Tommy Davis played four seasons at Princeton and is now taking on the role as an assistant coach (photo: Beverly Schaefer).
Princeton alum Tommy Davis has been promoted to the role of full-time assistant coach at his alma mater.
Davis, who most recently served as a volunteer assistant, has also spent time as director of hockey operations with the Tigers.
“I am thrilled to have Tommy join our coaching staff full-time,” said Princeton head coach Ron Fogarty in a statement. “He is a bright hockey mind who knows first-hand what it takes to succeed and grow as a student-athlete at Princeton. His passion for Princeton and Princeton hockey is strong, and he will be a tremendous resource for our team.”
“I am honored to join the coaching staff at Princeton,” added Davis. “This program has been home for me for some time, and I am excited to enter a new chapter with Princeton hockey. I am thankful to Ron Fogarty, Brad Dexter and everyone involved in the hiring process and cannot wait to get started with our team.”
Davis graduated from Princeton in 2017 with a degree in history following a playing career where he appeared in 97 games as a defenseman. He tallied 21 points on six goals and 15 assists during his career, and served as an assistant captain during the 2016-17 season.
Hockey East announced Tuesday schedule updates for conference men’s and women’s teams for the upcoming weekend.
Northeastern’s men’s team is now scheduled for a home-and-home series with Massachusetts on January 1-2 at 7 p.m. and 6 p.m., respectively. Both games will be aired live on NESN and NESN+, respectively, and feature Tim Neverett, play-by-play voice of the Los Angeles Dodgers, calling each game. Friday night’s match up will serve as the final game of an all-day Hockey East tripleheader on NESN.
The series between Northeastern and Boston University will not be played as scheduled.
The Providence men’s game against Vermont on Friday, January 1 will now begin at 1 p.m. and be carried live on NESN.
Northeastern’s women’s team is now scheduled to host Maine for two games on January 2-3 at 4:30 p.m. and 4 p.m., respectively. Both games will be aired live on NESN.
The series between Northeastern and UConn will not be played as scheduled.
The men’s series between Maine and UMass Lowell will now be played on January 3-4 and take place at the Tsongas Center in Lowell, Mass. The puck will drop at 6 p.m. and 3 p.m., respectively.
The women’s series between New Hampshire and Boston University will not be played as scheduled.
Hockey East Upcoming Schedule
Wednesday, December 30
Massachusetts at New Hampshire (men) – 3:30 p.m.
New Hampshire at Holy Cross (women) – 5 p.m.
Friday, January 1
Vermont at Providence (men) – 1 p.m. (NESN)
UConn at New Hampshire (men) – 4 p.m. (NESN)
Holy Cross at Vermont (women) – 6 p.m.
Massachusetts at Northeastern (men) – 7 p.m. (NESN)
Saturday, January 2
Holy Cross at Vermont (women) – 2 p.m.
New Hampshire at UConn (men) – 4 p.m.
Maine at Northeastern (women) – 4:30 p.m. (NESN)
Northeastern at Massachusetts (men) – 6 p.m. (NESN+)
Vermont at Providence (men) – 7 p.m. (NESN)
Sunday, January 3
Maine at Northeastern (women) – 4 p.m. (NESN)
Maine at UMass Lowell (men) – 6 p.m.
Monday, January 4
Maine at UMass Lowell (men) – 3 p.m.
Hockey East announced Tuesday that Providence freshman forward Nick Poisson has been suspended for one game stemming from an incident at 17:17 of the third period on Monday, December 28 at UConn.
On the play, Poisson was assessed a five-minute major for contact to the head and a game misconduct.
Poisson will miss the game on Friday, January 1 against Vermont and will be eligible to return to the Friars’ lineup on Saturday, January 2 against the Catamounts.
Brian Shaughnessy said he had always been intrigued by the Hobey Baker Award.
So much, in fact, that the Massachusetts native recently penned a book, Hobey Baker Memorial Award: The First 40, featuring the award’s first 40 winners, starting with Minnesota’s Neal Broten in 1981 and ending with Minnesota Duluth’s Scott Perunovich in 2020.
“I am the same age as the award, and as an avid college hockey fan growing up in Eastern Massachusetts in the 1980s and 1990s, I noticed how the Hobey Baker Award grew in popularity over time,” Shaughnessy said. “I believe the creation of U.S. College Hockey Online played a role in the growth of the Hobey, as beginning in the mid-to-late 1990s, fans in the east could more easily follow the best players in the WCHA and the CCHA, and fans in the west could do the same with Hockey East and the ECAC.
“I was drawn to the Hobey Baker Award in part because the award is not always given to the best or most highly-skilled player in the country. It also takes into account a finalist’s character, sportsmanship, and academic achievements. This adds to the significance of the award, in my opinion.”
The 104-page book, now available on the Hobey Baker Award website for $24.95, is a comprehensive look at college hockey’s top players from the past 40 seasons. It’s a piece of memorabilia that any hardcore fan of the game should have in their collection.
“There were interesting stories behind the hockey careers of the award’s 40 winners which I wanted to explore,” noted Shaughnessy. “The book focuses on each recipient’s collegiate careers while also covering their noteworthy accomplishments in juniors and/or the professional ranks. I began writing the book in 2005 to commemorate the 25-year anniversary of the Hobey Baker Award, but never finished it. I picked up the project again last year, and thanks in large part to the assistance I received from Jim Martin and other members of the Hobey Baker Foundation, I was able to finally complete the book.”
