Hosts Jim Connelly and Ed Trefzger are joined by Northeastern head coach Jim Madigan to preview the No. 20 Huskies’ Sunday Hockey East single-elimination playoff game at No. 7 UMass. Madigan also reflects on this anniversary of the day all of college and pro sports were shut down in 2020.
We also take capsule looks at the five men’s D-I conferences with playoffs underway by the end of the weekend.
Bentley will not continue in the 2021 Atlantic Hockey tournament and has ended its season. A statement from Bentley cited new on-campus restrictions “to protect students, faculty and staff after an uptick in positive COVID-19 cases on campus.”
The Falcons were scheduled to play a best-of-three quarterfinal series in Springfield, Mass., against American International starting on Friday.
AIC will now advance to the Atlantic Hockey tournament semifinals and as the highest-seeded advancing team will host.
Bentley had advanced to the quarterfinals with a 7-3 first-round victory over Air Force on Tuesday.
AIC has not played since a 3-0 win at Holy Cross on January 30.
Ohio State and Michigan battle in a Big Ten matchup in January at Yost Ice Arena in Ann Arbor, Mich. (photo: Ohio State Athletics).
Are we there yet?
It’s a valid question, given how long this COVID-compressed season has felt, given how easily the season could have been derailed, given the intensity of competition that’s taken place in mostly empty arenas.
As each team in the Big Ten prepares for the three-day, single-elimination playoff championship tournament that begins March 14, a picture of a unified, almost defiant conference emerges along with snapshots of the unique, specific experiences that define each team in the league.
First, the unity
In Zoom press conferences with each coach this week, there was a lot of praise for how the Big Ten itself handled this pandemic season, beginning with the league’s foresight about what might have transpired.
“The Big Ten did an outstanding job of being the first conference to be up and running,” said Wisconsin’s Tony Granato. “All of our athletic departments went out of their way to keep our assets because there were lots of players who had different options of places to go play, whether it be professionally or moving on to different leagues.
“All of our programs, for the most part, were able to keep all of our players, and I think that’s going to really pay dividends down the road the next couple of years.”
Those dividends are paying off now.
All it takes is a look at the number of professional-caliber players in the Big Ten this week as the regular season ends to appreciate the conference’s commitment to hockey this season.
There’s the returning core of the Wisconsin team that went from last-place in 2019-20 to regular-season champs this year. There’s Michigan’s impossible-to-overrate freshman class. Eight Big Ten players brought home gold medals when Team USA won its fifth-ever gold in the IIHF World Juniors, and a ninth player – Wisconsin sophomore Dylan Holloway – earned a silver medal with Team Canada.
“There have been some teams in college hockey that have lost some of those players,” said Granato. “I think the respect our conference gained as a conference for how we did it will only continue to get the best players to come to our schools.”
Ohio State coach Steve Rohlik credited his own athletic director, Gene Smith, for getting all the balls rolling – so to speak – last summer.
“To me, if it wasn’t for Gene Smith and what he’s done here, even back with football when it was basically Ohio State and Nebraska fighting for football, if Gene Smith didn’t get out there and do what he did, if we didn’t have football, none of us would be on this call today. And that’s 100 percent for sure,” Rohlik said.
“Kudos to Gene, kudos to our administration and to all the Big Ten to fight to give these athletes a chance. I think that’s something you’ve got to hang your hat on and feel pretty good about, that we have had the opportunity to play games.”
Danton Cole at Michigan State implied that the move to a single site for the playoff tournament is a reflection of how everything came together this season.
“I think getting us all together, I think there’s been a lot of work done this year as far as the head coaches and the sports administrators,” said Cole. “The success that the Big Ten and college hockey has had overall this year has been outstanding. If you look at any other sports in the Big Ten, the number [of games] that we’ve got completed percentage-wise is pretty high.”
The consensus among a coaching fraternity that was already tight before the global pandemic threatened to wipe out more than just a college hockey season is that the Big Ten did things right, that administrations and staffs did things right, and that each team did all it could to get to this point.
But even though each coach feels part of a story bigger than his own team, each team’s experience this season was unique – and it may take years before we learn all about it.
”People don’t understand,” said Rohlik. “I think there’s one thing that’s 100 percent for sure, and that’s this pandemic has affected everybody. There’s no question. But the pandemic has affected every team differently and no one will really understand exactly what you go through unless you’re in that locker room, unless you’re within the team, the players, the coaches. What my group’s gone through might be a lot different than other guys.”
Now, the snapshots
The Buckeyes, for example, are a team that went from having the 13th-best defense in the nation last year to No. 45 this season, a team that went to the Frozen Four in 2018 and is finishing 2020-21 with six conference wins. Ohio State experienced big veteran turnover in the last two seasons, but Rohlik points to a lack of consistency this year, too.
“For us, it could be period to period,” said Rohlik. “Lately, it can be one game to the next. Let’s hope we catch ourselves on the right night.”
The Spartans are a team that everyone sees as continuing to prove under Cole’s tenure, but Michigan still finished the season in last place. Cole said of the results “it is what it is” and that the program will “sort all of that out,” but that there are things in play that cannot be defined – good things like “how people come through, how they do mentally, how they stick together, how they’ve battled, how they’ve seen some tough times and how they’re working through this right now.”
Said Cole, “By the end of the year, I always end up loving the teams I have, and I know the sacrifices they go through. Everybody doesn’t [know]. They don’t know the injuries and what everyone’s gone through, but we see it every day, so I’ve been impressed with them and they’ve made it. That hasn’t resulted in the number of wins they’ve wanted, but it rarely does.”
In fourth place, Notre Dame is having a tough time putting a full game together.
“We’ve had stretches where we’ve played really well, then, you know, we come down a notch,” said Fighting Irish coach Jeff Jackson. “I think we’ve been playing well, at times real well, and then we have a tendency to back off.
“I’d say that we’ve gotten better in the last several weeks in that area, but it’s still a concern of mine just being able to play the full 60 minutes at a high level. Hopefully going into the playoffs, we’ll have that sense of urgency to play three full periods, maybe even more.”
For Minnesota, it was watching a regular-season championship slip away. The Golden Gophers led the conference until the final two weeks of the season. Needing a win and a tie in the final weekend of the season, Minnesota split a series with Michigan.
And for the entirety of the season, the Gophers have been playing with an eye toward the national tournament after spending the second half of last year’s truncated campaign working their way toward a berth. When the Minnesota women’s team wasn’t selected as one of the eight teams heading to the NCAA championship tournament for the first time since 2007, the men began to think about their own chances.
The Gophers look like a lock on paper and coach Bob Motzko clearly didn’t want to talk about it when asked this week, but it’s not something easily ignored.
“We’re putting ourselves in a good spot, but our whole focus for our week is to get ready for the Big Ten tournament,” said Motzko. “Does that loom out there? Yeah. Crazier things have happened. We’re just getting ready to play Michigan State right now.”
The team that overtook the Gophers to win the regular-season title has had more than its share of obstacles along the way, not the least of which was recovering from a seven-win season in 2019-20.
“The confidence that they’ve had after coming off a horrendous season, I can’t say how difficult that is,” said Granato. “You don’t do it without great character kids and without great leadership from within your locker room. The feeling that it was going in the right direction, from the opening game at Notre Dame, you could sense something different and it’s carried on through really tough, tough situations.
“You go down and lose five players at one time, you lose Dylan [Holloway] for 10 games, you play four games with 15 players. Different things have happened that have been really challenging. We haven’t flinched.”
Not even through two COVID-19 pauses.
The two teams affected most recently by COVID pauses, though, are third-place Michigan and fifth-place Penn State.
The Wolverines lost two weeks when the entire University of Michigan athletic department was put on hold because of a local surge in COVID cases. Officials from Washtenaw County asked the school to shut everything sports-related down, and even though no one from the hockey program tested positive, that meant quarantining at home for two solid weeks.
Mel Pearson said that heading into the Big Ten tournament, the Wolverines still aren’t where they were before they were forced to take a break, as evidenced by their split against Minnesota last weekend.
“We were good offensively,” said Pearson. “We did some great things offensively, moving the puck, creating great opportunities going to the net, but defensively, we weren’t very good at times and that’s where the disconnect is right now and that scares me a bit.
“Before, I felt we were playing lights-out defensively. You might look at the scores and say, well, we only gave up two goals in the one night – and we’re sitting on two goals against a game, which is really good – but too many chances against. The goalies have had to bail us out too much recently, and we’ve been inconsistent. No, I don’t think we’re all the way back yet.”
For Penn State, a very long break because of COVID couldn’t have come at a worse time. The Nittany Lions didn’t play a single game for the entire month of February. Their first series of the month was postponed – and then cancelled – because they were scheduled to play Michigan and the Wolverines were out. That meant that at least Penn State could practice and keep conditioning.
Then the Nittany Lions were hit with their own COVID woes as multiple Tier 1 individuals – people directly involved with the team, such as players, coaches, trainers and other staff – tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Last weekend was the Nittany Lions’ first competition since and they dropped two games to Notre Dame.
“The amount of time off was one factor,” said Penn State coach Guy Gadowsky. “But the fact that our guys were not able to do anything when they had that time off is another.”
The Nittany Lions were the 2019-20 regular-season Big Ten champions. Penn State finishes this season with seven conference wins.
Finally, there’s gratitude – and a little knocking on wood
From the start of the season, Gadowsky has been frank about how difficult he’s found it to coach during the pandemic, citing everything from virtual meetings with players to the extra necessary precautions that can be difficult to track. This week, he said he still can’t wrap his head around all of it.
“I’m struggling with it myself, what to learn from this,” Gadowsky said. “I want to learn as much as we can, but boy, I’m not sure what that is yet.”
But he’s grateful to have made it this far, to be able to take his team to a tournament this weekend.
“We get a chance to compete, we get a chance to go to the Big Ten tournament and at this point, I’ll take it,” said Gadowsky.
“It’s a privilege to be able to compete, it’s a privilege to be able to play for a championship. It really is. There are programs that we see right now that have announced that they won’t have that opportunity and there’s other programs that already from the start of the year don’t have that opportunity. We’re very fortunate that we’ve been able to compete this season and we’ve gone through some challenges here lately, but we’re still able to get a chance to participate in the tournament, so we look at that as a real privilege.”
This was another sentiment that echoed through the individual Zoom conferences, as strong as the sense that the league had come together as a whole to preserve a season and, it appeared, just as unifying.
“I give my guys a ton of credit for what they’ve done, and again to give themselves opportunities to play within the year [and] to have a chance to go to a Big Ten tournament,” said Rohlik.
“We’ve still got a few days to get there, and every team’s holding their breath, right? Things can change just on a dime like that. We all can see that throughout college hockey and any other sport, there’s cancellations left and right. It goes back to what my guys have gone through and yet we’re very thankful for this opportunity.”
“It’s been a grind,” said Pearson. “I don’t think people realize the grind that it’s been, not only on the ice, but just the COVID situation and everything. We had a guy get tested this weekend again because he had a false positive and it just sends shivers through your team.”
For every coach – for absolutely everyone – the games themselves cannot come soon enough.
“Hey, we’re not there yet,” said Motzko. “We’ve got to continue to watch our backs right now. It’s still out there. We call it the boogeyman. It’s still out there.”
Chris Theodore is locked in a three-way tie atop the AIC scoring parade with 16 points in 16 games for the Yellow Jackets this season (photo: RJB Sports).
