Drew Claussen and I are already each 0-1 for this week, each of us having picked last night’s Minnesota-Wisconsin game incorrectly. We posted those picks yesterday and we’ll include our record from that series in next week’s running total.
Last week
Drew: 4-1-1 (.750)
Paula: 4-0-2 (.833)
Season
Drew: 69-32-9 (.668)
Paula: 69-31-11 (.672)
This week
Another blissful week of all-conference play. The Golden Gophers and Badgers finish their series tonight in Madison. The other two series are Friday-Saturday. The times for games vary but are all local.
Michigan at Penn State
Drew: Michigan is rolling after sweeping Michigan State and taking five points from Wisconsin. On the other side, Penn State is not rolling by any stretch of the imagination. That’s my preview for this series. It probably changed you life.
Paula: It’s hard to come up with something meaningful to say about this match, given that the Wolverines are second in the conference and riding a four-game unbeaten streak (3-0-1) into Hockey Valley and the Nittany Lions have yet to win a Big Ten conference game. The teams have never played each other, so there’s no mutual history to discuss, although PSU coach Guy Gadowsky was 4-8-0 all-time against Michigan as Alaska’s coach when the Wolverines and Nanooks were both CCHA teams.
I am sure that the Wolverines will not overlook the Nittany Lions. I am equally sure that Michigan is looking at this weekend as an opportunity to gain ground on first-place Minnesota, especially since the Gophers lost to the Badgers last night. Friday’s game is untelevised and begins at 7:00 p.m.; Saturday’s game begins at 5:00 p.m. and is carried by ESPNU.
Drew: The Spartans have fallen into the trend of playing good teams close and then folding. Two close games against Minnesota last weekend and two against Michigan the week before. These two teams opened up 2014 with a two-game series in Columbus. The Buckeyes picked up a 5-3 victory in game one and the second game ended in 1-1 tie. I like the way Ohio State has played since that series more than the way the Spartans responded, so I’m going to go with a similar result in this series.
Paula: What impressed me most about that earlier MSU-OSU series was how hard each team played. While the Buckeyes have more weapons on offense, the Spartans have an edge defensively and they’re home — and each team will play hard, again. Michigan State is 82-30-9 against Ohio State, all-time, in this series that dates back to 1964; the Buckeyes are 5-4-1, though, in their last 10 games versus the Spartans, including a 3-0-1 mark in the last four. Friday’s game begins at 6:30 p.m. and is carried by the Big Ten Network; Saturday’s contest starts at 4:00 p.m. and will be televised by both Fox Sports Detroit and Sports Time Ohio.
Drew’s picks: Ohio State 4-2, 2-2. Paula’s picks: Michigan State 3-2, Ohio State 4-2.
Last week, I gained another game on the old man. And seeing as this is his last week picking before season ending surgery, I’m curious to see whether or not Dave will go completely the opposite of me in hopes I tank so he can improve his winning percentage.
(Dave’s special note: I’m loathe to intrude on Jim’s introduction, but since this is my swan song for a while, I have to say thanks to all the friends and fans who’ve sent me their support. You all are the best. Thank you!)
Dave last week: 5-2-1 Jim last week: 6-1-1 Dave’s record-to-date: 119-65-23 Jim’s record-to-date: 124-60-23
Here are this week’s picks:
Friday, Feb. 7
Merrimack at Boston College
Jim’s pick: Let’s start with the fact that Merrimack is on the road. Add in the fact that the opponent is BC. This is a slam dunk. BC 5, MC 2
Dave’s pick: I’m down by five and have to pull my goalie, but not against a team that hasn’t lost since November. BC 5, MC 2
Massachusetts-Lowell at Boston University
Jim’s pick: BU put forth an impressive effort in the Beanpot. But having watched the way Lowell manhandled them territorially three weeks ago, this one is all River Hawks. UML 4, BU 1
Dave’s pick: Again, I have to agree, although I think it’ll be closer than Jim thinks. BU will play well, but not well enough to win. UML 3, BU 2
Maine at Notre Dame
Jim’s pick: Given the way Maine has played away from home, I can’t pick the Black Bears at all this weekend. ND 3, Maine 2
Dave’s pick: Here’s a pull-the-goalie pick. I suspect Maine will pick up its first road win this weekend, and was hoping Jim picked a split so I could go in the opposite direction. But he didn’t cooperate, so I’m forced to pick the Black Bears to seize their first two road wins of the year. Maine 3, ND 2
Massachusetts at Northeastern
Jim’s pick: Maybe NU gets caught looking ahead to the Beanpot final. But I doubt it. NU 4, UMass 2
Dave’s pick: The more I watch the Huskies, the more impressed I become. They’ll come to play and will win. NU 4, UMass 1
Vermont at New Hampshire
Jim’s pick: This is the series of the weekend. And with New Hampshire being hot, it’s hard to pick against them at home. UNH 3, UVM 2
Dave’s pick: Pull-the-goalie pick number two. I’d naturally be going with a UNH sweep, having learned my lesson from last weekend. But it’s time to gamble, and this isn’t a bad one. I’ve underestimated the Catamounts all season long, and they’ve pulled off road splits the last two weekends against Northeastern and BU. I’ll need them to make it three weeks in a row and a split the right way. UVM 3, UNH 2
Saturday, Feb. 8
Maine at Notre Dame
Jim’s pick: Again, going with the Irish based solely on Maine’s road futility. ND 4, Maine 2
Dave’s pick: How can a team be almost undefeated at home and winless on the road? Time to gamble again on the Black Bears. Maine 3, ND 2
Massachusetts-Lowell at Massachusetts
Jim’s pick: Lowell wins to claim the Alumni Cup. UML 4, UMass 2
Dave’s pick: Agreed. The River Hawks complete the sweep and move into sole possession of second place, which is where they belong. UML 4, UMass 2
Vermont at New Hampshire
Jim’s pick: Any faithful reader knows I hate picking splits. But I really feel UVM will have another happy bus ride home. UVM 3, UNH 2
Dave’s pick: I’m happily going with UNH here, hoping that my version of the split is the right one. UNH 4, UVM 2
Monday, Feb. 10
62nd Beanpot (at TD Garden) Boston University vs. Harvard (Consolation game)
Jim’s pick: It’s been a tough season for BU, but I don’t see another last place Beanpot finish in the cards. BU 4, Harvard 3
Dave’s pick: The Crimson seniors could finish their collegiate careers with four Beanpot consolation wins, which may be as hollow of an accomplishment as there is in college hockey. But I don’t think so. BU 4, Harvard 1
Boston College vs. Northeastern (Championship game)
Jim’s pick: If I had to make this pick 10 times, I’d pick BC 9. This is the one where I pick NU. NU 4, BC 3 (OT)
Dave’s pick: I’d need a gun, literal or figurative, pointed at my head to pick against BC right now. This is easiest of the five picks I’ve differed with Jim on. Northeastern has impressed and it’ll be a great story if the Huskies win, but I just can’t see it. BC 3, NU 2
Tuesday, Feb. 11
Connecticut at Providence
Jim’s pick: This should be an easy one for the Friars, but no game vs. AHA teams has been easy for Hockey East this season. PC 3, UConn 2
Dave’s pick: It’s hard to understand Hockey East’s struggles with Atlantic Hockey (relative to those of other conferences), but I’d be stunned if they extended to a Friars loss. PC 4, UConn 1
Eight of the WCHA’s 10 teams are in action this weekend while Alaska and Bowling Green take the weekend off so the rest of the league can catch up to them in games played.
After the weekend, everyone in the WCHA will be within two games played of each other. Ferris State, Northern Michigan, Lake Superior State and Alabama-Huntsville will have played 20 games while the rest of the league will have played 22.
Here are this week’s picks:
Alabama-Huntsville at Michigan Tech
Matt: It’s Winter Carnival weekend in Houghton, where winter is embraced, not mourned. The university has been done with classes since Wednesday, when engineering students stayed up all night into Thursday building some of the cooler snow and ice sculptures you ever see. I’m looking forward to checking those out, and some hockey on Saturday. It should be another good weekend for Tech. Huskies 4-1, 5-1
Shane: Nothing says welcome to the WCHA like that first trip to Houghton, and the Chargers get a double-shot, as they’re the opponent of choice for Winter Carnival weekend. I’ve never been there for the Carnival myself but was there the week before once when the sculptures were under construction. The students worked deep into the night after the Friday game but must have been at the bars on Saturday. A tradition like no other? Anyway, big chance for the Huskies to make a move in the standings. Huskies 4-1, 4-3
Northern Michigan at Ferris State
Matt: According to the NMU hockey Twitter account (http://twitter.com/NMUHockey), the Wildcats have not played in Big Rapids since the 2009-10 season. It was an old quirk of the CCHA scheduling rotation, which also seemed to keep Michigan from ever playing in Marquette as well. The Wildcats played the Bulldogs tough during their unbeaten streak, mustering a tie in Marquette. I say the NMU seniors get a win in their first ever games at Ferris. Wildcats 3-2, Bulldogs 4-2
Shane: The best thing the WCHA did a few years ago was go to a real scheduling rotation that Minnesota coach Don Lucia came up with to prevent scenarios such as the one Matt mentioned above. The plan guaranteed every team play in the other teams’ barns at least 3 of every 4 years. That worked until Bemidji State and Nebraska Omaha came aboard to make it a 12-team league. Back to 10 in the newlook league, I hope the Lucia Plan is back in place. Anyway, I liked some things I saw from NMU last weekend and think Ferris has cooled a bit. Wildcats 4-2, Bulldogs 4-1
Alaska-Anchorage at Lake Superior State
Matt: The Lakers desperately need points this weekend, though they still have some games in hand. The problem is they don’t have games in hand on the team right in front of them — Northern Michigan. UAA is 1-5-2 this year on the road in the WCHA, but LSSU is only 4-6-0 in Sault Ste. Marie, having lost three of its last four. Lakers 4-3, Seawolves 3-1
Shane: It’s hard to believe the Lakers, who started off so hot this year, are now in real danger of missing the WCHA’s postseason. They have a tough road the rest of the way, so if they’re going to get out of the hole, it better start now. They’re hosting an Anchorage team that is in position to be at home for the playoffs but one that hasn’t been all that good away from Alaska this season. A sweep by Lake Superior could really shake up these tight, tight standings. But I don’t see that happening. Seawolves 2-1, Lakers 3-1
Bemidji State at Minnesota State
Matt: The Beavers have been better on the road (5-3-2) than at home (3-5-2) this year, while only Ferris State (7-0-1) has been better on their home ice than the Mavericks (7-1-0). Bemidji split with MSU back in the first two days of November when the Mavericks were clearly struggling. That’s not the case, at least in Mankato, in February. Mavericks 3-1, 4-1
Shane: Other than the Mavericks themselves, no one’s happier to see that team play in Mankato this weekend than me (well, maybe my wife … well, maybe not). Anyway, MSU has played 10 of its last 12 games away from home. They’re 9-1-0 at home this season and have also won 5 of the last 6 games in which they’ve hosted the Beavers. The two teams split in Bemidji in November.Mavericks 3-2, 5-2
Last week: Matt 5-1-0, Shane 3-2-0. Overall: Shane 104-51-20, Matt 100-56-20.
