Noora Räty deflects a shot in the second period of the 2013 NCAA Women’s Frozen Four Championship game at Ridder Arena in Minneapolis on March 24, 2013. (Ryan Coleman/Ryan Coleman, USCHO.com)
As the saying goes, records are made to be broken, like the number of helpings of stuffing eaten at a single Thanksgiving feast. Some marks are just established to a point that they will be more difficult to reach, let alone improve upon.
Minnesota’s team record for consecutive wins received more attention than usual for the women’s game, so now that it is no longer being reset on a weekly basis, let’s look at a few achievements that while not unbreakable should prove to at least be break-resistant.
The 14th season of NCAA competition is currently underway. Once that lifespan has more than doubled and 30 seasons under the NCAA umbrella are complete, here are some of the entries that I expect to still appear in the record books.
Category: Team Goals Scored Per Game in a Season Record: 6.47 — Harvard, 2002-03 (220 goals in 32 games)
Since Harvard set this record in 2003, no team has come within a goal per game of the mark. The top three averages in this category all occurred in the first three years of the NCAA era.
The general trend in scoring is down. The biggest reason why is that there are more good players than there were a decade ago. Back then, more mismatches would occur in the course of a game and a season. Today’s third and fourth lines are better equipped to defend against the best line in the league if need be.
A high percentage of those 220 goals were scored in a relatively small number of games. Two games against Boston College produced 24 goals, including a record 17 in the first meeting. A pair of games with Vermont yielded 22 more. Four contests versus Cornell resulted in 35 more Crimson tallies. Yale yielded 17 goals in two efforts. Colgate was touched for 16 markers in its couple of encounters. Harvard scored 104 times in the other 20 games, an average of 5.2 goals per game. Still very dynamic, but a figure more in line with what top offenses in recent years have managed to achieve. The weaker teams of today tend to be more defensively sound than teams from that era such as BC, Vermont, Cornell, Yale, and Colgate.
For that reason, I would expect that if this record does fall, it would happen for a team playing a schedule with a fair number of games against new teams. We have seen how quickly teams such as Lindenwood and Penn State were able to reduce their goals allowed, so that window is likely small.
Category: Points Scored Per Game in a Season Record: 3.50 — Jennifer Botterill, Harvard, 2002-03 (112 points in 32 games)
The individual most responsible for boosting Harvard’s scoring average to such lofty heights was two-time Patty Kazmaier Award winner Jennifer Botterill.
Centering a line that typically had future Kazmaier winner Julie Chu on the right wing, Botterill routinely produced games that would be considered good months by most players. Kicking off the season with a nine-point game at Vermont, including an NCAA record seven assists, she would set the current NCAA record with 10 points against Boston College in January, a mark tied by Nicole Corriero the next season.
Ridiculous as her production was, the total could easily have been even higher. Botterill was held to just four points in her final three games, the ECAC final and two rounds of the NCAA Frozen Four. By comparison, she piled up 17 points in the three prior games. She also missed January games versus Yale and Princeton, or her total of 112 points would have increased.
In the same season, Botterill set the NCAA record for assists per game for a season at 2.03. With only her final two seasons counting toward the official NCAA statistics, she also holds the records for highest career per-game averages for goals (1.44), assists (1.63), and points (3.07).
Category: Goals Per Game in a Season Record: 1.64 — Nicole Corriero, Harvard, 2004-05 (59 goals in 36 games)
Nicole Corriero didn’t possess the all-around game of Botterill, but she sure could finish. For the 2004-05 season, Corriero’s job was frequently to hang around the weak-side post in the offensive zone and wait for someone like Chu or Sarah Vaillancourt to get her the puck.
Corriero succeeding in burying the puck 59 times that year, and only Meghan Agosta found the net more than her 150 goals in a career.
Because she only played 36 games in her record season, the total of 59 could prove more breakable than her per-game average. A player could reach 60 goals in 41 games by averaging 1.46 goals per contest. Given nobody has come closer than a dozen goals less, both records are likely safe.
Category: Saves in a Game Record: 90 — Nicole Hensley, Lindenwood, March 1, 2013, versus Robert Morris
The official NCAA record book still displays the 78 saves made by Desirae Clark against Harvard on March 19, 2005 as the record. Whether that is an oversight or Nicole Hensley is not eligible because Lindenwood was still transitioning to an NCAA program last season, I don’t know. She denied 90 D-I shooters in a legitimate D-I game, so Hensley’s 90 saves is good enough for me.
To set such a record, a goalie has to first face that quantity of shots. Then she must stop enough of them to continue both the game and the opponents’ incentive to keep firing. Hensley wound up in front of 92 shots from the Colonials, saving 90 of the first 91, before Cobina Delaney scored at 8:04 of the third overtime to send everyone home.
Even for a three-OT game, that’s a lot of shots. By comparison, Kristen DiCiocco only had to deal with 42 attempts on the other end of the ice. Harvard had 83 shots in the game in which Clark established the record, one that was four minutes plus longer. In other famous triple-overtime games, like North Dakota at Minnesota last year, Boston University at Cornell the season before, and the Minnesota-Duluth and Cornell championship game or the Harvard at Wisconsin four-OT game in 2007, no team got above the 60s in shots.
For her career, Hensley currently has 1,631 saves. Projecting the pace that she’s established at roughly the halfway point of her sophomore season through another two and a half years worth of games, she is on target to reach 4,349 saves. The NCAA record for a career is 3,809, set by Brianne McLaughlin at Robert Morris. Clark at Mercyhurst, McLaughlin at Robert Morris, and Hensley at Mercyhurst — I wouldn’t have necessarily anticipated it, but apparently the CHA is the league for a goaltender who wants to stay busy.
Category: Team Penalty Minutes in a Season Record: 675 — Minnesota, 2008-09 (40 games, 16.9 minutes per game)
When Jocelyne and Monique Lamoureux came to play for Brad Frost at Minnesota, he likely anticipated that they would contribute to some record-setting performances for his team. I doubt he expected this to be the most enduring.
While the twins blazed the course, they were hardly alone. Melanie Gagnon, Rachael Drazan, Sarah Erickson, Emily West — a lot of people knew the way to the penalty box.
By the time Minnesota won back-to-back titles in 2012 and 2013, the Gophers had reduced that average of 16.9 minutes per game to 9.9 and 8.9 respectively. So while a team could certainly commit penalties at a higher frequency, the surprise may have been that Minnesota was still playing in a 40th game after spending almost a period per contest on the kill.
Thanks to some penalty-marred finishes to games, Ohio State, Bemidji State, and Mercyhurst are all committing penalties at a higher rate to this point. With 23.1 minutes per game, the Buckeyes could exceed 675 minutes by their 30th game, but it is unlikely that the average remains in that stratosphere, unless something special is planned for their rematch in Bemidji.
As for whether the single-game penalty totals that Buckeyes and Beavers set on Nov. 8 in Columbus will last, including 26 penalties for 173 minutes by OSU and 49 penalties and 318 minutes by both teams, that will depend on many factors, including whether a pair of future referees really want to note that many infractions. The Buckeyes in that game wound up just one minute short of the 174 minutes in penalties that Yale was assessed for the season in 2000-01, fewest in the NCAA era.
Unbreakable records
With its perfect season, Minnesota established some records that will be mathematically impossible to break, although they certainly can be equaled. Those include: fewest losses, zero; winning percentage, 1.000; and goalie winning percentage, Noora Räty, 1.000.
The team’s 41 wins can’t be surpassed by any of the current schedules, given the limit of 34 regular-season games, the fact that no conference requires a team to win more than four times to win the conference tournament, and the NCAA tournament has a maximum of three games. A future increase in games by increasing the 34-game limit or expanding either tournament could change that.
Räty set a number of other individual records that may be broken eventually, but doing so won’t be trivial. Those include: save percentage for a season, .956; save percentage for a career, .946; career wins, 114; season shutouts, 17; and career shutouts, 43. It will be interesting to see which one endures the longest.
Ice time is a precious commodity, even more so for a freshman trying to work his way into the lineup.
Last Saturday, Neumann freshman Collin O’Neil certainly made the most of his shifts.
A healthy scratch for four of the Knights’ first five tilts, O’Neil found himself in the lineup for Saturday’s conference clash with Manhattanville and came through with two goals and an assist in what played out as a 7-4 Neumann triumph.
“It felt pretty good,” said O’Neil, who hails from nearby Hummellstown, Pa. “I was just trying to go out there and earn my spot. I was just trying to work hard and got pretty lucky.”
Luck? Some say you make your own.
O’Neil, who was stationed at left wing, netted both of his goals in succession in the second period. It served to rip open what had been a slim 2-1 Knights lead.
“It was timely,” said Neumann coach Dominick Dawes. “He got an opportunity to get in the lineup and he took advantage of it. He worked hard, scored a couple goals. That’s all you can ask of anyone.”
O’Neil said he had no visions of grandeur as he took the ice for the first time in three weeks.
Slotted on Neumann’s fourth line, he was simply trying to grind out one shift after another.
“I was just trying to play the way Coach wants us to play,” he said. “I was able to get back out there for a couple more shifts and luckily, was able to score a couple goals.”
The first of those came 5:35 into the second stanza after a faceoff win by teammate Kajon McKay.
He said that seeing the puck enter the net was something of a surreal experience.
“It was pretty awesome,” O’Neil said. “I was really excited to score my first goal. Really excited to help contribute to the team.”
That excitement nearly turned sour later in the period when O’Neil was sent to the box for hooking.
It’s many a rookie who has found himself chained to the bench after putting his team down a man, but O’Neil never gave Dawes the chance to sit him down.
Indeed, as O’Neil was finishing his penalty, Neumann defenseman Dan McDougall hit him with a perfect lead pass and sent O’Neil sailing into the clear.
“I almost jumped out of the box a couple seconds too early,” O’Neil said. “Then I jumped back in. Then the puck came right to me and I had a clean breakaway. I had to calm down.”
It’s safe to say that with his performance, which earned him the league’s rookie of the week honors, O’Neil is bound to find himself back in the lineup soon.
Even so, O’Neil said he’s taking nothing for granted.
“It’s just nice to be able to contribute whenever [I] can,” he said.
Buffalo State’s Shane Avery provided the game-tying goal in the final minute last Friday night against Fredonia (photo: Dan Hickling).
What’s that old chestnut about half a loaf being better than nothing?
You wouldn’t have known it by the reaction from either side of Friday’s 4-4 draw between Fredonia and Buffalo State.
Judging by the respective reactions, neither side found the result to be particularly tasty, even though each came away with a precious SUNYAC standings point.
“I think we thought that we were our worst enemy on Friday night late,” said Fredonia bench boss Jeff Meredith, whose team let a 4-2 third-period advantage slip through their grasp. “We worked hard to get a two-goal lead and then gave it away with bad penalties and our inability to make simple plays.”
For a time, it seemed as though Fredonia would skate out of town with a hard-earned road win, thanks to strong goaltending by freshman Chris Eiserman and a pair of power-play tallies by invigorated junior Jared Wynia, who now has five goals, just two off last year’s total.
However, Buff State stormed back to knot the game in the final 5:30 of regulation, getting to within a goal on Adam Rossi’s power-play marker.
Senior Shane Avery tied the game with 58 seconds to play.
Bengals’ coach Nick Carriere, who got his coaching start a decade ago as an assistant under Meredith, felt that while his team put out the effort, much of it was wasted energy.
“I thought we had a lot of chances and a lot of time,” said Carriere. “But I thought we did a poor job of making sure we got pucks through and on the net. We had shots blocked and a lot of our shots went wide. I thought we did a good job of keeping them away from the ‘Grade-As,’ but it seemed like every time they got a shot on net, it went in.”
