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Miami, Ferris State Find Little Consolation in CCHA Third-Place Game
Three teams in this weekend’s CCHA championship tournament field are proof positive of how difficult it is to win a league playoff championship. Among them, the only team to have claimed the CCHA playoff championship was the only team to advance to this year’s title contest.
Yesterday, Walt Kyle finally broke the Curse of Consolation. Until Friday’s 5-4 semifinal win over Miami in OT, Northern Michigan had played in seven of the previous eight CCHA championship tournaments under Kyle, never advancing past its first semifinal contest. The joke around the league was that the CCHA third-place game should be called the “Walt Kyle Consolation Game.”
“They can name it after me,” quipped Kyle after the win. “I just don’t want to play in it.”
This year, the top two seeds entering CCHA championship tournament lost their semifinal contests, guaranteeing that the Mason Cup would be out of their reach, again. While their plight may not be as recently poignant as that of NMU, playing for third place has different, disappointing meanings for the Bulldogs and the RedHawks.
While some teams view the conference championship as a means to and end, an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, Ferris State coach Bob Daniels has always maintained that the CCHA playoff championship is a destination in itself.
“The only time I started focusing on the NCAA tournament was going into today’s game,” said Daniels. “To me, the big thing with coming here is to win the league. It’s the only thing. Once that’s not on the table, well here’s another avenue to have some fun. Let’s see if we can’t keep this fun going.
“During the course of the year, very rarely do we talk as a coaching staff about the NCAA. We figure if we do well here, we’ll get our bid.”
“For our team, obviously, we haven’t been to this championship weekend since 2003,” said Bulldogs senior forward Blair Riley. “You play 28 conference regular-season games, so that’s where the majority of the focus is, and then two playoff rounds just to get here.”
His classmate and linemate, Casey Haines, said that the Bulldogs come into every season focusing on three championships. “The Christmas tournament, the CCHA and then the national tournament,” he said. “We try to take down each three as they come. We don’t look forward. Didn’t do too well at Christmas, didn’t do too well now.”
Ferris State has made three previous trips to the CCHA championship in Joe Louis Arena, most recently in at the end of the 2002-03 season, when the Bulldogs lost their only title game appearance to Michigan, 5-3. That was the season in which Chris Kunitz scored 35 goals, propelling the Bulldogs to their only NCAA tournament berth. FSU beat North Dakota before bowing out with a 7-4 loss to eventual champion Minnesota.
“Getting into the tournament, that’s nice,” said Daniels, “but the CCHA championship is the main focus of our team.
“Myself, knowing how hard our league is and knowing how good our league is, the idea for me is that this is the end. Then beyond here, we’ll worry about that once this tournament’s over.”
While the Bulldogs will have to play a brief waiting game to find out if they’ll play in this year’s NCAA tournament, the RedHawks knew they’d be going to the NCAA tournament even before Friday’s game. A third-place win in Detroit and a Denver loss in the WCHA third-place game Saturday makes Miami the No. 1 seed nationally for the 2009-10 NCAA tournament.
It’s not a Mason Cup — and the RedHawks do want that hardware — but after what Miami has endured in the last 12 months, the seeding does provide some consolation. Miami began the season a few short months after a heartbreaking 4-3 loss to Boston University in the 2009 NCAA championship game. In that contest, Miami led 3-1 going into the final minute of regulation.
As difficult as that was for the RedHawks to endure, the entire Miami program learned a far more real lesson in heartache when the team’s student manager, Brendan Burke, died in a car crash in February.
“I’m extremely proud, as our staff is, as our university is,” said Miami coach Enrico Blasi after the RedHawks’ 2-1 win over the Bulldogs Saturday. “If we know the number right — and I think you know the numbers better than we do, playing the committee in the locker room after the game — if this team ends up being the No. 1 seed overall, it’s a pretty good season. You want to go into the tournament on a winning note.
“I’m just really proud of our guys. I know that yesterday was disappointing, but today was a new day. Right now we start our quest to get back here to Detroit.”
Miami entered the CCHA championship tournament as the No. 1 seed in this field for the third time in program history; in each of two previous attempts to capture the crown as the top team, the RedHawks fell in the title game. In 1993, No. 1 Miami lost to No. 3 Lake Superior State, 3-0. In 2006, the RedHawks fell to No. 2 Michigan State, 2-1.