Every time I even try to pick games that might allow me to gain ground on Arlan, I blow it. Last week, I went 20-4 (.833), while Arlan went 21-3 (.875). On the year, I am 225-74-34 (.726), while Arlan is 234-65-34 (.753).
Looks like I am dead to rights with only four weeks left.
Friday, Feb. 7
Quinnipiac at Clarkson Candace: I’d like to try for the upset pick, but Clarkson has looked really good, and is home. Clarkson 4-1 Arlan: Arlan: I expect that the Golden Knights want to make a statement here. Clarkson 4-1
Harvard at Dartmouth Candace: I thought Dartmouth might be over its malaise, but the Big Green’s results last week proved me wrong. Harvard 4-2 Arlan: Harvard looks a little more vulnerable with each passing week, and I’m sure the Big Green would love to exploit that. Harvard 3-1
Princeton at St. Lawrence Candace: I picked against the Tigers last week and it cost me. Princeton 2-1 Arlan: This is a vote for home ice; beyond that, it looks even. St. Lawrence 2-1
Friday-Saturday, Feb. 7-8
RIT at Mercyhurst Candace: The Lakers already lost once to RIT; it won’t happen again. Mercyhurst 4-2, 4-1 Arlan: All those banners hang in Erie because the Lakers figure out a way to win these games. Mercyhurst 4-3, 3-1
Syracuse at Robert Morris Candace: The Colonials need to bounce back after losing to Lindenwood. Home ice should help in two close games. Robert Morris 2-1, 2-1 Arlan: Arlan: Which direction do the Colonials go after the crushing loss to Lindenwood? They still control a share of the CHA title. Robert Morris 1-0, 2-1
St. Cloud State at Minnesota State Candace: This is a total split, and since I need to try to make my defeat by Arlan respectable, I’ll pick the opposite. Minnesota State 2-1, St. Cloud 3-1 Arlan: The fight to escape the WCHA cellar. Ever see “Inglorious Basterds?” I can hear Brad Pitt saying, “You know, fighting in a basement offers a lot of difficulties. Number one being, you’re fighting in a basement!” St. Cloud State 1-0, Minnesota State 2-1
Wisconsin at Ohio State Candace: Ohio State has been hot the second half, but Wisconsin has the Buckeyes’ number. Wisconsin 3-1, 3-2 Arlan: The Badgers have more riding on this series, because the Buckeyes likely finish fifth no matter if they get points or not. Wisconsin 2-1, 4-0
Bemidji State at Minnesota Candace: I’m sure at least one of these games will be really close, but it won’t prevent a Gophers’ sweep. Minnesota 4-1, 4-0 Arlan: It’s been awhile since a scrappy effort from BSU has produced points versus the Gophers. Minnesota 5-1, 3-0
Saturday, Feb. 8
Princeton at Clarkson Candace: Clarkson continues to roll. Clarkson 3-1 Arlan: The Golden Knights can’t afford to look ahead a week to Harvard. Clarkson 4-1
Quinnipiac at St. Lawrence Candace: I’d like to pick the Saints, but the last time I did, I was wrong. Quinnipiac 3-2 Arlan: Probably a tie, but I can’t pick a tie. Quinnipiac 2-1
Rensselaer at Yale Candace: I was really surprised Yale came out flat last weekend. Hopefully, home ice helps. Yale 3-2 Arlan: The winner of this game likely makes the ECAC tournament, but the loser’s odds are probably about even. Rensselaer 2-1
New Hampshire at Boston University Candace: New Hampshire seems to be fading fast. Boston University 3-1 Arlan: BU had a rough January, but UNH hasn’t had a winning month since October. Boston University 4-1
Northeastern at Providence Candace: I picked Providence last week and got burnt. Northeastern 3-1 Arlan: One is hot, and the other is not. Northeastern 4-3
Boston College at Connecticut Candace: The Eagles move one game closer to the Hockey East title. Boston College 3-1 Arlan: These are the type of games where the Eagles tend to be a tad flat, but they should win anyway. Boston College 2-0
Maine at Vermont Candace: Maine will make this close, but I’m going with home ice. Vermont 2-1 Arlan: Maine was winless in its first 11 league games, but has won three of its last five. Vermont 3-1
Saturday-Sunday, Feb. 8-9
North Dakota at Minnesota-Duluth Candace: OT will happen in at least once, and a tie wouldn’t surprise me, since they had one last fall. North Dakota 3-1, 3-0 Arlan: Series between these teams usually result in splits and overtime. I don’t think UND can sweep if Meghan Dufault is still out. North Dakota 3-2, 2-1
Tuesday, Feb. 11
Northeastern at Boston College (Beanpot Championship) Candace: Northeastern has been one of the hottest teams in the last month, but I think the Eagles recapture the title. Boston College 3-1 Arlan: I think that the Huskies defend their title with everything they have, but the Eagles have more. Chloe Desjardins will have to commit larceny to flip the result. Boston College 4-2
Harvard versus Boston University (Beanpot Consolation) Candace: This one could be a coin flip, but I’m not completely convinced the Terriers are fully back. Harvard 2-1 Arlan: Neither team can afford to start as slowly as it did in its Beanpot semifinal loss. Harvard 3-1
Geneseo goalie Bryan Haude has been in net for six of his squad’s eight SUNYAC conference wins (photo: Dan Hickling).
Life with those Ice Knights from Geneseo has been something of an elevator ride in recent weeks.
Up and down.
You need look no further than last weekend when the Knights, themselves SUNYAC title contenders, dispatched league leaders Plattsburgh one night, then were drubbed by last-place Potsdam the next.
Yet even with those waves and dips has been the steady presence of junior goalie Bryan Haude.
Haude has backboned six of Geneseo’s eight conference wins this year – with sophomore Nick Horrigan racking up the other two – and now has three SUNYAC goalie of the week nods this season.
The latest honors came for last week’s toil, which saw him set new career saves marks on successive nights.
It’s fair to say that the Knights might not have toppled Platty without Haude’s 39-save effort.
Even so, Haude felt that there was plenty of credit to spread around for beating the nation’s No. 4 squad.
“We played an amazing team game,” said Haude. “Everyone bought into systems and wanted to fight for one another every shift. I also felt that our coaching staff prepared us for everything Plattsburgh was going to throw at us. Lastly, our fans [2,239 strong in cozy Ira Wilson Arena] created an amazing atmosphere and really made us elevate our game to another level.”
You might even say that without his 42 saves the following night, the margin would have been even more lopsided against the keenly-motivated, upset-minded Bears.
“Obviously, after winning a big game against Plattsburgh, losing to Potsdam is not a good way to end the weekend,” Haude said. “The SUNYAC is a strong conference with any team being able to win on any given night. Potsdam came to play and came out on top that night. As a team, we are looking forward and not focusing on the past.”
That said, Haude explained that he and his mates can feel the Knights gaining a head of steam as they head to the playoffs, three weeks hence.
“I think we have been playing some really good hockey as of late,” he said. “We have had a few losses [Elmira, Nazareth and Potsdam] that we felt we should’ve played better. But we have great leadership from our seniors that will guide us down the stretch. We just need to bear down, learn from our mistakes and do the little things right all the time for success to follow.”
Players of the Week
The SUNYAC’s player of the week laurels went to Brockport sophomore d-man Chris Luker, who scored the game winner (plus an assist), for B-port in Friday’s 4-1 win over Potsdam, then repeated the output the following night in the Golden Eagles’ 5-4 loss to Plattsburgh.
Rookie of the week honors wen to Fredonia freshman forward Blake Forslund, whose two goals and one assist helped the Blue Devils to a pair of wins over Morrisville.
Paula: Minnesota and Wisconsin face off tonight for the 267th time, with the Golden Gophers holding a 159-87-21 all-time edge over the Badgers, and Minnesota is 6-3-1 in the last 10 games between the two rivals.
Drew: The Badgers are coming off of a weekend where I thought they looked pretty strong. Problem is that Wisconsin only came away with one point in its road series against Michigan. Minnesota is coming off of a grind-it-out, two-game set with Michigan State. The Gophers tied the Spartans on Friday before losing the shootout. It was the second shootout loss that Michigan State has handed Minnesota this season. The Gophers haven’t won a conference shootout but did defeat Minnesota-Duluth in one to win the North Star College Cup. The Gophers are a comfy 10 points ahead of third-place Wisconsin and nine points ahead of second-place Michigan. A Minnesota sweep could dash the Badgers’ hopes to win the first Big Ten regular-season title. I want to pick split, but considering that the Gophers haven’t lost since Nov. 24, I’m going to go win and tie.
Paula: The Gophers swept the Badgers earlier this season, winning 4-1 and 4-3 (Nov. 29-30). Minnesota rides a 14-game (10-0-4) unbeaten streak into this series. Games each night will be carried by the Big Ten Network. Tonight’s contest begins at 7:30 p.m. CT, Saturday’s at 8:00 p.m.
Drew’s picks: 3-3, Minnesota 4-1. Paula’s picks: I can’t believe I’m picking against the Gophers — as I do respect that streak — but also like Wisconsin’s 13-2-1 home record. Minnesota 3-2, Wisconsin 3-2.
P.S.
Picks for the other two Big Ten series will be posted Friday morning.
On the season:
Dan: 119-58-19 (.656)
Chris: 119-58-19 (.656)
This Week’s Picks
Thursday, Feb. 6 and Saturday, Feb. 8: Canisius vs. Niagara Dan: Niagara is capable of beating anybody on any given day. So’s Canisius. They’re in a dead heat in the standings, and both teams have one major standout success with one major standout drawback. I’m going to give the edge to goaltending in this series, though, and pick the Griffs. Canisius sweeps. Chris: This one’s a tossup since both teams have been inconsistent all season. One point separates them in the standings and I expect these games to be close as well. They’ve had success in each other’s barns but I’m going with the home team in each game. Niagara wins Thursday; Canisius wins Saturday.
Friday, Feb. 7 and Saturday, Feb. 8: Robert Morris at RIT Dan: Every year, one team towards the top of the standings has an unfortunate hole in its game exploited while another team starts slow and trends up with unabashed fire. This year, these are those two teams. RMU sweeps. Chris: These are teams moving in opposite directions: RIT has won just twice in its last 11 games, while RMU has only one loss in its last ten contests. I think those trends will continue. RMU sweeps.
Mercyhusrt at Air Force Dan: Air Force needs these points a lot more than Mercyhurst, and the Lakers are coming off three hard-earned points at home against second place Bentley. I think Air Force takes a game in this one, but there’s no way anyone can take Mercyhurs to be swept. Air Force wins on Friday; Mercyhurst on Saturday. Chris: The Falcons really need these games if they want to stay in the hunt for a first-round bye. As dominant as Mercyhurst as been this season, I think Air Force earns a split here, especially if Jason Torf returns in net.Mercyhurst wins Friday; Air Force wins Saturday.