I still can’t locate Gonzaga on a map.
I know it’s in Spokane, Wash., but I honestly had no idea where that was until I fired up my Internet. One Ask Jeeves search later (you young folk have no idea what I’m talking about), and I discovered it was in the eastern part of the state, near the Idaho border. It’s 279 miles from Seattle, which is actually 80 miles longer than the distance between Fenway Park and Yankee Stadium.
If I knew nothing else about Gonzaga, I would still be able to have a discussion about the university because I’m a huge college basketball fan, and the Bulldogs are the shining example of success for most mid-major programs. They are, this year, the consensus No. 1 team in the nation and a team with appearances in each of the last 21 national tournaments, a streak that stretched to 22 when they won the West Coast Conference postseason tournament last week.
It’s almost mystical how often the team wins 25 games, and it’s why Gonzaga is a national standard.
Gonzaga has almost nothing in common with AIC. Yet when I asked Eric Lang about his third consecutive regular-season Atlantic Hockey championship, the Yellow Jackets head coach drew a direct line into the comparison.
“Our guys embraced, initially, that underdog role,” Lang said. “And I think that has morphed and transformed itself into the fact that we wanted AIC to be a hockey destination. There’s not a lot of people that knew where Gonzaga was, but there’s a lot of people that know that they’ve got a really good basketball team. That’s the goal here for AIC.
“They might know that there’s this little school in Springfield, Massachusetts, but that school has a pretty good hockey team. We’re pretty proud of that.”
Like Gonzaga, it doesn’t take much to recognize the Yellow Jackets as a prohibitive conference favorite. They enter the Atlantic Hockey quarterfinals as the No. 16 team in the nation, and their No. 1 seed is their third consecutive regular season conference championship. They hold home ice advantage through the entire postseason by virtue of an 11-1 league record, and their .889 winning percentage broke an 11-year record for best finish by a first place team.
The previous record, set in 2009-2010, was the only time in league history that the champion – RIT – advanced to a Frozen Four.
It has the Yellow Jackets positioned as a certified megalith and a near-lock for the NCAA tournament, even as an at-large bid, as the playoff quarterfinals return to the MassMutual Center on Friday. They rank seventh in the Pairwise Rankings, which are mostly informal this year, and only dropped one slot after last weekend despite still remaining idle.
Yet there’s still doubt hanging over the team as it enters its quarterfinal bid because AIC hasn’t played since January 30. It swept Holy Cross with consecutive shutouts and a 9-0 aggregate score less than two weeks after it clinched a 1-0 win over the Crusaders. In between those three games stood Sacred Heart’s two-goal outburst and the only time an Atlantic Hockey team scored more than one goal against the Yellow Jackets, but the bees’ snowman gave them an 8-2 decision. It was part of a larger, five-game winning streak that had them streaking towards the top-10 in the national poll.
That’s when the schedule went a little sideways. COVID-19 cancellations and postponements put AIC on the back burner, even though no team caught the Yellow Jackets atop the league table. Days turned into weeks, and the cannibalization within the division first clinched a bye under the new postseason format, then the league championship.
Forty-one days in total stretched between game days, and AIC didn’t even know its opponent this week until Tuesday night’s Bentley-Air Force decision.
“We’re kind of sick of practicing against each other,” Lang joked. “As coaches, we tried to be creative to make sure we’re playing a good amount of small games and have some intrasquad scrimmages. We really focused on our skill and making sure we’ve got our legs underneath us. We’re in uncharted waters, where we had a plan, ripped it up and made a new plan. We won five in a row, but we went six weeks without playing a hockey game. So we can’t look at a week where we didn’t play.
“Everything is just about what’s in front of us, and what’s in front of us has been having a good day of practice. That’s what we focused on.”
It’s an internal mentality built by a team with postseason experience. AIC is two years removed from its win over St. Cloud State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, but it never missed a beat in winning last year’s regular season championship. It’s a new tradition and a new day for the team, which enters the postseason with both the sixth-best scoring offense and the sixth-best scoring defense in the country.
“It will always be about how we need to play the game,” Lang said. “We talk about a ‘Game Seven’ mentality, and that’s the way we traditionally play. We prep for playoff games in October, and not much is going to change about how we play. We do heavy, heavy deep dives into our potential opponents, and we’re going to be unbelievably prepared for anyone. We’ll make sure that our game plan is ready to go over the next couple of days.”
At the end of the day, it’s a new Massachusetts hockey tradition and one that the bigger schools might not recognize. AIC is a small, Division II school in Springfield and is neither the flagship state institution nor the team representing the big city metropolis in Boston. It is, though, a powerhouse akin to a team representing the Pacific Northwest that embraced its tradition and turned its sport on its head.
“We embraced our past and all that (former head coach) Gary Wright did, what he meant to the program – we are the ‘Little Engine That Could,’” Lang, who played for Wright, said. “Four years ago, we talked about writing a script that nobody else in the country was able to write.”
Playoff picture, outlined
Atlantic Hockey maintained its best-of-three format for this week’s quarterfinal series, which means the matchups this weekend require two wins between Friday and Sunday in order to determine which teams advance to the semifinal round.
That’s no different than any other year even though it operates within the pod-based, divisional structure. Out east, top-seeded AIC hosts Bentley and second-seeded Army West Point hosts Sacred Heart, while No. 1 seed Robert Morris hosts Niagara and third-seeded RIT visits No. 2 Canisius in the west.
How those series end will subsequently determine next week’s conference championship weekend. The top remaining eastern team will play off against the lower-seeded western team in – and vice-versa – in the single elimination semifinals with the games taking place at the site of the best remaining team.
That means a couple of things. First, the east has hosting rights in both of its top seeds because AIC and Army West Point finished first and second in the 11-team standings. The Yellow Jackets have home ice advantage throughout the postseason, but a loss to Bentley this weekend sends the championship rights to the Black Knights.
The only way the playoffs shift west is if Sacred Heart and Bentley both win their series. That sends the championship to Robert Morris unless Niagara clinches an upset in Pittsburgh. If that happens, the winner of the RIT-Canisius series automatically hosts as the highest remaining team.
I gave myself a little bit of ironic chuckle because after pulling the tournament from HARBORCenter, Canisius could conceivably still wind up hosting with a very direct route.
Playoff matchups, analyzed
I couldn’t be more excited about the matchups or intrigue in this year’s playoff, and the new format will deliver on the promised drama of regional rivalries.
I’ll start with the AIC-Bentley matchup occurring one year after COVID-19 canceled last year’s quarterfinal series. It’s the one series I genuinely felt robbed off – Bentley allegiance aside – because of the deep roots between the two schools. They’re Northeast-10 rivals in Division II and are separated by less than two hours’ driving distance. Last year’s midseason series was a turning point for Bentley. In their only meeting this year, AIC won, 4-1, on the road before it earned a 3-1 victory at home in December.
That will run opposite another powerhouse matchup between Sacred Heart and Army West Point. Both teams earned byes last year but never played their respective postseason series, but it’s their first time seeing each other in a playoff since 2015’s Black Knight sweep. Army was one of the lone sides to play in the last weekend of the regular season, and its two-game sweep over Long Island University extended the nation’s longest unbeaten streak to 11 games.
The Black Knights, like AIC, are playing for their postseason lives and enter this weekend seeded 14th in the Pairwise Rankings. It’s worth noting that during the unbeaten streak, the one game that wasn’t won in regulation was against Sacred Heart, though the Black Knights won in a shootout as part of four straight wins over the Pioneers.
Out west, pod champion Robert Morris hosts Niagara while hunting for its seventh consecutive Atlantic Hockey semifinal berth, a streak that was not broken last year when the Colonials beat Holy Cross to advance to the cancelled quarterfinal. Since joining the league in 2010, RMU hasn’t lost a best-of-three series at home, and the team won its four matchups this year over Niagara, though the Purple Eagles pushed two of those games to overtime. This is their first meeting in the Atlantic Hockey postseason since 2015 and just their third meeting since the end of the College Hockey America era.
The winner of that series draws either RIT or Canisius in a year that’s been strange for both teams. The Tigers rallied from their school’s initial opt-out to win nine games and earned a first round bye in their last series by sweeping Robert Morris. It occurred one week after a sweep loss at Canisius, which were the second and third games for the Golden Griffins after returning from a second pause.
The Griffs, for what it’s worth, gained steam once they were on the ice more consistently. After playing two games in the 2020 portion, they ripped off four in a row over Mercyhurst and RIT and took four points from Air Force and Niagara. This is their first meeting since the 2015 AHA semifinals in Rochester.
One year later
This week marked one year since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic.
I will never forget watching my social media feed systematically shut down the sports world that week, and the surreality is one of those things I can’t shake, not even after we returned to sports. Somewhat ironically, I received word of that first domino – the Ivy League – while preparing to broadcast women’s lacrosse at Brown. Everything slowly eroded from there until I was watching eNASCAR on the couch.
Following hockey’s shutdown, I wrote about my feelings and of how my heart broke for the people. I discussed my vision for the eventual return to the rink, and I dreamed of the Frozen Four celebration once we could safely gather again. That obviously won’t happen to a degree this year, but I can still close my eyes and envision the fast-approaching celebration of players and coaches on the ice.
I relived most of that this week. COVID-19 is still very much a part of our lives, and this year, maybe more than any other year, has been particularly difficult to navigate. I empathize with students, coaches, staff members and everyone else involved, and I feel for the human toll that stretches well beyond a positive test case. The isolation and fear, the unknowns of this season – I know it has to have taken an exceptional toll on everyone’s mental wellness.
There have been times where the cancellations and postponements impacted me, and I wasn’t in the weeds in the same way as players, coaches, trainers, team doctors, staff members and a million other people I forgot to mention.
It’s why I’m so grateful to have this sport and the people within it. Everyone made this possible, especially those who helped me broadcast and write from my couch while my wife developed a small human that will join the world in a few short weeks. The commitment to see this through was a Herculean task, and it all happened while staring down an ongoing pandemic.
I can’t emphasize that enough, and I can’t thank or congratulate everyone enough for trying to make this year happen. You all deserve the honor of finishing what you started on the ice, and I hope everyone receives that opportunity. Knowing that it didn’t happen for Holy Cross, I feel especially for those players and coaches who sacrificed and dedicated themselves to the program.
With that in mind, I’ll leave formal thank yous to Chris Lerch, who I am incredibly grateful to have back for this second half and championship road. I consider him my hockey brother, and I will never take for granted having the opportunity to just send a text with some whimsical hockey statement.
So I’ll leave everyone with two last statements. First, don’t be afraid to tell people how much you care about them. That level of kindness can break the walls of isolation when you have a conversation at an individual level. It keeps relationships up to date, and even though we dilute the word “love” sometimes, we shouldn’t be afraid to use it.
Second – never stop believing. Yeah, it sounds like a Journey song, but positive energy is contagious for people at their lowest points. I wrote last year about how we would celebrate as a hockey community. We will crown a champion, and we will celebrate from afar. The day when we all congregate together in full barns will be beautiful, and I know they will happen again. I missed crowds and fans this year, but I would have missed the games more.
Tomorrow isn’t guaranteed, so believe in today. But that said, never, ever stop believing that we can make tomorrow a better day if we simply believe in what we’re doing today.
Until we meet again, I wish you all nothing but good health and well-being.
Boston College sophomore blueliner garnered best defensive defenseman laurels from Hockey East for the 2020-21 season (photo: Dave Arnold).