Brian Shaughnessy started writing the Hobey Baker book in 2005 and recently completed it to recognize the award’s first 40 recipients.
Shaughnessy said he was inspired by the fact that the Hobey Baker Memorial Award Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation, and he wanted to help raise funds for the foundation. All proceeds from the book will benefit the foundation.
In penning the book, Shaughnessy said he learned new and interesting tidbits about the award and players in doing the research for the book.
“I conducted dozens of interviews of former Hobey Baker Award winners, players who competed with and against prior Hobey recipients, and coaches Hobey winners played for during their NCAA careers,” explained Shaughnessy. “The common theme relayed to me in those interviews was the extremely high character level the Hobey winners possessed.
“Furthermore, I wanted to highlight some of the lesser-known feats of the Hobey Baker Award winners.”
Some examples Shaughnessy cited include Neal Broten being the only member of the 1980 U.S. Olympic team to return to college and then completely dominating NCAA hockey in 1980-81 while helping his brother, Aaron, shatter the Minnesota single-season scoring record, the nearly unimaginable statistical dominance of Tony Hrkac and North Dakota in 1986-87 and Paul Kariya and Maine in 1992-93, on up to the singular, transcendent talents of Johnny Gaudreau and Jack Eichel, Cale Makar leading perhaps the most remarkable turnaround of a program in college hockey history, and Perunovich crafting the perfect collegiate career in his three years at Minnesota Duluth.
As well, the book clearly has sentimental value for Shaughnessy.
“I grew up around college hockey and my passion for the game has never left me,” Shaughnessy said. “Some of my favorite memories were attending Hockey East games with my dad when I was younger. I wrote the book for my father to show him how much I appreciated those times together.”
Are there drawbacks to the book? None that I can see. It’s the perfect piece of reference material for the ultimate individual college hockey award.
On a scale of 1-10, this book gets a solid 10. Just an all-around dynamic book that truly has it all. If college hockey is your passion, grab a copy of this book.
The biggest change, which affects all teams, is the reduction of both scheduled three-game series down to two-game series. The two three-game series between Colorado College and North Dakota, Miami and St. Cloud State, Denver and Omaha, and Minnesota Duluth and Western Michigan, which were slated for Jan. 21-24 and Feb. 11-14, will now be played as two-game series on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 22-23 and Friday and Saturday, Feb. 12-13.
The locations of the series are not changing, but, CC-UND, Miami-SCSU, Denver-Omaha, and UMD-WMU will now only face each other four times during the regular season, giving each team a 24-game conference slate.
For health and safety reasons, the NCHC Athletic Council voted to eliminate the three-game series. The changes were made related to challenges with COVID-19 testing during the three-game series weeks, mitigating risk to COVID-19 by lessening team travel, and the desire to alleviate time away from each member institution’s campus.
The other adjustment involves Minnesota Duluth and St. Cloud State, which are switching some dates and locations over the first two weekends of 2021. The first series between the has been pushed back one day and will now take place entirely in St. Cloud on Saturday, Jan. 2 and Sunday, Jan. 3. The first series was slated to be played Jan. 1-2 in a home-and-home format.
The following weekend, the Huskies and Bulldogs will still square off again on Jan. 8-9 as scheduled, but the entire series will take place in Duluth, rather than the scheduled home-and-home locations.
Rylee St. Onge collected nine goals as a freshman in 2019-20 with Alaska Anchorage (photo: Skip Hickey).
The Mercyhurst men’s hockey team has welcomed a trio of transfers from Alaska Anchorage.
Defensemen Wyatt Head and Devon Mussio join forward Rylee St. Onge with the Lakers and are immediately eligible to play in the second half of the season.
“We are very excited to be able to add Rylee, Wyatt, and Devon to our roster,” said Mercyhurst coach Rick Gotkin in a statement. “We are looking forward to integrating them into our team.”
St. Onge provides Mercyhurst with a proven collegiate scorer after scoring 17 points on eight goals and nine assists for Alaska Anchorage a season ago. He was second on Seawolves squad with his eight goals. He’ll be a sophomore.
Head spent the last four seasons in the BCHL, mostly with the West Kelowna Warriors, while Mussio also played in the BCHL, skating the last two seasons with the Nanaimo Clippers. Both will be freshmen with the Lakers.
Spots 3-6 are the same as last week – North Dakota, Minnesota Duluth, Minnesota State and St. Cloud State, respectively – with Bowling Green up two to No. 7, Michigan down one to No. 8, Massachusetts up one to ninth, and Clarkson down two spots to sit 10th.
The biggest mover in spots 11-20 is Quinnipiac, up four places to No. 12 after four wins last week.
No new teams enter the rankings this week.
In addition to the top 20, 13 other teams received votes this week.
The USCHO.com Poll consists of 40 voters, including coaches and beat writers and sports professionals from across the country.
Tristan Ashbrook tallied 13 points in 2019-20 as a freshman at RPI (photo: Rensselaer Athletics).
Michigan Tech has added forward Tristan Ashbrook to the 2020-21 roster.