Army vs. American International Dan: AIC is within three points of its first ever first round home series. In front of them are a Holy Cross team that’s good but beatable and an RIT team in free fall mode. I’m going to buy in on the Yellow Jackets now and laugh at everyone later when someone is playing in Springfield in the first round. AIC sweeps. Chris: The Black Knight have fallen off the pace and are already eliminated from the possibility of a first-round bye. They certainly can defeat the Yellow Jackets, especially at home on Saturday, but AIC is playing well and I think it takes both games. AIC sweeps.
Holy Cross vs. Sacred Heart Dan: Both teams need a sweep in this series in order to give themselves a good chance at a first round home series, and the question remains as to who wants it more. Last year, when SHU was 0-26-2, they beat and battered Holy Cross to start a 2-1-2 stretch of hockey. I’m going with the Pioneers in this one. Sacred Heart sweeps. Chris: Both teams have the capability of finishing in the top eight (Holy Cross is one point out; Sacred Heart is four). A split would hurt both, but that’s what I think will happen. I’m going with the home team in each game. Sacred Heart wins Friday; Holy Cross on Saturday.
Bentley vs. Connecticut Dan: Bentley and UConn are virtual doppelgangers of each other. Both have solid offenses capable of rolling out multiple lines, both have good defenses anchored by tremendous goaltenders. I have a feeling we’ll one day see Matt Grogan against Branden Komm in an AHL rink sooner rather than later. Nobody will be surprised if UConn wins, but Bentley won’t soon forget last year’s 9-0 shellacking in Storrs late in the year. Bentley sweeps. Chris: Bentley played well enough last weekend to sweep Mercyhurst but had to settle for a single point. I think the Falcons get all four this weekend against a strong UConn team. These will be great games, but Bentley sweeps.
Tuesday, Feb. 11: Connecticut at Providence Dan: Coming off an emotional series with Bentley, I can’t see the Huskies taking out the Friars, no matter how badly PC has played the last month. Expect the Friars to hand the AHA its 65th non-conference loss this year. Providence wins. Chris: This is the final regular season non-conference game for the league, which has been a less-than-impressive 15-64-5 so far. I think the 8th-ranked Friars end things on a down note for the AHA. Providence wins.
If you followed our picks last weekend, chances are you were disappointed. I went 2-2 (.500), while Matthew put up a bagel, going 0-4. On the year, I now have a two-game lead in our season-long picks contest; the winner gets a six pack from the loser. Now I just have to hold Matthew off. I am now 73-48-19 (.589) on the year, while Matthew is 71-50-19 (.575). Friday-Saturday, Feb. 7-8
Western Michigan at Miami Candace: The off-weekend came at a good time for coach Enrico Blasi’s club, which had started the second half dismally. Blasi hinted that there were several things he wanted to work on with his players to ready them for the stretch run. I don’t think that equals sweep yet though. Miami 3-2, Western Michigan 3-2 Matthew: Western hasn’t won in Oxford, Ohio since Nov. 19, 2004 and has gone 0-12-1 on the road against the RedHawks since then. Now, though, I think is the time for the Broncos to finally pick up another win or maybe two on Miami’s ice. WMU underwhelmed last weekend at home against Minnesota-Duluth, but I think Andy Murray will have his Broncos set to go this weekend, and I like them to pick up a few points. Miami 3-1, Western Michigan 3-1
No. 15 Denver at No. 6 St. Cloud State Candace: Coach Bob Motzko’s Huskies still haven’t found their first half defense, which is good news for a Denver club that has struggled to score goals at times this year. In every road series except for Alaska that Denver has played this year, the Pioneers have won the Friday game, and St. Cloud has struggled at home in Friday games. Denver 2-1, St. Cloud 3-2 Matthew: It looked throughout the first half of the season as though SCSU was by far the class of the league, but the Huskies have only won two of their last seven games and now they have three teams only two points behind them in a tie for second place in the standings. Denver’s one of those three teams, and I’ve liked Sam Brittain’s play in goal for DU recently more than I’ve liked Ryan Faragher’s for SCSU, but as this series is in St. Cloud, I’ll take a split. St. Cloud State 4-2, Denver 3-1
Colorado College at No. 17 Minnesota-Duluth Candace: Minnesota-Duluth continues to improve, and after this weekend, it wouldn’t surprise me if they are in a tie for first or second. Minnesota-Duluth 3-2, 3-1 Matthew: CC has looked better in recent weeks, and the Tigers surprised me a bit in getting a split at home with Miami last weekend. However, Duluth has been the NCHC’s hottest team of late, and I think the Bulldogs will be raring to go this weekend for their first home series in a few weeks and ought to get the job done. Minnesota Duluth 3-2, 4-1
Nebraska-Omaha at No. 16 North Dakota Candace: If UNO’s defense plays like it did against St. Cloud last week, the Mavericks could be in for a rough weekend, because North Dakota loves playing tough, checking defense at the Ralph. North Dakota 3-1, 4-2 Matthew: Whether or not UNO No. 1 goaltender Ryan Massa makes it back from his groin injury in time for this series, I think UND will be able to handle the Mavericks. UND has the league’s best home record at 8-4-1 and has won its last six games at the Ralph, and goalie Clarke Saunders has historically been very good against UNO, both with UND and with Alabama-Huntsville before he transferred to North Dakota. North Dakota 5-3, 4-3
After getting only one point from a home series against Bowling Green in December, Michigan Tech swept the Falcons on the road last weekend (photo: Adelle Whitefoot).
Bowling Green took three of four points from Michigan Tech in December in Houghton, but when the Huskies traveled south last weekend to Ohio for a rematch with the Falcons, redemption, revenge and retribution were not on their mind.
According to Tech coach Mel Pearson, there’s no time to think about payback at this point of the season. The only thing that matters in the WCHA is points.
“We didn’t talk about [redemption] once,” Pearson said. “The way the standings are and the situation we were in, it was more about just finding a way to get some points in those games. We didn’t talk to our team about it at all.
“The race is so tight, you have to worry about that game and not worry about what happened prior with that team or any team.”
Redemption proved to be nothing but an added bonus for the Huskies following a sweep at Bowling Green.
More importantly, Tech was able to climb out of a three-way tie for seventh and into a three-way tie for fifth in the league, giving the program a chance to not only make the WCHA playoffs but host a first-round best-of-three series at the John MacInnes Student Ice Arena.
The Huskies, who were picked in the preseason to finish third by the league’s coaches and even awarded a first-place vote, are just one point back of fourth-place Alaska-Anchorage and three points shy of Bowling Green.
However, Pearson knows one or two bad nights could take his team back into a battle just to make the postseason.
“For our team, we have so many things to improve on,” Pearson said. “We still could be out of the playoffs. We still need to work hard to get into the playoffs.
“Every game is a must-win game for a lot of teams, not just us.”
This week the Huskies host last-place Alabama-Huntsville as part of the university’s annual Winter Carnival. The Chargers have just one win this season and it came in the same rink in which Tech needed overtime on Saturday to complete the sweep of the Falcons.
The Huskies may not have been thinking about past battles with Bowling Green a week ago, but this week Pearson is making sure his guys remember the Falcons.
“We reminded them how hard and difficult it was and how we had to claw and scratch and compete,” Pearson said. “I said, ‘Gentlemen, the team we have next weekend beat Bowling Green in Bowling Green. If you need any more information than that, you shouldn’t. That’s all you need to know, how difficult it was for us to beat Bowling Green.'”
Minnesota State leads the WCHA in attendance with an average of 3,427 per game (photo: Jim Rosvold).
WCHA attendance takes a dive minus big barns
With big buildings such as Ralph Engelstad Arena, the Kohl Center and Mariucci Arena out of the WCHA and smaller venues now in the conference, the league’s attendance figures just aren’t the same.
Going into the stretch run, WCHA teams are averaging 2,464 fans per game. A year ago, the average was more than double that at 6,277.
Minnesota State leads the league with an average figure of 3,427 per game this season, followed by Bemidji State at 3,382 and Michigan Tech at 2,794. Alaska comes in next at 2,690.
In 98 games played in WCHA buildings this season, the 10 teams have drawn 241,434 fans.
The league had played to more than 1 million fans in each of the last three seasons.
Around the WCHA
• The Huskies became the first team to sweep the Falcons this weekend by winning 5-2 and 5-4 in overtime at the BGSU Ice Arena. Despite the two losses, the Falcons retained possession of third place in the WCHA. That position will be tough to hang on to since the Falcons have only six conference games remaining with three points separating third and fifth.
• There have been a lot of firsts in this first season of the new-look WCHA, and there will be another this weekend when Alabama-Huntsville plays Michigan Tech for the first time. (Congratulations, Chargers, you get the Winter Carnival weekend!) But there also will be a matchup of some longtime rivals when Bemidji State travels to Mankato to take on Minnesota State. The series dates to the schools’ Division II days, and Bemidji leads the all-time series with a 47-40-13 record. Earlier this season, the teams split a series in Bemidji.
• Minnesota State and Alaska boast the league’s top six scorers in conference play. The Mavericks’ Jean-Paul LaFontaine (25 points) and Matt Leitner (24) sit atop the charts, followed by the Nanooks’ Cody Kunyk (23) and Colton Beck (20). Minnesota State’s Johnny McInnis and Alaska’s Tyler Morley are tied at 19 points along with Bowling Green’s Dan DeSalvo.
• Alaska Anchorage goalie Chris Kamal leads the league’s goaltending race with a conference GAA of 1.67. Kamal has crossed the threshold of playing 33 percent of his team’s minutes to qualify, but remember he didn’t see his first action until a relief appearance on Nov. 30 at Minnesota State. Kamal has started the Seawolves’ last nine games, going 6-2-1 with a .929 save percentage.
• Ferris State and Lake Superior State both are coming off their final bye weekend and will play five consecutive weekends of WCHA play to close out the season. Thanks to Northern Michigan’s win Friday over second-place Minnesota State, the Bulldogs were able to hang on to first place in the WCHA. Meanwhile, sweeps by Michigan Tech and Alaska have left Lake Superior State alone in ninth place, three points back of eighth-place Northern Michigan.
• The Wildcats are also playing five consecutive weeks against WCHA opponents to close out the regular season, and it appears they’ll be healthier in Big Rapids than they were the previous two weekends in Anchorage and Marquette. Freshman defenseman Brock Maschmeyer practiced in full Tuesday and Wednesday after missing back-to-back weekends with an upper body injury. Last weekend against Minnesota State, Northern Michigan got back senior defenseman Wade Epp and junior defenseman Luke Eibler. The Wildcats hit a low point in Anchorage on defense with four of their six starting defensemen injured. The only one of the four not back on the ice for practice this week is senior CJ Ludwig, who is out for the season.
• This week’s WCHA players of the week are Michigan Tech forward David Johnstone (offensive), Alaska defenseman Colton Parayko (defensive) and Michigan Tech defenseman Shane Hanna (rookie).
Boston College forward Johnny Gaudreau, who led the nation in scoring in January, has been named the Hockey Commissioners’ Association National Division I Player of the Month for January, while BC freshman goaltender Thatcher Demko has earned HCA Rookie of the Month honors.
Gaudreau tallied eight goals and 10 assists for 18 points in eight games in the month of January, while BC went 7-0-1 during the stretch. He recorded three two-goal games, including one against Notre Dame at Fenway Park, and had multiple points in five of his eight games played.