Hockey East announced Thursday the 2020-21 all-rookie team and six other season-long awards as voted by the men’s league’s 11 head coaches.
The 2020-21 all-rookie team consists of seven players, including one unanimous selection in Boston University forward Luke Tuch.
The rest of the team includes goaltender Drew Commesso (Boston University), defenseman Eamon Powell (Boston College), and forwards Gunnarwolfe Fontaine (Northeastern), Alex Jefferies (Merrimack), Josh Lopina (Massachusetts) and Nikita Nesterenko (Boston College).
Also recognized is a pair of defensive awards, as Boston College sophomore Drew Helleson has been named the best defensive defenseman and Boston College junior captain Marc McLaughlin was voted best defensive forward.
Two statistical awards have been formally announced, including the league’s top scorer in UConn junior forward Jonny Evans (14 goals, 14 assists, 28 points) The three stars award ended in a three-way tie between Evans, McLaughlin, and Northeastern sophomore forward Aidan McDonough. Each player racked up 20 points in the rankings, compiling the total number of points earned when named a first, second, or third star of the game in Hockey East games.
New Hampshire senior forward Patrick Grasso will be presented with the Len Ceglarski Sportsmanship Award, given by the league to one player who has consistently demonstrated superior conduct and sportsmanship on the ice. The Massachusetts Minutemen will be acknowledged with the Charlie Holt Team Sportsmanship Award for accruing the fewest average penalty minutes per Hockey East game.
Hockey East will announce the 2020-21 all-star teams Friday at 11 a.m. The league will then announce finalists for the player, rookie, and coach of the year awards on Sunday, prior to the start of the quarterfinals. The winners of those awards will then be revealed on March 17 at 1 p.m.
Julian Napravnik and Dryden McKay captured two of the WCHA’s top honors announced Thursday (photo: Russell Hons).
The WCHA on Thursday announced its 2020-21 individual award winners, honoring the league’s offensive player, defensive player, goaltender, rookie, student-athlete and coach of the year.
Honorees this year include four from Minnesota State: forward Julian Napravnik (offensive player of the year), goaltender Dryden McKay (goaltender of the year), defenseman Akito Hirose (rookie of the year) and head coach Mike Hastings (coach of the year).
They are joined by Bowling Green defenseman Will Cullen and Bemidji State blueliner Elias Rosén, who share defensive player of the year honors and Bemidji State goaltender Zach Driscoll who is the student-athlete of the year.
The league’s player of the year will be announced on Friday.
Napravnik stands atop Minnesota State’s scoring charts with 24 points on nine goals and 15 assists in 21 games. In WCHA league play, Napravnik posted a six-goal, 11-assist line to tie for third in league scoring.
Cullen leads all league blueliners in scoring this season – and is tied for ninth in the league among all players – with 22 points on six goals and 16 assists. His point total ranks fourth nationally among defenders. In 20 games this season, Rosén has 12 points on four goals and eight assists for BSU and is part of a Bemidji State penalty kill unit that leads the country with a .929 average and has killed 20 of its opponents’ last 21 power plays.
McKay captured his third consecutive WCHA goaltending championship this season with a WCHA-record 1.07 GAA in league play. The record marks the third time in as many seasons that McKay has lowered the WCHA GAA record in league games. He joins NHL star and Michigan Tech three-time All-American Tony Esposito (1964-65, 1965-66, 1966-67) as just the second netminder to win three-straight WCHA goaltending crowns.
He enters the postseason with an equally impressive 1.32 GAA in all games that leads the NCAA. He also leads the country in shutouts (eight) and winning percentage (.895/17-2-0). McKay recorded his 22nd career shutout on Feb. 12 to establish a new WCHA record and move into second place on the NCAA career list, trailing only the 26 shutouts recorded by Michigan State’s Ryan Miller from 1999-2002. McKay’s eight shutouts in 19 contests this season are within two of equaling his WCHA single season record of 10 set last season in 37 appearances.
Hirose is Minnesota State’s top scoring defenseman with 13 points on a goal and 12 assists on the year. His points and assists totals lead WCHA rookie blueliners and stand tied for second in the country amongst all freshmen defensemen in their respective categories. He leads the Mavericks with a +16 rating – a mark that ranks fourth in the country amongst all newcomers.
Driscoll graduated with a business administration degree in the spring of 2020 and carried a 3.85 GPA. He is currently enrolled as a full-time graduate student pursuing a Masters of Business Administration degree with a 4.0 graduate GPA. In 23 appearances this season, Driscoll is 12-8-3 and leads the league and ranks third nationally with 630 saves.
He also continues to provide service to the community and campus members. He is active on the Student-Athlete Advising Committee and BSU Chapter of Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Most summers, he volunteers for Eastview youth hockey association through coaching young goaltenders and serving as a mentor to youth athletes in his hometown of Apple Valley, Minn.
Hastings led the Mavericks to an unprecedented fourth consecutive MacNaughton Cup championship this season as the Mavericks rolled to the WCHA regular-season title with a 13-1-0 mark in league play. Minnesota State is the first school in WCHA history to win four consecutive regular-season crowns and one of just two to win three outright titles in a row. The Mavericks enter the postseason with an 18-3-1 mark in 2020-21 and are poised to reach the 20-win mark for the ninth time under Hastings.
Defenseman Cale List brings his size and D-I experience to help the Norwich blueliners (Photo by Chandler Mosher ’21 Norwich University)
Following multiple delays and a 14-day in-room quarantine period, the Norwich Cadets finally and officially kicked off their season last week with three games in four days against in-state rival Castleton. While the season is quite short and there is no conference or national tournament trophy to be won, the team is committed to advancing the program to the next level and all of the players have been focused on being united and driven to be better while they play the game they love.
“It has been humbling to see how much they have stuck together through all of the challenges,” said head coach Cam Ellsworth. “I challenged them from the outset that no matter what happened be united as a group and focus on helping to advance our program beyond this year. Norwich hockey has a great culture and great traditions. The program was literally built on the backs of the men that came before us and we need to continue that growth and continuity regardless of the circumstances created outside of our control.”
Like many teams finding the start of their season where it normally ends, Norwich saw multiple delays due to COVID events with planned opponents and scrambled to find a way to play competitive hockey at the end of February. With a lot of effort from school administration and the athletic department, Connecticut College emerged as a first exhibition game before the season went official with three games against Castleton.
“You feel for the players so everyone is working so hard to find a way to play but maintaining the safety needed to prevent outbreaks or transmission,” noted Ellsworth. “We owe a debt of gratitude to the university’s leadership including Col. Mark Anarumo (USAF-Retired) our university president, as well as our athletic director, Tony Mariano. They have been incredibly supportive and enabling of our playing this season.”
Against Conn College, the Cadets used every able-bodied player in a 6-2 win that featured some new transfers and younger players getting valuable ice time in different roles with the team. In the three games against Castleton, all wins, the trend continued with the team seeing great progress in their individual and collective games.
“We are graduating seven of our top scorers from a national tournament team at the end of this season,” stated Ellsworth. “All of those kids have meant a lot to the success of the program and they have worked equally hard off the ice to prepare themselves for life after graduation either in the professional career path or committed to military service. So, we aren’t recruiting our seniors for one more season. We did have three transfers come in this year who have fit in nicely with the culture and are helping us to move forward. Drennen [Atherton] obviously has some big shoes to fill in succeeding goaltender Tom Aubrun who statistically in the best ever to play here and he has played well. Cale [List] is a bigger defenseman that I had recruited at Lowell. It didn’t really work out for Cale at Lowell, but he has fit in nicely here and gives us some size on the blue line. Michael [Green] actually reached out to us and we knew him a bit from playing against him at Southern Maine. He also brings some size and skill upfront and has blended into our culture well.”
With a lot of focus on personal video analysis, team video reviews and practices focused on pushing the players forward, it shouldn’t be a surprise that some of the younger players are showing very promising signs for where the team needs them to be for the remainder of this season and into the next. Freshman defenseman Logan vande Meerakker has three points in two games played while sophomores Phil Elgstam (1-4-5) and Niks Krollis (3-1-4) have been key contributors in the Cadets’ three straight wins over Castleton.
“Niks is a great story,” said Ellsworth. “He was a “slash” guy as a forward or defenseman even though he has always played mostly as a forward. Last semester in order for us to practice fully, Niks switched back to defense. It was a really selfless move and now we are seeing the benefits of all that work to start the season.”
This weekend the Cadets play a home-and-home series against Plymouth State who swept a two-game series with Anna Maria before dropping a pair of games to Babson last weekend.
“They were a conference championship and NCAA team last season when the pandemic ended the season,” said Ellsworth. “It will be a good test for our team and another benchmark for us to measure our progress as a group this season.”
In this file photo from Jan. 2015, North Dakota hosts Minnesota Duluth in an NCHC series at the Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks, N.D. (photo: USCHO.com).
Prep work to get arguably the best facility in college hockey ready for a rearranged conference tournament is nearly complete.
The Ralph Engelstad Arena (REA) in Grand Forks, N.D., is just about good to go for this year’s NCHC Frozen Faceoff. New center-ice signage was installed late last week, and after the last team practice this Thursday evening, new graphics will be installed on the rink’s dasher boards.
The Frozen Faceoff, which would normally take place in St. Paul, Minn., was moved last month to Grand Forks, with a single-elimination format utilized. Other changes in this pandemic-affected postseason include nixing for this year of the usual best-of-three first-round series as well as the NCHC’s third-place game.
The tournament begins Friday afternoon when second-seeded St. Cloud State faces No. 7 Colorado College. The four quarterfinal games will be split over Friday and Saturday, with semifinal games taking place next Monday ahead of Tuesday’s championship game.
In some ways, the reworked Frozen Faceoff will mirror the NCHC’s season-opening pod that took place in December at Omaha’s Baxter Arena. With active case numbers plummeting recently in Grand Forks County as well as the rest of North Dakota, Hodgson is optimistic that the Frozen Faceoff in Grand Forks will be as big of a success as the Omaha pod was.
“There’s been a great amount of collaboration between the membership that took part in the Omaha pod, as well as (league commissioner) Josh Fenton and the leadership of the NCHC,” REA general manager Jody Hodgson told USCHO on Wednesday.
“They were intimately involved in the Omaha event and intimately involved in the (Frozen Faceoff) event, so certainly they did a fantastic job in Omaha, and we’re going to try to replicate that here.”
One big difference between the Frozen Faceoff and the Omaha pod is that fans will be involved at REA.
Up to 3,000 will be permitted to attend each of the tournament’s seven games. The games are divided into their own sessions, which means fans will leave and re-enter the building with a different ticket on event days with two games. This will allow for cleaning crews to do their work ahead of each new game.
North Dakota and REA officials originally planned for a season without fans in attendance, as was the case in the NHL’s 2020 playoff bubbles and elsewhere in the world of sports. It was later decided that up to 1,000 fans would be allowed in for UND’s first home game of this season, but after the Fighting Hawks’ first two home dates were postponed, 2,008 fans attended UND’s home opener Jan. 23 against Colorado College. Attendance limits had been upped to 2,500 by then.
“We think it went really well,” Hodgson said of reintroducing spectators to REA. “We think our fans enjoyed the experience, and we had a limited number of them so we’re set at 3,000 for a maximum capacity for the Frozen Faceoff.