Ashbrook, a Michigan Upper Peninsula native if Manistique, transfers to MTU from Rensselaer and is immediately eligible to play for the Huskies.
Ashbrook played in all 34 games for RPI as a freshman during the 2019-20 season, collecting 13 points with nine goals and four assists. He led the Engineers with three game-winning goals and added one on the power play. Ashbrook was second on the team in faceoff wins (268) and shots on goal (85).
In addition, Ashbrook was named to the ECAC Hockey All-Academic Team.
Boston College standout Matthew Boldy notched a hat trick Saturday night in Team USA’s shutout win over Austria at the World Junior Championship (file photo: Dave Arnold).
Trevor Zegras (Boston University) had two goals and two assists and Matthew Boldy (Boston College) scored three goals as 16 different players recorded points in the U.S. National Junior Team’s 11-0 victory over Austria in Edmonton Saturday night in preliminary round play of the 2021 IIHF World Junior Championship.
The U.S. outshot Austria 73-10 as Team USA goalie Dustin Wolf (WHL’s Everett Silvertips) stopped all 10 shots to record the shutout.
“It was a great bounceback win and I give a lot of credit to our leadership group to have the team ready,” said U.S. coach Nate Leaman (Providence) in a statement. “I thought we faced some adversity in the first period and I’m proud of the way that they fought through it and stayed with it and played hard until the end.”
The United States scored once in the opening period, then six in the second and four more in the third.
Brendan Brisson (Michigan) popped two goals, while Brett Berard (Providence) had a goal and two assists and John Farinacci (USHL’s Muskegon Lumberjacks, Harvard) added a goal plus a helper in the win.
Brock Faber (Minnesota), Patrick Moynihan (Providence) and Arthur Kaliyev (OHL’s Hamilton Bulldogs) all had two assists with Drew Helleson (Boston College) and Sam Colangelo (Northeastern) adding goals in the rout.
Next up for the Americans is the Czech Republic on Tuesday, Dec. 29, with puck drop set for 2 p.m. EST on the NHL Network.
According to The Rink Live, North Dakota is adding forward Louis Jamernik for the second half of the 2020-21 season.
Jamernik, a Calgary native, had been playing with the AJHL’s Okotoks Oilers, but the league had recently shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Louis has become a complete player at both ends of rink,” Okotoks coach-GM Tyler Deis said in a news release. “He has had the opportunity to play with many great players who have passed through our program. He has learned what it takes to be an effective player while also being a strong and positive influence in our locker room and out in the community.”
Also Okotoks’ captain this season, Jamernik had tallied a goal and two assists in three games.
In 147 career AJHL games prior to this season, Jamernik totaled 107 points (43 goals, 64 assists) along with 13 points (seven goals, six assists) in 29 AJHL playoff games.
After getting swept at home by Bowling Green last weekend, the Bobcats got back on track with a midweek sweep of Holy Cross. The Yellow Jackets haven’t lost a game this season, but I think Quinnipiac should be able to build off of its sweep against the Crusaders. Quinnipiac 4, American International 2
Sunday, Dec. 27
Quinnipiac at American International, 3 p.m.
AIC is too good to get swept. American International 4, Quinnipiac 3
Colgate at Holy Cross, 4 p.m.
The Raiders had a strong showing against Clarkson on Wednesday and should be able to take care of business against a Holy Cross team that is just 1-3 in non-conference games this season. Colgate 3, Holy Cross 1
Tuesday, Dec. 29
RIT at Colgate, 4 p.m.
RIT is playing well, but Colgate should be in good shape if it can match its offensive output from last week’s 5-4 win against Clarkson. Colgate 3, RIT 2
Niagara at Clarkson, 5 p.m.
Niagara’s lone win of the season came against the Golden Knights back on Dec. 9. Goaltending and defense have been an issue at time for Clarkson this season, but the Golden Knights should be able to generate enough offense to come away with a win. Clarkson 5, Niagara 3.
Trevor Zegras, who played the 2019-20 season at BU, scored a goal for the U.S. in Friday night’s loss to Russia (file photo: Matt Woolverton).
The U.S. National Junior Team dropped a 5-3 decision to Russia in its opening game of the 2021 IIHF World Junior Championship in Edmonton Friday night.
Team USA captain Cam York (Michigan), John Farinacci (Harvard/USHL’s Muskegon Lumberjacks) and Trevor Zegras (Boston University alum) all scored a goal for Team USA, bringing the game to 4-3 in the final minutes, before Russia scored an empty-net goal.
“I like the way we battled until the end tonight and had a chance to win the game, but we put ourselves in a tough position with our puck management,” said U.S. coach Nate Leaman (Providence) in a statement. “We have to re-focus, grow, and get better for tomorrow night.”
Russia scored three times over a span of 9:03 in the second period to take a 4-1 lead, with Dustin Wolf (WHL’s Everett Silvertips) replacing Spencer Knight (Boston College) in net for the U.S. after the fourth Russian goal at 12:15.
Knight had eight saves on 12 shots in the first 32:15 of play, while Wolf stopped all 11 shots he faced in the final 27:45 of the contest.
The U.S. will continue preliminary round play today against Austria. Puck drop is scheduled for 9:30 p.m. EST and the game can be seen live on NHL Network.