In addition, Gaudreau is currently on a 22-game point streak, with 21 goals and 24 assists for 45 points dating back to Nov. 1.
Demko went 4-0-1 last month, with four of those five starts coming on the road. During the month, he stopped 134 of 142 shots faced for a save percentage of .944, to go along with a goals-against average of 1.57. Demko started and won four straight games to close out the month, capping it off with a 30-save shutout on the road at Providence, the first shutout of his college career.
Minnesota-Duluth is 6-1-2 in its last nine games (photo: Jim Rosvold).
At the onset of the second half of this season, a Minnesota-Duluth team looking to fight its way into contention for a NCAA tournament spot had things that needed fixing.
The Bulldogs’ 5-3 loss at home Dec. 13 to Western Michigan, the Broncos’ first win over Duluth in five attempts, dropped UMD’s record to 6-8 overall and 2-5 in the NCHC.
Four losses in the Bulldogs’ last five games wasn’t good enough for a program not yet three years removed from a national championship, and changes needed to be made.
Boy, have they ever been.
Since that loss to Western, Minnesota-Duluth has been on a serious tear. It started with a 4-3 win over the Broncos on Dec. 14 in the teams’ weekend series finale, and the Bulldogs find themselves on a 6-1-2 run that includes a pair of wins on the road last weekend against that same Broncos team against which Duluth started its spectacular run.
Last Friday’s affair in Kalamazoo, Mich., was close through the first 40 minutes, but three unanswered Bulldogs goals in the third period and a four-point night — two of those points coming in the form of goals — from freshman forward Kyle Osterberg propelled the visitors to a 5-2 win.
Duluth then capped off its second road sweep in four weeks — the other coming at Nebraska-Omaha Jan. 10-11 — by downing the Broncos 3-1 the following night. Senior goaltender Aaron Crandall shined in the series finale, stopping 32 Western shots and helping the Bulldogs kill all six of the Broncos’ power-play opportunities in the game.
The difference in the Bulldogs’ level of performance between the few weeks before that first series of the season against Western and now has almost been like night and day, and Minnesota-Duluth coach Scott Sandelin said his team’s current run has surprised him somewhat.
“Prior to Christmas, I didn’t think we were playing very well, and I thought we had a pretty good November and a decent October, but we weren’t playing well [in December],” Sandelin said. “We got a big win on the Saturday against Western prior to the break, but I thought defensively and goaltending, those types of things, we needed to be better.
“So we talked about that when the guys came back to try and make more of a conscious effort to play better defensively as a team, and our goaltending needed to be better. Obviously, Aaron’s certainly been playing very well for us since the break. Defensively, I think we’ve been better as a team, and some of the guys we’ve been counting on like [forwards Caleb] Herbert and [Tony] Cameranesi and guys like that that didn’t have quite the first-half numbers [we wanted] are playing better for us.”
The Bulldogs are looking much better in their own end of the ice, too. Although Duluth still finds itself in fifth place in the NCHC at 12-9-3 and 7-6-1-1 in the league, Crandall (7-3-1, 2.34 GAA, .920 save percentage) has been one of the best goalies in the league this season.
“Whoever’s in the pipes is also big to win us a game or two or give us good goaltending to give your whole team some confidence, and I think every coach would say that it starts there,” Sandelin said. “You look around the country, and Sam Brittain at Denver has been great for them, Clay Witt at Northeastern, Adam Wilcox at Minnesota, Ryan Faragher was great for St. Cloud [but] he’s going through a stretch right now.
“[Goaltending] is such an important part of it. It’s not just five-on-five and killing penalties and all those things, so I think that’s given us a little bit of a boost, and I think our guys are starting to play better.”
Minnesota-Duluth still has a tough remaining schedule: Colorado College at home this weekend, then St. Cloud State away, North Dakota at home, Miami away and Nebraska-Omaha at home.
The good news, though, is that Duluth’s entire 2013-14 slate has been treacherous, and Sandelin said the level of competition is something his team has gotten used to.
“Maybe some of [our success is down to] the schedule we’ve played,” Sandelin said. “We’ve played some really good teams, and we’ve been in some battles, and maybe we’ve figured it out a bit.”
Nebraska-Omaha celebrates a goal in an 8-6 victory over St. Cloud State last Saturday (photo: Michelle Bishop).
‘A lot of questionable goaltending’ results in 14-goal game
Decidedly not figuring it out — different “it” this time — last Saturday were the goaltending corps from St. Cloud State and Nebraska-Omaha, and the scoreboard at the end of their game proved it.
I have been writing for USCHO since 2007, starting out as an Arena Reporter, then as a WCHA Columnist and now as a NCHC Columnist, and I feel confident in saying last Saturday’s 8-6 Mavericks win was by far the most certifiably bonkers hockey game I have ever covered.
Mavericks coach Dean Blais was in good humor late Saturday after a game that was fun for fans to watch but couldn’t have been much fun to coach.
“I love to win those games,” Blais said, laughing. “[Former UNO coach Mike Kemp] was saying he likes to win 1-0. I like to win 8-6.
“Well, 8-5. I was pissed that we gave up that sixth goal. [Not giving up the sixth goal] would have been good team defense.”
We all have games like that that we remember, one-offs that we don’t think can ever be topped. For me, it was a game where the losing team had one player scoring a hat trick while the starting goaltender was pulled and then sent back out later because his backup was pulled, too.
Huskies goaltenders Ryan Faragher (picking up the loss in 40:41 played over two separate stints) and Charlie Lindgren (18:06, no decision) weren’t the only goalies having issues in that game, though.
UNO dressed only its two freshmen goaltenders during the series, and Kirk Thompson was pulled after Saturday’s first period in which SCSU climbed out of an early 2-0 hole to go back to the Huskies’ room ahead 3-2. Reed Peters then came on in relief for UNO and picked up the win through the final 40 minutes of the game.
With Blais deciding to yank Thompson after the first period, plus the fact the game ended up being a 14-goal affair, it seemed inevitable Blais would be asked in his postgame news conference about his goaltending situation.
“That’s a good question,” Blais said. “I didn’t necessarily think Kirk had played all that badly, but I’m disappointed that … he had to make one of those two saves on the second or third goal. Three goals on [10] shots, I’m going to pull anyone [in that situation]. I’m going to pull an NHL goaltender.”
SCSU tied the game at 5-5 3:12 into the third period when Huskies forward Kalle Kossila picked up his third goal of the night. But the visitors then found themselves derailed by three consecutive UNO goals from Mavericks forwards Zahn Raubenheimer, Dominic Zombo — for a hat trick of his own — and a second tally of the night from Brock Montpetit.
“There was a lot of questionable goaltending going on, that’s for sure,” SCSU coach Bob Motzko said.
“You’ve got to tip your hat to Omaha, because they came out and played really hard, and we weathered the storm in the first and hunkered back in there, [but] in the second period, we just were disinterested. We wanted it to be an easy game, and we came out in the third ready to play. We played hard in the third, but you give up a couple goals like we gave up and that was demoralizing for us.”
Nebraska-Omaha goalie Ryan Massa stops Miami’s Austin Czarnik on a penalty shot on Nov. 22 (photo: Michelle Bishop).
Mavericks missing Massa
Nebraska-Omaha normally dresses all three of its goaltenders for home games, but only Peters and Thompson suited up for last weekend’s series with St. Cloud State.
The team’s No. 1 goaltender, Ryan Massa, was out with a groin injury and had missed several days of practice in the lead-up to his team’s two-game set with the Huskies.
Blais said after Friday’s 5-3 loss to SCSU that Massa is questionable for this weekend’s series at No. 16 North Dakota.
Blais didn’t give a specific timeline regarding Massa’s return to play.
“It’s just like with anyone else: If you miss one day of practice, it’s one day to recover, and he’s already missed five days of practice, so he’s questionable for North Dakota next week,” Blais said.
“I don’t want to say ‘doubtful’ yet, you know, because he doesn’t lose his conditioning that much. He’s still riding the bike a little bit and whatever that groin will allow him to do.”
Much more missed playing time for Massa could prove worrisome for UNO, particularly after Peters and Thompson conceded 11 goals last weekend alone. In truth, though, all three of UNO’s goaltenders’ numbers are pretty similar: All of them have a save percentage below .900 and they each have a GAA above three goals per game.
With a .887 save percentage and 3.01 GAA, though, Massa’s numbers are the best in both categories. Thompson has been second-best at .879 and 3.18, and Peters comes in third at .876 and 3.78.
Players of the week
Offensive player of the week — Kalle Kossila, St. Cloud State: Kossila was a beast for St. Cloud last weekend, opened the Huskies’ scoring both nights against Nebraska-Omaha and eventually ending up with four goals — including the sophomore’s first collegiate hat trick in the 8-6 loss Saturday — and an assist on the weekend. His shooting success rate Saturday was almost as impressive: On his six shots on goal in the series finale, three found the back of the Mavericks’ net.
Defensive player of the week — Willie Corrin, Minnesota-Duluth: The sophomore Bulldogs defenseman probably had the best weekend of his collegiate career to date last weekend at Western Michigan. His three assists in the series and two blocked shots allowed him to play a big part in UMD’s road sweep of the then-No. 20 Broncos, thus giving Duluth three wins in a row over Western to close out the teams’ four-game regular season series.
Rookie of the week — Kyle Osterberg, Minnesota-Duluth: UMD has been a young team the last couple of seasons, but Osterberg has been a big reason why Duluth has been so successful lately. He was particularly formidable last Friday against Western Michigan, picking up four points in the Bulldogs’ 5-2 win at WMU. Osterberg had seven shots in the two games last weekend against the Broncos, and he ended up with a plus-3 rating in the series.
Goaltender of the week — Aaron Crandall, Minnesota-Duluth: The senior has been in good form recently, and he came up big again last weekend against the Broncos. Over the two games, Crandall stopped 49 shots and ended the weekend with a 1.50 GAA and .923 save percentage from the two-game set.
Senior goaltender Benjamin Coulthard has helped lead a young Trinity squad this season (photo: David Kingsley).
The Gridiron Club of Greater Boston announced Thursday the 18 semifinalists for the 14th annual Joe Concannon Award, presented each year to the best American-born college hockey player in New England playing at the Division II/III level.
This year’s list consists of 12 forwards, two defensemen and four goaltenders. The candidates include eight players from the NESCAC, five from the ECAC East, two from the ECAC Northeast, two from the Northeast-10 and one from the MASCAC.
Player's Name
Position
Class
Team
Joey Ballmer
G
Fr.
Johnson and Wales
Jackson Brewer
F
Jr.
Trinity
J.C. Cangelosi
F
Jr.
Connecticut College
Ben Chwick
F
Sr.
Colby
Joe Collins
F
So.
Southern New Hampshire
Benjamin Coulthard
G
Sr.
Trinity
Travis Daniel
F
Sr.
Massachusetts-Boston
Aaron Deutsch
D
Jr.
Amherst
Sean Dougherty
G
Jr.
Williams
Colin Downey
F/D
Sr.
Bowdoin
Shane Gorman
F
Sr.
Norwich
Nick Lanza
F
Sr.
Colby
Peter MacIntyre
F
So.