Meredith, who is noticeably sleeker after having dropped 40 pounds during the offseason, said that his youth-laden crew is still trying to sort itself out.
“I think it is fair to say that we have yet to establish our identity,” he said. “Having 14 freshmen, it is taking some time to get to know each of their strengths and weaknesses and figuring out where each of them fit into our team. I like them a lot and think they are all pretty talented, I think it is about how fast they adapt to college hockey and how unforgiving it is to when you try to complicate the game.”
As for the more experienced Bengals, Carriere said his squad is on the way to achieving that much-desired cohesiveness.
“I think we have a pretty good team identity,” he said. “I think we understand what we are good at. We have to do a better job of hanging on to that. Friday night, we did a job job of puck control, but whether we did anything good with that puck control is another topic of conversation. We played a strong defensive team in Fredonia that didn’t give us a lot.”
Fifth-year senior Chris McCarthy could be poised for a breakout offensive season (photo: Melissa Wade).
Less than a minute into last weekend’s home-and-home series with Massachusetts, Vermont coach Kevin Sneddon might have wanted to go home, get into bed and not leave for a few days.
The Catamounts surrendered two goals to the Minutemen in the first 59 seconds of Friday’s series opener. It was the fifth straight game that Vermont had allowed the opening goal, having gone 1-3 in the previous four.
But instead of burrowing and allowing the Minutemen to carry out an onslaught for the remainder of the game, the Catamounts responded. And for the remainder of the weekend, Vermont didn’t allow another goal, scored five itself (including three on the power play) and walked away with a weekend sweep of UMass.
“The weekend certainly didn’t start very well,” said Sneddon. “But I give our team, certainly the seniors, credit for keeping the guys calm and persevering. I thought we got better and better as the weekend progressed.”
Two of the areas that keyed the victories, according to Sneddon, were goaltending and leadership. Continuing a goaltender rotation that began three weeks ago at Maine when sophomore Brody Hoffman returned from injury to alternate in net with rookie Mike Santaguida, both played solid after UMass posted its quick start.
“They’re both playing excellent hockey for us right now,” Sneddon said of his goaltending. “Both guys played exceptionally well against UMass this weekend.”
As for continuing in a rotation for the Catamounts, Sneddon quipped: “I look at it and say, ‘Why would we change anything right now?’ Both guys are playing so well for us. They’re giving our team confidence to play aggressive and make mistakes and realize it won’t end up in the back of our net.”
Sneddon is also happy with the leadership he has received from fifth-year senior Chris McCarthy. McCarthy leads the team in scoring with three goals and five assists and, according to Sneddon, seems poised to break out offensively.
“He’s been extremely consistent for us,” Sneddon said of McCarthy. “He’s provided us with some great leadership on and off the ice. His best offensive days are ahead of him this year. He’s seen a lot of his time and he’s certainly a huge player for us.”
Boston University coach David Quinn says his team wasn’t as bad as a 7-0 loss to Maine appeared (photo: Melissa Wade).
When a blowout isn’t as bad as it seems
After losing 5-1 to Boston College, there were plenty who questioned just how good this year’s Boston University team is.
So a week later when BU fell 7-0 at Maine, it was understandable if Terriers fans began to jump ship.
Since then, BU notched a win over UConn and a win and tie versus North Dakota. Thus, it’s not crazy to ask first-year bench boss David Quinn what led to the turnaround.
His answer: Things were never that bad.
Quinn admitted that his team was outmatched against BC. But he also said that while watching the 7-0 loss to Maine on tape, he felt that his team wasn’t that bad.
“I said to [my team], ‘If I ever said this in public, people will think I’m insane, but we actually did a lot of good things in our 7-0 loss to Maine,'” said Quinn. “It was just one of those nights.”
Despite the positive outlook from the 7-0 loss, Quinn is quick to point out his team did need to improve. That improvement came in many ways last weekend against North Dakota, particularly between the pipes where Quinn started goaltender Matt O’Connor on back-to-back nights for the first time this season.
That move paid off as O’Connor followed up a 37-save victory on Friday with a career-high 55 saves in a 3-3 tie on Saturday.
“I go game by game [in choosing goaltenders] and after what happened Friday night, I knew [O’Connor] had a little bit of the hot hand,” said Quinn. “I talked to [goaltender] Sean [Maguire] about it and I said it’s no reflection on our faith in Sean Maguire. He’s a heck of a goalie.
“The conversation I had with Sean I’m probably going to have with Matt O’Connor at some point this season.”
It seems like, then, that O’Connor will lead the Terriers into one of the marquee matchups of the season, a biannual game against longtime rival Cornell at Madison Square Garden.
“It’s really become like a bowl game in the middle of a college hockey season,” Quinn said of Red Hot Hockey, which will take place this Saturday night. “It’s a perfect weekend of Thanksgiving on Thursday, Friday shopping. And it’s really evolved into a premier event in college hockey.”
Coming off of last weekend, this isn’t simply a chance for the Terriers to play a game at MSG. It’s also an opportunity to build on the momentum this team is carrying.
“I know our guys are looking forward to going down there but I also know they’re looking forward to playing again,” said Quinn. “They’re starting to feel pretty good about themselves. We’ve been a fragile group for a while but I think we’re getting a little more confident, which is always nice.”
Quick hits
• It will be interesting to watch Massachusetts-Lowell coach Norm Bazin’s decisions in the coming games regarding goaltending. Bazin has used a rotation much of the year between Connor Hellebuyck and Doug Carr. Last weekend, Hellebuyck played both games, allowing just one goal on 75 shots to Notre Dame. This is similar to the situation from a season ago where Hellebuyck took over the reins and led the team to the Frozen Four. Last year, though, Carr wasn’t playing as well as he has this season, which could make the decision to go to a single goaltender a difficult one.
• A quick look at the standings finds Massachusetts and Merrimack down at the bottom of Hockey East. The Minutemen have a win and two ties while the Warriors are winless with one tie in six games. Trying to find the reason for each? Look no further than a lack of offensive production. UMass is averaging just 1.11 goals per game right now in league play. Worse than that is Merrimack, which has scored just six goals in six league games for a 1.00 goals per game average.
• Interestingly, the team at the other end of the scoring spectrum is New Hampshire, averaging 3.75 goals per game in league play. That’s a stark comparison to the slow offensive start this UNH team had, scoring just 16 goals in its first seven games. After that stretch, UNH was 1-5-1. Since that time, the Wildcats have scored 32 goals in eight games, posting a 6-2 record for that stretch.
• While college hockey tournament season usually occurs between Christmas and New Year’s Day, this weekend two Hockey East teams will take part in the same tournament as Notre Dame hosts the Shillelagh Tournament featuring Northeastern, Alabama-Huntsville and Western Michigan. This tournament uses the traditional semifinal/final structure (as opposed to set matchups) so there is a chance the Huskies and Irish could meet for an all-Hockey East championship game.
From our family to yours …
On behalf of my colleague Dave Hendrickson and the entire staff at USCHO, wishing you and your family a very Happy Thanksgiving! Dave will be back with next week’s column provided he gets out of the turkey-induced food coma we have all come to expect from him.
Miami has lost three in a row, while St. Cloud State is unbeaten in its last five games (photo: Jim Rosvold).
As people ready to journey home and overindulge in turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie, we thought we’d take a moment to reflect on what the coaches and/or teams of the NCHC have to be thankful for after the first six weeks of the season.
There’s still a long way to go in this inaugural NCHC season as well, so the coaches better start getting their Christmas lists together too!
Colorado College
It’s been a tough start for the Tigers, with very few bright spots. Things started well enough, with a 3-1 win over Minnesota-Duluth in their first game of the year. However, that is the lone win for CC so far, as the Tigers are 1-8-2.
Among those losses are a 3-1 decision to crosstown rival Air Force, and a 1-1 tie/shootout loss and 2-1 loss to archrival Denver. CC wasn’t even able to revel in its recent 2-2 tie/shootout win over St. Cloud State, as the Huskies came back and pounded the Tigers 6-2 the next night. Offensively, nobody on CC’s roster has more than four points in the first 11 games.
Yes, coach Scott Owens might seem to think he has very little to be thankful for so far, except perhaps the end of November. However, there is definitely one thing that he can be thankful for, and that is the play of goaltender Josh Thorimbert, who has a .907 save percentage and 2.83 GAA in 11 games.
Thorimbert has given CC a chance to win in every game, but the Tigers’ anemic offense simply hasn’t come through. Of its 11 games so far, four have gone to overtime, including a 1-0 loss to Clarkson. If some of the players Owens expected to produce offensively start to, the Tigers could be back in the hunt.
Denver
Given its record of success over the last decade, a record of 7-5-2 for the Pioneers might not seem like much to be excited about. But Denver, playing under first-year coach Jim Montgomery, has several things to be thankful for, including an improved record in overtime decisions after dropping its first four by identical 3-2 scores, as well as a decent start in conference play at 3-2-1.
Montgomery, however, must be thankful most for having Sam Brittain in net. One year after losing the starting job to Juho Olkinuora (who is now playing in the pros), Brittain has returned with a vengeance and is among the top performers in almost every goaltending category.
He is sixth overall nationally with a 1.65 GAA and .945 save percentage. He is fourth in minutes played, and is tied for the lead in shutouts with three with five other goalies, including fellow NCHC goalie Ryan McKay of Miami. Brittain is a big reason that Denver is fifth in team defense, and if the Pioneers continue to keep that up, they will be a dangerous team for anyone to face.
Miami
Heading into the Thanksgiving holiday on a three-game losing streak with a record of 7-6-1, coach Enrico Blasi might not be feeling particularly festive, but he shouldn’t have to look too far to find something to be thankful for. After all, no other team in the country can boast two top-five scorers.
While Miami’s offense is only 15th nationally, it is anchored by the dynamic duo of Austin Czarnik and Riley Barber, who are tied for fifth nationally in scoring with two other players, all of whom have 19 points. Barber and Czarnik are averaging 1.36 points per game.
Barber is tied for ninth nationally with nine goals, while Czarnik is tied for fifth nationally with 12 assists. Of Barber’s nine goals, two have come short-handed, three on power plays, and three turned out to be game-winners.
While there is some falloff offensively after these two (Blake Coleman is third on the team in scoring with 12 points), when you have two highly skilled scorers leading your offense, you have to feel thankful and believe you’ve got a shot in every game.
Minnesota-Duluth
What does coach Scott Sandelin have to be thankful for? His team has been, by some definitions, mediocre, sporting a 5-4-1 record. Of course, there are lies, damn lies, and statistics, as the Bulldogs have played the 10th-hardest schedule in the country.
Sandelin also could be thankful for the play of freshman Alex Iafallo, who leads the team in scoring with 10 points.
However, Sandelin is probably most thankful for his team’s ability to shake off bad losses and come back stronger while preventing losses from turning into streaks. In every weekend but two, the Bulldogs have lost the first game of their two-game set (the exceptions were the first set against Michigan Tech and an early November tilt against Ohio State). In those losses, the Bulldogs gave up at least three goals, sometimes getting blown out, as happened last Friday against Minnesota, when they fell 6-1 to the Gophers. However, the Bulldogs have rebounded in the second game of each of those series to beat tough, ranked opponents such as North Dakota, Notre Dame and Minnesota. They scored six goals against the Gophers last Sunday, six against North Dakota, and four against Notre Dame.
If the Bulldogs figure out a way to build consistency, Sandelin will be thankful for his team’s early resiliency.
