday night," said coach Ron Anderson. "Friday night I thought we played pretty casual in the first period, but fortunately for us we got some breaks and capitalized on their mistakes.

"Against Providence, we outshot them 42-28. We played well offensively, but our whole team just didn’t play well defensively and they executed when we made mistakes. The forwards didn’t pick people up on the backcheck very well. We didn’t do a very good job in the neutral zone. Our D had trouble controlling players down low. And our goaltenders didn’t give us a real outstanding effort. That’s not meant to be negative. Providence just played well, took it to us, and we’ve just got to be ready to go at it again this Friday."

On a positive note, senior Rob Beck scored his 100th point in the Providence game. "Robbie’s been a stellar performer for us for four years," said Anderson. "If anything, he’s been the model of consistency both from an offensive and a defensive point of view. It’s a tremendous credit to him and the kind of kid he is. The fact that he’s a dean’s list student and a two-year captain just speaks volumes about the value that he brings to our program."

Providing silver lining in the lopsided loss’s cloud was freshman Cris Classen playing in the nets in the third, his first full period of action. With Martin Legault and Eric Thibeault both graduating next year, Classen could go a long way in determining the Warriors fate next year. Although he allowed two goals on six shots, Anderson was happy with Classen’s work.

"I think he’s fine," said Anderson. "[He’s been] in a tough situation because there hasn’t been a lot of ice time because the other guys played so well. Through his work in practice, though, he looks fine. He’ll be able to step right in and help us next year . When we’ve gotten him into games, he hasn’t looked nervous or jittery at all. He’s stepped right in and played well."

Like any Beanpot viewer, Anderson sees some very strong components to the BC squad.

"They’ve got some awfully skilled players, up front in particular," he said. "They have the ability to beat you with their goal scorers and the ability to beat you with their goaltending. We’re going to have to play well in both ends of the rink. Their forwards are very opportunistic and if we make mistakes, they’ll be all over them. "We have to try to get back to a solid defensive game and eliminate our mistakes. And we’re going to have to work very hard in the other end because they’ve got an outstanding goaltender in [Greg] Taylor and we’re probably not going to get any easy goals."

PICK: BC makes it four sweeps around the league this weekend, 6-2, 4-3.

Northeastern (7-20-2, 2-17-1 HE) at Army (15-11-2, 1-10-2 vs. aligned D-I) Saturday, 7 p.m., Tate Rink, West Point, NY

Northeastern had posted a string of one-goal defeats early in January which had at least been encouraging. Recently, however, they’ve showed signs of unraveling with lopsided losses of 7-1 to UNH and 7-2 to Maine and Merrimack. Aside from a win over UMass-Amherst and a well-played loss to BC in the Beanpot opener, the Husky ship appeared to be taking on water. A 2-0 win over Harvard in the Beanpot consolation game, however, was a positive boost.

"It was a nice win coming off the Merrimack game on Friday [which we lost 7-2]," said Crowder. "We played well defensively and stuck with our system, a lot like we did last Monday night, only this week we didn’t break. The kids played hard and we got some good goaltending.

"We’ve had a lot of things go against us this year. It’s nice to be on the other end of a close game.

"We played really good team defense as a unit of six. It’s something we’ve been preaching all year. It was nice for the coaching staff to see that level of defensive commitment."

Freshman Marc Robitaille recorded his third shutout of the season, setting a school record. Considering the team’s meager seven-win total, the mark becomes an impressive achievement. At season’s end Robitaille will battle UNH’s Sean Matile for a spot on Hockey East’s All-Rookie team. Although his statistics can’t hold a candle to Matile’s, they reflect to a great extent their status on last- and first-place teams.

Crowder has been forced to experiment with new faces on the blue line. Forward Jonathan Calla spent several games there before moving back up front. Brad Mahoney, the senior transfer from Maine, not only moved back to D four weeks ago but is now part of their top-four rotation despite never having played the position before.

In the win over Harvard, Justin Kearns rebounded from a Crowder-imposed seat in the stands against Merrimack to score and assist on the two goals. Although Kearns escaped Mahoney’s game disqualification punishment during the penalty spree that buried the Huskies at the end of their Beanpot opener, Crowder took a stand against the lack of discipline and also benched Kearns, his leading scorer for the Friday night game.

Army has split their last four games. They dropped both games against D-I conference teams, 4-3 against Yale and 8-1 to Union. They also beat Canisius 7-4 and Royal Military College, their Canadian counterpart, 7-3.

The two wins achieved Cadet milestones. The win over Royal Military marked Army coach Rob Riley’s 200th in his career. The win over Canisius was his 150th at Army. The Army-Royal Military contest, touted as the oldest continuous international rivalry in sports, was the 66th meeting of the two teams.

Going into the Canisius game, Frank Fede (36 points) led Cadet scoring. Andy Lundbohm (30), Greg Buckmeier (29), Bill Morrison (26), Joe Sharrock (25), and Anthony DiCarlo (23) follow. Although goaltender Daryl Chamberlain’s statistics (3.65 goals against average and .877 save percentage) suffer in comparison to his in previous years, they reflect Army’s tougher schedule this season.