In an announcement Wednesday, NCHA membership has endorsed a plan for a resumption of competition during the 2021 winter season.
“The NCHA is committed to doing its best to provide a quality student-athlete experience in a manner that is safe for student-athletes, coaches, administrators, campuses, and local communities,” reads a statement from the conference.
A conference schedule for the women’s and men’s divisions — minus St. Norbert — is being finalized and set to be made available to the public in early January 2021.
St. Norbert announced earlier this week that its men’s and women’s teams would not take part in the 2020-21 season.
Theresa Feaster has worked the past several years in administration for the Providence hockey program (photo: Providence Athletics).
Not everyone can envision their career path from childhood.
Theresa Feaster knew exactly where she wanted to be, and she had a blueprint of how to get there.
She’s not an NHL general manager yet, but at age 28, she’s carving her own path, and that latest step is with Team USA at the World Junior Championship.
“Growing up I wanted to be like my dad,” said Feaster, whose father Jay Feaster was a GM with the Tampa Bay Lightning and Calgary Flames. “Watching him and emulating him I think was something I saw that I really enjoyed and I think that’s where it stemmed from.”
Feaster’s path began early with Providence, where she’s now the director of hockey operations. Now 28, Feaster was a student volunteer for the Friars as a junior when they won a national title in 2015, and head coach Nate Leaman kept her around as a graduate assistant.
Through her rise in the ranks, all the way to Edmonton with Team USA, he’s been her biggest advocate, and with good reason; she’s aided his success with Providence, and he suspects it will be the same with Team USA.
“She’s been great in every area,” said Leaman, who is the head coach for the Americans. “Whether it’s the video or academic affairs, I would say all of that. When there’s analytics, all of it’s very good.”
Leaman offered Feaster a full-time role in 2016, and she’s now one of two women heading a men’s hockey department in the country, along with Kelsey Harbison in Denver.
She does a little bit of everything with Providence, but her favorite part is breaking down video, where she’s made a difference in the program.
“She really knows the ropes,” said Leaman. “She’s not just breaking the game down by, you can break clips down by like, this is the forecheck and the neutral zone, she could do that but she also has a good feel for the game as far as the big things that a coach needs to see during a game.”
Feaster said that love for the film end of hockey began as a kid when she was watching VHS hockey tapes with her dad and they would do so for “hours.” That was one of the big elements that drew her into the sport.
“You can watch it and know it’s objective,” she said. “It’s all right there in front of you. Being able to break it down and hopefully make you better, I just really enjoyed diving in and getting lost in the video.”
Her skills breaking down that film is why Leaman knew he wanted Feaster on his staff in Edmonton, where she’s already gotten to work breaking down practices with a strong appreciation for working with some of the best young talent in the country.
“You just see how great these players are,” she said. “Everything’s first class and it’s really amazing to see what a great product the hockey is.”
That’s something Feaster will have to get used to in her journey to the NHL, something Leaman has unwavering confidence can happen for her.
Having a connection to the game since a child is certainly an advantage, but if and when Feaster makes it to the highest level of men’s hockey, it’ll be from her work ethic.
“You have to be very bright (to be a GM),” he said. “You have to make extremely sound decisions through experience, and I think she has the attributes to do those things. She’s been around the game long enough and she’s getting around the game enough that she’ll be able to evaluate, so I don’t think there’s any reason she couldn’t fulfill that dream.”
That first step started in Providence when Leaman saw how much Feaster helped en route to the Friars title half a decade ago and it continues thousands of miles away as Team USA prepares for making a title run of their own.
Her experience can only help the Friars as well, Leaman thinks.
“I would imagine as this elevates players it also elevates coaches,” he said. “So I don’t know why it wouldn’t elevate Theresa. I was just having a conversation with her about our Providence team and comparing it to the World Juniors, and, yeah, I think this will help her, too.”
Feaster said she hasn’t spent too much time worrying about what’s next aside from getting back on campus to help Providence with the next half of its regular season in Hockey East.
Long term, though, she’s dreaming big, and she has every reason to.
“It’s important for me to take things one day at a time,” she said. “You don’t want to get too far ahead of yourself. That’s the way I try to look at it. I’m just trying to help Team USA and help Providence to win a national title.”
From left, Cole Caufield, Cam York and Alex Turcotte – the leadership group for the 2021 U.S. World Junior team.
Michigan sophomore defenseman Cam York has been named captain of the 2021 U.S. National Junior Team.
“It says a lot about this leadership group being voted in by their teammates,” said Team USA coach Nate Leaman (Providence). “It’s a tremendous honor to be named captains and represent your country. This isn’t our team, this is their team. I believe our locker room is filled with leaders, and to be successful each guy will need to step up and be a leader in their own way, whether wearing a letter or not.”
In addition, Wisconsin sophomore forward Cole Caufield and former Wisconsin forward Alex Turcotte were named alternate captains.
“I’m humbled by the guys naming me captain,” said York. “This is a huge honor, and I’m excited for what this team can do. I think this is not just a really talented team, but it’s a great group of guys who really care about one another and have come together well as a team.”
Team USA will begin play in the 2021 IIHF World Junior Championship tonight at 9:30 p.m. EST against Russia. The game can be seen live on NHL Network.