Nebraska-Omaha
Mavericks coach Dean Blais might have been worried about what he would have to be thankful for at the start of the month. But the Mavericks have been hot in November, going 6-2 so far against Denver, North Dakota, Michigan and Miami, so Blais is probably hoping this month doesn’t end.
Blais knew he would have a lot of offense on his squad, and he likes to play run-and-gun hockey, so the strong play of Josh Archibald, Ryan Walters, Brock Montpetit, Dominic Zombo, Michael Young and Jake Guentzel, all of whom are in double digits in points, probably has him thankful.
However, as the Mavericks get ready to close out the first half of the year, Blais is probably most thankful for finding a starting goalie. Ryan Massa has won five in a row in November and has improved his save percentage to .899 and GAA to 2.72.
Last weekend, Blais started Massa in back-to-back games against conference rival Miami, and the junior delivered by giving up only four goals in the two games against the No. 15 offense in the country. If Massa, who won NCHC goaltender of the week honors for his play against Miami, continues to play well as the No. 1 netminder, the rest of the season could be much more like November than October for Blais and company.
North Dakota
Coming into this season, North Dakota was riding a lot of expectations, with some calling the team the favorite for the regular season NCHC crown. After last weekend, in which it lost and tied against Boston University, North Dakota has dropped out of the top 20.
What does coach Dave Hakstol have to be thankful for then? Perhaps the hope of health. During a stretch of difficult games that began against Nebraska-Omaha on Nov. 9, nearly half the team was hit by a flu bug that made it hard for North Dakota to field a full team in practice. However, North Dakota is home for a Thanksgiving series against St. Lawrence, and perhaps that rest will enable North Dakota to be fully healthy and start on its normal, Hakstol-era second-half surge, right in time for playoffs.
St. Cloud State
Coming off its most successful season ever, in which it reached the Frozen Four and took home a share of the WCHA regular season title, St. Cloud had reason for optimism despite losses such as Hobey Baker Award winner Drew LeBlanc.
For coach Bob Motzko, perhaps the thing to be most thankful for is balance. St. Cloud sits ninth nationally in team offense, averaging 3.58 goals per game, despite that the Huskies don’t have a single player in the top 40 in scoring.
Sophomore Jonny Brodzinski has avoided a sophomore slump and leads the team in scoring while averaging a point a game. Captain Nic Dowd is right behind, with .916 points per game. A couple of freshmen have also stepped in well, with Ryan Papa fifth on the team in scoring and defenseman Niklas Nevalainen ninth.
Defensively, the Huskies are even better. St. Cloud is fourth nationally in team defense, yet goalie Ryan Faragher, while playing well, sits at only 15th nationally among goalies. Clearly, it is a team effort, and St. Cloud has had two defensemen, Ethan Prow and Andrew Prochno, named defensive players of the week for the NCHC.
Motzko and his players are also probably happy for having Thanksgiving weekend off before going on the road to face Minnesota-Duluth in early December and closing at home against Union.
Western Michigan
While the Broncos sit at .500 with a 5-5-2 record after their sweep last weekend of Michigan State and continue to struggle on the road, going 1-3-1, coach Andy Murray has to be thankful that he finally has a legitimate scoring threat or two.
Last year, Western Michigan won with defense. The team didn’t sport a single player that averaged more than .657 points per game. So far in this young season, the Broncos have easily bested that, and sport one scorer in the top 12 nationally in scoring with Shane Berschbach.
Last season, Berschbach averaged .545 points a game. So far this season, he is up to 1.41 points per game. Berschbach was just named the offensive player of the week for the NCHC for the second time after his four-point weekend against the Spartans.
Murray can also be thankful for the offensive efforts of Justin Kovacs, who is averaging 1.08 points per game.
If the Broncos can take the win at Michigan State last Friday as a springboard to better road play, Murray will have even more to be thankful for.
NCHC players of the week
Offensive player of the week — Shane Berschbach, Western Michigan: Berschbach helped lead the Broncos to a sweep of Michigan State, assisting on the second goal in Friday’s 2-0 win and scoring a goal and two assists in Saturday’s 4-1 win, including assisting on the game-winner. He posted a plus-3 on the weekend while winning his second offensive player of the week honor this season.
Defensive player of the week — Andrew Prochno, St. Cloud State: Prochno had three points in two games while going plus-4 in a weekend series against Colorado College. He had an assist on Friday in a 2-2 tie/shootout loss and then scored the first goal and assisted on the last in Saturday’s 6-2 win. Prochno blocked five shots on the weekend while helping the Huskies kill six of eight penalties.
Rookie of the week — Trevor Moore, Denver: Moore, who is tied for the team lead in points, had his best weekend of the season in two games against Air Force. He scored an unassisted goal on the road Friday that tied the game and then scored the last two goals in Saturday’s 3-1 win at home over the Falcons. He finished the weekend plus-2.
Goaltender of the week — Ryan Massa, Nebraska-Omaha: In his first weekend starting both games, Massa was a big part of Nebraska-Omaha’s sweep of No. 8 Miami, posting a 2.00 GAA and .931 save percentage. He stopped 29 shots, including a penalty shot, in Friday’s 6-3 win, and followed that up with a 25-save effort in a 3-1 win on Saturday.
Willie Hess has popped six goals so far for Wisconsin-River Falls as one of the few veteran players on the squad (photo: Kathy M. Helgeson).
Steve Freeman was asked to talk about the season up to this point for his Wisconsin-River Falls hockey team and he had an interesting take on how things have played out so far for the Falcons.
“Every game is an adventure because we have 13 freshmen on our roster,” Freeman said. “We are still all learning to play as a team and we have been up and down. We’re still working on being more consistent and playing a certain style of hockey every night.”
The Falcons were 4-1-1 heading into the week of Thanksgiving, winning their last two games with a 4-0 victory over Concordia (Wis.) and a 1-0 win over the Milwaukee School of Engineering. Augsburg is the only team that has beaten the Falcons this season, winning 3-2, and River Falls has scored at least two goals in all but one game.
“We’ve played pretty well offensively,” Freeman said. “We’ve definitely gotten opportunities to score and we continue to make progress. We’re still trying to be more consistent on offense, but we have competed hard in every game. The guys always battle.”
Willie Hess has played a pivotal role in the success of the offense, scoring six goals and dishing out one assist.
“He has shown a lot of leadership and has tremendous speed,” Freeman said. “He is having a great year and our other lines are starting to settle in. We’re also getting good leadership from our older players.”
River Falls has seen Scott Lewan step his game up between the pipes as well.
“He has played a ton of hockey games and has a great deal of experience,” Freeman said. “He gives us a chance to win every night. But Tanner [Milliron] has been given a chance to play, too, and we feel good about what he brings to the team. I also think our defensive core is a lot stronger than it was last year.”
Contending for a title in the WIAC, though, won’t be easy. Not with two nationally-ranked teams in the league in Wisconsin-Eau Claire and Wisconsin-Stevens Point.
Still, Freeman is confident his team will bring a solid effort every night.
“We just have to keep doing what we have been and make sure we are on the same page,” Freeman said. “Our intensity level has to be high because we are going to be in for a battle every night. Our league is one of the strongest in the country from top to bottom and you have to bring your best effort to compete.”
SHOWDOWN: Wisconsin-Eau Claire played St. Norbert in a battle of the top two teams in the country on Friday night and for the first time this season, the No. 1 Blugolds fell 5-2 to the second-ranked Green Knights.
Eau Claire had its streak of eight consecutive wins that dated back to last year come to an end. Jon Waggoner scored both goals for the Blugolds and Tyler Green came through with 27 saves. It was the first loss of his college career.
St. Norbert held a 32-17 edge in shots on the Blugolds, who went 0-for-6 on the power play.
BORDER WAR: Wisconsin-Superior emerged with a 3-2 victory over St. Scholastica in front of a near-capacity crowd on the road Saturday night.
Tanner Dion, Pat Dalbec and Brad Phenow all scored goals for the Yellow Jackets, with Phenow’s goal breaking a 2-2 tie in the second period.
Drew Strandberg came through with the win in goal, racking up 16 saves. He improved to 2-2 on the season.
The Yellow Jackets took 28 shots on the night and the Saints were limited to 18 shots as they suffered their first loss of the season.
12 Jan 13: Alex Rigsby (Wisconsin – 33) The University of Wisconsin Badgers host the Ohio State Buckeyes at La Bahn Arena in Madison, WI. (Dan Sanger)
Candace: Well, it was another interesting weekend, with a couple of surprises, and still a couple possibilities before the break. Let’s look at what to me has to be the biggest news of the weekend. We knew Mercyhurst had been struggling a little this year, and hadn’t shown yet that it was its old dominant self. However, losing 2-1 to RIT on Friday has to be one of the bigger stunners so far this season. I’m having a hard time understanding what is going on with the Lakers. We thought goaltending would be an issue coming into this season, but didn’t anticipate any problems with scoring, since the entire core group was back from last season. Yet the Lakers have lost several close games so far. The CHA could be the most volatile conference in the game. The season is half over, and I think four teams are in the hunt for the crown. That’s a good thing for the league, but it has to be frustrating for the Lakers. What’s your take?
Arlan: As a friend of mine used to always say, “It’s a world gone mad.”
I think the most clear indication that it isn’t business as usual in Erie this season is what happens after the Lakers are upset. So they lose 2-1 on Friday when Ali Binnington makes 42 saves for RIT; it happens. Mike Sisti’s response is to come back with sophomore Julia DiTondo in goal, whose previous career experience consisted of about 70 minutes and zero starts. Whether usual starter Amanda Makela couldn’t go, or he wanted to shake things up, I don’t know. DiTondo’s
numbers were similar to Makela’s the day before, with one key difference — she received three goals of support instead of one and wound up with a “W” in the game.
We are accustomed to seeing Mercyhurst respond the day after an upset loss like that with a stomping to set things back to right. It outshot the Tigers, but by roughly the same margin as the day before, and the game went down to the wire before the Lakers claimed a one-goal win.
Two of its three goals on the day were the first goals of the season by a pair of defensemen, Caroline Luczak and Lauren Kilroy. It’s vital to get that offense from secondary sources, because while the top scorers from last season are back, the layer after them did not return and there isn’t much offensive pop so far from the rookies. The team graduated Lauren Jones, Jenna Hendrikx, Stephanie DeSutter, Gina Buquet, and Kelsey Welch, who all accounted for between 23 and 16 points last year. Sophomore Vaila Higson did not return to the blue line, where she had matched the 32 points of Molly Byrne. That puts a lot of pressure on the top players to produce every game, and only Christine Bestland is averaging at least a point a game. An offense that averaged over four goals per game is only clicking for 2.73 so far this year. The Lakers just aren’t any more explosive at this point than the other top teams in the league.
They have yet to play Penn State and Lindenwood, so it’s possible that they will get healthy in a hurry when they do, but those teams don’t appear to be automatic wins for CHA opponents. Other than the Robert Morris versus Penn State series, most of the games to date have been very competitive. And speaking of competitive, Robert Morris took a win and tie at Syracuse in a series where only five goals were scored in total. Is that the type of battle we should expect to see from a league race that has seen the Colonials inch ahead?
Candace: I think so, yes. RIT has a chance to really establish itself in the next couple of weeks, first by playing Quinnipiac this Friday, then the series against Robert Morris. The Colonials have been playing very well, and I’d agree that they have inched ahead, but aside from two games against Penn State that were blowouts, most of its wins have been of the one-goal variety. Syracuse has to be frustrated in that the Orange have tied Robert Morris and Mercyhurst, but were unable to beat either. The Orange have made strides though, and if they can get that one win, I think it will give them a confidence boost. Lindenwood finally got its first win of the year Friday against Penn State, but had previously played several close contests with Robert Morris and RIT, including a tie with the latter. Penn State too has played some tough games against RIT and Syracuse, getting a tie with the latter.