“We think it’s a really good balance when we try to create the type of student-athlete experience we seek, and also provide fans the opportunity to be part of the event. Certainly it’s a bit of a balancing act, but we think we’ve struck the right chord with it.”
REA, which normally holds a capacity of 11,634 fans, will keep its on-site mask mandate intact through the Frozen Faceoff, even though Grand Forks County rescinded its own mandate this Monday. The county’s mask mandate was put into place around two months ago as a statewide mandate expired.
“Our COVID-19 health and safety protocols are going to remain unchanged through the Frozen Faceoff, and it’s an awesome thing, in my opinion, that Grand Forks County has gotten to the point where they can rescind the mask mandate,” Hodgson said. “That means we’re headed in the right direction and the (active case) numbers are really low in our community.
“Those are great things for the Frozen Faceoff as well as for our community at large, but I do think it is our responsibility to honor the commitment we made to the NCHC and their member institutions, the student-athletes, coaches and staff and all the (university) presidents and everybody that decided to bring the event to Grand Forks. They did so under the belief that we would have fans in the building, but that we would require those fans to wear masks when they’re here. The whole event will continue to be a masked event, even though the county has rescinded the community’s mask mandate.
“We think we need to honor the commitment to the conference, to the fans,” Hodgson continued. “People purchased tickets prior to the change in that mask mandate, so there’s a certain portion of the population that still expects us to create the environment that existed when they bought their tickets.”
Hodgson was asked Wednesday how arena officials plan to enforce the facility’s mask mandate, even with the county’s own mandate no longer in place.
“Just through encouragement, would be the honest answer,” he said. “It’s through our staff communicating with people and trying to be respectful, but encouraging people and reminding people that that policy does exist, and just doing as good a job as we can of balancing that out.
“We don’t seek to be confrontational and we don’t seek to take away from people’s enjoyment of the event, but we do have a policy in place, and as such, it’s our requirement to try and enforce that as best we can.”
Hodgson said that ticket sales for the Frozen Faceoff are going well, despite the duration and single-elimination format affecting the travel experience that the tournament normally provides.
A significant majority of tickets are expected to be purchased in and around Grand Forks, and there has been more demand for North Dakota’s quarterfinal game Friday against Miami than there has been for the other three opening-round games. Single-game tickets are now being sold for the quarterfinals, but single-game tickets are not yet available for the semifinals and final.
Just about all applicable ducks are in a row at this point, and carrying on from the success of the Omaha pod, Hodgson is eager to get started with what could be a once-in-a-lifetime type of tournament experience in Grand Forks.
“I just think they did a really, really thorough job in Omaha,” Hodgson said. “If I were to identify something that we’d like to do and replicate, we’d like to make sure that all games get played and we’d like to make sure everybody stays healthy and safe, and that we create the type of safe event that everybody wants to have to conclude the season.”
One more thing
This is my last NCHC column of the season. I’ll be back on the site soon, though. I have a few more NCHC game picks to be wrong about — everybody’s good at something — and I’ll also have a feature coming up on a Hockey Humanitarian Award finalist. Those are easily among my favorite stories to write whenever I get the opportunity, so I hope you’ll enjoy this year’s.
Anyway, to end my last league column each season, I take time to thank my family, friends, my editor here at USCHO and you, our readers. If you’ve been here with us long enough, you should all know how that goes and how much I appreciate you.
This time, though, I want to focus on something else.
Candace Horgan has been my writing partner here at USCHO for as long as the NCHC has been around, since the fall of 2013. It’s wild to think we’ve been working together that long, but back then, we also couldn’t have had the foggiest idea of what the 2020-21 season would be like.
Deep down, I think we all knew that COVID-19 would have an effect on this season, just as the pandemic did last season with the cancellation of the college hockey postseason and the NCAA’s spring sports championships. With that in mind, Candace opened our NCHC season preview in November by expressing trepidation over this college hockey season even happening. I fully shared her view, and I’ve never been more proud to be involved in our partnership than when that article went live.
The last year and change has been challenging for all of us. I won’t presume to speak for Candace, but while I feel incredibly fortunate not to have lost anyone I know to COVID-19, living 10 hours away from nearly anyone I knew before I moved to north-central North Dakota, I haven’t seen any of my family members in person for going on 15 months. That’s not easy to process.
I think back to my column earlier this season on Western Michigan senior Ethen Frank, from Papillion, Neb., about 20 minutes from where I grew up in Omaha. I wrote that story just after the NCHC’s season-opening pod in Omaha came to an end, and in speaking with Ethen, I felt incredibly jealous that he was able to be home during the holiday period.
I’m grateful to him for sharing his story, though, just as I am to Candace for everything I’ve learned from her. She works harder here than I could ever claim to. She crushes it every time with her NCHC coverage, and she has also been a huge proponent of women’s college hockey, something that is criminally undervalued.
This website, and college hockey in general, are infinitely better for your presence, Candace. Thank you.
Note: This is a special, part two, Thursday edition of Wednesday Women. Check out yesterday’s part one that recapped the regular season and conference tournaments before diving in on our thoughts about the NCAA tournament field selection and predictions for how we expect those teams to fare.
Arlan: I guess that I could have just started this column by hollering in all caps, “What did you think of the NCAA selections?” I hope that we can all agree on the automatic bids. Maybe? It’s fairly safe to add in Ohio State.
At that point, so much for unanimous decisions. I think that the committee’s biggest mistake was bypassing Penn State. In order to do that, they had to make the assumption that the third-best team in both Hockey East and the WCHA was better than the top team in the CHA. There have definitely been years where that was true, and there were mathematical rankings to back it up. I don’t know of any such ranking this year.
Grant Salzano put together an analysis for BC Interruption where he compared the strength of the leagues going back five years. First, I’m not sure what is magical about five years. Five years ago, none of the current players were playing college hockey, so it’s safe to assume that there could be some massive shifts in power. At the point where he was having to introduce corrections for defunct programs, programs that have been added, programs sitting out due to the virus, he should have started to introduce some sort of a plus-minus value to indicate his uncertainty. Inevitably, we need to gauge how strong programs are today, with their current rosters. Thanks to Covid, that is even more of a revolving door than usual.
About the only measure we have to use is Team Winning Percentage, where Penn State is second to only Northeastern. In terms of winning percentage, Providence was the last team into the field, with a percentage of .625. That does not compare well with the Nittany Lions at .810. Maybe the Hockey East schedule was much more rigorous, but we don’t have any accurate way to measure that. At least not to the precision where we can ignore that large of a gap in success on the ice.
Many people expected Minnesota to make the field. All of its losses were to teams seeded in the top three. That’s fine, but there were eight of those losses in 11 games. It’s one thing to play a tough schedule, but you still have to show positive results. Minnesota’s final five home games were against Wisconsin and Ohio State. The Gophers didn’t win any of those, going 0-4-1, including losing two games where they had multi-goal leads. I realize that Minnesota had a lot of injuries, particularly in the OSU series, when it had four players out. Sometimes, you just have to figure out how to use your available assets and take care of business in order to advance. Is Minnesota better than some teams selected? I think so, but that’s just an opinion and counts for less than nothing. Did Minnesota prove it belonged? I’d say that the Gophers didn’t achieve that, at least not to the extent that they proved they would be in big trouble any time they ran into Wisconsin or Ohio State.
I see the Friars resume as being very similar to that of Minnesota: a game better in terms of a record, but a less challenging schedule. The Gophers had 13 games against the top five seeds, going 4-8-1. Providence played seven games against the top six seeds, going 2-5-0. Thus, the Gophers would have a winning percentage just under 35 percent against the tournament field, while the Friars are just under 29 percent in their games versus tourney teams. I’m not suggesting that Minnesota belongs in the field over Providence, but that if the Gophers are out, it’s hard to find a measure where PC is more deserving. And if winning percentage trumped strength of schedule for UMD over Minnesota, then how can Penn State be left out? I’m not seeing it.
Penn State proved more on the ice. The Nittany Lions are 4-0 against teams in the tournament field. I don’t ever remember a team in the eight-team era being bypassed with a mark at all similar to that. In my opinion, the committee exercised a disproportionate bias against the CHA this year with respect to what can be proven. If PSU was being penalized for failing to reach its tournament final, then it doesn’t look that BC was held similarly accountable.
We are now reminded why mathematical formulas are used in most years. The committee was left to make judgements, and based on the composition of the committee, the optics aren’t encouraging that fairness was paramount.
I did appreciate that the committee didn’t give us any conference retreads in the first round, so even I will concede that they did well in that respect. That’s the end of my rant, and I’ll turn the soap box over to you, if you’re so inclined.
Nicole: It’s funny you should end with that because I’m pretty sure that exact reason is what tipped the scale against Minnesota. That’s clearly not fair nor is it a directive in the selection criteria, but since I can’t figure out a whole lot of other rhyme or reason to what they did, I think that at the end it came down to them choosing Providence to avoid Wisconsin vs. Minnesota again. Of course, that doesn’t explain why it was Providence over Penn State.
I honestly think you could drive yourself mad or at the very least create a very convincing murder mystery cork board with red string trying to unravel or make sense of the decisions that were made. They’re contradictory and don’t follow the criteria, except when they do sometimes.
Where I’ve landed on this is that I’m not super upset about the field or teams chosen generally, but I have serious concerns about the thought process used to get there – specifically the haphazard choice of which criteria they’d use and when. I wrote about this here on Monday, so I’ll try not to retread too much of that.
Clearly the committee decided UMD had been underrated and should sit higher in the rankings. What doesn’t make sense is how that doesn’t also inflate Minnesota’s case, as the Gophers beat them twice. It appears the committee weighed the Bulldogs’ record and near-win of the WCHA regular season title highly. But did not do the same for Penn State. They seem not to have taken into account Minnesota’s record against tournament teams compared to Providence’s record against tournament teams.
I said this as a bit of a fleeting thought on Twitter on Sunday night from a gas station somewhere in Northwest Wisconsin before getting back on the road home, but the more I think on it, the more I feel like Minnesota was being not just compared to UMD, but also to their own history of being a very good program.
There was a lot made of how “awful” the Gophers were because they went 3-6-1 in their final ten games. But objectively, they played eight of those games against teams ranked ahead of them in the polls. At the time, the number one and three teams in the nation. Three of the final four games against UW and OSU were one-goal losses and in the fourth, they tied Wisconsin and won the shootout. The Gophers then finished the regular season with the kind of wins over Bemidji that people are mad UMD didn’t have.
I’m sorry, but no one ranked below the Gophers in the polls would have done any better over that stretch. People think Minnesota is somehow awful because of that ten game record because of their own expectations for what the Gophers “should” do. It’s unfair and it says so much about the standard they’re held to that being ranked fifth in the country is considered a “awful” year for them.
Now I’ll negate all the goodwill I may have gathered from Gopher fans by agreeing with what you said above about needing to work with what you have and pointing out that Minnesota had the ability to prove their case via the WCHA tournament. In 2018, they were in a win-or-go-home situation where they were unlikely to get an NCAA bid unless they won the auto bid. So they went out and won the auto bid. There’s no controversy here if they’d made a better case.
It may be a little contradictory or convoluted, but I both think Minnesota has some blame to shoulder for not doing much over the final month to convince the committee they were worthy of a bid and that, consciously or not, the committee judged them differently than they may have another team based on past success.