PICK: The Huskies get a much-needed win 3-2.

No. 3 New Hampshire (23-6-0, 16-3-0 HE) at Maine (18-10-1, 10-7-1 HE) Tuesday, 7 p.m., Alfond Arena, Orono, ME

(These two teams are profiled above.)

PICK: UNH wins the shootout, 7-6.

Dave Hendrickson is the Hockey East Correspondent for U.S. College Hockey Online.

Copyright 1997 Dave Hendrickson . All Rights Reserved.

Return to Feature Articles Return to News and Game Recaps Return to US College Hockey Online

ECAC Grab Bag

By Adam Wodon
-

Red Lines

Cornell head coach Mike Schafer continues his reputation as a “stickler” for the rules. Once again, Schafer caught an opponent using an illegal stick, and in fact did it twice in an attempt to comeback against Vermont during last Saturday’s battle for first place.

It almost worked, too, as the Big Red rallied from a 6-1 deficit, only to lose 7-5. But in the process, Schafer irked Vermont head coach Mike Gilligan, who thought Schafer was getting carried away. Ironically, Gilligan is chairman of the NCAA Rules Committee.

Eye on RPI

Scott Prekaski had a remarkable game two weeks ago against Harvard. The freshman goalie, who is a leading candidate for league Rookie of the Year, let the first two shots he faced go by, then stopped the next 64 in a row for a 5-2 win. That, however, was far short of the league record for saves in a game. The record is held by another RPI goalie, Dick Greenlaw, who stopped 78 shots against Boston University in the 1964-65 season.

Knight Moves

Clarkson coach Mark Morris decided to move freshman defenseman Philippe Roy to center for last Saturday’s game against RPI, and it paid off as Roy scored his first two collegiate goals. Roy was teamed on a line with fellow freshmen Matt Reid and Carl Drakensjo.

“I played defense all my life, but things happen,” said Roy. “There’s a reason I guess. The best thing I can do is keep working and do like I did (Saturday). Our frosh line, like we’re called, is clicking pretty good and I’m real happy right now.”

Tigers Tales

Princeton seems to have secured a player with the potential to be a consistent game-breaker, something the team has lacked since the graduation of Andre Faust in 1992. Chris Corrinet is a 6-foot-3 right wing from Greenfield, Mass., currently playing for Deerfield Academy. Corrinet was ranked 23rd in the New England Hockey Report Fall Rankings of College-Eligible Seniors, and would have been higher if not for some caveats.

For example, Corrinet missed most of this season after breaking an ankle playing football in November. Also, at times Corrinet doesn’t apply all of his skills. But, if it weren’t for these things, Princeton might also not have gotten him. According to Chris Warner, editor of NEHR, “If Corrinet can improve his first step and add intensity to his game, he could be one scary player.”

The person in charge of most of the recruiting effort for Corrinet is Princeton assistant Len Quesnelle, a former defenseman for the Tigers who’s been an assistant since graduating in 1988. If you listen to St. Lawrence head coach Joe Marsh, Quesnelle is a good candidate for any head coaching opening.

“Lenny’s done a tremendous job,” says Marsh. “He’s one of the most underrated guys in college hockey. He has a lot of respect among other coaches. He’s very professional; coaches like him. He’s not out there badmouthing people or any of that.”

NCAA Denies Maine’s Appeal

By Deron Treadwell
-

The NCAA has denied the University of Maine’s appeal of postseason sanctions on the Black Bears hockey program, the university announced Thursday.

In a written statement, Maine President Frederick Hutchinson said that the decision “brings to an end a very difficult period for the entire university community.” He said the decision “adds nothing new to what had previously been said or known, except closure.”

The NCAA applauded Maine for its cooperation with investigators, including its self-report and how quickly the school corrected and cleaned up its compliance system.

In contrast, the Appeals Committee also said that the conduct of head ice hockey coach Shawn Walsh offset the good work done by the university and directly led to the decision to uphold the penalties the NCAA handed down to Maine on July 31.

Hutchinson expressed disappointment that “there was no indication given in that [July] report that the addition of penalties by the NCAA was related to Shawn.”

“Had that position been part of the committee’s official report in July, it likely would have influenced our decision to appeal the post-season ban [for 1996-97],” said Hutchinson.

In December of 1995, the University of Maine suspended Shawn Walsh for one year without pay for his role in NCAA violations and removed itself from consideration from the 1995-96 NCAA Tournament.

On July 31, the NCAA added to the penalties by imposing a postseason ban on the hockey team for the 1996-97 season, and also stated that the one-year suspension of Walsh was sufficient for his part in the rules violations. The NCAA also added to scholarship reductions Maine imposed on itself in December of 1995.

Walsh was not available for comment, but in a written statement Walsh said that he was relieved it is over. He noted that “at no time did I feel we would win the appeal.”