It appears to me that none of the CHA teams are built to go on offensive explosions, and that makes tight contests more likely. Robert Morris is tied for 10th nationally in team offense, and the Colonials have the best offensive stats in the league. Mercyhurst sits at 13, Syracuse at 18, and RIT at 21, Penn State at 29, and Lindenwood is last at 36. Defensively, Robert Morris and Mercyhurst sit at seven and nine however, which is really six and eight due to the presence of Holy Cross. These CHA squads win with defense, but it can make them more vulnerable to upset if their opponent has a hot game offensively.
I think another big story of the weekend was Clarkson’s emphatic 3-0 win over Quinnipiac, which also only mustered a tie over St. Lawrence the night before. Perhaps the Bobcats aren’t quite ready for prime time in the ECAC? That win also has to be good news for a Clarkson squad that had struggled for much of November. The Golden Knights also put up seven goals against Princeton on Friday. Perhaps their offense is back?
Arlan: I find Quinnipiac and Clarkson to be very similar. The advantage for the Golden Knights is that they are deeper. Kelly Babstock is as good as anyone out there, particularly in an Olympic year. She can score, set up others, create problems on the forecheck, kill penalties, and do everything well. Clarkson has a very similar senior in terms of impact in Jamie Lee Rattray, but it also has a deeper supporting cast in Erin Ambrose, Carly Mercer, and Brittany Styner. The Bobcats have done surprisingly well without Nicole Kosta thus far, but her absence may be starting to catch up with them. She has averaged a point per game through her career, and if she were on the ice, she could help diversify the Quinnipiac offense. I watched much of both of Quinnipiac’s games over the weekend, and in terms of impact, there is Babstock, and then there is everyone else. I’m sure that Emma Woods will be a great complementary player eventually, but there will always be a difference between a freshman in her first semester and an upperclassman than has already experienced most of the situations that arise in the college game. The Bobcats are either going to have to overachieve a bit to reach a conference final or an NCAA tournament, or they will need to have some of the number of rookies in the rotation make some sizable gains. They likely have the potential for more growth over the course of the season than a senior-laden team like Clarkson.
To an extent, I’m once bitten, twice shy where the Golden Knights are concerned. I believed that they had the train rolling down the tracks right out of the gate, but then they hit a rough patch for a month. Not awful, just a little shaky. After four impressive wins, whatever caused those hiccups may be behind them, or it could just be in a temporary remission. They are off for a week before hosting North Dakota in a series that is beyond huge for UND, because if it were to get swept by Clarkson and fall to 9-5-2, it would be back on that PairWise bubble it is striving so hard to escape. So I expect the Golden Knights to face a desperate team with a few more weapons than Quinnipiac. If they pass that test, then sure, things will be looking up in their world. But if they can’t handle what right now is the WCHA’s third-best team on their own ice, that paints a bit more of a bleak picture for a veteran team with championship aspirations moving forward.
Of course, Clarkson still has a couple of major hurdles to clear in its own league. I watched Harvard defeat Boston University, and although the Crimson lack the player who is a force up front and the blue line only has one Sarah Edney, they’ve managed to make their recipe turn out okay most times. Emerance Maschmeyer is depended upon to wipe away a lot of mistakes, and she’s been great in that role thus far. The question remains, does Harvard have enough to conquer Cornell or even a Clarkson squad at the top of its game?
Candace: Considering that the Crimson have a win against Clarkson and a tie with Cornell, I’d have to say yes, they can. I think the latter will be more of a challenge than the former for the Crimson though. With Clarkson, yes, Rattray is playing exceptionally, leading the country in scoring, and Mercer and Ambrose are standouts, but Clarkson seems more vulnerable to offensive lapses, and if that happens against Maschmeyer, Harvard can easily stay with that team and get an opportunistic goal or two to win. Cornell has more offensive weapons, more ways to break open a tight defensive battle, and while Edney, as well as Samantha Reber and Miye D’Oench, are playing reasonably well offensively, all three are below a point-per-game average. Cornell, meanwhile, has six skaters with a point-per-game or better, including two defensemen in Hayleigh Cudmore and Alyssa Gagliardi, plus two more that are just beneath that mark at .900 points per game. When a team has that much offensive firepower, I think it affects an opponent both offensively and defensively. On defense, the opponent has to worry about how it is going to contain the Big Red for a game, and on offense, a team has to worry about being able to keep up with that offense if things get into a shootout.
One team that can keep up offensively with Cornell is Boston College, which, despite a couple of power outages during the year, boasts the third-best offense in the country and the third leading scorer in Haley Skarupa. The Big Red host the Eagles for a pair this weekend that has huge implications. The last time BC faced ECAC teams, the Eagles had disappointing results, losing to Quinnipiac and tying Princeton. Are you looking at BC more favorably after the Eagles swept Connecticut this weekend?
Arlan: Games versus teams like Connecticut are no-win propositions for the Eagles and other national-title contenders. When they win, they were supposed to win. If they lose, computers and humans alike lower their stock. UConn looks to be a much more solid club than a year ago, so I don’t want to pass it off as though a sweep of the Huskies was nothing. The problem in evaluating BC is that none of its 11 wins are that impressive on their own. St. Lawrence is a good club, and BC did sweep it early, but even the Saints weren’t playing that well at the time, starting 2-6 before going 4-1-1 in November. The only teams that currently have winning records that the Eagles have played are Quinnipiac and Princeton. So while it is good that they didn’t lose to Connecticut, we’ll have to see what happens on the road at Cornell and Harvard in order to learn much. If the Eagles can win more than they lose in those three games, then they are established once more as a Frozen Four and title contender. If not, then it is likely that they will have to regroup versus the Terriers when 2014 arrives.
BU was at a similar point when we discussed it before it played Wisconsin and Harvard. It didn’t come very close against either. It gets another chance a week from now when it hosts Minnesota-Duluth, and a series win would definitely bolster the Terriers’ cause. I’d say that BU has done a better job of playing to its potential than BC has, but that might be a backhanded compliment. None of the Terriers are in the top 30 in points per game, although Louise Warren and Sara Lefort are both just outside the top 10 in goals per game, as are Maddie Elia and Samantha Sutherland in rookie points per game. BU is the only team in Hockey East to pair a top-10 offense and defense.
Contrast that with a Providence team that finally got its first sweep of the season, albeit at the expense of winless Maine. The Friars are in the top 10 in scoring offense, but rank in the bottom four in scoring defense. That was good enough against the Black Bears, as PC scored a dozen goals. Hockey East on the whole has a few teams with defenses that lag behind the offenses. That doesn’t match the past image of the league when goalies like Florence Schelling and Genevieve Lacasse formed much of its identity.
Now the best defenses are in the ECAC and Wisconsin. The Badgers provided another interesting result. We both picked them versus North Dakota, but I’ll admit that I didn’t expect that the clamps would be so tight that UND could only score once all weekend. Did you see that coming?
Candace: Once all weekend? No, I didn’t. After all, the Badgers could only hold the high-flying Gophers to two goals in each game. I certainly expected that much from North Dakota, even if they were primed for a letdown after the emotional win over Minnesota the previous week.
It’s interesting to look at Wisconsin’s overall schedule though. The Badgers have four shutouts, four games in which they’ve given up two goals, and another six games where they’ve only given up one goal. To date, they have yet to give up more than two goals in any game. Great team defense has been a hallmark of Mark Johnson teams, but this squad seems to have taken it to championship levels. That ability to really put the brakes on another team’s offense makes the Badgers, to my mind, one of the most dangerous NCAA tournament teams. Wisconsin is averaging only a goal a game given up defensively, putting it tops in the nation. Clarkson and Harvard are right behind the Badgers, at 1.06 and 1.11 goals per game respectively, but Clarkson gave up a six spot to Cornell, and Harvard gave up three to the Big Red. I guess that does say something about the potency of Cornell’s offense, but it’s not like Minnesota is a slouch in that department either. The Gophers are second in team offense, with 4.31 goals per game, right behind Cornell, which averages 4.50 goals per game, yet even Minnesota could only muster a pair in each game against Alex Rigsby and company. It’s often said that defense wins championships, so you have to look at Wisconsin as a favorite in that regard. I’ll be interested to see how the Badgers do when they host Minnesota in February.
Speaking of the Gophers, they got a convincing sweep of Yale this past weekend. They host Princeton this weekend and then close the first half with a trip to Columbus to take on Ohio State. They then open their second half by hosting the Buckeyes. A month ago, we looked at those four games as potentially tricky, but perhaps not anymore, since OSU has been in a swoon, winless in its last eight and just getting swept by Minnesota State. What’s wrong with the Buckeyes?
Arlan: That’s been a recurring theme in WCHA play over the years. A team starts strong, has some promising results, including a win or two against ranked teams. Ohio State did just that, defeating both Mercyhurst and North Dakota on the road in its first five games. It follows with a competitive series at Wisconsin, but doesn’t get any points to show for its effort. Did the Buckeyes let down slightly with Bemidji State coming to town? I don’t know. The Beavers may prove to be the stronger team by season’s end, or OSU could turn things around and rally in the standings. In any case, a middle-of-the-pack team will have a good result and take points from a top team, only to give back those gains to a supposed lesser team.
It looks to me as though the Buckeyes may have become frustrated a bit by the upset to Bemidji State on home ice and the game-ending penalty fest that ensued, and it’s been a struggle to make progress ever since. I watched most of the webcast of Friday’s game in Mankato, and after OSU gets a huge power-play goal to tie the game 10 seconds before the second intermission, it comes out and commits a needless penalty early in the third. The Mavericks scored, added an insurance goal three minutes later, and the frustration mounts. Saturday, MSU tied the score on a power play in the second period before winning the game in the final 20 minutes once more. The Buckeyes only committed three penalties in that game, well off their national high of almost 24 minutes per game, but those infractions have been proving costly. Many of their recent losses have late penalties that thwart comeback attempts and hint at frustration.
Outside of sisters Kari and Sara Schmitt on the blue line and Ally Tarr up front, nobody has really gotten going offensively. Goalie Chelsea Knapp’s numbers aren’t what they were last season nor where they need to be, and Lisa Steffes has had some of the stronger performances in net. The whole Ohio State team will need to find a more positive way to deal with the losses in order to salvage the maximum from the season. There isn’t that big a separation between teams like the Buckeyes, Beavers, Mavericks, and St. Cloud State in terms of talent, so the one that can bring the best attitude will likely fare the best.
Bemidji State was unsettled in goal last year and slumped to the basement. Freshman Brittni Mowat is now delivering statistics similar to what it got during Zuzana Tomcikova’s career. Can BSU stay above those other three and get no worse than a quarterfinal at a theoretically easier fourth-seeded opponent come playoff time?
Candace: I’m going to take the Beavers .500 record and 1-0 win over Minnesota-Duluth Saturday as evidence that yes, they can, although like you with Clarkson, I’m a little gun-shy with Bemidji after the Beavers got swept by Robert Morris at home early in the season. Then again, it appears I underestimated the Colonials a bit, so perhaps I have done the same with Bemidji. The Beavers also got a win and a shootout win against Ohio State, so they’ve positioned themselves well so far. They only have one more series this first half, on the road at Wisconsin, but open up the second half in January with crucial series on the road at Minnesota State and at home against St. Cloud. If they can take three or four of those games, I’ll be more firmly in the Beavers camp, but I don’t see Minnesota State, St. Cloud, or Ohio State stepping up yet, and Bemidji also played Minnesota very tough a few weeks ago.