Another week another whole bunch of cancellations, but there is some post-Christmas hockey to be had with a series and a single this weekend.
Jim last week: 3-1-1
Jim to date: 12-4-3
Marisa last week: 3-1-1
Marisa to date: 9-7-3
No. 12 Northeastern vs Vermont (Sat. and Sun. at Vermont)
Northeastern battled to a tie last weekend against Providence before dropping a 5-0 loss against a Friars team that found its groove. The Huskies are still without some of their best talent in Edmonton, but Vermont is yet to get a footing on the season. Could be another tough week for the Catamounts.
Jim’s picks: NU 4, UVM 1; NU 3, UVM 2 Marisa’s picks: NU 4, UVM 1; NU 3, UVM 1
Providence at UConn (Mon. at UConn)
Even without some of their key pieces — including behind the bench — Providence responded nicely to their bad season-opening defeats to Boston College. UConn, meanwhile, has had an absolute gauntlet to start the year between the Eagles and UMass, with just a win over BC and a tie with the Minutemen. They’re looking forward to a less rigorous schedule for certain, but it might be bad luck the Huskies have to deal with a Providence team finding its identity.
Jim’s picks: PC 3, UConn 2 Marisa’s picks: PC 4, UConn 3
Quinnipiac captain Odeen Tufto is back for his senior season with the Bobcats in 2020-21 (photo: Quinnipiac Athletics).
After the last game of the 2019-2020 ECAC Hockey season took two overtimes to decide, the start of this season took a little extra time to finalize as well.
Yale beat Union 2-1 in double overtime on March in the deciding game of the opening round of the league playoffs. That ended up being the final game of the ECAC Hockey season, as the COVID-19 pandemic led to widespread shutdowns across the country the following week.
In November, the Ivy League announced that it was cancelling winter sports, leaving the conference with only half of its 12 teams set to play. That number dwindled down to four several days later when Rensselaer and Union announced that they were cancelling their seasons, leaving the league scrambling to salvage some kind of a season.
“As a league staff, you recover and deal with the teams that are moving forward,” ECAC Hockey commissioner Steve Hagwell said.
On Dec. 9, ECAC Hockey announced an abbreviated league schedule for the four remaining teams: Clarkson, St. Lawrence, Colgate, and Quinnipiac. That final schedule capped off a process where “everything was on the table,” according to Hagwell.
Each team will play each other six times, for a total of 18 league games. The schedule is set so that multiple teams do not travel to the same site on a given day and includes open weekends in case of postponements.
Hagwell said the league is prepared to be flexible if anything changes in the coming weeks.
“I like our schedule,” Colgate coach Don Vaughan said. “It’s kind of like going back to the original six in the NHL where the teams played each other ten times. We’ll know each other very well before it’s all said and done. Everybody is trying. That’s the biggest message, trying to give these kids some kind of a season. I’m proud of everyone that has given us a go. I wake up and I’m like ‘Wow, I can’t believe that we’re going to be able to play some games with everything going on.’”
The four teams will participate in a single-elimination tournament on campus sites from March 18 -20, with the No. 1 seed hosting the No. 4 seed and the No. 2 seed hosting the No. 3 seed. After a day off, the league championship will be held on the campus of the highest remaining seed, with the winner advancing to the NCAA tournament.
The league has adopted safety protocols and standards that each team must adhere to. No fans will be allowed in any of the league’s rinks, but all the games are available on ESPN+.
“We are very fortunate that we had a plan that we put in place and it worked,” Vaughan said, adding that everyone from Colgate president Brian Casey and athletic director Nicki Moore up to the league’s administration have been instrumental in helping the season safely come together. “We know that there’s still a lot of uncertainty ahead. It’s very fluid, but at the end of the day we want to make sure that we are doing everything we can to keep our guys safe and prepared to play the best we can. We know things can change in a minute.”
This will also be the first year of a 3-on-3 overtime, as the NCAA approved that format for college hockey. Any ECAC conference game that is still tied after the five-minute overtime will end as a draw.
When the rest of the league eventually does return to play, many of those teams will have a drastically different look, as numerous players have either left early to sign professional contracts or transferred to other schools.
Harvard was hit especially hard by early departures, as forwards Jack Badini, Jack Drury, Henry Bowlby, and defensemen Reilly Walsh and Jack Rathbone all signed professional contracts.
Other early departures included Cornell forward Morgan Barron (New York Rangers), the reigning ECAC Hockey player of the year, and steady defensemen Alex Green (Tampa Bay) Also gone is Dartmouth’s Drew O’Connor, who signed with Pittsburgh after leading the league in goals last season and Yale defensemen Phil Kemp, who signed with Edmonton.
Union and RPI lost a pair of key players to transfer: Dutchmen senior Jack Adams transferred to Providence after missing last season with an injury, while Engineers goalie Owen Savory and his .929 career save percentage transferred to UMass Lowell.
But the biggest departure might be Dartmouth coach Bob Gaudet, who retired in April after 23 seasons at the head of the Big Green. Gaudet, who spent nine seasons as the head coach at Brown prior to coming to Dartmouth, had been the longest tenured coach in the league with 32 years of head coaching experience between the two schools. He’s replaced by former Quinnipiac defenseman and assistant coach Reid Cashman, who spent the last two seasons as an NHL assistant coach with the Washington Capitals.
