St. Lawrence looked around Appleton Arena following a two-day visit by Ferris State and there was one common thought: “What a mess.”
The Bulldogs left behind 4-2 and 5-1 defeats of the Saints, leaving St. Lawrence to clean up what they could before leaving for their Thursday night stint against Michigan.
There was a lot to work to do over those few days between the sweep and the trip to face the Wolverines.
“We’re going over a lot of video,” said associate head coach Michael Hurlbut, running the bench while longtime coach Joe Marsh is on a medical leave of absence. “We hold our guys accountable, we want to make sure they’re in the proper position. I like their work ethic, I like their energy, but we need to stick to the systems.”
Penalties killed the Saints last weekend, almost doubling the Bulldogs in minutes (39-22 for the weekend). The Bulldogs pounced and were 4-for-12 on the power play, scoring two man-up markers in each game.
“We need to be more disciplined,” said Hurlbut. “We’ve traditionally taken more penalties than the average team and that continued this weekend. We had really good energy and were up 1-0 on Friday night when [Rick Carden] took the most senseless penalty I’ve seen by charging the goaltender. Then, the same player went back in for an elbow to the head [called as roughing].”
On the first call, Carden was called for goaltender interference, and T.J. Schlueter scored on the ensuing power play to tie the game.
On Saturday night, Gunnar Hughes was called for a five-minute major for hitting from behind, and a 10-minute game misconduct was added to that.
Following the Michigan game and a Saturday game at Rochester Institute of Technology, the team gets three weeks off before starting its league schedule on Nov. 4 against Union.
“We’re still playing with the lines, trying to get a fair evaluation of all the guys,” said Hurlbut. “We’ll be practicing a lot. This is an important week for evaluations. It’s a good thing to have guys wanting to impress the coaching staff.”
On a positive note for the Saints, junior co-captain Kyle Flanagan scored a goal and two assists and had an even plus-minus rating through that tough weekend.
On the spot: Quinnipiac junior Jeremy Langlois
Quinnipiac split a weekend series at Ohio State, falling 2-1 and winning 4-3. Junior forward Jeremy Langlois was involved in the offense in both games, finishing the weekend with two goals (both on Saturday) and an assist. USCHO.com caught up with Langlois midweek, as the Bobcats were preparing for their home opener Friday night against Atlantic Hockey’s Canisius.
USCHO: What were your thoughts on the opening weekend series in Ohio? How different were the two nights?
Langlois: I thought that our team played very well this weekend. We made a few mistakes, which is expected because it was our first games of the year. But our team battled and competed hard both nights, which shows our character. The penalties in the first game were detrimental, and although we played good enough to win, we were not able to capitalize on our opportunities. The second night, we were able to score a few quick goals and two on the power play, which is a good sign for our team moving forward.
USCHO: What did you think of your personal performance and the team’s performance as a whole in both games?
Langlois: I thought that the team played very well in both games and our team leaders did a good job of getting everyone ready to play both games. We have some things we need to clean up, including taking penalties, but I thought we progressed throughout the weekend.
My line [with Ben Arnt and Spencer Heichman] did a good job this weekend, being aggressive and pressuring the Ohio State defensemen. We also concentrated on keeping it simple and making the easy plays down low, which led to a goal from Spencer.
I think in the second game our power play did a good job moving the puck around and getting shots through, which led to more scoring.
I tried to just concentrate on playing hard every shift and being confident with the puck. My teammates did a really good job making passes to me that led to good scoring opportunities.
USCHO: What lessons does the team take away from last weekend?
Langlois: There are many important things to take away from last weekend, including that we need to be more cautious when checking, due to the new head contact rule. We know that we can play with anyone as long as we play Quinnipiac hockey, which means doing all the little things correctly.
Around the league
Colgate: The Raiders won the Mutual of Omaha Stampede, their first tournament win since 2006 (UConn Classic). Beating Nebraska-Omaha in the final gave them their first win over a WCHA school since beating Minnesota-Duluth in 1998.
Rookie of the Week Joe Wilson scored the winner in the final. Erik Mihalik earned ECAC goalie of the week honors for his part in taking home the trophy.