Walsh said that, as far as he’s concerned, his team’s playoffs begin Friday night with a pair of games at UMass-Amherst.

Maine Director of Athletics and Recreation Suzanne Tyler said she “respectfully disagrees” with the NCAA’s ruling, but doesn’t regret any decisions.

“Looking at the evidence, I still think we made the right decision,” Tyler told WZON radio. “I really thought we were right and that right would win. We are just moving ahead.”

Maine has six games remaining in its season, starting with two at UMass-Amherst this weekend. Maine then returns home to close out its 1996-97 campaign with games against No. 3 New Hampshire on Feb. 18, two games against No. 4 Boston University on Feb. 21 and 22, and one game against UMass-Amherst on March 1.

Tyler said late last year that Hockey East had passed a rule last summer that said if a member school was ineligible for the NCAA Tournament, it would also be ineligible for the Hockey East Tournament.

NCAA Eases Restrictions On College Hockey

By Adam Wodon
-

Two proposals aimed at easing recruiting restrictions on ice hockey coaches passed at the recent NCAA Convention in Nashville, Tenn.

Propositions 102 and 103 were hockey-only proposals that passed with little difficulty in a vote by school presidents. All presidents were allowed to vote, but, for the most part, only the presidents of hockey-playing schools participated.

Prop. 102 is the more substantial of the two, and passed against the opposition of the NCAA Rules Committee. It allows schools to make one phone call to each prospect from a foreign country during July after their sophomore year of high school.

The proposal doesn’t go into effect until Aug. 1, 1997, which means it will have no impact until July of 1998, for the recruiting year 2000.

The proposal was sponsored by the ECAC and received the overwhelming endorsement and support from the American Hockey Coaches Association.

The NCAA, for the first time, recognized the unique situation in college hockey; that the Canadian Major Junior system provides direct competition to schools. Basketball and football, for example, faces no such competition. Junior age is 16-20, which means many prospective student-athletes are contacted by and committing to major juniors before ever hearing from a U.S. college.

“I endorsed it,” said Yale coach Tim Taylor. “There’s nothing wrong with us letting them know about our system. It’s a step in the right direction.”

The coaches see Prop. 102 as a long-time coming, but convincing school presidents and the NCAA that the idea was not just for self-interest, but also in the best interests of the student-athlete, took some time.

“When you ask coaches, all along they’d like to have 25 phone calls,” said NCAA spokesperson Stephen Mallonee. “But it’s the presidents of the university. And we’re in a mode now of cost reduction and cost-cutting and not unduly bothering the prospects.

“So it’s a little more difficult than you think, and usually the sports that get the breaks are football and basketball.”

Most coaches see this as only the first step. The ability to contact American-born sophomores is also crucial, they say, as the Major Juniors continue to expand their reach further and further south.

“Junior teams can get into their living rooms (early),” Taylor said. “If a 15- or 16-year old is very good, agents go around and say to sign with them. They say it’s a quick ticket to the pros. Nobody tells them they are forfeiting the possibility of a scholarship.”

The NCAA committee was concerned about bothering prospective student-athletes too early, and said that one phone call will not make that much of a difference.

But as one observer noted, “It’s not just one call. If [Miami’s] Mark Mazzoleni calls, and [Boston University’s] Jack Parker calls, and [Michigan State’s] Ron Mason calls, and so on, that will help.”

Prop. 103 allows coaches to have more flexibility with their seven recruiting opportunities. Previously, coaches were restricted to no more than four evaluations (watching a player in a game) and three in-person contacts. The three contacts limit still applies, but coaches may now make up to seven evaluations, as long as the total of contacts and evaluations doesn’t exceed seven in one year.

This Week in the ECAC: February 7, 1997

By
-

ECAC Preview: Jan. 31-Feb. 3, 1997 by Jayson Moy

The color red. On this weekend of Chinese New Year, it symbolizes good fortune. One wears red to bring good luck to oneself and one’s family.

Oh yes, one more thing. Red is also the primary color of the two teams situated in first place in the ECAC standings — Cornell and RPI. Those two will need all the fortune they can get when they take to the ice and try to hang on to the lead this coming weekend.

It was a wild weekend in the ECAC, with Cornell and RPI emerging atop the standings. Both teams swept their opponents: Princeton and Yale, and Harvard and Brown, respectively — the first time since November that both swept an ECAC weekend.

Vermont won the rematch with Clarkson, and with another victory on Saturday against St. Lawrence, the Cats reached third place. Princeton’s win on Saturday over Colgate helped it remain tied for third place. Clarkson’s split this weekend left the Golden Knights in fifth.

ECAC Standings

With only six points separating the league’s top eight teams, every contest is an exciting one. The marquee matchups this week occur on Saturday: first, the USCHO Game of the Week, RPI at Clarkson, and then Cornell at Vermont.

We also have our first possible playoff clinches this week. If RPI and Cornell can get a combination of four points involving Yale and Dartmouth, both teams are in.