“Bob’s a dear friend,” said Vaughan, who in his 28th season at Colgate is now the league’s longest tenured coach. “We talked during the season last year about different things and I just think with everything going on it was a moment for him to sort of step back and realize the legacy that he’s left and [be with] his family. We competed hard but at the end of the day, we were still friends. I think that’s a lesson to be learned for a lot of younger coaches. I’m going to miss him.”
Quinnipiac and St. Lawrence are set to begin the league’s abbreviated schedule at 4 p.m. on Dec. 31.
Here’s a look at the four teams that will be competing in ECAC Hockey this season. The teams are listed in the order of their predicted finish.
Senior Connor McCarthy anchors the Clarkson blue line this season (photo: Jim Meagher).
CLARKSON Head coach: Casey Jones, entering his 10th year Clarkson 2019-20 overall record: 23-8-3 (16-5-1, second in ECAC Hockey) Key returning players: Forwards Josh Dunne (13-14-27), Zach Tsekos (8-18-26), Jack Jacome (6-11-17), and F Anthony Romano (6-4-10), defenseman Connor McCarthy (9-11-20), and goalie Kris Oldham (appeared in one game in 2019-20, playing 34 minutes) Key losses: Fowards Haralds Egles (14-18-32) and Devin Brosseau (8-21-29), defenseman Greg Moro (1-6-7), and goalie Frank Marotte (23-8-3, 1.78, .938) Key additions: Forwards Alex Campbell (Omaha/USHL) and Nick Wicks (Alaska Anchorage), defenseman Noah Beck (Fargo/USHL), and goalie Ethan Haider (Sioux City/USHL) 2020-21 prediction: For the second time in as many seasons, Clarkson will need to replace its starting goaltender. Marotte, a graduate transfer, was the league’s goalie of the year last season. Oldham, another graduate transfer, looks to be the favorite for the top spot after seeing the majority of time in goal to start the season. He’s joined by incoming freshman Haider, who was drafted by Nashville in the fifth round of the 2019 NHL entry draft. Regardless of who is in goal, Clarkson should skate a strong lineup in front of them. Dunne was named the top defensive forward in the league last season and plays of lot of important minutes in virtually any situation. The Knights graduated three defensemen, but should still have plenty of depth throughout the lineup. That depth will be bolstered by newcomers and NHL draft picks Campbell and Beck. The short season could set things up for an unusual year, but Clarkson looks like a good bet to finish in first when it’s all said and done.
Detroit prospect Keith Petruzzelli will be Quinnipiac’s No. 1 goalie this season as a senior (photo: Rob Rasmussen).
QUINNIPIAC Head coach: Rand Pecknold, entering his 27th season at Quinnipiac. 2019-20 overall record: 21-11-2 (14-6-2, third in ECAC Hockey) Key returning players: Forwards Odeen Tufto (7-31-38), Wyatt Bongiovanni (15-10-25), and Ethan de Jong (7-11-18), defensemen Peter DiLiberatore (6-15-21) and Zach Metsa (5-12-17), and goalie Keith Petruzzelli (21-10-2, 2.01, .920) Key losses: Forwards Alex Whelan (13-11-24) and Nick Jermain (12-9-21), and defenseman Kārlis Čukste (4-14-18) Key additions: Fowards Ty Smilanic (U.S. NTDP), Corey Clifton (Austin/NAHL), and Joey Cipollone (Vermont), and defensemen Iivari Räsänen (Muskegon/USHL) and Nick Bochen (Prince George/BCHL) 2020-21 prediction: After a slow start, the Bobcats ended last year a tear prior to COVID-19 prematurely ending the season. Much of that was due to the emergence of Petruzzelli in net, as the Detroit draft pick helped cover for a young Quinnipiac team on more than one occasion last year. But Quinnipiac’s underclassmen should be better with another year of experience, while the Bobcats continued their tradition of adding transfer students with the addition of Cipollone, who played two seasons at Vermont. Among the newcomers is a familiar name in Clifton. He’s the younger brother of Connor and Tim Clifton, who were crucial players on the 2016 team that made it to the national title game. Petruzzelli should be strong in goal once again, but whether or not Quinnipiac pushes Clarkson for first place will likely depend on the progress of the Bobcats’ returning underclassmen.
Trevor Cosgrove tallied a team-best 11 assists in 2019-20 for Colgate (photo: Justin Wolford).
COLGATE Head coach: Don Vaughan, entering his 28th year at Colgate. 2019-20 overall record: 12-16-8 (8-9-5, eighth in ECAC Hockey) Key returning players: Forwards Colton Young (7-11-18) and Paul McAvoy (9-8-17), defenseman Nick Austin (0-10-10), and goalies Andrew Farrier (7-9-2, 2.34, .919) and Mitch Benson (5-7-6, 2.08, .925). Key losses: Forwards Bobby McMann (10-10-20), Ben Sharf (10-10-20), and Jared Cockrell (7-10-17), and defenseman Paul Meyer (1-5-6, has appeared in every game over the last three seasons) Key additions: Forwards Alex Young (Canmore/AJHL) and Ross Mitton (Omaha/USHL), defenseman Elliott McDermott (Carleton Place/CCHL), and goalie Carter Gylander (Sherwood Park/AJHL) 2020-21 prediction: The Raiders have good depth in goal and a solid defensive unit, led by Austin and senior Trevor Cosgrove. Offense will once again be a question mark for Colgate; the Raiders only have three players on their roster with more than ten career goals. Incoming freshman Alex Young, a San Jose draft pick, scored a goal in his first collegiate game last month against Clarkson. He’ll pair with older brother Colton, the Raiders’ top returning scorer, to give Colgate a pair of top-line threats. Colgate should be in most games thanks to its goaltending and defense, but it might be hard to match the offensive output of Clarkson and Quinnipiac.