Massachusetts-Boston
Brendan McCarron
F
Sr.
Framingham State
Peter Melman
F
Jr.
University of New England
Jamie Murray
G
So.
Babson
Josh Obregon
F
So.
Johnson and Wales
Bryan Rooney
F
Sr.
Stonehill
“There really aren’t any more upsets, either in or outside of conference play, as the level of competition this season has truly been amazing,” said Gridiron Club hockey awards committee chairman Tim Costello in a news release. “There have been a number of different teams in and out of the national rankings this season, and the consideration we’re seen across all of the conferences reflects the high level of play and talent found in New England. Our committee believes this is another outstanding group of semifinalists.
“It will be a challenge for the committee to pick the winner from the players nominated.”
Norwich’s Colin Mulvey won the award in 2013.
The Gridiron Club plans to announce the finalists and winner of the award in March, prior to the start of NCAA Frozen Four Tournament play on March 21 and will present the award during the New England Hockey Writers dinner in April.
Florence Schelling, who played for Northeastern, is just one of the many NCAA players competing in the Olympics. NCAA players are on seven of the eight national team rosters. (Melissa Wade)
Eight women’s ice hockey teams will begin competition at the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi this week: Canada, Finland, Germany, Japan, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, and United States.
There is an NCAA hockey component for each of them, including Japan, which hasn’t been home to many NCAA recruits over the years. Former Wisconsin Badger Carla MacLeod won gold with Canada in 2006 and 2010. She now returns to the Olympics as an assistant coach for Japan. Thanks to her presence, the Japanese scheduled a number of exhibitions versus college teams as part of their preparation.
For most of the other teams, there are multiple connections to Minnesota-Duluth, the most international program since its inception. Coach Shannon Miller has served as a mentor to the Russian team and former players Iya Gavrilova and Alexandra Vafina are on the roster of the Olympic hosts.
Sweden has former Bulldogs Jenni Asserholt, Pernilla Winberg, and Kim Martin Hasson, a top-three finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Award in 2008.
Quinnipiac also boasts a link to the Swedish roster. Forward Erica Uden Johansson would have been a senior for the Bobcats had she not elected to remain in Sweden and compete with the Sundsvall Hockey Wildcats as she prepared for her first Olympics. While Quinnipiac could have used her production up front this season, it is safe to say that they’ll need her next year as well with Kelly Babstock graduating.
UMD placed goaltender Jennifer Harss on the German roster, but North Dakota can claim bragging rights with both alumna Susanne Fellner and current sophomore Tanja Eisenschmid. For the German players, uncertainty revolves not only around making the roster, but in their nation qualifying for the Olympics in the first place. Germany is back in the competition after missing out in 2010.
Switzerland’s roster provides some intriguing Olympic stories beyond its surprising presence in the top tier and a guaranteed minimum of a spot in quarterfinal-round game.
Nina Waidacher, a junior star at Division III St. Scholastica in Duluth, shares a college city with teammate Lara Stalder, a freshman at UMD. Phoebe Staenz is also a Bulldogs’ freshman, but in her case, it’s the Yale Bulldogs.
Their teams will have to make do while they are away. Teams like North Dakota and Minnesota-Duluth figure to have their players back from the Olympics in time for the conference tournament. That could prove to be too late for Yale, because only the top eight of 12 teams reach the ECAC Hockey postseason. The Bulldogs will need to find a way to crack the field without Staenz, their leading scorer, and she’ll have to keep one eye on results back in the States while she is gone.
The Swiss team features several NCAA alumnae as well. Florence Schelling was another goaltender to reach the Kazmaier final three during her senior season at Northeastern, where she was a teammate of Julia Marty. Marty’s sister Stefanie graduated from Syracuse.
Jessica Lutz played at Connecticut for three seasons. Unlike her Swiss teammates, she didn’t have to cross the Atlantic Ocean to play college hockey, because her hometown is Rockville, Md.
“Since I was pretty young, it was like a dream to go to the Olympics,” Lutz said. “Then in high school, I realized it’s really competitive for the U.S. team. I kind of realized that wasn’t really realistic.”
Lutz had another option. Because her father was a native of Switzerland, she has been a Swiss citizen since her birth.
“For my high school team, I had a coach that had been the Swedish national coach, so he had contact with the Swiss coach and he knew them,” Lutz said. “He was the first one that gave me that idea [to play for Switzerland] and actually got me into contact with the coaches.”
While at Connecticut, she decided to pursue the Swiss route.
“I went to a tryout after my freshman year of college,” Lutz said. “I found then about the IIHF rules about switching countries [and] that I would need to live and play in Switzerland for two full consecutive years to be eligible for official tournaments with them — to switch the license, since I’d been playing in the United States.”
It is one thing to learn that another possible path to the Olympic Games exists, but to commit to that plan is something else.
“Once I moved over here, sometimes [asked], ‘Is it worth it to keep living over here?'” Lutz said. “Not being able to study further or get a job, is it really worth it to not be able to do those things, just to be able to play hockey and go to the Olympics, and play with the national team? Is it worth it for all of the stuff that I’ve had to give up, I guess.”
Those are likely questions that any Olympic athlete has to face regarding sacrifices made along the way.
“Having made the roster, because I was never sure either, now it definitely feels like this was the right decision,” Lutz said. “Before, nothing is a given, so you could put everything toward this goal and then it doesn’t work out, like you get injured or something like that. It’s definitely exciting now.”
Finland has three current NCAA athletes on its roster: senior captain Michelle Karvinen and freshman Susanna Tapani of North Dakota, and junior Tea Villila of UMD. The Finnish roster includes four WCHA alumnae: Minnesota State’s Nina Tikkinen, Ohio State’s Minnamari Tuominen, and Minnesota’s Mira Jalosuo and Noora Räty.
It’s not just athletes that travel to the Olympics. The North Dakota and Minnesota connections led to a couple of other additions to the Finnish delegation in UND video coach Max Markowitz and Minnesota goaltending coach Andy Kent.
“It’s a big dream,” Kent said. “You don’t really put it on your radar, that’s for sure.”
Kent said that if he ever were to daydream about winding up at the Olympics, he’d expect to be representing the United States, his home country. That was before he started coaching Räty for the last three seasons with the Gophers, and she went on to set numerous NCAA records. Already a two-time Olympian, Räty hoped to continue their successful partnership in Sochi.
“She pretty much took over from her end,” Kent said. “She went and talked to all the powers that be in the Finnish Ice Hockey Federation and all that sort of stuff, and I ended up going through all of the steps that Noora had me do to get accredited through the International Olympic Committee, through all the hoops I had to go through with that.”
Now all of the red tape has been handled and a dream that Kent never thought to have is about to come true.
“I’m pretty honored to be a part of it, and I’m excited to be going,” Kent said. “It’s one of those things as a volunteer goalie coach, you put in a lot of time and effort, and this is kind of a payoff.”
As would be expected for the North Americans bound for Sochi, players having a background including NCAA experience tend to be more of a rule, rather than an exception.
Sixteen Canadian players went the NCAA route, attending eight different schools. Only Boston University’s Marie-Philip Poulin and Brianne Jenner of Cornell have a year of college eligibility left.
All 21 members of the U.S. roster played NCAA hockey, representing nine different schools. Seven players have eligibility remaining. For at least a couple of them, injuries presented another obstacle to their hopes of competing on the Olympic stage.
Defenseman Josephine Pucci had to delay her senior season at Harvard due to a concussion, and for a time, it was unknown when or if she’d be able to resume playing. The Olympic experience likely looks differently through her eyes now than it would have before her injury.
Surgery and further complications cost Amanda Kessel the Four Nations Cup and all of the exhibition games with Canada leading up to the Games. Those who witnessed her level of play during her Kazmaier-winning season as a junior at Minnesota know that being hampered by an injury does not preclude Kessel from making an impact in Sochi.
Even for healthy players, the odds of reaching a North American roster can be daunting at times.
“There were definitely times where making the team seemed like a long shot, and in the very beginning of this process I was too focused on whether or not I’d make the team,” said Minnesota’s Lee Stecklein, the youngest on the U.S. roster by 10 days.
Stecklein appeared to be caught on the wrong side of the numbers game even after being one of nine defensemen named to the preliminary roster.
“After Thanksgiving, I changed my mind-set and instead, I tried to focus on just playing the best hockey I could and doing everything the coaches said,” she said. “Changing my focus from making the team to playing better hockey is what I believe actually helped me succeed. I didn’t truly believe I had made the team until I heard my name read off of the final roster, and I’m still not sure if it has really hit me yet.”
The true impact may not hit any of the first-time participants until their first game in Sochi.
Sheryl Kaskiw of Wisconsin-Superior (Wisconsin-Superior Athletics.)
For Wisconsin-Superior coach Dan Laughlin, discourse about his team in the upcoming postseason is somewhat irrelevant.
“We are in it right now,” said Laughlin of the way his club has adeptly approached the stretch run of the schedule armed with a playoff mentality.
Certainly the No. 8 Yellowjackets have equipped themselves for a deep run. Despite a loss to rival Wisconsin-River Falls last weekend that dissolved an 11-game unbeaten string, Laughlin’s crew has allowed a scant six goals in its last nine games. Sandwiched in the streak were five shutouts, a clear sign that tight, close-to-the-vest hockey will be the preference for the Yellowjackets the rest of the way.
For future opponents, there is nothing enigmatic about the Yellowjackets approach.
“We stress our team defense every day; if we take care of our end, the quicker we get to their end,” Laughlin said. “Obviously, good goaltending is a key factor.”
Goalie Shanley Peters has eclipsed her previous bests for nearly every statistical category on the board. The Manitoba native, who was an All-American selection two seasons ago, is on her way to enhancing her presence in the Yellowjackets record book. Heading into the weekend, Peters is third in career minutes played and fourth in all time-wins with 37.
Additional scrolling of the archives gives one a heightened sense of Peters’ influence on her team’s successes this season.
“Shanley is a veteran goaltender; she has been through it all, the good and bad times,” said Laughlin, who is in his 11th campaign with the Yellowjackets. “Being a senior, she is now in a position to use that experience and play with confidence at a very high level.”
In the tough grind that is the WIAC, the Yellowjackets have been the lone conference club to have resided in the weekly poll for the entire season.
Laughlin’s squad trails only Plattsburgh and Norwich in overall team defense nationally, having carved out a 1.38 goals-against average. In 2012-13 the Yellowjackets allowed 2.11 points per game.
Like Peters, blueliner Sheryl Kaskiw is a battle-tested component of Laughlin’s dynamic defensive scheme. Kaskiw leads the conference in defenseman scoring (1-15-16) and paces all skaters with a plus-18.
“Sheryl is our Ryan Suter,” said Laughlin. “She is a player that gets tons of minutes, can play with anybody, and is very smart with and without the puck.”
Laughlin believes his club has the momentum as well as the impetus to revisit the NCAA finals, just as his club did in 2007-08.
“When players are having good seasons, it means that they are getting support from the whole of the team.”
How well Joey Ballmer plays down the stretch will determine how far Johnson and Wales goes into the postseason (photo: Matt Roache).
In the final few weeks of regular season, goaltending will be key to determining the ECAC Northeast regular-season champions.