RPI (14-7-3, 9-3-2 ECAC, T-1st) and Union (13-9-2, 6-6-2 ECAC, T-7th) at St. Lawrence (9-15-2, 4-8-2 ECAC, 9th) Friday-Saturday, 7:30 p.m.-7 p.m., Appleton Arena, Canton, N.Y.

Union (13-9-2, 6-6-2 ECAC, T-7th) and RPI (14-7-3, 9-3-2 ECAC, T-1st) at Clarkson (16-8-0, 9-5-0 ECAC, 5th) Friday-Saturday, 7:30 p.m. – 7 p.m., Cheel Arena, Potsdam, N.Y.

RPI is in a tie for first place, after a weekend sweep of Harvard and Brown, 5-2 and 6-1 respectively. On Friday, the Engineers let Harvard get out to a 2-0 lead 1:25 into the first period.

"We spotted them two goals on the first two shifts of the game," said head coach Dan Fridgen. "I thought we did a good job of chipping away and not losing our composure.

"Even though its tough playing comeback hockey, it happened so early in the game, you just gotta realize there’s a lot of the game left and just chip away."

RPI came back to win it, and freshman goaltender Scott Prekaski made 64 consecutive saves in his ECAC Rookie of the Week performance, his second of the season.

Saturday was nothing like Friday, when RPI jumped on the board with an Eric Healey goal 12 seconds into the game.

"I thought, right from the drop of the puck, the guys were ready to play the game," said Fridgen. "It certainly showed."

Healey moved up to third in the ECAC scoring race with five points on the weekend. Among those were his 50th career goal and 100th career point.

Meanwhile, Union came from a 2-0 deficit of its own, this one in the third period, to defeat Brown on Friday night, 4-2.

"We’re happy we could come from behind to get a victory," said head coach Stan Moore. "We haven’t done that all season long." The next evening, Union trounced Army 8-1.

"We decided to squeeze five periods of hockey into three periods," said Moore. "We only played 15 solid minutes of hockey the night before."

This coming weekend will be Moore’s first North Country trip as a head coach.

"It’s my home area," said the Massena, N.Y. native. "It will be delightful to go back there.

"I remember watching games at Walker and Appleton when I was a kid," he reminisced about the old Clarkson rink and St. Lawrence’s rink. "It’s a toss-up as to which has the best atmosphere."

Union’s opponent Friday is Clarkson, the school where his father, Stan Moore Sr., played hockey.

Against the Golden Knights, the younger Moore is hoping for a goaltending game, and he might just get it, since Trevor Koenig and Dan Murphy are two of the statistical leaders in the ECAC.

St. Lawrence jumped on Dartmouth 6-1 on Friday, and endured its second one-goal loss to Vermont the night after.

"It was a great hockey game," said head coach Joe Marsh about the Vermont matchup. "In the first two periods, we couldn’t have played any better. It would have been nice to get a couple of points from the game [though]."

Marsh knows that this weekend will be a tough one.

"RPI’s had a phenomenal year," he said. "They’re capable offensively. Union is a very tough team. They’re strong, physical and they have great goaltending."

"Hopefully we’ll emphasize the positives from last weekend," said Marsh. "It’ll be whether we’re able to muster some offense. We’re spreading out our scoring pretty well, but we have to emphasize defense first. We’re also not really burying them either.

"I think we’re a better team than our record shows."

The Golden Knights of Clarkson were also victims of Vermont this past weekend.

"It was their turn," said head coach Mark Morris. "(Tim) Thomas was sensational, he was dynamite. We dominated the game. We stole one there (a 2-1 win two weeks ago at Vermont), they stole one here."

Clarkson then rebounded with a 6-4 win over a pesky Dartmouth squad.

"Saturday we came out flat," said Morris. "After we got on the scoresheet, we seemed to come alive."

Clarkson shut out RPI 4-0 in the teams’ first meeting, and were upset by Union 2-1.

"(Union’s) got a strong club with their 12 seniors," said Morris. "We have three seniors that play regularly, and some of our younger guys have to keep their heads.

"RPI’s going great; they’ve turned things around. There’s no doubt that they’ll be a sharper club this time around.

"We’d like to continue to play solid hockey, and there’s no doubt we’d like to get other guys (than Todd White and Chris Clark) into the scoring."

PICKS: RPI at St. Lawrence: This game has traditionally been low-scoring at Appleton. With either Scott Prekaski or Joel Laing in net facing Clint Owen, it could be again. RPI 3 St. Lawrence 1

Union at Clarkson: These two battled to a 2-1 game at Achilles Rink. As Stan Moore points out, what you hope for you don’t always get. This one will be high-scoring, and Clarkson has the edge there. Clarkson 7 Union 5

Union at St. Lawrence: This is where the goaltending game will occur. With Appleton as the arena, and atmosphere playing a role, the teams battle to a tough tie. Union 2 St. Lawrence 2

RPI at Clarkson: One of the marquee matchups on the ECAC agenda this week, as the two highest offenses in the ECAC go after each other at Cheel. RPI has only won once in the 90’s in Potsdam, but are 1-1-1 at Cheel Arena. RPI has also not swept a series in the North Country since 1984-85, the Engineers’ last NCAA championship season.