As a friend said, this whole debacle made me miss Pairwise. Pairwise! The formula that’s actually not a very good tool for women’s hockey. And still, I now know I can’t complain about it again because clearly things get much, much worse. Unreal.
Arlan: As for what stands out to me in the quarterfinals, I would say that the Boston College versus Ohio State game looks like a trap game for the Buckeyes. With a potential rematch with Wisconsin looming in the next round just a couple of days later, they could look past BC. OSU is good, very good, but it’s not good enough to defeat an opponent of that caliber with less than its usual intensity.
The other problem for the Buckeyes is there are questions about the health and availability of first-line center Liz Schepers, and she’s a big piece of their puzzle. Three years have passed since these teams met and the Eagles were eliminated on home ice in this same round, so I don’t know how much motivation they will take from that memory. They’re still a dangerous team, and if they put it all together, there is definitely enough talent to turn the tables. This is still a relatively new role for Ohio State, going from the up-and-coming team with something to prove to the favored team that is expected to win.
In the other openers, I expect that RMU will be better prepared for this stage in its second national tournament, but Northeastern is too good.
Colgate is underappreciated and has a ton of young talent. The Bulldogs on Saturday didn’t look like they were on the cusp of greater things, but maybe they can recharge during the extra days between games. The No. 4 seed is often the most vulnerable, but I don’t get that feeling this time.
Finally, Wisconsin is a lock. Defensively, the Badgers aren’t as strong as they typically are, but I don’t think that the Friars have the necessary firepower to exploit that. I’m sure that they’ll put forth their best effort, and kudos to them for overcoming Covid and making it this far.
Here is where it always gets difficult, analyzing potential matchups that might never happen. A person could lose a lot of money over the years trying to pick NCAA Champions from Hockey East, but I have a different sense about the Huskies. The field is a bit weaker with only one ECAC entry, the WCHA doesn’t have one team that is so scary good that nobody can hang with them, so it doesn’t look like an impossible task. No disrespect to Colgate, but I think that the Raiders are probably a year away, so I’m going to be the slow learner and pick the Hockey East champ — Northeastern.
Are you looking closer to home?
Nicole: I both agree with your assessment that the BC/OSU matchup is the one most likely to yield an upset and think that Ohio State has a good chance at winning it all. How’s that for useless predictions?
First of all, they’re probably the most well-rested of all the teams in the field, having had three weeks off before the conference tournament. There are lingering questions about what happens if they don’t have Schepers, but the rest of the team had a chance to rest the aches and pains that come from a season, which is a rare luxury this time of year.
The thing about the Buckeyes that won’t let me overlook them is their tenacity. When they get going, they’re steamrolling and despite the fact that they should probably be scoring more with the offensive firepower and number of shots they take, they consistently come back in games where they’re down and force teams to beat them. When they get moving, they gain momentum and confidence exponentially and it makes them very hard to beat.
I think Northeastern is probably the team to beat right now, but I also would feel much better about wholeheartedly picking them if they’d played a top tier team. I know they are good, but I’m not sure I have a real grasp on exactly how good. My indecision on how the Frozen Four, particularly, will play out has more to do with what I know Colgate, Wisconsin and Ohio State are capable of. What I don’t feel like I know as well is how the Huskies will respond.
They looked messier than I’d have thought at this point of the year against UConn in the Hockey East semifinal. UConn is better than they get credit for, but they had goalie Aerin Frankel moving quite a bit around the net and I think had NU back on their heels a bit. It felt like a little bit of a crack in their otherwise pretty darn solid armor.
Both Wisconsin and Ohio State matchup up well against their speed and that explosive top line. Having watched both teams handle a lot of forechecking pressure and keep the area around their net fairly clear this weekend, it makes me think either one could do a bit to slow down Alina Mueller and Chloe Aurard. The key would be halting or interrupting the breakout before or as it’s happening. If Northeastern is able to easily move through the zones, I think they have the advantage. But I think messing with their rhythm and accelerating the need to make decisions might be the key to shutting them down.
Of course, that’s all assuming the Huskies get past Colgate, which is also not a given.
The case for Wisconsin, for me, begins and ends at their depth. They are dangerous in so many different ways through four lines. The past three games, Lacey Eden and Daryl Watts have been paired on their second line and are explosive together. They’re dynamic in different ways and it’s a lot for teams to handle. Eden herself said she scored the championship game-winner in overtime because the defender and the goalie were cheating towards Watts – a valid choice on their part, but Eden is proving to be just as lethal and it forces defenders to make an impossible choice. In the semifinal, the scoring came from the rookies on the third line after Minnesota did a good job sticking to Watts, Eden, Britta Curl and Brette Pettet.
As they lined up this weekend, the Huskies’ top top lines have 115 total points. Wisconsin’s top two lines have 108 total points. The difference is Northeastern’s is split with 75 on the top line and 40 on the second. Wisconsin’s points are evenly distributed across the two lines – 54 points each.
We’ve talked all year about how defense is one of the Badgers’ weakest spots. An interesting thing to evolve out of that is I feel like we’re seeing better, stronger back-checking from the forwards. I’d also give Eden credit for some of that. She is aggressive on both ends of the ice and was throwing her body in front of pucks on the defensive end from her very first game in a Wisconsin sweater. That has set a precedent and I think the rest of the team has stepped up to that challenge.
Similarly, I think the team as a whole has adapted and improved their game this year in response to the fact that Kennedy Blair plays a different style than Kristen Campbell did. Blair tends to deflect and push aside pucks more than freeze them. Her teammates have gotten much better at staying close, looking for pucks and clearing them. Both things have changed Wisconsin’s defense in ways I didn’t expect to start the season.
Even still, the Badgers will get scored on. Their M.O. this year is definitely more “put away more pucks than the other team” than “shut down the opponent.” With their defense and Frankel in ne on the other end, that would be no easy task.
It would be great to see numbers one and two face off in the title, but there’s absolutely no guarantee that either of them will make it that far and if either of them gets ahead of themselves, their run will be over before it begins.
Northeastern goalie Connor Murphy has gone 9-8-3 with a 2.66 GAA, a .912 save percentage and a pair of shutouts this season (photo: Jim Pierce).
Connor Murphy has played roughly 1,100 more minutes than he did a year ago.
He went into the season expecting to fight for the top Northeastern goaltending job with Devon Levi, who spent the first part of the season with Team Canada for World Juniors.
But Levi broke a rib, and hasn’t seen game action with Northeastern yet.
That opened the door for Murphy to seize the No. 1 goalie position, and with Levi still not back, with no competition.
No one expected him to play as much as he has, but he’s kept the Huskies afloat in a strange season.
“Connor’s done a great job,” said Northeastern coach Jim Madigan. “He got an opportunity to play right off the bat and has played well and continues to make great strides and improvement during the course of the year. He’s had to carry the load the whole year.”
Murphy, who this season has a .912 save percentage, played just 42 minutes as a freshman and knew he’d have his work cut out for him to challenge Levi, a top goalie prospect who was representing Canada on the world stage.
This season has been a different world. He’s ended up playing nearly every minute in net for the Huskies, all while juggling a difficult role as a goalie in a season where prep work has become nearly impossible.
“Connor’s a very balanced, level young man, and he does a good job controlling what he can control,” said Madigan. “When an opponent changes, he doesn’t get worked up about it, just focuses on who the next opponent is, he’s very even-keeled.”
His first game this season came in December when Levi was in Canada and it had been a year since Murphy saw any game time. A month later on January 13, he earned his first career shutout.
By February, he topped his career-high with a 38-save performance against UConn. His growth was rapid, and Madigan credits more consistency.
The price to consistency is sometimes burn out too, something Madigan and co have tried to avoid. Murphy has played all but 15 minutes of the Huskies’ goalie minutes this season, a monolithic workload for a guy who barely played two periods a year ago.
“He played an awful lot with a very good team in Carleton Place (in juniors), he came in and always played the majority of the games,” said Madigan. “Goalies need to play games, and the fact he played really well in junior and only got better says that.”
That’s not to say it has been a flawless adjustment; Northeastern hasn’t had a ton of opportunity to face quality opponents with the way the schedule has fallen for them, and in the eight games against top-five teams this season, he has allowed three or more goals in each instance.
It’s a different feel than if Levi had been ready to go during the season. If he is at any point going forward, and next season, Murphy has done his job enough to create some internal competition and push him, something Madigan said is healthy for the position.
UMass is going to be a challenge. In two games with the Minutemen this season the Huskies dropped each of them — one 4-3 and the other 5-3 –, with Murphy in net. One-goal losses are tough all around, and relying on an offense to out-score four tallies isn’t a simple recipe for success.
Murphy has continuously gotten more comfortable though as the season has gone on and he’s adjusted to playing in Hockey East. It’s an opportunity no one expected, but it’s one he’s made the best of.
“He didn’t get the opportunity to play much his freshman year here at Northeastern,” Madigan said. “That’s what makes his season this year all the more remarkable. Goalies do need games, and when he played in December it had been a year since he played.
“He’s done a great job here.”
League awards
Player of the Year – Matt Boldy, Boston College Honorable mentions: David Farrance (Boston University), Zach Solow (Northeastern)
Coach of the Year – Albie O’Connell, Boston University
All-Rookie Team
F Nikita Nesterenko, BC
F Josh Lopina, UMass
F Gunnarwolfe Fontaine, Northeastern
F Dylan Jackson, Northeastern
D Eamon Powell, BC
D Aaron Bohlinger, UMass
G Drew Commesso, BU
Rookie of the Year – Josh Lopina, UMass
Best Defenseman – Jordan Harris, Northeastern
Best Defensive Forward – Marc McLaughlin, Boston College
Four second-period goals broke open the game as seventh-seeded UMass Lowell survived a tough test from 11th-seed Vermont to advance to the Hockey East quarterfinals, 5-3 (Photo: Rich Gagnon)
UMass Lowell scored four times in the second period, including a pair of goals from sophomore Matt Brown as the River Hawks fought of a pesky Vermont team to advance in the Hockey East opening round, 5-3.
Lowell will take on second-seeded Boston University Sunday at 1 pm at Walter Brown Arena.
The River Hawks didn’t have the started they wanted, as Vermont was strong from the opening bell, outshooting Lowell, 11-5, and taking a 1-0 lead on Jacques Bouquot’s goal at 17:29 of the period.
The lead nearly was doubled in the closing seconds but for defenseman Nolan Sawchuk batting a puck out of the air just before it entered the net.
In the second, Sawchuk, a junior looking for his first-career goal, found it when he one-timed a shot from the point off an offensive zone draw at 2:50.
That started an explosive 12 minutes for the River Hawks that changed the complexion of the game.
At 9:13, it was another River Hawks blueliner, Anthony Baxter, who jumped into the offense and fired home a rebound for the 2-1 lead. It was Baxter’s first goal of the season.
From there it was Matt Brown’s time to shine. At 10:54, he made a perfect redirect from the slot on the power play. And less than four minutes later, right after killing a penalty, Brown skated in alone and buried his second of the game.
Vermont hung tight and closed the gap to 4-2 and 5-3, but ultimately the River Hawks were able to clamp down and seal the victory.
“We didn’t start off the way we wanted, but we responded to a little adversity and had a big second period,” said Lowell coach Norm Bazin. “Playoff games never go as smoothly as you want them to. It’s just a matter of trying to play a 60-minute game.”
New Hampshire 7, Maine 2
Four players posted multi-point games for New Hampshire led by Filip Engaras’ goal and two assists as the 10th-seed Wildcats skated past eighth-seed Maine, 7-2.