Speaking of the Bulldogs, they host Wisconsin in the only conference action this weekend. The other games are all out-of-conference tilts. Besides Cornell and BC, you have Dartmouth hosting Northeastern, New Hampshire hosting OSU, and Rensselaer traveling to St. Cloud. Northeastern and Dartmouth have been teams that in recent years have been dangerous in conference; do you see either ready to step it up and rejoin the fray?
Arlan: Not really in terms of the conference race. Dartmouth is very young, depending heavily on sophomores and freshmen. I’d assume that a realistic goal for the Big Green is to grow during the season, make a push and move two or three spots up in the standings, and try to make life miserable for some home team come tournament time. At present, they lack the offense or defense to have loftier goals. Down the road if things start to really come together for players like Laura Stacey and Lindsey Allen, perhaps Dartmouth can force me to reconsider.
Northeastern is farther along and plays in a league that is more there for the taking. The Huskies get bigger contributions out of their senior class with players like Katie MacSorley and Kelly Wallace, plus Brittany Esposito is back in the lineup. However, my guess is that the Huskies’ objective will ultimately become holding onto home ice for the quarters instead of challenging the two other Boston teams in Hockey East.
Because Dartmouth and Northeastern aren’t really in the national picture, they have the luxury of being able to experiment to some extent when they meet. It’s different for the contending teams, where every point is vital, so they must do whatever it takes to win every time out. That can limit the ability to develop depth in both skaters and goalies in the long term.
This weekend, we also have a tournament being contested. While it doesn’t have quite the tradition of the Beanpot, I expect that the Nutmeg Classic will pick up steam as the Connecticut teams get more established. This year, RIT joins UConn, Quinnipiac and Yale. The Tigers seem like a better fit for the out-of-state guest than last season, when BC was the fourth team and Nutmeg Classic champ. Do you like the host Bobcats, fresh off their tie with Princeton on Tuesday, in that event? I’m sure they would like it to be a trial run for the Frozen Four in March.
Candace: I’d have to favor the Bobcats yes, but their play of late hasn’t set the world on fire. It’s almost as if they put all their energy into beating Boston College and then fell off after that. Even prior to the BC game, they had a scoreless tie with Yale. I don’t see RIT, Connecticut, or Yale taking it, but the field does seem very evenly matched overall, so there’s a lot of potential uncertainty in it. Certainly I think Quinnipiac has the most weapons, so I’d favor them overall.
Babson goaltender Jamie Murray is off to a blazing 5-0 start with a .968 save percentage and a staggering 0.80 GAA (photo: Babson Athletics).
With the Thanksgiving holiday upon us, most of us take time to reflect on the things we are most thankful for as we prepare for time with family, friends and lots of food.
For Babson coach Jamie Rice, the reflection on his 6-0-0 hockey team goes well beyond the near-term focus and transcends his decade behind the bench for the Beavers.
“It is great that we are off to a good start,” stated Rice. “Hopefully, my talking with you doesn’t derail that like the Sports Illustrated cover jinx. Seriously, like virtually every year I have been here, this team is really focused on being committed to team first. All of these kids came here wanting to be Babson hockey players and fitting into that culture that has been perpetuated over time. In my time here and even with all of the success we have had on the ice, we have never had a league MVP. We have had some great hockey players here, but all of them have embraced forfeiting their need for individual statistics for the betterment of the team.
“This is truly a group that has demonstrated the whole being better than the sum of the parts and we continue to play like that each and every game with different people stepping up in each game making a big play or scoring the big goal. So far, that commitment has worked pretty well for us.”
This year’s edition of the Beavers has largely built their success on being focused on the defensive end and their surrendering just seven goals in their first six games is a strong indicator of their commitment to team defense across the goaltending, defensive group and forwards who all embrace the team defense concept.
“We have received great goaltending so far and have some good depth among our defensive group, but the focus on team defense is about everybody being committed to making plays and their responsibilities in our defensive zone first,” Rice said. “It all flows from playing well in our end and transitioning the play from a strong defensive focus.”
The goaltending has been led by sophomore Jamie Murray. In his first five starts, Murray has benefited strongly from his team’s defensive support, but also has been incredibly consistent in just his second season with Babson.
So far this season, Murray is 5-0-0 with an incredible .968 save percentage and a 0.80 GAA – not bad for a guy that follows the graduation of last season’s All-American goaltender, Zeke Testa.
Murray played in 13 games last season and posted good numbers for the Beavers which his coach feels is part of the reason he has been able to step up as the No. 1 netminder this season.
“I think there are two levels of confidence building with Jamie and the team relative to the goaltending,” said Rice. “Jamie was solid for us last year, so he built some confidence is his understanding of his ability to play at this level. More importantly, I think it has spurred him on to work harder and to be more driven to prove that he can excel at this level and be that No. 1 goaltender. From the team’s vantage point, you look at the graduation of players from last season and they wonder things like who is going to score the goals or kill penalties or, with the graduation of Zeke, stop the puck.
“I think Jamie’s success last year created confidence among the returning players that we have that guy that can step in and stop the puck. From the way we have started, I think we have confidence in our goaltender who is playing great and the team is playing with confidence in front of Jamie.”
Offensively, last year’s transfer, Nik Tasiopoulos, and freshman Michael Phillips have accounted for almost 40 percent of the scoring to date, but Rice expects that this year’s team will spread out the scoring.
“We have good balance across our lines,” noted Rice. “Guys like Conor [Berto], Mike [Driscoll] and Andrew [Bonazza] have provided some key offense and are working with our younger guys early on as we find the combinations among our new players and the guys that have played together in the past.”
The Beavers this week have three difficult nonconference opponents, including Massachusetts-Dartmouth and two NESCAC powerhouses in Amherst and Williams. There are just five games remaining before the semester break and Rice is very cognizant of the importance of each and every game on the schedule.
“There are only about 25 or so of these [games] for the entire season,” said Rice. “It doesn’t matter who the opponent is in the conference or nonconference, we want to bring our best game and focus on improving every time out on the ice. There are only so many practices in the season and not so many games that you can let any opportunity to play competitively go by without being your best. That is what our team has always tried to bring to the rink and guys like Zeke Testa, who is back as an assistant [coach] with us this year continue to instill that culture in the locker room with the guys old and new.”
The 6-0-0 start is certainly nice, but the Babson coach would be thankful for the continued commitment to being better and always aligned with what it means to be a Babson hockey player.
Plymouth State defenseman Zach Sarig is proving he can do it all from his position on the Panthers’ back end (photo: Kim Bownes/PSU Athletics).
Zach Sarig has unleashed his inner Fulton Reed.
Fulton is a character in the “Mighty Ducks” movie series known for his slap shot from the blue line.
Sarig is also a defenseman that has shown his offensive skills this season with six goals and six assists in just seven games.
The 6-foot-3, 230-pounder is coming off an eight-point freshman campaign and a 20-point sophomore season.
“I thought to myself my [defensive] partner Dave Walters and myself would really need to step it up,” said Sarig of his hot start. “I am doing what I can for the team and hopefully, we can take it into the right direction.”
In back-to-back games against Salem State and Fitchburg State on Nov. 12 and Nov. 14, Sarig scored in both games and left some carnage.
“In two of the home games last week, he actually put two pucks through the net,” said Plymouth State coach Craig Russell. “I have never seen that happen once, but he did it on back-to-back nights.”
Russell said he would like to put a radar gun on Sarig’s shot. Sarig, on the other hand, said he had his shot clocked back in high school.
“I actually did a hardest shot competition when I was in high school and that was some quite some time ago,” Sarig said. “I was clocked at 89 [mph] in my junior year in high school. I am pretty confident I can get it close to 100, if not over.”
Sarig said it’s a combination of things for him to unleash a shot that hard and said part of that is being stronger due to his gym rat mentality.
“Over the summer, I work out almost everyday [because] I like to be in shape,” said Sarig. “It’s not everyday you can put the puck over 100 miles-per-hour. I really work hard in the offseason putting on muscle.”
He added that he doesn’t have the best form in terms of a shooting technique, but he uses an extra stiff stick that adds to his shot.
Russell said Sarig is a leader on and off the ice.
“He just has that knack and obviously, he’s on our power play, but we don’t center our power play around him necessarily,” Russell explained. “When he’s out there, the guys want to give him the puck because he likes to shoot it. The other team knows it and Fitchburg started to shadow him a little bit on the power play.”
Russell mentioned Sarig can locate his shot, but he also shoots the puck to create offensive chances for the forwards.
“He misses the net Because he’s close to the net,” Russell said. “He’s not missing it by three feet wide, he’s usually shooting from the middle of the ice when he does shoot. Those rebounds are coming off the glass or off the backboards back to the front. Because it isn’t a shot on net it doesn’t mean it’s not going to create an opportunity for us.”
The Plymouth State coaching staff has been working with Sarig on his defense and controlling his physical play for the last couple years. It has certainly has paid off as he only has had four penalty minutes so far in 2013-14.
“He wants the puck on his stick, he’s a converted forward,” Russell said. “He played forward a lot as a young kid. We made him a defenseman and that’s partly why he has the offensive instincts that he’s got. He needs to concentrate on taking care of his end first. He understands that and we have worked on that quite a bit and will continue to do that.”
Senior goaltender Benjamin Coulthard and junior defenseman Greg Rooney are emerging as leaders on a very young Trinity squad this season (photo: David Kingsley).
For Trinity coach Matt Greason, this year brings forward some new opportunities for players to emerge in leadership and productivity, as well as reliance on a cornerstone of last year’s success.
Gone are the Menard brothers who led the Bantams on and off the ice, leaving just a trio of seniors among a roster of younger players looking to fill that leadership void as the Bantams look to improve on last year’s record.
“In some cases, I really didn’t need to say some things to the Menards,” noted Greason. “There were times where through their experience, they just knew what to do and what direction to give their teammates. This year’s group has a fair amount of juniors that have now got a couple of years under their belt in the system and will be looked towards helping our new guys come up to speed quickly, particularly offensively where we lost some key pieces to graduation.”
The Bantams have opened at 3-1-0 in their first four games, all in the NESCAC conference. Early signs are promising for the Bantams who have shown some diverse scoring against some quality opponents.
Sophomore John Hawkrigg and junior Jackson Brewer have been key players offensively, along with freshmen Ryan Cole and Sean Orlando, who lead the team with three goals apiece in the young season.
Greason is optimistic that there will be good balance this season for the offense and has liked what he has seen so far.
“It is a pretty good start,” stated Greason. “This early, we just want to establish our game and develop some consistency and productivity across the group. We have 16 players that have found the scoresheet already this season, including four of our six freshmen that have been playing. It’s been great to see the depth, especially in the context of the opening games of the season in what is going to be a very challenging NESCAC conference this season. We start off with the four conference games and then finish the first semester with four nonconference games that will be a good challenge for our team. Luckily, three of those games are at home, but two of our road games are very difficult places to play [Amherst and Manhattanville] and should help identify where our team is in terms of its maturity and ability to compete every night regardless of the venue.”
Any coach would be challenged with integrating a young roster at the beginning of the season, but Greason does have a trump card in returning all-conference senior goaltender Benjamin Coulthard who can cover up a lot of mistakes early on while the skaters come together with each other and within the system.