But Todd White is a force, and it’s up to RPI’s defense to hold him down. RPI has already defeated Vermont and Cornell on the road, so the crowd may not be a factor. Also, Clarkson has a better road record than a home record. Which way to go with this one? Everything points against RPI. Clarkson 4 RPI 3

Cornell (12-5-4, 9-3-2 ECAC, T-1st) and Colgate (13-10-1, 7-6-1 ECAC, 6th) at Dartmouth (9-11-1, 4-9-1 ECAC, T-10th) Friday-Saturday, 7:30 p.m.-7 p.m., Thompson Arena, Hanover, N.H.

Colgate (13-10-1, 7-6-1 ECAC, 6th) and Cornell (12-5-4, 9-3-2 ECAC, T-1st) at Vermont (17-6-1, 9-4-1 ECAC, T-3rd) Friday-Saturday, 7:30 p.m.-7 p.m., Gutterson Fieldhouse, Burlington, Vt.

Cornell’s weekend sweep of Princeton and Yale vaulted the Big Red into first place for the second time this season, and they did it by getting contributions from many different players.

On offense, Keith Peach had two goals in the 4-2 win over Princeton. On defense, it was Jean-Marc Pelletier earning his first career shutout, making 28 saves in the 5-0 win over Yale.

Earlier in the year Cornell swept Vermont and Dartmouth, 6-4 and 6-3 respectively. This time around, the Big Red head to Vermont and Dartmouth for the weekend.

The Big Red have not lost to Vermont in the Cathouse since the 1990-91 season, and not in Hanover since the 1992-93 season. Cornell is 5-2-3 in its last 10 games and 4-0-2 the last three seasons on this road trip.

Colgate managed two points this past weekend, defeating Yale 5-2, but losing to Princeton by the same score. Mike Harder had a goal and two assists against Yale, but was held pointless against the Tigers.

This weekend the Red Raiders go to Gutterson Fieldhouse, where they have not scored a goal in two years. In the last two games at the Cathouse, Colgate has been shut out, 7-0 and 3-0, victims of Vermont goaltender Tim Thomas.

Dartmouth was swept on the weekend by St. Lawrence and Clarkson, 6-1 and 6-4 respectively.

"Friday we did not play well," said head coach Roger Demment. "We had trouble getting the right skate on the right foot.

"We played a good game on Saturday," he added, "But they scored on the power play when it we had a 2-0 lead. Three of the six goals were on tip-ins or deflections."

Dartmouth heads home this weekend, to play during its annual Winter Carnival.

"Playing in out home rink is good," Demment said. "It’s Winter Carnival weekend, and the crowd should be excited. In our own rink, playing the way we do there, we certainly have to play defensive hockey, and if we can, we’ll get a couple of points.

"Solid defense is what we’re after," he added. "We’re giving up too many goals. We thought we’d have trouble scoring this year, but that hasn’t been a problem."

The Big Green have scored 49 goals in ECAC play, but have given up the second-most in the league: 63.

"This was the first time I can remember sweeping this trip," remarked Vermont head coach Mike Gilligan, on the wins at Clarkson and St. Lawrence.

There’s good reason for that: it was the first time it has ever happened. Never before have the Catamounts swept the Golden Knights and Saints on the road.

Gilligan is feeling better about his team while it climbs the ECAC standings.

"We’re making fewer unforced errors than we were," he said. "Even though we may spend a lot of time in our own end, I’m a lot more comfortable with it than I was at the beginning of the year."

Cornell and Colgate are on the Cats’ docket this weekend.

"Cornell has good balance, and good team defense," said Gilligan. "And with Mike Harder (of Colgate) I won’t try to get my fourth line get caught out there against him."

PICKS: Cornell at Dartmouth: Cornell will find a way to score against Dartmouth — actually, the Big Red always seem to find a way to score. Cornell 5 Dartmouth 3

Colgate at Vermont: Colgate will find a way to score at Vermont, too, but not enough. Vermont 6 Colgate 3

Colgate at Dartmouth: Can Dartmouth play the defense to stop Mike Harder? Colgate 5 Dartmouth 2

Cornell at Vermont: Four balanced lines to throw at the French Connection. If Cornell can slow down the neutral zone, it can shut them down. Vermont 4 Cornell 2

Yale (7-13-2, 4-10-1 ECAC, T-10th) at Harvard (7-11-2, 6-7-2 ECAC, T-7th) Friday, 7:30 p.m., Bright Hockey Center, Cambridge, Mass.

Yale dropped a pair this past weekend to Colgate and Cornell.