New Hampshire will take on top seed and national number one Boston College, Sunday at 4:30 p.m. at Kelley Rink. The game will be televised on NESN.
UNH jumped to a 2-0 lead on goals by Kalle Erickson and Eric MacAdams. MacAdams goal set off a wild, five goals in 6:51, a record mark for five combined goals in an opening round series.
The clubs twice traded goals giving UNH a 4-2 lead head to the third. And from there, the Wildcats had no relent. Engaras scored unassisted at 1:00 of the third.
Check out Engarås' third period goal that extended the Wildcat lead to 5-2!!
Then, after Maine pulled its goaltender early in hopes of a comeback, Luke Reid scored into the empty-net shorthanded.
Lucas Herrmann closed the scoring late.
The game was the first-and-only game that Maine played at home this season. The Black Bears, because of university COVID rules, played their entire regular season on the road.
Tonight’s WIAC semifinal game between UW-Superior and UW-River Falls has been canceled due to COVID-19 protocols.
Per WIAC COVID-19 procedures, UW-Superior will advance to the championship game on March 12 against the winner of tonight’s semifinal game between No. 3 seed UW-Stevens Point and No. 2 seed UW-Eau Claire.
In a vague post Wednesday evening on the Clarkson athletics website, the Golden Knights men’s team is apparently done with the current college hockey season.
Thank you to all Clarkson Fans for your support during COVID-19.
We look forward to welcoming you to a new season next fall.
No reason or explanation was given as to the abrupt finish to the season.
Bowling Green captain Connor Ford has registered 16 goals and 28 points in 28 games this season for the Falcons (photo: Isaiah Vazquez).
The WCHA announced Wednesday its three all-WCHA teams and one all-rookie team for the 2020-21 season.
First Team All-WCHA
Brandon Kruse, F, Sr., Bowling Green
Julian Napravnik, F, Jr., Minnesota State
Connor Ford, F, Sr., Bowling Green
Will Cullen, D, Jr., Bowling Green
Elias Rosén, D, So., Bemidji State
Dryden McKay, G, Jr., Minnesota State
Second Team All-WCHA
Joseph Nardi, F, Sr., Northern Michigan
Nathan Smith, F, So., Minnesota State
Ashton Calder, F, Jr., Lake Superior State
Colin Swoyer, D, Jr., Michigan Tech
Will Riedell, D, Sr., Lake Superior State
Mareks Mitens, G, Sr., Lake Superior State
Third Team All-WCHA
Trenton Bliss, F, Jr., Michigan Tech
Andre Ghantous, F, So., Northern Michigan
Pete Veillette, F, Jr., Lake Superior State
Akito Hirose, D, Fr., Minnesota State
Riese Zmolek, D, Sr., Minnesota State
Zach Driscoll, G, Sr., Bemidji State
WCHA All-Rookie Team
Arvid Caderoth, F, Michigan Tech
Lukas Sillinger, F, Bemidji State
Tyrone Bronte, F, Alabama Huntsville
Akito Hirose, D, Minnesota State
Jake Livingstone, D, Minnesota State
Rico DiMatteo, G, Northern Michigan
Shane Pinto has been an offensive sparkplug this season for North Dakota (photo: Mark Kuhlmann).
North Dakota sophomore forward Shane Pinto made conference history Wednesday, becoming the first player to win the NCHC’s Forward of the Year and Defensive Forward of the Year honors, claiming both for the 2020-21 campaign.
In addition, UND junior defenseman Jacob Bernard-Docker, UND junior goaltender Adam Scheel and Western Michigan sophomore defenseman Ronnie Attard also earned individual honors Wednesday, with North Dakota players capturing four of the NCHC’s five positional playing awards this season.
Along with Pinto’s pair of forward honors, Bernard-Docker was deemed the NCHC’s Defensive Defenseman of the Year in 2020-21, Attard earned Offensive Defenseman of the Year, and Scheel took home Goaltender of the Year accolades from the NCHC.
Pinto, the reigning NCHC Rookie of the Year, compiled 15 goals and 28 points and also led the conference with 11 multi-point games, 1.22 points per game, seven power-play goals and 13 power-play points. Three of his goals were game-winners, as well, as he led UND to a second straight Penrose Cup.
Defensively, Pinto was the top faceoff man in the conference winning 308 draws with a .620 win percentage, both tops in the NCHC. His plus-15 plus/minus rating tied for second in the conference. The Ottawa Senators draft pick also blocked 13 shots and only took one penalty all season in 23 games.
Attard, a Philadelphia Flyers prospect, led all NCHC defensemen in scoring with 22 points and eight goals while playing in all 24 games. He also chipped in 14 assists, tied for second among NCHC blueliners. Attard quarterbacked the Broncos’ power play, recording nine points and three goals on the man advantage.
Bernard-Docker anchored a UND blue line that leads the NCHC and ranks fourth nationally allowing only 1.96 goals against per game. The Senators prospect is also a stalwart on the penalty kill, helping North Dakota rank ninth nationally at over 86 percent. Bernard-Docker finished with a plus-15 plus/minus, which tied for second in the NCHC, and blocked 31 shots, while playing in all 24 games. Offensively, he chipped in 15 points, including 13 assists.
Scheel led the conference with a 1.80 GAA in 20 starts and was second with a .929 save percentage. His 16 wins (16-3-1), .825 win percentage and four shutouts all led the conference as well. The Mike Richter Award finalist was the national goalie of the month for the final month of the regular season as he backstopped North Dakota to the NCHC regular-season title.
If the NCAA tournament began today, would Peter DiLiberatore and Quinnipiac be among the field of 16? (photo: Rob Rasmussen).
We promised it last week, that in this week’s Bracketology, Jayson and I would try to find some sort of agreement on a field, just like being on the NCAA committee.
If we’re able to do that (spoiler: we’re not), we’ll attempt to put together what we think the regionals should look like.
As mentioned in the previous two editions, at-large selection of teams will change. Based on the extremely limited amount of inter-conference play, it is very difficult to compare one league to another and thus, one team to another.
The NCAA has attempted to clarify the process. In a memo from the NCAA that was issued on February 16, it states:
“Due to the limited number of inter-conference games played this year, the committee has determined that the statistical value of the PairWise and RPI is not what it is in a typical year. As a result, the committee will not be using a strict PairWise comparisons as the sole determinant for at-large selection and seeding. However, the various criteria that have made up the PairWise and the RPI will be the primary basis for consideration by the committee in its selection and seeding process.
The criteria include:
• Won/Loss Record
• Strength of Schedule
• Head-to-Head Results
• Results vs. Common Opponents
• Quality Wins
• Home/Away Weighting
Due to the unusual nature of this year’s selection process, the committee will institute the use of two regional advisory committees comprised of six members each. Three national committee members from each region, as well as additional coach from each conference in the region, will serve on the regional advisory committees. The representatives were provided to the committee based on recommendations from the conference commissioners. These committees will assist in the observation and evaluation of teams and provide recommendations to the national committee.”
Let’s attempt to translate.
Basically, the PairWise, as we all know it can be thrown out. But the criteria used to establish the PairWise can and will be used to rank teams, particularly within each conference. From there, though, there will be an “eye test” provided by two regional committees that will help the six-member NCAA committee select the field.
Thus, in this year’s Brackteology, Jim Connelly and Jayson Moy will work each week to give their best guesses based on games played to date, which teams should qualify for the 16-team field.
Jim: For me, Jayson, not a ton has changed in the last week. Maybe some teams like Michigan and Omaha have made me feel better about their at-large bids with wins over Minnesota and North Dakota, respectively. But there hasn’t been much that would change my mind on my approach. Now let’s see if I can convince you that this is the best approach.
Once again, I’m ranking the conferences in order of strength. This is done simply with an eye test. I have watched plenty of hockey this season, just as the committee members have. And because of that, I’ve ranked the conferences as follows.
Tier I: NCHC Tier II: Hockey East, Big Ten Tier III: ECAC Tier IV: WCHA, Atlantic Hockey
From here, I’ve created a list of “locks,” teams that, should there not be major upsets in conference tournaments, these are the teams I believe should be in the tournament, regardless. I will list them in each conference, in order of strongest to weakest. That might help give some guidance to rankings when we need to determine bands for each team.
NCHC: North Dakota, St. Cloud State, Minnesota Duluth, Omaha Hockey East: Boston College, Boston University, Massachusetts B1G: Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan ECAC: Quinnipiac AHA: AIC WCHA: Minnesota State, Bowling Green
Right now, I’ve accounted for 14 of 16 spots. Pretty consistent with last week.
Now, I’ve got to find a way to fill two additional spots. I’m going to create a bubble based on records and results to date.
These are the teams I have on my bubble, in alphabetical order: Bemidji State, Clarkson, Connecticut, Lake Superior and Notre Dame.
Now we have some really difficult decisions. To help, I’m going to list each teams record against my 14 lock teams:
I’m not sure how much this helped, but it does show me that UConn, right now at least, is a team I want to eliminate with just a single win in seven attempts against Hockey East’s top three teams.
Conversely, I’m impressed enough by Bemidji State’s performances that I am ready to given them the 15th spot.
That leaves me with Notre Dame, Clarkson and Lake Superior. Notre Dame has the most wins against the top 3 teams in the Big Ten, but also had the most opportunities. The other two – Clarkson and Lake Superior – are pretty similar.
So I’m going back to my rankings of leagues and, with these three teams somewhat similar, I’m going with Notre Dame.
That leaves me with these 16 teams (I’m putting them in order of what I perceive are strongest to weakest):
North Dakota
Boston College
Wisconsin
Minnesota State
St. Cloud State
Minnesota
Quinnipiac
Michigan
Boston University
Minnesota Duluth
UMass
Bowling Green
Omaha
AIC
Notre Dame
Bemidji State
So Jayson, I’ll turn it over to you. Agree? Or better said, anything you strongly disagree with?
Jayson: I think that we are in agreement on 13 of your lock teams. The one that I am not sold is without a doubt Omaha.
One win over North Dakota doesn’t do it for me. The reason? This year Omaha was 2-4 against North Dakota, the two wins being one goal wins and one in overtime. Diving deeper, it was 1-1 against St. Cloud State and 0-1-1 against Minnesota-Duluth. That’s a total of 3-6-1 against the top three teams that are locks. Not good enough in my eyes.
So I would lump Omaha into the under consideration group.
In my group of consideration for the final three spots, I would say that it contains the following teams.
I would not discount Robert Morris and Army. Robert Morris was the winner of the Western pod in Atlantic Hockey. Yes, AIC is the class of the AHA this year, but I think both Army and Robert Morris deserve consideration.
In the Big Ten, I am not sold on Notre Dame being under consideration. 2-5-1 against the top two (Wisconsin, Minnesota) and 2-2 against Michigan. Michigan was 4-4 against Wisconsin and Minnesota. But, I will leave Notre Dame in the mix as well.
In the ECAC, yes, I would leave Clarkson in the mix at 2-2-2 against Quinnipiac, the top team in the conference.
You have UConn in the mix, but I will counter and say that if Providence beats UConn in the Hockey East Quarters, then Providence is under consideration instead of UConn.
In the NCHC, as we mentioned, Omaha deserves consideration. But to me, a loss to Denver in the quarterfinal will eliminate it.