The Streak Survives: Michigan Passes its Toughest Test
March 1991: The United States begins pulling troops out of the Persian Gulf; Latvia, Estonia and Georgia vote for independence from the Soviet Union; Someday by Mariah Carey is Billboard’s No. 1 hit; and the Michigan men’s ice hockey team starts an incredible streak that would last for at least another 20 years when they make NCAA men’s ice hockey tournament.
In the 20 years since, the Wolverines have won two national championships, but have never faced a road to the tournament as daunting as this year’s.
First, their starting goalie Bryan Hogan gets hurt on Feb. 25, leading to untested and unseasoned unknown Shawn Hunwick being thrust into the starting role. Then, captain and arguably top defenseman Chris Summers gets hurt against Lake Superior State in the opening round of the CCHA tournament on March 6.
They had to win a CCHA tournament quarterfinal series on the road against archrival Michigan State before playing the CCHA regular season champion Miami in the semifinal round. Finally, Michigan had to beat Northern Michigan in the CCHA Tournament final, a team that has been steadily increasing its momentum since the Christmas layoff.
Few teams would have the fortitude to paddle up that river and come back victorious, but the Wolverines found a way.
“It’s not about where we are, but how we got here. This was the most challenging way to get in the tournament Michigan’s had in a long time,” said Michigan coach Red Berenson. “But, that’s the thing about young athletes: They’re resilient; they have energy; they have enthusiasm.”
Berenson wasn’t alone in his appreciation of the mountain Michigan had to climb to earn their tournament spot.
“This one means the most to all of us with the road we had to take to here,” said senior defenseman Steve Kampfer.
No player on the team has risen to the occasion more so than Hunwick. The junior goalie was given little chance by anyone to ever start, let alone become MVP of the CCHA tournament while leading the Wolverines to the championship and their berth in the NCAA tournament.
“It’s pretty surreal,” said Hunwick. “I owe all the credit to my teammates. They’re playing incredible. I think we’re peaking at the right time.”
Also aiding Michigan in its quest for an NCAA tournament appearance were the maize and blue faithful. They turned East Lansing into a western version of Ann Arbor last week in the team’s quarterfinal series against Michigan State. This weekend Joe Louis Arena was a sea of maize and blue when the Wolverines were playing.
“Our fans were terrific in supporting our team, not just here at Joe Louis, but at East Lansing last week,” said Berenson. “We wouldn’t be here without our fans.”
But Michigan persevered through it all to earn a spot in the NCAA tournament, where they will undoubtably make life very difficult for a higher seed in the regional round next weekend.
Hunwick Big in Goal Again for Michigan
Despite playing in just one game before this season, Shawn Hunwick has become the backbone of Michigan’s CCHA tournament run.
As a true walk-on, Hunwick has no scholarship and has been a backup and practice goalie for the last two-and-a-half years.
“I never gave him credit for being a starting goalie,” said Michigan coach Red Berenson. “He’s been a good practice goalie, a good team player. He’s been very good support, no complaining all along and he got his chance.”
Hunwick found himself thrust into the starting role at Michigan when Bryan Hogan was injured early in the first period against Notre Dame on Feb. 25. Hunwick won that game before taking over the starting job for the Wolverines. In the five games he has started, Hunwick has a 1.97 goals-against average and a .908 save percentage.
“He’s been as good at it gets,” said Berenson.
Shawn Hunwick has backstopped Michigan’s run to the CCHA title game.
Since becoming the starter, Hunwick has yet to give up a five-on-five goal, a fact that he attributes to the strong play of his teammates in front of him.
“I can’t say enough about the team,” said Hunwick. “Those guys are all over the ice blocking shots and doing an unbelievable job. I really appreciate it.”
Coaches have noticed how the Wolverines have responded with Hunwick between the pipes as well.
“The team’s playing hard for him,” said Berenson. “They know how hard he worked for them [in practice] before he got a chance to play.”
Throughout the past month Hunwick’s strong play has also helped get the Michigan offense on track. Against Miami in the second CCHA semifinal Friday, Hunwick made a sprawling save with the paddle of his stick and the Wolverines went back up the ice, where Lee Moffie scored his fourth goal of the season to put Michigan ahead 2-0.
“I thought that this season, since I’ve been in there, when I’ve made a save. we’ve gone on to score a lot of times — three or four times it’s happened,” said Hunwick. “I wasn’t really sure if I even got a piece of that. I thought he just missed the net until someone came up and said, ‘Great save.’ We answered back, and we’ve done it time and time again.”