The Bulldogs have continued to struggle to get scoring in the ECAC; in their six league games in 1997, they have only managed 10 goals. Included in this total is a five-goal performance in a win over Dartmouth, Yale’s only ECAC win in 1997, and two shutouts.

Speaking of trouble scoring goals, the Crimson of Harvard came back after a three-week layoff with a good performance against UNH:five goals. Harvard also started strong against RPI, scoring two goals in 1:25 to open up the game, but failed to hold on to the lead. In the Beanpot against BU, Harvard scored one goal.

Despite this, head coach Ronn Tomassoni feels good about his club.

"What I liked about my players tonight is that we’re gaining more and more confidence," he said after Friday’s game at RPI. "We’re playing well. We think we can play with anyone, [and] this team’s ready to go on a roll."

PICK: On paper, this looks like a low-scoring affair. The two teams battled to a 2-2 tie earlier this season. Yale 2 Harvard 2

Princeton (14-6-2, 9-5-1 ECAC, T-3rd) at Brown (5-15-2, 2-12-1 ECAC, 12th) Saturday, 2 p.m., Meehan Auditorium, Providence, R.I.

Princeton lost its first-place standing after falling to Cornell on Friday night. The Tigers responded with a 5-2 victory over Colgate the next night.

"We did not play well against Cornell," said head coach Don Cahoon. "We looked like a team that was off for 20 days, but that’s not an excuse.

"I have to applaud the kids on Saturday. They realized they did not play well and made a concerted effort on Saturday."

Princeton is at a slight disadvantage, only playing one game this weekend. That game in hand might put the Tigers further back in the standings if they do not get points.

"All we’ve got to do is the best we can do," said Cahoon about the single game.

Brown is in last place, and continues to fight adversity. The Bears lost Adrian Smith to a knee injury against Union. They also lost Tyler Garrow to injury. The Bears have seven games left to try to make the playoffs.

"Brown is fighting for their lives," said Cahoon. "We’ve been in that situation before, and you can only go out and take care of things."

PICK: Brown tied Princeton earlier this season, but without Smith, the offense loses one of its hottest players. Princeton 4 Brown 1

The Beanpot — Consolation Game Harvard (7-11-2, 6-7-2 ECAC, T-7th) vs. Northeastern (6-19-2, 2-13-1 Hockey East, 9th) Monday, 5 p.m., Fleet Center, Boston, Mass.

No one likes to play in a consolation game, especially the consolation of the Beanpot.

Northeastern broke a string of seven straight consolation games with a victory over Harvard in the semifinals last year. Also, Harvard is in its third straight consolation game, and is looking for its first victory in seven games in the Beanpot.

These two teams have met once this season already, with Harvard winning 4-3.

PICK: Will there be scoring here? Both teams were 1-1 going into the third period in the Beanpot semis before letting it get away. Therefore, the third period will be the key. Harvard 3 Northeastern 1

Hold onto your hats, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls of all ages. Three weeks to go, and everybody is even in games played. Troy, Princeton, and Ithaca are the cities of note next week.

Next week in the ECAC:

Friday, Feb. 14: Clarkson at Princeton St. Lawrence at Yale Dartmouth at RPI Vermont at Union Harvard at Cornell Brown at Colgate

Saturday, Feb. 15: Clarkson at Yale St. Lawrence at Princeton Dartmouth at Union Vermont at RPI Harvard at Colgate Brown at Cornell

Jayson Moy is the ECAC Correspondent for US College Hockey Online.

Copyright 1996 Jayson Moy . All Rights Reserved.

Return to Feature Articles Return to News and Recaps Return to US College Hockey Online

Simply the Best

By
-

He broke in on the goaltender. Mano a mano. He dipped one shoulder. The goalie reacted in kind.

His head and shoulders moved the other way. The goalie fought to recover. The dekes came in layers. The puck danced. The hands moved like a pickpocket’s. Head and shoulders dipped first one way and then the other, a blur of fake and counter-fake.

And then at some point Chris Drury’s competition ceased to be the sprawling figure in the crease and became the legends of past spectacular Beanpot goals. With the goaltender safely deked into the cheap seats, Drury painted the final brush stroke and the puck hit twine.

Da-da-da. Da-da-da.

Nationwide television, frequent celebrant of the Velvet Elvis in sport, hung Drury’s Mona Lisa in ESPN’s SportsCenter gallery. The rarity of the honor paid tribute to his 1996 Beanpot artistry.

That wasn’t the first time Drury caught the attention of those outside of college hockey. As a 12-year old, he electrified the sports world by pitching his Trumbull, Conn., team to a Little League World Series championship against staggering odds.

“The feeling was unbelievable,” says Drury. “We weren’t even supposed to be there. No one from our town had even won a game in the state tournament, so once we won a couple there we’d exceeded everyone’s expectations.”

He and his best friends from Trumbull didn’t stop there, though. They beat a heavily-favored team from California and ultimately squared off against a Taiwan squad considered virtually unbeatable.