In the WCHA, I would consider Lake Superior and Bemidji State. Lake Superior is tough to determine because it has only played Minnesota State and Bowling Green to a 2-2 record, whereas Bemidji State has played them to a 5-3 record.
So my bubble for three spots is:
Army
Robert Morris
Notre Dame
Clarkson
UConn/Providence
Omaha
Bemidji State
Lake Superior
Jim, as you have done, I want to place some sort of ranking on the teams. Based on my analysis above, the most precarious teams on this list are Army, Robert Morris, UConn/Providence, Lake Superior.
I am ready to say that if these teams don’t advance to a Championship Game, I am ready to eliminate them.
The same can’t be said for Clarkson, Notre Dame, Omaha and Bemidji State.
Four teams for three spots.
I will come back to my method previously.
Record against the top teams in order to break ties.
Clarkson (2-2-2 against Quinnipiac)
Notre Dame (0-3-1 against Wisconsin)
Omaha (2-4-0 against North Dakota)
Bemidji State (2-3-1 against Minnesota State)
Based on this, I eliminate Notre Dame.
My field:
AIC
Wisconsin
Minnesota
Michigan
Quinnipiac
Clarkson
Boston College
Boston University
Massachusetts
North Dakota
St. Cloud State
Minnesota-Duluth
Omaha
Minnesota State
Bowling Green
Bemidji State
Now, let me take a crack at Bracketing the tournament.
Fargo Regional
Bemidji State vs. North Dakota
Minnesota Duluth vs. Minnesota
Bridgeport Regional
AIC vs. Boston College
Massachusetts vs. Quinnipiac
Albany Regional
Clarkson vs. Wisconsin
Bowling Green vs. Boston University
Loveland Regional
Omaha vs. Minnesota State
Michigan vs. St. Cloud State
And there you have it. No intra-conference matchups to be seen.
What do you think about these brackets Jim?
Jim: Well, you just made this seem a lot simpler than I thought possible. But, as you say, we have some disagreements for the final few spots. So let’s see what happens when I take my 16 teams.
My top four teams:
North Dakota
Boston College
Wisconsin
Minnesota State
My second-band teams:
St. Cloud State
Minnesota
Quinnipiac
Michigan
My third-band teams:
Boston University
Minnesota Duluth
UMass
Bowling Green
My fourth-band teams:
Omaha
AIC
Notre Dame
Bemidji State
With four western teams in the top band, there’s going to be some air travel, regardless. For top seeds, I’ll put:
Top seeds:
Fargo: North Dakota
Bridgeport: Boston College
Loveland: Minnesota State
Albany: Wisconsin
Second seeds:
Fargo: St. Cloud State
Bridgeport: Michigan
Loveland: Minnesota
Albany: Quinnipiac
Third seeds:
Fargo: Minnesota Duluth
Bridgeport: Boston University
Loveland: Bowling Green
Albany: UMass
Fourth seeds:
Fargo: Bemidji State
Bridgeport: Notre Dame
Loveland: Omaha
Albany: AIC
That leaves me:
Fargo Regional
North Dakota vs. Bemidji State
St. Cloud State vs. Minnesota Duluth
Bridgeport Regional
Boston College vs. Notre Dame
Boston University vs. Michigan
Loveland Regional
Minnesota State vs. Omaha
Minnesota vs. Bowling Green
Albany Regional
Wisconsin vs. AIC
Quinnipiac vs. UMass
We do have an issue with Fargo as St. Cloud State and Minnesota Duluth can’t face one another. But a quick switch of Minnesota Duluth and Bowling Green (yes, that means putting the Bulldogs on a plane as opposed to a bus), should work.
Thus, this week’s final brackets
Jayson’s bracket:
Fargo Regional
Bemidji State vs. North Dakota
Minnesota Duluth vs. Minnesota
Bridgeport Regional
AIC vs. Boston College
Massachusetts vs. Quinnipiac
Albany Regional
Clarkson vs Wisconsin
Bowling Green vs. Boston University
Loveland Regional
Omaha vs. Minnesota State
Michigan vs. St. Cloud State
Jim’s bracket:
Fargo Regional
North Dakota vs. Bemidji State
St. Cloud State vs. Bowling Green
Bridgeport Regional
Boston College vs. Notre Dame
Boston University vs. Michigan
Loveland Regional
Minnesota State vs. Omaha
Minnesota vs. Minnesota Duluth
Albany Regional
Wisconsin vs. AIC
Quinnipiac vs. UMass
Last four in:
Jim: Omaha, AIC, Notre Dame, Bemidji State
Jayson: Bemidji State, AIC, Clarkson, Omaha
First four out:
Jim: Clarkson, UConn, Lake Superior, Providence
Jayson: Notre Dame, Lake Superior, UConn, Robert Morris
Wednesday night has a slate of two Hockey East playoff games, where the winners advance to face the top two seeds on Sunday – Boston College or Boston University.
The lowest seed to come out of tonight with a win heads to Chestnut Hill to face the Eagles in the quarterfinals and the highest will face the Terriers in Boston.
We have picks!
Wednesday, March 10
No. 10 Vermont at No. 7 UMass Lowell
The Catamounts haven’t won since January 8 and it was their only victory all season. That came against Maine — who they were a seed away from facing off this time, but alas — and they were swept by the River Hawks last week. One of those contests was a one goal game, though, and you know what they say about how tough it is to beat an opponent three times in a row, or something.
Jim: UML 3, UVM 2
Marisa: UML 4, UVM 3
No. 9 New Hampshire at No. 8 Maine
The Black Bears had some decent showings in the past weeks, tying UMass and toppling an inconsistent but talented UConn team. The bulk of their season, though, was rough. UNH hasn’t won since a 7-6 barnburner with UMass Lowell in early February. Something has to give. The Maine offense seems to have a bit more consistency, but this matchup is super “who’s to say” energy.
Note: Apparently Arlan and I had a lot to say. When all was said and done, we had about 5,000 words for this week’s Wednesday Women, so I’ll be publishing it in two parts. Check out this recap of the conference regular seasons and tournaments and tomorrow we’ll tackle the NCAA selection and tournament tomorrow.
Arlan: It has been an eventful few weeks since our last column. The conference regular-season races wrapped up, the league tournaments were played, players were recognized for their individual achievements, and the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee has spoken. The last of those is worthy of more than a few comments, but let’s back up for a moment and look at some of the results that contributed to the committee’s verdict.
The biggest story of the regular season across all leagues was Penn State. Behind CHA Coach of the Year Jeff Kampersal and some talented freshmen, the Nittany Lions took command of the circuit with consecutive sweeps of Robert Morris and Lindenwood to start 2021. However, a week later in the second game at Lindenwood, they settled for a 2-2 tie in the second game against a team that was swept in the season series by all of the other CHA contenders. PSU’s next game of note was its final regular season contest at Mercyhurst, when it fell behind early, but battled back from a 2-0 hole to force overtime — where it suffered its only loss of the season to a team not named Syracuse.
The story of this season’s Nittany Lions would need an entire section devoted to the Orange. Whatever mastery PSU had over everyone else didn’t seem to work against Syracuse. The Orange split the five meetings down the middle by claiming the final two contests. Most painful, the last of these was in a semifinal on Friday, where Syracuse jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead and held off the season champs.
That left the CHA auto bid for either Syracuse or the Colonials, who advanced to the final via a 3-2, overtime victory over Mercyhurst. Maggy Burbidge scored the deciding extra-attacker goal during a delayed penalty against the Lakers. It was fitting that the championship game was played in Erie, as RMU and Syracuse had split their season series, with each team getting swept on home ice.
When an elimination game goes to OT, people often say that they hope that the game winner is a “good” goal, meaning no controversial calls or flukey bounces. Robert Morris scored the only goal of the CHA Championship in the first eight minutes, with Gillian Thompson being opportunistic when a lively bounce off the end boards found her unmarked on the backdoor. My compliments to her on a nice finish, but it had to be a bitter way for Syracuse to see its season come to an end, as the minutes ticked by and the Orange were unable to solve goaltender Raygan Kirk.
Without getting into the selection decisions just yet, what were your thoughts on the way that the CHA season and tourney played out?
Nicole: I want to know what Syracuse knows about Penn State that no one else seems to. The Orange are responsible for two of the Nittany Lions’ three losses this year and they took control of their CHA tournament semifinal early. PSU pushed back late, but it felt like Syracuse knew exactly how to control that game from start to finish. It was impressive.
It was interesting to me that both teams who got an opening round bye were eliminated in the semifinals. In a year where games and ice time at a premium, it seems like no one really needed that rest and continuing to play on through was more of an advantage. The Orange ended the season with nine straight wins before falling to Robert Morris 1-0 in the championship game.
A few years’ back when Robert Morris played Wisconsin in an NCAA quarterfinal, I remember Paul Colontino talking about how the whole experience of going to Madison and playing Wisconsin were important to the future of his team. I think that kind of experience is what carried them through for the tournament win. That team talked about not wanting to be constantly setting records or compiling firsts for the program – they wanted it all to be commonplace and expected.
Penn State was clearly the surprise of the regular season. What’s so exciting for them is so much of their contributions this year came from rookies. There’s so much room to continue to grow and improve. I didn’t get to watch them as much as I’d have liked this year, but they’ll be high on my radar next season. Give Kampersal credit. Many would call his move from Princeton a downgrade, but he saw an opportunity in Happy Valley and is really making strides in building that relatively new program.
Arlan: If anything of great significance happened during the Hockey East regular season, I confess that I missed it. If memory serves, and mine usually doesn’t serve me very well, I recall Northeastern clinching the season crown back in August or thereabouts. I do know that before the other leagues had a chance to complete their regular seasons, HEA had already fired up its tournament. By that point, Merrimack had already been eliminated by Covid-19, leaving Holy Cross to get blanked by New Hampshire in an opening-round game.
In the quarterfinals, Northeastern wasn’t nearly as impressed by the Wildcats’ tradition, and showed them to the exit with a 7-0 dismissal. The remainder of that round was far less predictable. Providence, which had games postponed due to Covid in each of December, January, and February, was able to piece together a lineup of 13 skaters and a couple of goalies that outlasted Boston University, 4-3. Maine traveled to Burlington and surprised Vermont, 3-1. Connecticut started scoring in the second period against second-seeded Boston College and didn’t stop until the Eagles had been grounded by a 5-1 score.
In the semifinals, Northeastern took the battle of the Huskies, 2-1, on a late short-handed effort by Chloe Aurard. Hunter Barnett scored the game’s only goal 2:10 into overtime to enable Providence, who had added a couple more skaters to the mix, to advance over the Black Bears.
In the final versus the Friars, Northeastern had more skaters, more talent, and eventually, more goals as it won, 6-2.
What stood out to you about the events in Hockey East?
Nicole: I live in hope for UConn to be able to bring the energy they have in the postseason to their regular season games. They’ve been a team good for an upset or two – or pushing teams to their limit. But I’m so hopeful they can take that next step and do those things regularly.
It was difficult to get invested with Hockey East this year, I think. Not only because, as you mentioned, it seemed like an open and shut case that Northeastern would take the title again, but also because of the constantly changing and updating schedules. I know the league had been hopeful that having the schools in proximity to each other and limiting overnight travel would be helpful in limiting exposure, but I’m not sure that was the reality and the consistent emails of updated schedules and eventually, not even announcing the week’s plans until midweek was just kind of a lot for my already pandemic-fatigued brain.