The Raiders welcome Miami to Starr Rink for a Friday-Saturday set this weekend.
Rensselaer: The Engineers had some power play issues the first night against Minnesota State. Those were somewhat repaired the second night. Last Friday, the Engineers went 0-for-11 with the extra man in a 1-0 shutout loss in which Rensselaer outshot its opponent 36-20. Engineers freshman Ryan Haggerty and junior Nick Bailen were responsible for 10 of those 36 shots.
Bailen broke through the next night with a goal, and Haggerty earned his first two collegiate points.
The Engineers travel this weekend to Ferris State, fresh off its sweep of St. Lawrence.
Union: It’s tough to get a read on Union’s first game, an 8-1 win over Army last Saturday. Is Union that good, or is Army in a down year, or was it just a black night for the Black Knights?
In any event, the win helped Union remain at No. 11 in both national polls, and helped junior Wayne Simpson earn ECAC Hockey player of the week honors. Simpson potted a hat trick and an assist in the game.
Senior Kelly Zajac and sophomore Matt Hatch each had three-point games. Freshman Max Novak began his career with two goals.
Next, the Dutchmen open up Messa Rink on Friday against No. 12 Western Michigan, which had its own puzzling two-game sweep over that poor Alabama-Huntsville team that just can’t seem to find a home (league). After the Dutchmen and Broncos throw down, some questions will be answered.
Clarkson: The Golden Knights are 0-1-1, though that tie is actually a shootout loss to Alaska-Anchorage in the Kendall Hockey Classic. Senior Julien Cayer, a Detroit Red Wings draft pick who’s flown under the radar most of his college career (23 points in his previous 74 games), showed that he might have that breakout senior year with a two-goal performance in Game 1.
Problem is, he had one shot on goal and was a minus-1 against Alaska in the consolation game. Will the real Julien Cayer please stand up? He’ll have a chance to do so at home at Cheel Arena against Sacred Heart this weekend.
Cornell: The No. 19 Big Red go up against … one another … on Saturday in their annual Red-White Game, which will help to raise money for the university’s Emergency CARE Fund. Admission at Lynah Rink for the event is free, but donations are suggested. The Emergency Cornellians Aiding and Responding to Employees Fund is a program offering financial assistance to faculty and staff who have experienced a non-recurring sudden or emergency-related financial hardship due to an unforeseen or unavoidable event.
Need to know basis
What else is in the grab bag of info here?
• Colgate senior Kevin McNamara has started the Goals for Good charity, raising money concurrent with the amount of goals over the course of a season, weekend or one game for a charity to be determined. More information is on goalsforgood.org.
• Cornell’s Keir Ross, Brown’s Jack MacLellan and Dartmouth’s Doug Jones are all candidates for the 2012 Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award. They are among 20 nominees.
• Brown was awarded the host spot for the 2013 NCAA East Regional at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center in Providence, R.I. It will be the first regional there since 2003 and the ninth NCAA hockey tournament overall, including six Frozen Fours.
Top three alumni performances
First off, best of luck and a speedy recovery to ex-Princeton defenseman Taylor Fedun, who broke his leg during the exhibition season with the Edmonton Oilers. He paid a visit to his Oilers teammates before their season-opening 2-1 win against Pittsburgh on Sunday.
First prize: Rich Peverley (St. Lawrence), Boston Bruins — he led the Stanley Cup-defending B’s in goals with two in three games, and signed a three-year contract extension.
Second prize: Andy McDonald (Colgate), St. Louis Blues — Started his 12th NHL season with two assists in two games.
Third prize: Colin Greening (Cornell), Ottawa Senators — Still technically a Calder Trophy-eligible rookie, he had two goals through three games.
Top three recruit performances
Almost too many to list, but let’s give it a shot.
First prize: Peter Quenneville (Quinnipiac ’15-16), Sherwood Park (AJHL) — The ’94-born Edmontonian had 22 points through 12 AJHL games.
Second prize (tie): Nick Cruice (Union ’13-14), South Shore (EJHL) — 16 points in 10 games
Second prize (tie): Andrew Johnston (Union ’12-13), Humboldt (SJHL) — Possible future linemate for Cruice has 16 points in 10 games as well.