“We weren’t even supposed to last a couple innings against Taiwan,” says Drury. “From the second inning on, it seemed like the crowd kept getting louder and louder, thinking that maybe these kids had a chance. It was just a great feeling to get the last out and realize our dreams.

“It gave me a taste of what winning was like at a young age. It made me want to get back there again.”

Drury didn’t taste success again on the national level, however, until he starred on the U.S. Select-17 hockey team that competed in Japan. When he was chosen MVP of a silver medal-winning team that beat Canada, it completed a remarkable turnaround in his hockey fortunes.

Unlike many collegiate stars, Drury didn’t pump in hundreds of goals as a youngster. “I was always the shortest player,” Drury says. “I was pretty clumsy and chubby when I was growing up, so I didn’t really do too much until I was about 14 or 15 years old.”

He began listening to his older brother, Ted, then an All-American at Harvard. When Ted came back from national training camps, he had a captive audience.

“He’d tell me what to eat and how to get stronger and faster,” says the younger Drury. “I listened to a lot of the stuff that he said. I’d ask him a lot of questions and just try to emulate what he was doing.”

At 16 he was invited to Colorado for the Select-16 tryouts, but didn’t come close to making the squad. A year later, the results were different. Countless 20-yard sprints, plyometrics, and competing in a league with collegiate players completed the transformation of the clumsy and chubby 14 year old with no serious hockey future into the Select-17 team MVP.

“That summer was the biggest improvement that everyone saw in me,” says Drury. “When I was 16, I was still slow and wasn’t really sure of myself. I was kind of in awe of the whole situation. When I was 17, I was a lot quicker and more confident. It was really satisfying that I set my goals and I reached them.”

Earlier that year, however, luck hadn’t seemed on Drury’s side. He broke a wrist playing hockey, taped it up and kept playing until the season ended. X-rays showed not only the break, but a need for surgery. The injury washed out his baseball season, one in which his team advanced to the state semifinals.

For a kid who’d always loved the sport, the forced sabbatical stung. Worse, it came during his junior year of high school, baseball’s prime recruiting period. The lost season, and his success on the Select-17 team that followed it, for all practical purposes decided which sport he would pursue in college.

Winning the Little League World Series and watching his older brother play in championship games on TV convinced Drury that he wanted no part of rebuilding programs.

“I wanted to have a chance to win it each year,” he says. “I didn’t want to have to wait until I was a senior. I knew that if I came to BU, I’d have a chance to make the lineup in my freshman year and hopefully have the chance to win a national championship.”

So BU coach Jack Parker added Drury’s name to a group that already included Jacques Joubert, Mike Grier, Jay Pandolfo, Mike Prendergast, Shawn Bates, Chris O’Sullivan and Rich Brennan. Surrounded by that cast, Drury initially got lost in the crowd.

“I was definitely frustrated until about Christmas,” Drury says. “I knew they had a lot of really great players, but I also wanted to contribute. I guess around Christmas or a little bit after I found my role. I was third- or fourth-line center at that point, and I just knew that every night I had to play good defense and maybe chip in a little bit of offense.

“I talked to my brother. He knew we had a good team and knew I had to play my role that year, and that things would work out in the future. He always had confidence in me and kept me upbeat in that situation.”

The team got out of the gate fast, leveled off, and then went on a tear right around the Beanpot.

“It seemed like it was all planned out,” says Drury. “Everyone knew [their roles]. We knew we had a good shot after going to the title game the year before; when we won the national championship, it was the biggest thrill of my life.”

Drury finished the season with 12 goals and 15 assists. Not bad for a third- or fourth-liner, but not up to his expectations. In the off-season he built up his strength and continued to work on explosive speed.

His scoring took off in his sophomore year; he finished with 35 goals and 32 assists. Drury earned a host of distinctions: Hobey Baker finalist, All-Hockey East, Beanpot MVP, NCAA East Regional All-Tournament.

Drury credits his emergence to a series of factors, but two gave him his biggest boost.

“I probably wouldn’t be here in this situation if it wasn’t for [BU strength and conditioning coach] Mike Boyle and all his explosive work and strict training,” Drury says. “It transfers onto the ice so well.”

Parker’s words of encouragement proved the other key.

“When someone of his stature says, ‘You’re doing a good job, keep it up,’ that goes a long way,” says Drury.

Despite his personal success, the season proved disappointing. The Terriers explosive offense led the nation with 236 goals and was a major factor in their midseason number-one ranking. But Providence upset BU in the Hockey East semifinals and Michigan dismantled them in the NCAA semis.

In the offseason Drury drove himself to take his game to the next level. The Terriers’ loss in the postseason was one motivator. Another was his experience at the World Junior Tournament.

“It was pretty humbling,” he says. “We played a lot of great teams like Canada and Sweden and Finland. Most of those guys are bigger and stronger and faster. It just made me realize how much harder I had to work.”