The only folks who are happy about a team dominating start to finish are the team and its fans. I prefer more drama.
Hockey East also made one of the more baffling choices in terms of the regular season by implementing what they call the HEPI – Hockey East Power Index. I’d assume the idea was to try to make standings fair. But no one knows because they refused to share how they were calculating it. So the math that would decide postseason seeds was secret. Everyone was doing their best during this season (and beforehand, trying to make it happen) but there have been some decisions that probably weren’t thought through very well.
However, at least Hockey East tried to find a way to calculate standings this year.
Arlan: Of all the conference seasons, the WCHA may have been the goofiest. I realize that is saying something, when two thirds of ECAC Hockey didn’t compete at all, and two of the remaining members met each other 10 times, although only four of those were official conference games.
Unlike the other leagues, the WCHA didn’t even make an attempt to balance the schedule, virus willing. Instead, they essentially had two pools of teams, with the Big Ten schools in one, the three Minnesota schools with State in their name in the other, and Minnesota-Duluth with a foot in both ponds. Ultimately, the Bulldogs wound up canceling or postponing so many series due to Covid protocols that the Big Ten foot remained mostly dry. The WCHA realized that its schedule was so unbalanced that it would rank teams by points percentage rather than by points. Fair enough, except that the league failed to account for the fact that its “system” was unable to compensate for teams playing season series that varied between six and zero games. If you played last-place Bemidji State or first-place Wisconsin, points were points as far as the WCHA knew.
The beneficiary of this flaw was UMD, who went into its final series with Wisconsin with a shot at the title by winning the series, even though it had substantially poorer results than UW against BSU and Minnesota, and slightly worse versus Ohio State. UMD came within 87 seconds of sweeping the Badgers and winning the trophy. In terms of being perplexing, this decision by the WCHA ranks up there with 2008, when the Bulldogs used an ineligible player and were stripped of the league title, but were allowed to retain the top seed for the tournament.
In any case, the cream rose to the top in the WCHA tournament, as Wisconsin and Ohio State both got their offenses untracked and advanced easily on Saturday. The Badgers gained revenge for last year on the Buckeyes with a 3-2, overtime win in the final.
What would you add about the WCHA season and playoff, given you were in attendance?
Nicole: There was a point early on in the season that I’m not sure I could have picked which team – Ohio State, Minnesota or Wisconsin – was better if my life depended on it. The teams separated themselves a bit more over the course of the season, but overall the joy of the “Big Ten” pool was getting to see them play each other so much. I can say that as a fan and not as one of the teams or players who had to continuously duke it out and then get dinged for it later (I know, I know, we’ll get to that). But folks that shelled out the big bucks for FloHockey got to watch top tier hockey week in and week out.
This is probably an obvious thing to say, but I get so much more out of watching a game in person. The quality of camera angles and streams always varies and often, the feeds make me motion sick. In the case of Ohio State, the camera is stationary at center ice and fairly low, so you’re watching through the net and scratched up plexiglass. You do not get to see how good the Buckeyes are if you only see their streams from Columbus. I was so excited to get to go to Minneapolis last week and head to Erie next weekend – I feel like I can be a much better reporter when I’m there in person.
My not so hot take is I think Wisconsin and Ohio State are similar teams who use their speed and fitness to wear down teams and breakout quickly. They are both talented passing teams who move the puck well.
I’m so glad I was at Ridder this weekend because they were some seriously good games.
Ohio State blew UMD out in the second period of their semifinal, but the other two periods of that game were actually more interesting than the final score would indicate. Minnesota wouldn’t let Wisconsin pull away and obviously the title game went down to overtime.
You thought the WCHA was wonky this year, but what about the ECAC? I’m not sure I could have predicted how their season went down in my wildest dreams.
Arlan: I take what I said above back; the ECAC was stranger. Clarkson and Colgate played 10 times. St. Lawrence didn’t debut until January 20, an 8-1 defeat at the hands of the Golden Knights. After that inauspicious start, SLU would rattle off three wins in four days over Clarkson to close the season. Prior to the semifinals on Friday, there had only been two days where all four teams were in action. At the end of that cobbled-together slate, Colgate did enough to earn the season title.
The Raiders backed that up with a 2-1 triumph over Quinnipiac in one semi. In the other, Clarkson visited St. Lawrence and fell into a quick 3-0 hole. The Golden Knights battled all of the way back, and tied the game and forced overtime, thanks to an extra-attacker goal on a power play with less than 30 seconds left in regulation. In OT, the Saints won it when a shot from the point caromed off the end boards and back to Clarkson’s goalie. In an attempt to corral the puck, she nudged it into her own net.
On Sunday, SLU scored the first and last goals, but Colgate struck for three in between and earned a 3-2 victory. The tournament crown is the first in the history of the Raiders’ program.
I wasn’t sure what to expect from the ECAC at first when it looked like only two teams were going to play. Would you agree that the league put on a rather compelling season and tournament, where the margin was one goal in all three games?
Nicole: Absolutely. Somehow with just four teams, some of whom played each other a ridiculous amount of times, the ECAC put on the most engrossing season this year?
Good on the league and the teams for making the best of a bad situation.
Oddly, I would have been bored to see yet another matchup between two WCHA teams, but I feel like I could watch another 5-10 games between Clarkson and Colgate. I think that series was so interesting because of the way the momentum swung. Wisconsin and Ohio State basically split their series, but they did it by each winning a game every weekend. Colgate “won” the early set of games and looked like they were going to dominate and then Clarkson took control of the next set.
Not getting to see more games from St. Lawrence might be my biggest regret of this weird hockey year. The Saints didn’t start playing until January and their season was approximately the same length as one of UMD’s stoppages. It’s unsurprising that they started a little slow, especially when the teams they were playing were nationally ranked and had a bunch of games under their belt. But they were so interesting in the final weeks and I think in a normal year, they may have been pushing into the national conversation.
Part of the fun of the ECAC, for me, is that the teams tend to play different styles. Colgate has their “We Play Free” motto. Quinnipiac is stellar on defense and builds out from there. Clarkson has the explosive offensive weapons. St. Lawrence plays really well as a unit and it feels like there’s no first or second or third line. And that’s just the four teams from this year. I enjoy seeing how the different approaches match up and how they can be successful.
Bowling Green celebrates a goal during the team’s 4-2 win at home Feb. 28 over Alabama Huntsville (photo: Isaiah Vazquez).
Bowling Green’s change in fortunes came at the most opportune time.
During a stretch in early February when they lost four games in a row to what ended up being the top two teams in the WCHA standings (Minnesota State and Lake Superior State), the Falcons were looking for a spark when they took on Northern Michigan the weekend of Feb. 20.
The urgency became even greater when they skated to a scoreless tie with the Wildcats and ended up losing in the shootout.
“You go into game one of that series, and it’s 0-0, and our record leading up to that hadn’t been great,” BGSU coach Ty Eigner said. “Our guys were pressing a little bit and weren’t playing as confidently as you’d hope.”
The next night, Bowling Green’s confidence levels returned to normal. They won that game 6-2 to close out the series and earn a much-needed win.
“To score six the next night, you could feel with every goal we scored the stress lessened, everybody kind of freed up and more guys were engaged,” Eigner said of a game in which five different players managed to score. “And once the game was over we had a bunch of guys feeling pretty good about how they were playing.”
That feeling carried over into next week’s series against Alabama Huntsville, too — BG swept the Chargers 5-0 and 4-2 in a home-and-home to close out the regular season. And since that scoreless tie, BG’s big guns have put up good numbers. Connor Ford scored five goals in the past three games to give him a WCHA-best 16 on the season while Brendan Kruse, who leads the league in scoring, had a goal and four assists.
Now, the trick is keeping the momentum going this weekend for BG’s best-of-three playoff quarterfinal series against Northern Michigan. The Falcons closed out the season on a three-game winning streak while the Wildcats seemed headed the opposite direction, losing four of their last six.
“It’s amazing what one weekend can do, on both the positive and the negative side of things,” Eigner said. “Thankfully our guys have been able to get back and correct things to play the game we want to play, and we felt good about how we finished. And our confidence is good, which is a nice thing going into the playoffs.”
The Falcons are still looking to recapture some of the magic they had to start the season, when they won 14 of their first 16 games. That run of form ended in late January when they were swept in a nonconference series at Bemidji State. Two weeks later, they were swept again at the hands of Minnesota State, followed by two losses against Lake Superior State the subsequent week.
“Every year’s got peaks and valleys to it,” Eigner said. “Our start was great, but then we had that little stretch where we lost four games in a row. Prior to going up to Mankato (Feb. 5-6), everything was great. Everyone was excited about where we were at, what we could potentially do, and then we didn’t perform. And then we came back home and didn’t play well and lost two more.”
In all, BG only lost five conference games. In a normal year, that wouldn’t be a huge deal for a team with MacNaughton Cup aspirations. But in this pandemic-shortened season in which everyone played only 14 conference games, it wasn’t going to be good enough (especially since champions Minnesota State lost just one). Against the other three teams who finished in the top half of the standings (MSU, LSSU and BSU), the Falcons went 1-7-0.
Still, the Falcons enter this weekend knowing that they’re still, as Eigner puts it, “in the conversation” for the NCAA tournament.
“We know we’re in the conversation. We have no idea what that conversation is, but we’re there. All we can do is prepare the best we can for this weekend, and we feel like the more games we can win, the better it looks for us.”
The fact that they’ve been able to play a full 28 games — even getting in some rare, for this season, nonconference series — can only help them when the committee looks at the entire body of work. The fact that they swept both ECAC champions Quinnipiac and Atlantic Hockey bubble team Robert Morris early in the season bodes well for them.
“We just need to continue to build our resume,” he said. “That’s all we can really focus on, and really, if we want to make the national tournament, the one way we can guarantee that is by winning our playoffs.”
WCHA returns to an old format (sort of)
Just so we’re clear: The WCHA Final Five isn’t coming back. Really.
But due to the pandemic, this season’s WCHA playoff format will look a little more like the days of the Final Five, a concept the league abandoned after the 2016 season in favor of more games on campus sites.
Since 2017, the conference tournament has been played over three weeks, with best-of-three quarterfinal and semifinal series culminating in a single-game conference title game on the home ice of the highest remaining seed.
This year, because the pandemic forced a boatload of makeup games, the league decided to ditch the three-week playoff format in favor of an extra week to allow teams to play their rescheduled games, if necessary.
This means a move back to a format similar to the Final Five — a best-of-three quarterfinal followed by a single-elimination semifinal and title game, hosted by the top remaining seed.
Some other leagues, like the Big Ten and the NCHC, are this year doing away completely with three-game series format in favor of a fully single-elimination tournament at one site.
Eigner said the WCHA coaches elected to keep the three-game series because they felt it was more fair, especially with only 14 league games. (The NCHC, comparatively, played 22 or 24 games while every Big Ten team played at least 18, and most played more.)
“In our league, we felt like to maintain the integrity of what our playoffs have been about, going two-out-of-three was the right thing to do,” Eigner said. “And then because we had the COVID week at the end and lost a week of playoffs, another two-out-of-three didn’t make sense, so we needed to get it all to one site. And we’ll see how that works.”
Bentley will not continue in the 2021 Atlantic Hockey tournament and has ended its season. A statement from Bentley cited new on-campus restrictions “to protect students, faculty and staff after an uptick in positive COVID-19 cases on campus.”