When you have a team feeding off your energy like that, it’s very easy to get comfortable.
“Actually, early in the second period was probably the smoothest and most confident I’ve felt in net since I’ve been in,” Hunwick said. “I wasn’t really thinking; I was just reacting. I knew they were a good team. I knew they were going to come out strong.”
“I don’t think he’s overachieving,” said Berenson. “He’s in a big groove and he’s giving us a chance.”
Michigan likely will need Hunwick to work his magic one more time Saturday night against Northern Michigan in the CCHA championship game to secure a spot in the NCAA tournament for a 20th consecutive time.
Unfortunately for the Wolverines’ women’s softball team, Hunwick’s stellar play will likely prevent him from being the scoreboard operator at their home opener next week at Alumni Field in Ann Arbor. Hunwick has served the team in this capacity since his freshman year.
Tradition Set Aside: Northern Michigan Avoids CCHA Third-Place Game
The Northern Michigan Wildcats are no strangers to the CCHA Championship.
Since coach Walt Kyle joined the squad eight years ago, they have made seven appearances in the tournament, but only managed to take it to the consolation game each Saturday night. With their highest CCHA ranking in recent years earning them a first-round playoff bye and a seemingly easy breeze past the Alaska Nanooks in round two, the Wildcats were eager to play for their much awaited spot in the championship game.
“It’s our third year here in a row,” senior goaltender Brian Stewart said. “I’ve been the starting goalie each time. … We had the lead going into the third two years ago against Michigan and lost. And then last year tied it up with one minute left against Notre Dame and lost that one.”
Friday’s game against Ferris State at Joe Louis Arena was just as turbulent as the previous years, the lead switching every period.
“When they tied it up there I was afraid weren’t going to make it again,” junior Greger Hanson said. “I’m really glad the team pulled it off this time around, for a minute this game looked too much like the last couple of years.”
The Wildcats broke away from that tradition and scored three consecutive goals within 1:02, a CCHA record. Senior Ray Kaunisto had two of the shots that put the Wildcats back in the game and not only reset CCHA history, but Wildcats history as well.
“Ray, Tyler Gron and I have been playing together for half the season and we’ve really developed a great chemistry between us,” Hanson said. “We were on fire tonight. It was great to be on the ice together and put up that many points.”
That same line produced the overtime game winner, a shot from Hanson that left everyone stunned.
“The game winner was a play that I don’t think Ferris expected,” Hanson said. “I think they expected me to go wide and down low. I caught them off guard up the middle and got the goal.”
With the 5-4 overtime win, the Wildcats will appear in the CCHA championship game for the first time since 1999, and the first time with Kyle as head coach.
“We get to play for a championship tomorrow and there aren’t many chances for coaches their team to do that,” Kyle said.
At previous tournament appearances, Kyle would joke that the consolation game should be called the “Walt Kyle Consolation Game” because his team had played in it so many times. This year, he gets to put all jokes aside and compete for the Mason Cup and an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament.
“We’re really happy,” Kyle said. “I was sick of playing in that game. … I’m happy to take the next step and whether we play Michigan or Miami, it’s going to be a huge challenge.
“We have it all in our own hands for tomorrow and we’re really excited,” Hanson said. “We think we can win this game and win the championship and hopefully we’ll be able to associate Northern Michigan with the Mason Cup and not the consolation game.”
The last time Northern Michigan won the CCHA playoff championship was in 1981, when Kyle himself captained the team. He’s hoping to have his name return to it again under the new banner of 2010.
BC’s Muse: Number One Again
Two years ago, John Muse lived a charmed life. He started, and played every minute of, Boston College’s 44 games. He earned all-tournament honors in the Hockey East tournament and then again at the Frozen Four, leading his team to a national championship.
Last year, he once again started every game, but neither he nor the Eagles enjoyed the same success. They finished sixth during the regular season. A loss in the league semifinals ended their season. Muse’s goals-against average rose from 2.20 to 2.72; his save percentage fell from .921 to .904.
John Muse is back as Boston College’s No. 1 goaltender (photo: Melissa Wade).
He hadn’t suddenly become a sieve, but it wasn’t the old jersey No. 1 in the BC nets. Nagging groin pain, later identified as a torn labrum in his hip, was at least part of the problem.
In the offseason, Muse underwent hip surgery. Optimists assumed it would return the old No. 1 to the BC nets; pessimists watched Boston Red Sox third baseman Mike Lowell hobble around after hip labrum surgery and shuddered. The Eagles were doomed.