Let’s look at the goaltenders who have been difference-makers this season.
5 – Jake Williams, Salve Regina
He had a hot start to the season, going 5-1 in his first six starts, but then the Seahawks hit that rough stretch and Williams is 0-6-0 in his last seven games. Overall on the season, he’s 5-7-0 with a 3.94 GAA and a .877 save percentage. He has dominated in conference games this season and that’s what coach Andrew Boschetto is hoping Williams can find, his form down the stretch.
4 – Derek Moheney, Curry
Moheney leads the ECAC Northeast in goals-against average (1.80) and save percentage (.928) in games inside the conference. He’s also 5-0 in the last five games and has certainly helped Curry’s resurgence in the second half. On the year, Moheney has a 6-5-1 record with a .930 save percentage and a 2.04 GAA.
3 – Alex Peck, Wentworth
Just like what Moheney has done with Curry, Peck is the reason why Wentworth has climbed up the ECAC Northeast standings in the second half of the season. He has been in net for the last four wins for the Leopards and they sit in first place in the conference right now. What puts him slightly ahead of Moheney, in my opinion, is he has a better record at 7-4-2. His GAA is slightly higher at 2.39 and his save percentage is .902.
2 – Alex Larson, Nichols
If you have been following the ECAC Northeast all season long, there’s no surprise who the two top goalies are. It’s just a matter of where you rank them. Larson isn’t having a sophomore slump with a 9-4-3 record with a .913 save percentage and 2.93 GAA. Those aren’t the same numbers he put up last season, but he has been a workhorse this season. That’s what you need in a goaltender if you want to make a deep run in the conference tournament and the NCAA tournament.
1 – Joey Ballmer, Johnson and Wales
The freshman has made his mark this season with a 15-5-0 record with a 1.71 GAA and a .945 save percentage. He may be a freshman, but he has a good amount of experience in the North American Hockey League and the United States Hockey League before joining Johnson and Wales. The most goals he has allowed this season was four. He gives his team a shot to win on any given night. I don’t think he will slow down in the final stretch of the season.
Honorable Mentions
Eric Sorenson and Tim Carr, Western New England
The Golden Bears have a good goalie tandem, but the team hasn’t had the success this season that it was looking for. Sorenson has seen the bulk of the action this season and has a 6-8-0 record with a 3.19 GAA and a .915 save percentage. Carr has a 3-3-0 record with a 4.11 GAA and. 887 save percentage. If one of these two goalies gets hot, Western New England will be dangerous.
Worcester State will lean on Curtis Martin over the next few weeks to lead the charge into the MASCAC playoffs (photo: Richard Orr).
Worcester State’s season has had its peaks and valleys.
The Lancers hope they are on another peak in their chase for a fourth straight MASCAC tournament appearance.
Starting the season 3-0, Worcester State ended the first half 1-6-1. The Lancers have regrouped in 2014 with a 4-2 record and are currently sitting in seventh place in the MASCAC, three points from the final playoff spot.
“We have been fortunate,” said Lancers’ coach John Guiney. “We have been on a good run in the second half with basically [all conference games].”
For Guiney, he hopes his team can put a string of wins together in the final few weeks of the year.
“We have tried to get the team to be more consistent,” Guiney said. “We have put together one or two games, but we can’t put together that third one. It’s just consistency. Sometimes, I think it comes to easy. We win a couple of games and they think we are back on track.”
The players need to find the urgency in the final month of the season, Guiney said.
The coach also believes there’s no easy game inside the conference with the MASCAC being so competitive. With each team playing each other team three times in the conference, MASCAC teams don’t have the luxury to have too many nonconference games to work out the kinks throughout the season.
“We just want to put ourselves in position to compete for a spot for the playoffs,” Guiney said. “Hopefully, we are peaking a little bit now. Once again, we can’t score. They don’t come easy, let’s put it that way.”
Luckily for for the Lancers, unlike their MASCAC counterparts, they do have a nonconference game coming up with Assumption on Tuesday, Feb. 11.
“Sometimes, having an out-of-conference game can help you a little bit because they take a little bit of the pressure off a little bit, where you can get back of doing things you’ve been working on in practice each day without the pressure,” Guiney explained. “We play 18 conference games. I know [ECAC] Northeast plays 12. Out of 25 games, 12 are really key games. We have 18 key games.”
As a coaching staff, Worcester State tries not to put too much pressure on the players, but does stress how important MASCAC games are.
Guiney added his goaltending has kept them in games, but if they were able to get a couple of goals more per game, the season would look a little different.
Offensively, the veterans have been leading the charge with Stephen Rock ahead of the pack with 12 points (two goals and 10 assists). Four players have 11 points in Curtis Martin, Andrew Bates, Nathan Stanley and Cody Osburn.
Guiney noetd that he has been impressed with freshman Alex Dewitz, who has six goals and four assists.
Chris, Scott and Andrew Fenwick on the frozen river back home in St. John, New Brunswick (photo: Mark Fenwick).
Many consider the NESCAC among the most competitive athletic conferences at the Division III level and certainly, no one can question the academic quality and integrity the 11-school conference represents to it thousands of students.
So it should come as no surprise that many legacies and sibling combinations have appeared over the years competing both as teammates and as foes at different institutions across the league.
Many of the long-time coaches in the league have no problems recollecting the Smigelskis, the Menards and the Tatums to name but a few of the brother combinations that have appeared in men’s hockey. Those were pairs of brothers that played at the same time, but no one can recollect three brothers all playing for different teams at the same time.
Say hello to the Fenwicks.
Andrew (Amherst), Chris (Bowdoin) and Scott (Colby) have redefined the definition of brotherly rivals and respect the special thing they have in the ultra-competitive NESCAC conference.
But until a few years ago, it would have been difficult for any one of the brothers to find a NESCAC school on the map from their home near St. John, New Brunswick.
Andrew changed all that and started a pathway his brothers were only too happy to personalize in their own way.
Growing up in Quispamsis, N.B., the boys, of course, started playing hockey at a young age and developed their hockey skills on the frozen river not far from their home. They developed in the traditional Canadian youth hockey model until Andrew was cut in his attempt to make a Midget AAA team in Canada. That change in pathway opened his eyes to other hockey-playing opportunities and a focus on the all important academics that the eldest brother knew would be an important piece in defining his future professional, not hockey, career.
Andrew matriculated to the Northwood School in upstate New York and became exposed to the quality of academics and hockey in the NESCAC – something he felt he could explore playing at the next level while giving his pre-med academics the best chance for development and success.
“I really didn’t know about the NESCAC schools, but knew my game wasn’t suited to D-I,” said Andrew. “At the bigger program, I don’t know that I would have had the time or been able to commit to the challenging major of biology with a pre-med focus. The NESCAC schools give me the balance to focus on my academics and gain the satisfaction of playing hockey at a very high level. It’s the best of both worlds for me and Amherst was the perfect school for me to land at.”
Brother Chris, who overlapped with Andrew at Northwood for a single year, also took a similar pathway and through faculty ties that included Mike Corbelle and Ed Good at Northwood, found himself at Bowdoin a year later.
“It was interesting to see the process that Andrew went through,” noted Chris. “We all have similar ambitions to get into medicine as a career, so the academics were always an important piece of the equation in making our decision about school and a place to continue our hockey careers. We all work at a hospital back in St. John during the summer, so being able to continue to play hockey at a high level and work on our future at a great school has been a really good thing for all of us.”
The third and final Fenwick, Scott, is a freshman at Colby this season. Like his two older siblings, Scott leveraged his time at Northwood to land admission at Colby where he and Chris are travel partners and their respective schools are long-time rivals that enhance the overall brother vs. brother atmosphere.
“I definitely felt like I wanted to make my own path after Northwood,” said Scott. “Colby was someplace that I really liked a lot when I visited and was recruited and it is great that I get to see Chris with a little more frequency based on being in the same hotels on weekend road trips. It is a really special thing to be able to play at this level and of course, the games against each other mean a little more now that we are at three different schools. I honestly don’t notice my brothers when I am out on the ice, but apparently, everyone else does.”
Scott, Chris and Andrew Fenwick on the same frozen river long before their careers began in the NESCAC (photo: Mark Fenwick).
During the annual Bowdoin vs. Colby series back in December, Chris’ line was matched up on the ice with his brother Scott’s line. During the course of play in the offensive zone, Scott lined up his opponent and delivered a big hit that had everyone on both benches buzzing.
The “hittee” was, of course, his brother, Chris, and the good-natured ribbing ensued.
“I think that the guys on the team notice what goes on during shifts more than we do if we are matched up on the ice at the same time,” noted Chris. “Of course, I got some grief when I came back to the bench, but I honestly didn’t know it was Scott that hit me. I think we got even when my line scored on his line, but the rest of the guys on the team also pointed that out. We just stay focused on what we are supposed to be doing on the ice and really don’t notice each other when the game is going on.”
The past two seasons have brought conference championships to two of the three brothers. Andrew and Amherst took the league title along with a trip to the Frozen Four in 2011 and Chris realized a NESCAC championship last season with Bowdoin. Of course, the brotherly ribbing would point out that Scott has no title to claim as a freshman at Colby, but no question the aspirations are there.
“What we have is a really special thing,” stated Andrew. “We go to great schools and compete against each other on the ice in a way that not many people can appreciate the way we do. There are definitely some bragging rights involved, but mostly it is just a lot of fun that we are still playing the game and that our parents still get to see all of us play against each other. They try to be neutral with each wearing a hat or scarf from different teams when we play each other, but I think they love that we have this in common and will be able to share these moments and connections for the rest of our lives.”
None of this is lost on the Fenwicks’ mom, Beth, or dad, Mark, who may have one of the busiest travel schedules of any parents committed to watching their sons play no matter where the schedule takes them.
“We are so proud that they have all found their own individual way,” noted Beth Fenwick. “Some people ask if it would be easier if they all went to the same school or if at least two of them did to cut down the travel. Mark and I are thrilled with the choices the boys have made and they all are doing so well and enjoy their chosen school so much. We wouldn’t want it any other way.”
So how do the parents cheer on the three boys? The logistics rival most that full hockey teams make in preparation for going on the road.
“Well, we really don’t root for ties when they play each other,” Mark Fenwick explained. “We always hope they have good shifts and play well. When we are just seeing one boy play we, of course, wear the appropriate school colors, but when they play against each other, I will wear one hat and scarf and Beth will where the other son’s colors.”
“I think we confuse the fans because we cheer for both teams,” added Beth.
“Someone suggested I get hats with all of the primary school colors and have all three crests on the toque to make it easier with the apparel,” joked Mark. “I should get on that. Even their numbers in school colors that we could just rotate the hat to the number on the front for who was playing might be good fun.”
As for the travel, both parents see any road trip as being less than the road traveled to see the boys play at Northwood in Lake Placid, N.Y. That said, there is still a lot of planning to be fair to all three sons.
“When the schedule first comes out, I start the planning,” said Beth. “There is an Excel spreadsheet involved in planning out the entire winter and we try to make the trips even in terms of equal opportunities to see them all play. Of course, weekends like this one coming up are wonderful because we can just go to Amherst and see all three boys on the Friday and Saturday night schedule since Colby and Bowdoin will be on the road.