“Benjamin has been just solid and consistent for us from the time he came to Trinity,” stated Greason. “Yes, he has often times come up with the big save when we need it most, but we don’t want to get too dependent on that ability or rely too heavily on the guy in the crease to always be the difference-maker for our team. We need to have all aspects of our game performing at a high level and are focused on getting there as a group, but it is nice to know that we have one of the best back in the crease and the team has that confidence in him as well.”
Coulthard has played all four games so far this season and has been solid with .915 save percentage and 2.52 GAA. The senior is not only stopping pucks, but he has also already chipped in offensively in posting an assist early this season on the game-winning goal by Cole against Tufts late in the third period.
One area Greason’s team and the coaching staff are still looking to get their heads around is the schedule that sees a number of Saturday-Sunday game pairings versus the more traditional Friday-Saturday slate. This past weekend and the weekend following Thanksgiving showcase the weekend format in which Trinity will see more similar weekends in the second half of the season.
“I think it is hard to get into a consistent schedule with the Saturday-Sunday alignment,” stated Greason. “It is what the schedule is, so we will figure out how to get into a routine that works for the team, but I really prefer the Friday-Saturday from a practice planning perspective.”
The next three games will bring Trinity face-to-face with some challenging nonconference games against both up-and-coming programs like Salve Regina and Stonehill, as well as consistent performers and a national level competitor like Wentworth.
“We don’t take anyone lightly,” said Greason. “These games may not be important in the league standings, but are critical for the development and improvement in our game. We want to get points and wins every weekend so we don’t treat these games any differently than the opening weekends where we were in conference. Salve [Regina] is playing very well right now. We saw Stonehill and their up-tempo game last season and Wentworth is always a tough team to play. Then we finish the first half on the road against Manhattanville in a very tough place to play, so all of these games bring chances for our team to improve and develop a consistent and successful level of play.
“The league is going to be very tight and if we want to compete for a home-ice playoff seed, we need to focus on getting our game better and learning from each and every game regardless of the opponent.”
The Bantams are off to a strong start and as the new pieces start to gel, there is much optimism for greater success for the balance of this season.
Ferris State’s Justin Buzzeo shares the WCHA scoring lead with teammate Garrett Thompson (photo: Ferris State Athletics).
After playing six of its first eight WCHA games at home and eight of its 13 total games in Big Rapids, Mich., Ferris State is on the road for eight straight games before returning home to host Michigan Tech on Jan. 10-11.
This will be a big test for what is now the nation’s sixth-ranked team. The Bulldogs are also on a national-leading nine-game unbeaten streak (8-0-1).
“We just came off a six-game home stand so you know you’re burning games there. That’s why it was important to go 5-0-1,” Bulldogs coach Bob Daniels said. “We’ve proven we can play well on the road. We did our job at home and now it’s time to take it on the road.”
All three of the Bulldogs’ upcoming WCHA opponents hail from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, with a trip to Northern Michigan on deck this weekend and series in Sault Ste. Marie against Lake Superior State after that.
Ferris then plays at Michigan, Michigan State and Minnesota’s Mariucci Classic before hosting Tech.
“I like our leadership on this team, which is why I don’t get too nervous about being on the road,” Daniels said after Saturday’s win over Alaska. “I know in January we’ll be darn glad to be back in our rink after this stretch of being away.”
The Bulldogs boast the WCHA’s top two scorers in Garrett Thompson and Justin Buzzeo. Each has seven goals and nine assists. Scott Czarnowczan is the top-scoring defenseman in the league with four goals and nine assists.
The Bulldogs, who are 4-1 on the road, have taken care of business at home, winning five of their last six games with just a tie against Bowling Green tarnishing the perfect home record.
Add in the sweep at Alabama-Huntsville and Ferris State is in first in the WCHA with a four-point lead on second-place Bemidji State, which has played two more conference games.
Zach Lehrke is back with Minnesota State (photo: Jim Rosvold).
Lehrke returns for Mavericks
Minnesota State suffered a big blow just before the season started when senior forward Zach Lehrke announced he was quitting hockey due to a mysterious medical condition he had been living with — and one that often hampered his play — for many years.
After watching the Mavericks’ first 10 games from afar, however, Lehrke decided to come back. He figured he could deal with the painful, often-seizing cramping that came with the condition for a few more months and maybe help out the team’s struggling offense, especially the power play.
“So why not finish this out,” he told The (Mankato) Free Press. “I’ve put so much in this game, and it’s definitely been hard to watch.”
Lehrke began practicing again a week ago and quickly returned to the lineup and to quarterbacking the power play as he had done last season.
In Minnesota State’s series at Bowling Green last weekend, he made an immediate impact, getting three assists in the split. All three helpers were on power-play goals, and the Mavericks finished 3-for-11 with the man advantage.
Minnesota State had just four power-play goals in the first 10 games this season.
Lehrke said he’s fully committed to the rest of the year, one of the conditions of his return, coach Mike Hastings said.
“There’s no going back anymore,” Lehrke said. “There are going to be days that aren’t very much fun. But there will be days that will be fun, too.”
Corbett returns home
Alabama-Huntsville coach Mike Corbett’s team didn’t get a win last weekend at Northern Michigan. His Chargers didn’t even score a single goal.
Yet, the Green Bay, Wis., native and former Marquette Electricians Midget AAA hockey player didn’t let all of that spoil his homecoming weekend.
The Chargers bused more than 900 miles from Huntsville, Ala., to Marquette, Mich., with a stop in Corbett’s hometown to practice at Brown County Arena and visit Lambeau Field.
Corbett played midget hockey in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula before playing in the USHL in Madison and later at Denver. Marquette is where he met his wife, Stacey, to whom he has been married for 20 years.
“It’s been good,” Corbett said after Saturday’s loss. “You see Rick Schwemin on the Zamboni. To be able to do that, it’s nice. You want to come back and win, but there’s a lot of firsts for me and we still have a lot of firsts left, but it was exciting.”
The Chargers have started the season winless in 12 games, including eight in WCHA play. While they’ve been in games this season — four one-goal losses, all on Saturday nights — the Chargers have scored only 11 goals, with five coming in league play.
“Unfortunately, our kids are learning the hard way what it takes to play in the WCHA a little bit,” Corbett said.
“Our margin of error is so small. When you’re struggling to score goals, your margin of error is so small.”
Around the WCHA
• After starting the season 4-1-2, Alaska is reeling a bit with just one win in its last five games. The Nanooks are 2-4 in WCHA play. Senior Cody Kunyk scored three more goals in the two losses at Ferris State and is second in the WCHA with nine goals and tied for fifth with 13 points. “Cody’s our best player,” coach Dallas Ferguson told the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.
• After going 3-for-10 on the power play in its three-point weekend against Michigan Tech, Alaska-Anchorage maintained the top power play in the WCHA and eighth-best in the nation at 24.2 percent (16-for-66). Jordan Kwas leads the conference in power-play points with nine (4 goals, 5 assists). Last season, the Seawolves ranked 11th in the WCHA in power-play efficiency at 14.4 percent.
• Bemidji State’s victory Saturday night over Lake Superior State snapped a couple of streaks. It was the Beavers’ first Saturday night home win since a victory over Denver on Dec. 15, 2012, and it was the first overtime win for Bemidji State since Nov. 4, 2011, when it also beat Lake Superior. That snapped a string of 19 consecutive overtime games without a win (0-5-14), including three this season.
• Bowling Green and Minnesota State have played in three consecutive overtime games against each other, with the Mavericks winning two of them. How close are the two teams? In their four games, each team has two wins and 10 goals, and the Falcons have outshot the Mavericks 117-115.
• Lake Superior State and Bowling Green meet this weekend in a rematch of last year’s CCHA playoffs. Bowling Green won the first-round meeting in Sault Ste. Marie last year. The Lakers went 1-4 against the Falcons a year ago, but BGSU has struggled on the road in 2013-14, going 1-4-2.
• Michigan Tech remains in the state of Alaska this week to face the Nanooks on Friday and Saturday in only the fourth and fifth meetings all-time between the programs. The Huskies lost their only game in Fairbanks on Nov. 27, 1993. Tech is winless (0-5-1) on the road this year and Saturday’s tie was the first road game in which the Huskies had a lead.
• Northern Michigan redshirt freshman goaltender Mathias Dahlstrom recorded 17 saves in a 4-0 win on Saturday after making 16 stops on Friday in a 3-0 victory over Huntsville. He not only gave the Wildcats their first sweep of the season, but consecutive shutouts for the first time since the 2007-08 season. It was also the first weekend of back-to-back sweeps for the Wildcats since a pair of 3-0 wins over Lake Superior on Dec. 5-6, 2003.
• This week’s WCHA players of the week were: Bowling Green forward Mark Cooper (offensive), Ferris State goaltender CJ Motte (defensive) and Northern Michigan goalie Mathias Dahlstrom (rookie).
The Cornell freshman allowed two goals in a win over Niagara on Tuesday but what will be remembered years from now is the empty-net goal he scored.
Gillam, a Peterborough, Ontario, native, spent the last two seasons with Chilliwack of the BCHL and watched senior Andy Iles start each of the Big Red’s first 10 games this season.
He made a pretty good impression when he finally got the call, and put himself in the record book.
Mitch Gillam of @CUBigRedHockey is just the 8th NCAA Division I goalie credited with a goal, the 3d to shoot the puck himself.
Michael Naso has been piling up points for Salve Regina this year and is one of the offensive catalysts for the Seahawks (photo: Meagan Drabik).
The Salve Regina Seahawks are off to their best start in school history and they have high hopes the rest of the season.
“It’s the most talented team that has gone through Salve,” coach Andy Boschetto said. “We have a good makeup of character, leadership and work ethic on and off the ice. There are a lot positives right now.
“It has been a three-year process to get to this point.”
The Seahawks are off to a 6-1-0 (4-1-0 ECAC Northeast) start and getting solid contributions from all four lines.
Marc Biggs has three goals and seven assists, which leads the team. Fellow sophomore Peter Gintolli has five goals and four assists.
Michael Naso, Johnathan Felteau and John Scorcia each have seven points.
“Our depth is probably our biggest strength,” said Boschetto. “The freshmen have come in and stepped up right away. Our sophomores have played well and our junior class, which was our first class [as a coaching staff], those guys have been consistent from the beginning.”
Defense also has been stellar for the Seahawks.
“Our defense has been in the system for at least two years now,” stated Boschetto. “Obviously, we have a goalie that came in from Mercyhurst [Jake Williams] and he calms things down back there. It has been a team effort so far.”
Williams has a 5-1 record with a 2.17 GAA and a .916 save percentage so far this season.
With Salve Regina off and running in ECAC Northeast, the Seahawks wanted to beef up their nonconference schedule this season and decided to go on the road and face some of the national powers in Division III on the east coast.
“I want to play the best and my guys do as well,” said Boschetto. “At the end of the day, we want to see where we mark up against the best in the country. We are going to go through adversity [and] we would rather do it now so you can be battle-tested. I think it will help us down the stretch when it comes to the end of the year to the playoffs.”
After Thanksgiving, Salve Regina goes on the road to Trinity and Wesleyan. They will also head to Neumann and Utica Dec. 6-7 and will come back from the Christmas break to face Castleton and Skidmore on Jan. 3-4.
Salve Regina ends the nonconference schedule against Hobart at home on Jan. 11 before heading to Oswego on Jan. 14 and a home game on Jan. 18 against Southern New Hampshire.
“Over the next month, we will go into a hostile environments like Utica in front of 5,000 (fans), Oswego and Castleton,” Boschetto added. “It’s what every college kid wants to do. They want to go to play in front of a packed crowed.”