This year the scoring burden, which missed him completely as a freshman, and which he shared with players like Pandolfo, Grier and O’Sullivan last year, falls squarely on his shoulders. On a team bereft of depth up front, Drury often has to carry the load with little help.

“I don’t really see it as pressure,” he says. “It’s fun. It’s a challenge, just knowing that maybe some people out there think [that I’m the only one scoring.] Obviously I want to come every night and contribute, but we have many other players on this team who can score. Obviously it’s not just me.”

Despite his words, BU’s record speaks volumes. When Drury gets points, the Terriers are 15-1-5. When he’s shut out, they’re 0-5-0.

One game typifies his dominance this season. In December he dismantled arch-rival Boston College with four goals. Afterwards, BC coach Jerry York, who has a pretty fair player named Marty Reasoner on his squad, said of Drury, “He’s just above everybody else in Hockey East.”

Significantly, two of Drury’s four goals came during critical short-handed situations for BU. The first was during a BC five-on-three man advantage; the second, in the middle of a five-minute major. After the game, Parker talked about Drury’s greatness.

“As good a player as he is, I can’t remember having a kid who competes as hard as he does every time he’s at practice,” said Parker. “The only guy that comes close to him is a kid who played a long time ago, Jack O’Callahan.

“That’s what makes Drury so great. He’s a real talented player, but he’s a fabulous competitor.”

As the nation’s leading goal-scorer, Drury has had to adjust to extra defensive attention. For the first time since high school, teams are shadowing him.

“It doesn’t make for a fun game,” he says. “It’s tough to get going. Every time you try to move your feet, the other guy is grabbing you, or sticking you or jumping on your back. It’s frustrating. I’m just going to have to keep moving my feet.”

“If you’re standing still, you’re a pretty easy target to cover. But hopefully, what’ll happen soon is that other kids on this team will take off. Obviously, there’s the potential for that to happen. And once that happens no one’s going to care about me anymore.”

Drury dismisses compliments about his consistency, based on his scoring or assisting in 26 of 31 games last year and, shadowed or not, 21 of 26 this year.

“[Consistency] really doesn’t have anything to do with points,” he counters. “I just go out each night and try to work as hard as I can. If that happens, then you’ll get points and play well. But I don’t think the two go hand-in-hand. You can get points and play terrible. I think that’s a big misconception, at least in college hockey. People automatically assume that if you have points you’re playing well, and I don’t think that’s the case at all.”

Drury also isn’t about to rest on his laurels. “I think I need to get a lot better at a lot of things,” he says. “I need to get faster, stronger, quicker, and be able to pass forehand and backhand better. There’s nothing that I couldn’t get better at.”

For now, he’s focusing only on the games at hand. When asked about his expectations for this year’s postseason, he just laughs and says, “I’d just like to win on Friday.”

Drury, a third-round draft pick of the Colorado Avalanche, might be expected to feel that he has little left to prove in the college game, and could skip his senior year.

Shrugging his shoulders, he instead says matter-of-factly, “[It’ll be] another year of eligibility and another year of hockey here at BU. I look forward to that.”

The sounds you hear are opposing coaches and players groaning and rubbing their suddenly-throbbing temples. They feel a headache coming on — and it’s gonna be a big one.

1...1,5251,5261,527...1,534Page 1,526 of 1,534

Latest Stories from around USCHO

After seven seasons as Rensselaer men’s hockey assistant, Weber takes job as head coach-GM of ECHL’s Heartlanders

USCHO Staff -

St. Cloud State captain Luedtke earns $7,500 NCHC postgraduate scholarship on way to dental school

USCHO Staff -

Providence hires former Endicott, Northeastern staffer LeClair as director of hockey operations for women’s hockey team

USCHO Staff -

Norwich hires ‘absolute slam dunk’ Leacy as new assistant coach for women’s hockey team

USCHO Staff -

Michigan State coach Nightingale signs multi-year contract extension as ‘there’s a buzz that even greater things are on the horizon’

USCHO Staff -

Leivermann ‘great fit’ for Clarkson, joins Houle’s staff as assistant coach

USCHO Staff -

Former AIC player Tabb chosen new coach for Yellow Jackets as team starts 2025-26 season as NCAA Division II school

USCHO Staff -

Bowling Green names Nicholson, Pritchard new assistant coaches for Falcons men’s hockey team

USCHO Staff -

Renderings unveiled for new home of Western Michigan hockey, the Athletics Performance Center and Kalamazoo Events Center

USCHO Staff -

Great Lakes Invitational returning to Van Andel Arena in 2025 with Michigan Tech, Michigan State, Ferris State, Miami competing for MacInnes Cup

USCHO Staff -

From Nittany Lion to Lion: Longtime Penn State assistant Fisher tabbed new head coach for Lindenwood men’s hockey team

USCHO Staff -

Former Amherst men’s hockey assistant Smith selected new head coach for Western New England, will be ‘focused on elevating the competitiveness and profile of...

USCHO Staff -
©1996-2025 USCHO.com – U.S. College Hockey Online