“It really is quite an adventure and we love it.”
The boys clearly love the opportunity to continue to play hockey and really enjoy when they do play against each other in this most unique of circumstances.
So just what does make it special for the parents?
“I think my favorite part of watching them play against each other is when they go through the line at the end of the game for the handshake,” said Beth. “The sportsmanship is real and when one brother gets to the other in the line, it’s not a handshake, it’s a hug they share. That is just so special to me because no matter where they go in life, they are always going to be brothers and there for each other.”
This weekend Bowdoin and Colby travel to face Amherst and Hamilton where the brothers will face each other for the final time in the regular season. More drive time for Mom and Dad from New Brunswick and more importantly, more memories to share amongst the “Kings of the ‘CAC.”
Special thanks and recognition to John Spear from the Northwood School who suggested writing this column and without whose support it would not have been possible.
Elmira freshman Alexander Taulien tallied four points against Utica last weekend and was named ECAC West rookie of the week for his effort (photo: Dan Hickling).
Hmmmm.
What exactly was decided by last week’s ECAC West action?
Well, we began with just one point separating the top half of the six-team loop, (Elmira, Hobart and Utica) just as it is at this very moment.
We had cellar-dwelling Nazareth acting like giant-killers and they kept the slingshots humming for one more night, anyway.
And the two-team middle of the pack – Manhattanville and Neumann – played to a 2-2 tie in either team’s only action, so the status quo reigned there, too.
If anything, one is left with the feeling that with three more weekends of regular-season action to go, fingernails will be chewed to the tips before the ECAC West picture clarifies itself.
One would have thought last weekend that either Elmira or Utica might sweep their two-game set in New York’s Southern Tier and get a hefty leg up on the rest of the pack.
Didn’t happen.
Instead, they split a pair of one-goal affairs and left the door open for Hobart to make some hay in the conference with a pair of wins over Nazareth.
That didn’t happen either.
Why? Because Nazareth, which had never beaten a conference for or a nationally-ranked team in its first season-and-a-half of life, has now accomplished both, and twice over at that, all in one dizzying fortnight’s work.
Thus the importance of the Golden Flyers’ two-game split at Hobart as Nazareth struck first with a 4-3 win.
The Statesmen did bring Naz back to Earth the next night, 5-1.
Nonetheless, don’t be surprised if we see more of the same push-me-pull-you (with apologies to Dr. Doolittle) the rest of the way.
ECAC West Notebook
The league’s player of the week honors went to Utica senior Trever Hertz, who scored two goals and chipped in an assist during the weekend set with Elmira. His second goal proved to be the game-winner in Saturday’s 3-2 win. In the process, Hertz moved into third place on the Pioneers’ all time scoring list.
Hobart freshman Tim Keegan earned his first career win with a 35-save effort against Nazareth and in the process, also earned the ECAC West’s goalie of the week award.
Meanwhile, Elmira freshman Alexander Taulien fueled his team’s 7-6 overtime win over Utica with his three-goal, four point performance. It was his first career hat trick and he now has his first rookie of the week nod to go with it.
Other notable performances from last week included Ben Gamache’s three-point showing (goal, two assists) in Hobart’s 5-1 win over Nazareth, three more points (goal, two assists) from his teammate Mitch Beyer and a pair of power-play markers by Nazareth senior Mark Zavorin.
Notre Dame’s sweep of Alabama-Huntsville was part of a 12-0 record for Hockey East against WCHA teams (photo: Eric Kelley, d3photography.com).
Every once in a while, you need to do a little chest thumping. For Hockey East, that time is now.
With most of the nonleague schedule complete, Hockey East proved a dominating force against other leagues. In a season where league members played more nonconference games than ever (each team was allowed up to 14 out-of-conference games), Hockey East members posted a 72-39-15 record, good for a .631 winning percentage.
Only one league comes close to that winning percentage, the newly created Big Ten, which is 47-30-8 to date for a .600 winning percentage.
Let’s not forget that Hockey East dominated the Big Ten in the inaugural Big Ten/Hockey East Challenge and held a 12-7-2 record against Big Ten teams (a .619 winning percentage).
In fact, Hockey East held a winning record against all five of the other conferences. ECAC Hockey has matched up the best against Hockey East, the superior conference holding a slim 22-19-8 record against the conference that produced last year’s national champion (Boston University still needs to face Harvard in the consolation game of Monday’s Beanpot).
Hockey East’s most dominant record was against the new-look WCHA, posting a perfect 12-0.
If there was one “blemish” for Hockey East, it was play against often-overlooked Atlantic Hockey. Hockey East schools went 16-8 against AHA members, which sounds decent until you realize Big Ten schools were 17-2-1 against the AHA.
The end result, as I mentioned briefly a few weeks back, is that Hockey East is currently holding a very advantageous position in the PairWise Rankings.
If the season ended today, Hockey East would place five teams into the 16-team NCAA tournament field (Boston College, Massachusetts-Lowell, Providence, Northeastern and New Hampshire). Additionally, three teams remain on the NCAA bubble, with Notre Dame sitting square on the bubble at No. 16 in the PairWise and Vermont (18th) and Maine (19th) still in the picture.
When I last talked about the PairWise, I mentioned that I thought the amount of league play between Hockey East teams in the coming weeks would help balance things out and allow for more teams from the NCHC and WCHA, both under-represented at this point in the PairWise. To this point, that hasn’t happened.
The WCHA’s abysmal out-of-conference record of 25-44-12 will make it a challenge for any team besides Ferris State (and maybe the conference champion if Ferris State is upset) to grab an at-large bid (Minnesota State is the next-best hope but sits 24th in the PairWise).
The NCHC is beginning to show more hope with St. Cloud State and Minnesota-Duluth sitting comfortably in the PairWise and North Dakota playing well enough of late to play their way into the top 15.
Still, this to date has been one incredible season for Hockey East. Not only could there be a distinct Hockey East flavor to the NCAA field, there’s a chance that the Hobey Baker Award Hat Trick could be comprised of two or three Hockey East players given the strength of BC’s top line of Johnny Gaudreau, Bill Arnold and Kevin Hayes.
There’s a lot of hockey left to be played, but with the snowy weather outside, I think I’ll kick back and enjoy Hockey East’s success this season.
Boston College goaltender Thatcher Demko made 27 saves in the Beanpot semifinals (photo: Melissa Wade).
Boston College, Northeastern rookies put forth memorable Beanpot efforts
There have been only two games played in the 62nd Beanpot, but the two teams to advance Monday night did so riding some pretty impressive individual efforts, many of which came from young players.
In the opening game, Northeastern routed Harvard 6-0, thanks in large part to the performance of rookie of the year candidate Mike Szmatula. He set up two key goals in the second period that took a 2-0 game and put it out of reach. In the third, he scored one of his own to finish with three points on the night, quite a start to what should be a promising Beanpot career.
The performance, though, was an extension of a successful season for the rookie. Joining last year’s Hockey East rookie of the year Kevin Roy and a number of other Huskies players putting forth breakthrough performances, Szmatula’s offense has been a welcome addition to this team that is proving to everyone who picked them last in Hockey East that they couldn’t have been further off.
“Right from the beginning, not just me but all of the freshman in the class have had such an easy transition,” Szmatula said, crediting his teammates and the coaches for making such a transition easier. “I just try to go out every night and help Northeastern win and fortunately good things are happening.”
Despite hailing from Michigan, Szmatula said he watched the Beanpot growing up, making playing in the game all that more special.
“It’s something really special to be a part of,” Szmatula said. “[Monday] we gave ourselves the opportunity to play in the finals. We did that and we can take it one game at a time. We’ll come next Monday ready to go.”
When Szmatula and the Huskies take the ice on Monday, they’ll face a heavily favored Boston College squad looking for its fifth Beanpot title in a row. The Eagles advanced despite the ability of Boston University to hold BC’s Gaudreau-Arnold-Hayes line to a single goal for 59-plus minutes before Gaudreau scored into an empty net.
And while that line’s ability to finally score can’t be overlooked, it was the performance of two freshmen that was a major part of BC’s win.
Rookie Ryan Fitzgerald got BC on the board early in the first, sniping a shot near-side post on BU goaltender Matt O’Connor. And while that could’ve been the most memorable performance on the evening by a rookie, fellow freshman Thatcher Demko stole the show with his performance between the pipes.
Demko finished the game with 27 saves to earn the win. The most memorable likely will be a stop on a redirect by BU’s Kevin Duane that appeared headed top corner with 48 seconds remaining. But throughout the night, Demko used his economical motion in net to make the difficult saves look easy.
“He’s big, he’s square, he makes a great save at the end just because he’s in position,” BU coach David Quinn said of Demko. “He understands what his strength is. It’s his size. He doesn’t waste any movement, he doesn’t waste any energy.”
The victory adds to what has been an impressive freshman year for Demko, who improved to 9-1-2. His 1.90 GAA is fifth nationally and his .930 save percentage ties him for 10th in the nation with Maine’s Martin Ouellette.
Placing him on the big stage of the Beanpot wasn’t too big of a decision for BC coach Jerry York.
“It means an awful lot to his self-confidence, but he’s been a good goaltender for a lot of years, so I don’t think it’s a surprise that he could handle something like this and play well,” York said. “I think Thatcher, as I watch him, he’s getting more confident. He handles the puck now, and he reminds me a lot of Cory Schneider at the same age.”
Not a bad compliment to be compared to one of the best goaltenders to go through Boston College in the last 15 years. And comparison or not, how big Monday’s game was certainly wasn’t lost on this rookie netminder.
“Obviously, it’s a huge situation. It’s my first Beanpot, there’s so much hype around the event,” said Demko. “Coming in, it didn’t take me too much to get into it. To get out there in front of the fans with your team, it felt really good to get the big W.”
Around Hockey East …
• Don’t look now but the Massachusetts-Lowell River Hawks have, for the second straight year, begun their late-season ascent up the Hockey East standings. Lowell went from sixth place to second in less than a month thanks in part to taking advantage of games in hand. With many teams off or playing just a single game because of the Beanpot, the River Hawks will again have the opportunity to get some separation as they face BU and Massachusetts this weekend.
• Eight Hockey East players were named semifinalists for the Walter Brown Award, the nation’s oldest recognized college hockey award given to the top American-born player on a New England team. In addition to the aforementioned trio of Gaudreau, Arnold and Hayes, Lowell’s Connor Hellebuyck, Providence’s Ross Mauermann, Vermont’s Chris McCarthy, BU’s Danny O’Regan and Northeastern’s Clay Witt also made the list. Finalists for the award will be announced in March following the league tournaments. The winner will be presented at the New England Hockey Writer’s Dinner in April.
• As I look at the Hockey East standings, there are a number of things that stand out to me. None, though, has me scratching my head as much as the disparity in Maine’s home and road records. The Black Bears are a near-perfect 10-1 at home. But with four road games left, Maine still hasn’t won a game away in an opponent’s rink (0-8-2). Maybe this is a Maine team deeply impacted by the bus travel involved, but things will need to change soon or the Black Bears will be faced with a single-elimination first-round game that, if won, will result in a quarterfinal series on the road.