The team has been looking forward to this stretch of games and want to make an impression at the national level.
In the most recent USCHO.com Division III Men’s Poll, the Seahawks have started to raise the eyebrows of the voters by receiving four votes. Boschetto knows his team will have to take it one game at a time to reach their goal of cracking the top 15.
Corey Leivermann leads Gustavus Adolphus with five goals this season (photo: Dan Coquyt).
Gustavus Adolphus played for the MIAC championship a season ago, thanks in large part to a late-season surge that propelled them to a strong tournament run.
Whether the Gusties can repeat that success remains to be seen, but if it’s going to happen, they will need to overcome some injury issues.
“We’ve been battling through a lot of injuries right now and have had to play guys out of position,” Gustavus coach Brett Petersen said. “It’s made it hard to find consistency, but we are doing the best we can to deal with it.”
Injuries were a problem early in the season last year as well, although Gustavus was able to overcome those problems just fine as it reached the conference tourney final, falling 4-2 to St. John’s in the title game.
What hasn’t been a problem up to this point as been getting opportunities to punch the puck in the net. Gustavus is averaging 33.8 shots per game and has tallied 26 goals.
“Getting opportunities to score has not been an issue,” Petersen said. “We are doing a pretty good job of getting shots. We just haven’t always capitalized, but again, that goes back to our consistency. We need to continue to improve in that area.”
Corey Leivermann leads the Gusties (5-3, 3-1 MIAC) in goals scored with five. He has also dished out six assists and is the team leader in points.
Darren Lapic has come through with three goals and two assists and Tyler Lapic has struck for two goals and three assists. Adam Smyth is second on the team in goals with four.
Defensively, the Gusties are giving up an average of 24.4 shots per game and they have allowed 22 goals.
John McLean has started seven of the eight games in goal and has given up 17 goals. He has racked up 157 saves and owns a save percentage of .902.
“We’ve gotten pretty good goaltending from John,” Petersen said. “I also think our blue line has been strong because it hasn’t been affected as much by injuries. We’ve been stable on defense and it’s played a big part in the success we’ve had so far.”
But Petersen knows his team will have to get to full strength to contend for a playoff berth in the MIAC again.
Like last season, he is hoping the Gusties can overcome those injuries and make another run.
Only time will tell.
The Gusties head into the Thanksgiving break on a three-game win streak and in third place in the league standings.
“We’re not going to do anything if we don’t get healthy,” Petersen said. “It’s a lot like last year, but we are hoping we can get healthy again and make a run in the second half of the season. We have the potential to do it if we can overcome our injuries.”
STEPPING UP: Alex Altenbernd played a key role for St. Thomas in its weekend sweep of St. Olaf in conference play.
Altenbernd scored a goal in the second period of Friday’s shootout win over the Oles. His goal tied the score at 1-1 and the Tommies and Oles would be tied at 2-2 at the end of regulation. The Tommies won the shootout 2-1. It was just the second shootout in MIAC history.
In the finale of the series, Altenbernd scored twice in a 3-0 win over St. Olaf. He is currently third in overall in the leauge in goals scored (four) and eighth in assists (four).
OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS: St. Mary’s couldn’t buy a break on the power play against St. John’s, at least early on.
The Cardinals came up empty on nine chances, but in a span of 23 seconds in the second period Saturday, St. Mary’s scored two power-play goals to rally for a 3-2 win.
St. Mary’s, which lost 4-3 to the defending league tournament champs on Friday, got power-play goals from Mike Mezzano and Nick Nagel to propel St. Mary’s to its first league win of the year. Christian Gaffy tallied 29 saves in the win.
ON A ROLL: Caleb Suderman has been tough to contain in the early going of the season and he came through in crunch time for Concordia (Minn.) on Saturday.
Suderman scored his second game-winning goal of the year as the Cobbers topped Bethel 3-2 to cap a series sweep.
Suderman has scored seven goals overall on the season, scoring in seven of the first eight games, and he leads the country in goals by a defenseman. He has also racked up two assists and is fourth in the MIAC in total points. Suderman’s play has helped the Cobbers get off to their best start since the 2000-01 season. Concordia is 6-2 overall and 3-1 in the league and has won four of its last five.
By just one voting point, Minnesota retains the No. 1 spot in this week’s USCHO.com Division I Men’s Poll by a 963-962 margin over St. Cloud State.
St. Cloud did, however, garner more first-place votes (27) than the Gophers (22).
Minnesota split with Minnesota-Duluth last weekend, while the Huskies tied and beat Colorado College to stay No. 2 in the poll.
Michigan beat Niagara and moved up two spots to No. 3, Providence suffered an overtime loss and then beat New Hampshire and falls one to No. 4 and after a split with Princeton, Quinnipiac is down one to sit fifth this week.
Ferris State earned the other first-place vote and moves up four to No. 6 after sweeping Alaska, Boston College stays seventh after beating Harvard and losing to Maine, Massachusetts-Lowell jumps up five to eighth after a sweep of Notre Dame, Yale is again No. 9 after a win over Colgate and a loss to Cornell and idle Clarkson moves up one notch to crack the top 10.
At No. 11, Notre Dame falls five places, idle Wisconsin holds firm at No. 12, Miami falls five to No. 13 after losing both to Nebraska-Omaha, Cornell defeated Brown and Yale and is up four to 14th and idle Union is up two to No. 15.
Lake Superior State lost in overtime and beat Bemidji State to remain No. 16, previously-unranked UNO enters the poll this week at No. 17, Duluth moves up one to No. 18, Rensselaer split with Mercyhurst and drops five places to No. 19 and UNH maintains the 20th spot.
The USCHO.com Division I Men’s Poll consists of 50 voters, including 28 coaches from the Division I conferences and 22 beat writers and sports professionals from across the country.
Nebraska-Omaha is 6-2 since a 2-4 start to the season (photo: Michelle Bishop).
Here’s our weekly look at big events and big issues around Division I men’s college hockey.
Todd: We’re just about two months into the season, and with the exception of the Big Ten, which finally gets into conference play this weekend, we’re starting to see some things develop in the league standings.
I try not to make too big a deal out of standings in the first weeks of the season because of the varied number of league games played, but what jumps out at me is the NCHC, where Nebraska-Omaha, picked for last by league media, is leading the way at 5-1.
The Mavericks are in the USCHO.com Division I Men’s Poll this week at 17th after sweeping Miami. Nonconference losses to Bentley, Northern Michigan and two to Cornell are hurting them there, but in the standings they’re doing just fine. What stands out to you from the early standings?
Jim: I continue to be impressed by how well UNO has played. As you mentioned, there have been some nonconference losses that stand out, but in league play you can tell early on that the Mavericks won’t finish in last place.
Another team picked last but playing well is Northeastern in Hockey East. Coming into last weekend, I had my concerns. But after a weekend sweep of Merrimack, the Huskies seem more like a middle-of-the-pack team than a cellar dweller. And at 8-5 overall, the Huskies have a pretty respectable record.
Todd: The teams to whom the Huskies have lost aren’t exactly bottom feeders: St. Lawrence, Boston College and New Hampshire. One point ahead of Northeastern in the Hockey East standings is Maine, which got a complete victory over Boston College on Saturday. It may have been an off game for the Eagles but it certainly showed what the Black Bears are capable of.
What’s your take on how new coach Red Gendron has done in his first couple of months?
Jim: Well, most importantly, Gendron’s Maine squad seems to be scoring goals. That was a struggle last season at times. Maine didn’t just beat BC 5-1 but also whipped Boston University 7-0 a week ago. BU this past weekend proved it might be better than thought, getting a win and tie against North Dakota at home.
The notable fact from that series was goaltender Matt O’Connor’s 55 saves in Saturday’s 3-3 tie. Coach David Quinn broke the goaltender rotation this weekend, letting O’Connor play both, something we may see more of going forward.
Todd: Gendron and Quinn aren’t the only first-year coaches having a decent amount of success so far. Steve Rohlik has Ohio State at 8-4, while Mike Cavanaugh’s Connecticut is 3-1 in Atlantic Hockey and 4-4-1 overall.
Jim Montgomery is 7-5-2 at Denver, which is unbeaten in its last six games. Alaska-Anchorage is 6-4-2 under Matt Thomas. Mike Corbett, however, is still looking for his first win at Alabama-Huntsville, which is 0-12 and has been outscored 57-11.
It seems like programs get some new energy when a new coach is brought on board. Which of those teams do you think might be able to best sustain that energy through the season?
Jim: I would like to say that Denver has the best chance of sustaining but the Pioneers have been so inconsistent this season. Thus, I am going with Ohio State. A lot of good wins on the docket for the Buckeyes and they will soon enter conference play where I feel like, aside from Minnesota, there isn’t a very strong team in the Big Ten.
Speaking of consistency, was it surprising to you how poorly the top 20 fared this past weekend?
Todd: A little. I was quite surprised at the way Quinnipiac lost to Princeton on Saturday. You’d think a two-goal lead with 10 minutes left at home against a 2-8 team would have been safe, but I guess you’d be wrong. The Tigers scored three times on six third-period shots on goal to earn the upset.
I’ll be interested to see how Notre Dame bounces back from a pair of losses at Massachusetts-Lowell. The Irish host the Shillelagh Tournament, with Alabama-Huntsville, Western Michigan and Northeastern heading to South Bend for a post-Thanksgiving event.
Jim: I was also surprised at the Quinnipiac loss, particularly given how well the Bobcats have played of late.
As for Notre Dame, they played a decent series against Lowell but couldn’t solve goaltender Connor Hellebuyck. Keep in mind that the Irish are missing five players — four forwards and a defenseman. Two of those missing are centers. Thus, Notre Dame’s depth is being tested right now and the Irish aren’t exactly passing that test with flying colors.
Todd: Let’s look ahead to this weekend, which will see the first Big Ten games when Minnesota hosts Wisconsin for a series and Michigan hosts Ohio State on Friday before the series moves to Columbus on Monday. A WCHA series between Bowling Green and Lake Superior State should be a good test for both. What are you looking at this week?
Jim: It’s actually a pretty light week out east, but it is impossible to overlook the biannual event that takes over New York City’s Madison Square Garden, Red Hot Hockey. Boston University is playing well heading into the event but will take on a strong Cornell team that has won three straight.
Our scheduled guests on the Nov. 26 episode of USCHO Live! are College Hockey Inc. deputy executive director Nate Ewell and veteran hockey writer Neil Koepke, who currently is a staff writer for MSUSpartans.com.
Join us for the conversation and information, Tuesday, Nov. 26, from 8 to 9 p.m. EDT at blogtalkradio.com/uscholive. If you can’t listen live, check out the podcast of USCHO Live! available on the player at the right (click through if you’re reading this via RSS.)
Be part of the conversation! Call (646) 200-4305, send your tweets to @USCHO, or your emails to [email protected].
Each episode of USCHO Live! features a look at news around NCAA hockey, a look ahead at upcoming games and events, and conversation with people who coach, administer and play college hockey, and journalists who cover the sport.
About the hosts
Jim Connelly is a senior writer at USCHO.com and has been with the site since 1999. He is based in Boston and regularly covers Hockey East. He began with USCHO.com as the correspondent covering the MAAC, which nowadays is known as Atlantic Hockey. Each week during the season, he co-writes “Tuesday Morning Quarterback.” Jim is the winner of the 2012 Joe Concannon award, and is a studio analyst for NESN.