St. Lawrence captain Dylan Woolf is a stalwart in the back end for the Saints (photo: Harrison Barden).
ST. LAWRENCE Head coach: Brent Brekke, entering his second season at St. Lawrence.
2019-20 overall record: 4-27-5 (2-18-2, last in ECAC Hockey) Key returning players: Forwards Jordan Steinmetz (5-8-13) and David Jankowski (4-7-11), and defenseman Dylan Woolf (0-7-7) Key losses: Forwards Zach Risteau (7-16-23) and Keenan Suthers (9-5-14), and defenseman Bo Hanson (5-14-19) Key additions: Forwards Reilly Moran (Powell River/BCHL), Logan Ritchie (Kenai River/NAHL), and Max Dorrington (Cushing Academy Prep), and defensemen Tucker McIntosh (Ottawa/CCHL) and Luc Salem (Topeka/NAHL) 2020-21 prediction: It can only get better for St. Lawrence, as the Saints had the lowest full season win total in program history last year. St. Lawrence went more than three months between wins last season and then saw its top three scorers transfer in the offseason. The Saints have nine incoming freshman that should push for playing time. The influx of newcomers might lead to some inconsistencies this season, but it also should give the freshmen a chance to gain some valuable experience. The Saints will also have the benefit of playing a full season in Appleton Arena. St. Lawrence didn’t play in its home rink until January 31 last season due to delays in renovations to the arena.
Nebraska native and Western Michigan senior Ethen Frank was on familiar ice24 the past three weeks in Omaha (photo: Ashley Huss).
The city of Ethen Frank’s birth and the metro area in which he spent much of his youth both have NCHC teams, but the Western Michigan senior forward plays for neither of them.
More and more, Denver and Omaha’s loss has been the Broncos’ gain.
Frank just finished a nearly month-long stay between Omaha, Neb., and his hometown of nearby Papillion, Neb., the cities being separated by little more than a county line. He played in nine of WMU’s 10 games in the NCHC pod at Omaha’s Baxter Arena, and he headed back to Kalamazoo, Mich., on Wednesday after celebrating Christmas early with his family.
Some of the Broncos flew home out of Omaha last Sunday, the day after WMU finished its time in the NCHC pod by skating to a 3-3 tie with Denver. All Frank had to do was tell the Broncos’ staff that his parents would be picking him up from the team’s hotel.
Finally, Frank got to actually visit in person with his parents, who moved with him from Denver to Papillion when he was in the middle of elementary school. At the time, his parents had taken an opportunity to operate a local roller rink, which they still own.
“In a normal season, with fans and stuff before COVID, we’d meet our parents in the loading dock by our bus, but they weren’t really allowed to come see me during the pod,” Frank said. “That sucked, but you just call and text as much as you can to stay updated with each other.
“We all understood that I was there for hockey and not there to see my parents, but I knew I’d see them after the pod was over, and they got how serious it was and that I needed to worry about hockey when we were playing.”
At least in terms of his own game, that worked out well. WMU (2-6-2) started on the back foot when the Broncos lost their No. 1 goaltender to a long-term injury in the team’s season opener Dec. 1 against St. Cloud State, but Frank is the team’s leading scorer with six goals on 22 shots. Three of his goals came on power plays, and he also set up teammates with two assists.
He missed WMU’s pod finale Saturday with an injury, but Broncos coach Andy Murray noted after the game that it was only decided that afternoon that Frank would sit out. He is expected to be back in practice when the Broncos reconvene this Sunday, Dec. 27.
WMU had taken two buses and a trailer to Omaha for the NCHC pod, and the Broncos aren’t expected to fly for any road games this season amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Frank brought two duffel bags, two backpacks and four smaller bags with snacks and other goodies. He also packed enough clothes for three weeks, a water filter and his Xbox video game console, which turned out to be a common way that players kept in touch with each other at their hotel despite not having any roommates, which they normally would on road trips.
“I tried to make the hotel room feel like home,” Frank said. “You’re there for so long, and I didn’t want it to feel like a boring hotel room, so I brought things I had in my room. I was starting to plan it out two or three weeks before we left, and we’d ask around about what guys were bringing, and just get ideas on how much to bring. A four or five-day road trip isn’t the same as three weeks.”
As for returning to Baxter Arena, a venue Frank had scored at twice in a February 2019 game, he felt that measures were taken to make the arena feel like as much of a neutral site as it could be.
“You have to approach them like they could be played anywhere,” he said. “You have to prepare like it’s any other game, and not really worry about the pod or the situation you’re in, because when you have a game in front of you, you can’t really take your mind off of it.