North Dakota would be the last at-large team in the NCAA tournament with this week’s PairWise Rankings (photo: Bradley K. Olson).
It’s time once again to do what we like to call Bracketology, college hockey style. It’s our weekly look at how I believe the NCAA tournament will wind up come selection time.
It’s a look into what are the possible thought processes behind selecting and seeding the NCAA tournament teams.
Those of you that are veterans of the college hockey scene know that it is all about the PairWise Rankings. This is USCHO’s numerical approach that simulates the way the NCAA Division I Men’s Ice Hockey Committee chooses the teams that make the NCAA tournament.
The criteria are tweaked every so often — every so often being every year lately — in order to give what the committee believes will be the best tournament.
There were some major changes this year to the selection criteria. In short:
• PairWise comparisons are now done against all teams. There is no cutoff for the amount of teams, so the most PWR comparison wins that a team can have is 58 since there are 59 teams.
• There is now a home and away wins weighting applied to the Ratings Percentage Index. In calculation of the index, wins on the road and losses at home have a weighting factor of 1.2. Wins at home and losses on the road have a weighting factor of 0.8. All neutral-site games have a weighting factor of 1.0. A tie is one-half of a win and one-half of a loss, so home/road ties are treated accordingly for the teams involved.
• There is a quality wins bonus for wins against teams in the top 20 of the RPI. A win against the No. 1 team in the RPI is worth 0.05 points, and is scaled down by 0.0025 points for each place until you reach No. 20, where a bonus of 0.0025 points will be given.
The changes are a little complicated, so it is best to check out our FAQ.
Since USCHO has begun the PairWise Rankings, we have correctly identified all of the teams that have been selected to the NCAA tournament.
For the past three years, I am the only prognosticator to have correctly predicted the exact brackets for the NCAA tournament, meaning that I have predicted how the committee thought when putting together the brackets.
This is the next installment of our Bracketology, and we’ll be bringing you a new one every week until we make our final picks before the field is announced on March 23.
If you want to skip the inner workings and get to the results of the analysis, then click here.
Here are the facts:
• Sixteen teams are selected to participate in the national tournament.
• There are four regional sites (East — Bridgeport, Conn.; Northeast — Worcester, Mass.; Midwest — Cincinnati; West — St. Paul, Minn.)
• A host institution that is invited to the tournament plays in the regional for which it is the host and cannot be moved. There are four host institutions this year: Yale in Bridgeport, Holy Cross in Worcester, Miami in Cincinnati and Minnesota in St. Paul.
• Seedings will not be switched. To avoid undesirable first-round matchups, including intra-conference games (see below), teams will be moved among regionals, not reseeded.
In setting up the tournament, the committee begins with a list of priorities to ensure a successful tournament on all fronts, including competitive equity, financial success and the likelihood of a playoff-type atmosphere at each regional site. For this model, the following is a basic set of priorities:
1. Once the six automatic qualifiers and 10 at-large teams are selected, the next step is to develop four groups from the committee’s rankings of 1-16. The top four teams are No. 1 seeds and will be placed in the bracket so that if all four teams advance to the Men’s Frozen Four, the No. 1 seed will play the No. 4 seed and the No. 2 seed will play the No. 3 seed in the semifinals. The next four are targeted as No. 2 seeds. The next four are No. 3 seeds and the last four are No. 4 seeds.
2. Step two is to place the home teams. Host institutions that qualify will be placed at home.
3. Step three is to fill in the bracket so that first-round conference matchups are avoided, unless it corrupts the integrity of the bracket. If five or more teams from one conference are selected to the championship, then the integrity of the bracket will be protected (i.e., maintaining the pairing process according to seed will take priority over avoidance of first-round conference matchups). To complete each regional, the committee assigns one team from each of the remaining seeded groups so there is a No. 1, No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 seed at each regional site.
Given these facts, here is the top 16 of the current PairWise Rankings (PWR), and the conference leaders through all games of Feb. 4:
1 Minnesota
2 Boston College
3 Quinnipiac
4t Union
4t Ferris State
6 Cornell
7 Massachusetts-Lowell
8t Michigan
8t Northeastern
10 St. Cloud State
11t Providence
11t Minnesota-Duluth
13 Wisconsin
14 New Hampshire
15 North Dakota
16 Notre Dame
— Mercyhurst
Current conference leaders based on winning percentage:
Atlantic Hockey: Mercyhurst Big Ten: Minnesota ECAC Hockey: Union Hockey East: Boston College NCHC: St. Cloud State WCHA: Ferris State
Notes
• Bracketology assumes that the season has ended and there are no more games to be played — i.e., the NCAA tournament starts tomorrow.
• Because there are an uneven amount of games played inside each conference, I will be using winning percentage, not points accumulated, to determine the current leader in each conference. This team is my assumed conference tournament champion.
Step one
From the committee’s report, choose the 16 teams in the tournament.
We break ties in the PWR by looking at the individual comparisons among the tied teams, and add in any current league leaders that are not currently in the top 16. The only team that is not is Mercyhurst.
From there, we can start looking at the ties and bubbles in a more detailed fashion.
The ties and bubbles consist of Union and Ferris State at 4, Michigan and Northeastern at 8, and Minnesota-Duluth and Providence at 11.
We break all of our ties based upon the RPI.
Therefore, the 16 teams in the tournament, in rank order, are:
1 Minnesota
2 Boston College
3 Quinnipiac
4 Union
5 Ferris State
6 Cornell
7 Massachusetts-Lowell
8 Michigan
9 Northeastern
10 St. Cloud State
11 Providence
12 Minnesota-Duluth
13 Wisconsin
14 New Hampshire
15 North Dakota
16 Mercyhurst
Step two
Now it’s time to assign the seeds.
No. 1 seeds: Minnesota, Boston College, Quinnipiac, Union
No. 3 seeds: Northeastern, St. Cloud State, Providence, Minnesota-Duluth
No. 4 seeds: Wisconsin, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Mercyhurst
Step three
Place the No. 1 seeds in regionals.
Minnesota, as a host school, is placed first.
No. 1 Minnesota is placed in the West Regional in St. Paul.
No. 2 Boston College is placed in the Northeast Regional in Worcester.
No. 3 Quinnipiac is placed in the East Regional in Bridgeport.
No. 4 Union is placed in the Midwest Regional in Cincinnati.
Step four
Now we place the other 12 teams so as to avoid intraconference matchups if possible.
Begin by filling in each bracket by banding groups. Remember that teams are not assigned to the regional closest to their campus sites by ranking order within the banding (unless you are a host school, in which case you must be assigned to your home regional).
If this is the case, as it was last year, then the committee should seed so that the quarterfinals are seeded such that the four regional championships would be played by No. 1 vs. No. 8, No. 2 vs. No. 7, No. 3 vs. No. 6 and No. 4 vs. No. 5.
So therefore:
No. 2 seeds
No. 8 Michigan is placed in No. 1 Minnesota’s regional, the West Regional.
No. 7 Massachusetts-Lowell is placed in No. 2 Boston College’s regional, the Northeast Regional.
No. 6 Cornell is placed in No. 3 Quinnipiac’s regional, the East Regional.
No. 5 Ferris State is placed in No. 4 Union’s regional, the Midwest Regional.
No. 3 seeds
Our bracketing system has one regional containing seeds 1, 8, 9, and 16; another with 2, 7, 10 and 15; another with 3, 6, 11 and 14; and another with 4, 5, 12 and 13.
No. 9 Northeastern is placed in No. 8 Michigan’s regional, the West Regional.
No. 10 St. Cloud State is placed in No. 7 Massachusetts-Lowell’s regional, the Northeast Regional.
No. 11 Providence is placed in No. 6 Cornell’s regional, the East Regional.
No. 12 Minnesota-Duluth is placed in No. 5 Ferris State’s regional, the Midwest Regional.
No. 4 seeds
One more time, taking No. 16 vs. No. 1, No. 15 vs. No. 2, etc.
No. 16 Mercyhurst is sent to No. 1 Minnesota’s regional, the West Regional.
No. 15 North Dakota is sent to No. 2 Boston College’s regional, the Northeast Regional.
No. 14 New Hampshire is sent to No. 3 Quinnipiac’s regional, the East Regional.
No. 13 Wisconsin is sent to No. 4 Union’s regional, the Midwest Regional.
The brackets as we have set them up:
West Regional (St. Paul):
16 Mercyhurst vs. 1 Minnesota
9 Northeastern vs. 8 Michigan
Midwest Regional (Cincinnati):
13 Wisconsin vs. 4 Union
12 Minnesota-Duluth vs. 5 Ferris State
Northeast Regional (Worcester):
15 North Dakota vs. 2 Boston College
10 St. Cloud State vs. 7 Massachusetts-Lowell
East Regional (Bridgeport):
14 New Hampshire vs. 3 Quinnipiac
11 Providence vs. 6 Cornell
Our first concern is avoiding intraconference matchups. We have none.
What? None at all? That’s correct, none at all.
So that’s it, right? We have our bracket.
Well, let’s see where we can fine-tune some things.
For example, how about we look at attendance? (Yes, I know this always happens, but follow along.)
Where can we improve? We can’t add another eastern team in Worcester unless we swap North Dakota and Mercyhurst. But that means we’re not protecting our overall No. 1 seed in Minnesota, so we don’t do that.
Our East Regional is perfect. I don’t think we need to change that.
Can we improve the West or Midwest Regionals? We can swap Michigan and Ferris State, but does that really help?
We can also swap Minnesota-Duluth and Northeastern, to boost the attendance at St. Paul, but does that really make a difference?
So in conclusion, I don’t think we touch this bracket at all.
So that is it.
See you here next week for the next Bracketology.
Here’s a summary of everything that we have covered.
This week’s brackets
West Regional (St. Paul):
16 Mercyhurst vs. 1 Minnesota
9 Northeastern vs. 8 Michigan
Midwest Regional (Cincinnati):
13 Wisconsin vs. 4 Union
12 Minnesota-Duluth vs. 5 Ferris State
Northeast Regional (Worcester):
15 North Dakota vs. 2 Boston College
10 St. Cloud State vs. 7 Massachusetts-Lowell
East Regional (Bridgeport):
14 New Hampshire vs. 3 Quinnipiac
11 Providence vs. 6 Cornell
Conference breakdowns
Hockey East — 5
ECAC Hockey — 3
Big Ten — 3
NCHC — 3
Atlantic Hockey — 1
WCHA — 1
On the move
In: New Hampshire, North Dakota
Out: Clarkson, Notre Dame
Attendance woes?
Some uneasiness in Cincinnati.
Last week’s brackets
West Regional (St. Paul):
16 Mercyhurst vs. 1 Minnesota
9 Massachusetts-Lowell vs. 6 St. Cloud State
Midwest Regional (Cincinnati):
13 Wisconsin vs. 4 Union
12 Notre Dame vs. 5 Ferris State
Northeast Regional (Worcester):
15 Colgate vs. 2 Boston College
10 Michigan vs. 8 Northeastern
East Regional (Bridgeport):
14 Minnesota-Duluth vs. 3 Quinnipiac
11 Cornell vs. 7 Providence