Ed Trefzger has been part of USCHO since 1999 and now serves as a senior writer and director of technology. He has been a part of the radio broadcasts of Rochester Institute of Technology hockey since their inception — serving as a producer, studio host, color commentator and as RIT’s play-by-play voice for seven seasons. Ed is VP and general manager CBS Sports Radio affiliates 1310 and 1590 The Team in Rochester, N.Y.
Minnesota remains the top-ranked team in the USCHO.com Division I Women’s Poll, garnering all 15 first-place votes this week from the poll voters.
After seeing its winning streak end at 62 games two weekends ago, the Gophers started a new streak with two wins last weekend on the road at Yale.
The next three spots are the same as the Nov. 18 poll – Wisconsin, Cornell and North Dakota – while Harvard is up one notch to No. 5 this week.
Clarkson vaults two spots to No. 6, Boston College remains seventh, Quinnipiac tumbles three spots to No. 8 and Boston University is again the No. 9 team in the nation.
At No. 10, Robert Morris enters the rankings for the first time in program history.
Mercyhurst and Minnesota-Duluth also received votes this week.
The USCHO.com Division I Women’s Poll is compiled weekly and consists of 15 voters, including 14 coaches of Division I programs and one women’s hockey writer.
Goals at a premium
Some days, the defense wins. Consider Friday’s 10 games. Of the 20 teams in action, only two scored more than three goals: Clarkson seven, and Minnesota State four, the last into an empty net. In only one other game, Harvard’s 3-1 win over Boston University, did both teams combine for more than three goals. On the day, those 20 offenses combined for 32 goals. Accounting for the three scoreless overtimes played, that yields a scoring average of 1.56, equal to the offensive production of Dartmouth, which at the time ranked 29th out of 34 teams.
Perhaps this can be partially explained by the country’s top three offenses having the day off; Clarkson with the No. 4 scoring average did score seven times. However, the fifth and sixth-most prolific offenses met in Grand Forks, N.D., and played to a scoreless tie.
Saturday, with a different mix of teams, offenses rebounded slightly and 24 teams combined to score 57 times, and for a scoring average of 2.37. That is hardly scalding, but it would move up the list to 19th out of 34.
Defense wins championships
In the marquee series of the weekend, No. 2 Wisconsin traveled to No. 4 North Dakota and came home with five of six WCHA points. The Badgers’ Alex Rigsby saved all 34 shots and Shelby Amsley-Benzie had a 21-save shutout as neither team could convert through regulation nor overtime in a 0-0 tie Friday. Wisconsin’s Blayre Turnbull, the final shooter in the shootout, was able to slip the puck through Amsley-Benzie’s five hole and gain her team the extra league point.
Saturday’s rematch started down the same path until the Badgers committed a second-period penalty. Karley Sylvester stole the puck and scored short-handed for the weekend’s first goal; Michelle Karvinen scored on the same power play a minute later to even the score. Wisconsin got three power-play opportunities in the final period, and Madison Packer and Brittany Ammerman cashed in on two of them. The defense in front of Rigsby was more stout in the second game despite the goal allowed, and she only had to make 20 saves in earning the 3-1 win.
And then there was one
With Lindenwood’s 2-1 defeat of Penn State on Friday, Maine is the only remaining winless team. Nicole Hensley had a rare opportunity to watch an opposing goaltender face more rubber than she did; Lindenwood outshot its guests, 35-23. Jordin Pardoski put Penn State on the scoreboard first, just 2:38 into the contest. Carrie Atkinson and Jocelyn Slattery scored second-period goals, and Hensley saved the other 22 shots to earn the win.
Penn State got its offense untracked on Saturday to earn a split with a 4-1 win, goalie Celine Whitlinger’s third of the season. Hannah Hoenshell, Taylor Gross, Laura Bowman, and Jenna Welch scored while Shannon Yoxheimer added a couple of assists, giving the Nittany Lions their first CHA points.
Where did all the brooms go?
No. 10 Mercyhurst took home the CHA season title in last year’s first campaign as a six-team league by sweeping eight of its 10 conference series. The Lakers won’t match that feat this time, as they’ve failed to sweep any of their first three CHA weekends. That’s been a problem overall for Mercyhurst so far; its only clean weekend came versus Maine.
RIT became the latest team to take a bite out of the Lakers on Friday, 2-1, the Tigers’ first win over the perennial CHA champion. Kolbee McCrea scored twice in the first period, set up both times by Morgan Scoyne. Ali Binnigton saved 42 out of 43 shots, including all 32 over the final two periods, to earn her eighth victory of the year.
Mike Sisti opted for a goaltending change on Saturday, starting sophomore Julia DiTondo for the first time in her career. Dakota Waites put the Tigers up early, but Caroline Luczak and Emily Janiga scored in rapid succession in the middle period to give Mercyhurst a 2-1 lead. McCrea tied the score 90 seconds into the final frame. Sophomore defenseman Lauren Kilroy scored her first career goal at 6:45, and that proved to be the decisive goal in a 3-2 Lakers victory.
New look atop the CHA
Robert Morris took three of four points in a pair of defensive struggles at Syracuse. The Colonials’ Ashley Vesci answered a short-hander by Nicole Ferrara in the second period in Friday’s 1-1 tie. The result was the first non-win on the ledger of Robert Morris rookie goalie Jessica Dodds (9-0-1). Her ninth win came on Saturday in a 2-1 decision. Thea Imbrogno knotted the score after another Ferrara first goal, and Rebecca Vint won it with over a minute left. The results place the Colonials atop the conference with 13 points; RIT is four points down with two games in hand. Mercyhurst sits in an unfamiliar third place.
How the rest of the top 10 fared
No. 9 Boston University began the weekend by falling on the road at No. 6 Harvard, 3-1. Gina McDonald, Samantha Reber, and Miye D’Oench provided the Crimson with a goal in every period. Emerance Maschmeyer made 34 stops to hold the Terriers off of the scoreboard until just over four minutes remained. Sunday found BU in New Hampshire, and Sarah Lefort and Kayla Tutino scored in the odd periods to bookend a Hannah Armstrong tally for the Wildcats. Kerrin Sperry made 29 saves to preserve the 2-1 win for the Terriers.
No. 8 Clarkson had its best weekend of the season. Vanessa Gagnon scored the first of her two goals 29 seconds into Friday’s 7-0 win at Princeton. Brittany Styner and Erin Ambrose had identical output with one goal and three assists, while Jamie Lee Rattray bettered that with a goal and four helpers. Erica Howe needed only 14 saves to record the shutout. The Golden Knights followed that up with an impressive 3-0 road win at No. 5 Quinnipiac. Rattray scored in each of the first two periods, and Ambrose completed the scoring in the final minutes. Another 23 saves earned Howe her national-best seventh shutout.
The Bobcats also skated to a 1-1 tie versus St. Lawrence. Rylee Smith scored first for the Saints, Kelly Babstock responded, and Carmen MacDonald’s 47 saves were a huge reason why no winning goal was scored.
No. 1 Minnesota went on the road to Yale for a pair of games and won, 5-1, on Saturday with five different players scoring. Brad Frost picked up his 200th win behind the bench before the halfway point of his seventh season, the quickest to reach that milestone. The Gophers completed the sweep of the Bulldogs on Sunday, 4-1. The line of Rachael Bona, Hannah Brandt, and Meghan Lorence each scored a goal and assisted twice.
It wasn’t always emphatic, but No. 7 Boston College got a much-needed sweep of a home-and-home series with Connecticut. The home half came easily enough; the Eagles outshot the Huskies, 54-18, in a 6-2 win. Kristyn Capizzano and Emily Field potted a pair of goals apiece. The going was tougher on the road, but Andie Anastos’ third-period goal was the difference in a 3-2 triumph.
Other sweeps and splits
Elsewhere in Hockey East, Northeastern won the first game, 2-1, before losing the second at Vermont, 3-2. Providence got its offense untracked in sweeping visiting Maine by 8-1 and 4-2 scores.
Ohio State is 0-7-1 in November after being swept out of Mankato by the Mavericks. The 4-1 and 2-1 wins were the first WCHA points of the season for Minnesota State.
Bemidji State scored only once in Duluth, but that was enough to gain a split with Minnesota-Duluth. After the Bulldogs took a 3-0 verdict on Friday, the horn sounded on an apparent scoreless tie in regulation on Saturday. The officials reviewed a shot by Ivana Billic at 19:45 of the third period and determined that it had in fact entered the net. The goal went on the board, UMD was unable to get an equalizer as those final 15 seconds were replayed, and Brittni Mowat had a 38-save shutout.
After a weekend that included all 10 WCHA teams in league action, here’s what I think I learned in the WCHA last week.
It’s still too early to take league standings too seriously
Bridget Berube Carter, Northern Michigan University’s associate athletic director of compliance and interim sports information director, told me this weekend she isn’t bothering to feature the WCHA standings front and center in her game notes for the time being because of how little they actually tell us at this point.
The WCHA is a month into its season, but there is such a disparity in league games played among teams, it’s impossible to truly gauge who is where.
Half of the league has only played six games so far, and all five of those teams sit between a tie for fourth and ninth in the standings. Meanwhile, of the five teams to play eight or more games — Bemidji State leads the league with 10 — four sit in the top four spots with winless Alabama-Huntsville the exception last at 0-8-0.
It’s almost as if you have two separate divisions with Northern leading the six-game teams and Ferris State leading the eight-or-more-game teams.
The best way to rank the league at this point may be by winning percentage, which puts a team like NMU in second place, but six games is just too few for me to say NMU ranks in the top third of the league, especially when the three teams it’s played thus far sit eighth, ninth and 10th in the standings — not that those seeds mean anything at this point.
That being said, Ferris State is the team to beat right now
When it comes to the Bulldogs, throw the first third of this blog post out the window, because most of it doesn’t apply to them.
Ferris State is the undisputed No. 1 team in the WCHA right now, and should be ranked much higher than No. 10 in the country when this week’s USCHO poll is released later today.
The Bulldogs have not only started WCHA play 7-0-1, but have beaten three teams that I consider to be quality opponents right now in Alaska, Bowling Green and Bemidji State.
Take away FSU’s sweep of UAH to drop them into my “six-game division” and the Bulldogs would still be atop the league standings, tied at 11 points with the Beavers, who have played 10 games.
I can understand why some people may still not be sold on Ferris State since it’s only road test this season in league play was down in Huntsville, but even with splits the next two weeks on the road in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula against Northern Michigan and Lake Superior State, Ferris will be the WCHA leaders when league play resumes after Christmas.
And like the Bulldogs, the Chargers are where they should be too
I really hope the fans and administration at the University of Alabama-Huntsville have a lot of patience, because I think the Chargers program could become something special in the future as long as it has a conference to play in.
But, it’s not happening this season, and maybe not next year either.
The odds told me to pick an NMU sweep in Marquette over the weekend, but my gut honestly thought the Chargers could steal a win over Northern on Saturday night.
I’m not sure if it was because the Chargers have had some success on Saturdays, or if I wasn’t as confident as NMU head coach Walt Kyle in his team’s ability to stay focused against a lesser foe.
Either way, I knew I had picked correctly after the first period Friday without even looking at the Wildcats’ 22-5 advantage in shots. It was like watching a college game one night at Marquette’s Berry Events Center and then catching a high school game next door at Lakeview Arena the following night. The overall difference in skill was evident.
What the Chargers need at this point is a young go-to goal scorer like Lake Superior State freshman Alex Globke or Bemidji State sophomore Markus Gerbrandt.
It would also help if the university could keep head coach Mike Corbett around for the forceable future. A league home is a nice step, but consistency at the head coaching position — like Bob Daniels at Ferris State — is the key to long-term success and I think Corbett can get the Chargers there.