“They had six or seven locker rooms that teams rotated through, and after games you’d move to a new locker room, and the teams that were playing had the two main locker rooms. We were in the UNO room once, which was kind of weird, but they treated it as a neutral site, and at times it did feel like we were on the road or at home because of the pregame songs they’d play, and a hype-up video with starting lineups.”
In a way, playing in the pod was a matter of what could’ve been for Frank. He played for a AAA youth hockey team in Omaha before joining the USHL’s Lincoln Stars. He committed to WMU at 16, but he had previously been looking at UNO in a time before the Mavericks’ current coaching staff took the reins.
“I had a few phone calls with (UNO), and we were kind of getting close to setting up a visit, and I didn’t really have an advisor at the time, but my coach was talking with them and then telling me what they were saying, and said they would call and set up a visit,” Frank said.
“That kind of fell through, but Western offered me, and they’re in the same conference. I thought it’d be kind of cool since I played in Lincoln, playing against Omaha, and being from there, just being the bad guy. A lot of people in Omaha and people on social media set me out to be the bad guy, but it wasn’t really my fault that UNO didn’t call me back.”
WMU’s 6-5 loss to Omaha on Dec. 18 was Frank’s last scheduled game at Baxter, and he scored a second-period goal that put the Broncos ahead 4-2.
Whether he plays there again or not, he is excited about what the rest of the season holds.
“Consistency is what I’ve talked with my teammates and some other people about, and I just want to play consistently and hard every day and not worry about points,” he said.
“If you play hard and play the right away, things will take care of themselves, and you can’t really focus on the outside. You just focus on the next shift and not worry about the past. You’re just focused on what’s ahead of you and playing hard, no matter what the score is or how much time is left.”
It’s been a weird month, though, in a year like none other. Some things haven’t changed — “It’s been three or four years in a row now where I haven’t been home on Christmas,” Frank said — but the NCHC pod experience was something Frank won’t soon forget. Indeed, depending on how the pandemic shakes out in the coming months, it’s not beyond the realm of possibility that Omaha’s was the last pod he would ever play in.
“We just looked at it as that we were very fortunate to be there, because we were seeing other hockey teams that were canceling their seasons and weren’t able to play,” Frank said. “We saw the pod as a good opportunity, and we were just happy to be on the ice.
“We were really positive about the whole thing, and the NCHC was able to put something together to get the first half of the season in, and we were happy about that. We heard a couple rumors that there could be a bubble for the playoffs or something like that, and some guys are excited and some guys kind of get worn out by the three weeks in the hotel and the same food every day, but you’ve got to not worry about that because you’re there for the hockey.”
Fenton: No active infection believed to take place across pod’s Tier 1 personnel
NCHC commissioner Josh Fenton told reporters during a socially-distanced press conference Tuesday that the conference believes it had zero active COVID-19 infections across all Tier 1 personnel for the entire duration of the NCHC pod in Omaha.
“When we’re all said and done here, because the numbers may not be exact, we’ll have run almost 3,000 tests over the past three weeks,” Fenton said. “That’s a combination of PCR (molecular diagnostic) tests, plus a rapid antigen test, and we went through some challenging times initially when we cleared everybody on the initial arrival test.
“The guidance from the doctors (was that) it was best to test everybody, regardless of whether you were a previous positive or not, because they have seen cases of reinfection, although rare. What we found was a little bit what we expected, maybe not to the level, that some did test positive, but we had a protocol in place to address positive tests and prior positives, and that was looking things like CT values and antibody levels, or testing positive for antibodies, whether it be here in the pod or maybe documentation of positive antibody testing prior to coming to the pod.”
Tier 1 personnel were required to take a PCR test every Monday during the pod, as well as rapid-response antigen tests three to four times per week. These personnel included players, coaches, team support staff, officials, conference staff, additional medical support and select Baxter Arena staff.
Colorado College started late at the pod due to a Tigers player testing positive prior to the event. That meant that the entire CC team quarantined for two weeks before beginning its season at Baxter Arena. The Tigers opened Dec. 8 with a shootout win over Western Michigan, but CC is officially 2-4-2 at the winter break.
The NCHC had originally planned to play 40 games but crossed two off. Still, once action got underway, all 38 games were played without any cancellations. Fenton puts that success down to stringent health and safety guidelines that the conference adhered to.
“We knew it was a significant schedule and the effort was going to have to be there to get through it,” Fenton said Tuesday when asked if he believed, going into the pod, that the league would get all 38 games in without interruption.
“I don’t know what we thought we should expect from potential disruptions relating to testing, but we believed in the protocol, we believed in the plan, so I guess the answer to the question is yes, we did believe that we could get through it.
“We would’ve played 40 hockey games over the past three weeks, and it was an accomplishment in and of itself to do 38, so the protocol is what had me believing coming into it that we could execute and get it done,” Fenton said. “There were certainly some unknowns that came up, and we had to work through some of those things…but we believed in the protocol, and I think the protocol showed that it can work.”
NCHC action resumes in Dec. 31 back in Omaha, when North Dakota visits UNO for a Thursday-Friday series. Fans will be limited to 1,500 spectators, socially distanced, and season ticket holders get first dibs.
Last time: 2-1