BC tried to scour up a potential replacement, difficult to obtain so long after the conventional recruiting period, and came up with Parker Milner.
Original projections for Muse’s return were possibly in November. Possibly. Instead, he was back between the pipes for BC’s opening game on Oct. 18.
But not all the way back.
“I hadn’t skated for about five months because of the surgery,” Muse says. “My hip wasn’t bothering me. I had a few aches and pains here and there because I hadn’t played in so long, but for the most part I felt good physically. It was just difficult getting my timing back, getting back into the swing of things.”
Game by game he got stronger. By January, he seemed to have hit his stride.
“Once we came back from Christmas break, I felt like I was playing where I wanted to be,” he says. “But obviously I can always get better. That’s what I work on in practice, trying to get better every time I’m on the ice.”
Muse, however, wasn’t the only one getting better. Milner, the insurance policy and heir apparent, wasn’t playing second fiddle to anyone. He earned the February Hockey East goaltender of the month award, going 4-0-0 with a 0.93 GAA and a .963 save percentage.
A 0.93 GAA and a .963 save percentage.
John Muse stops Chris McCarthy (photo: Melissa Wade).
The same freshman who had allowed Muse to come back at the appropriate speed from the hip surgery was making a convincing case for the No. 1 job. Muse, the guy who had started every game for two years was potentially … the backup.
“Any goalie will tell you it’s difficult not playing every night,” Muse says. “You want to be in there playing and helping your team out. Parker is a great goalie. He pushes me and I push him. We get along great.”
But when the playoffs started, it wasn’t the old No. 1 in the BC crease. It was the new No. 35, Milner.
Muse says now, “He was playing well. You don’t change things when a goalie is playing well.” But the demotion had to sting.
BC coach Jerry York says, “He must have thought, ‘Hey when my chance comes I better play pretty well because I’ve got great competition here.'”
That chance came after the first playoff game against Massachusetts, a sub-par performance by Milner in a 6-5 win. Muse barged through the open door, allowing only two goals in closing out UMass, and returned to the BC crease for the Eagles’ semifinal game against Vermont.
Jersey No. 1 was again No. 1 on the BC depth chart.
The result? Muse stopped all 30 shots he faced, including a key second-period breakaway.
Jersey No. 1 was once again the old No. 1.
“I don’t know if it’s so much me as the entire team,” Muse says. “You saw tonight how well we play defensively. Not only our defense but our forwards, too, getting back-pressure when we turn over the puck, which isn’t too often, and breaking the puck out.
“All those things limit their chances. When they don’t get too many chances, it makes my job easier.”
An easier job.
After a year and a half that have been anything but easy for Muse, easy is nice and so is a job.
Now he just wants that easy job for five more games.
Denver’s Pride Stinging After WCHA Semifinal Loss
As the best team in the WCHA for much of the season, with a Broadmoor Trophy on its to-do list, Denver found Friday’s WCHA Final Five semifinal loss to North Dakota hard to stomach.
As a result, the Pioneers are planning to play the last third-place game in Final Five history the same way as they would if they were playing for the title.
“It’s going to be a big game for us,” forward Tyler Ruegsegger said of Saturday’s afternoon contest against Wisconsin. “We’ve got to respond. To be honest, it was an embarrassing effort tonight and we’ve got to have more pride in the crest on the front of our jerseys tomorrow.”
“It’s all about pride tomorrow,” concurred Rhett Rakhshani. “You’re playing for third place but if you’re a competitor and, if like Tyler said, you have pride in the crest on the front of your jersey, you’re going to play as hard as you would if it were a first-place game, and that’s the mentality we have to have tomorrow.”
Chris VandeVelde scores in the first period to put North Dakota ahead for good (photo: Tim Brule).
Amping it Up
Thursday night, Evan Trupp scored his first goal in 21 games.
It was wondered Friday if he changed his dietary habits since coming to St. Paul, as he potted another two goals in the 4-3 win over Denver.
For Trupp, however, it’s just due to seasonal reasons.
“It’s playoff time, that’s it,” he said. “[I’m] just starting to bear down on my chances.”
The Legs Feed the Wolf
Quite a bit has been made of the Sioux’s tough schedule this weekend, with Saturday night’s game marking UND’s sixth game in nine days. Many are wondering where the players get their energy, wondering if they have some hidden reserves.
According to coach Dave Hakstol, the energy his team has is just a product of good training.
“I don’t know that we needed a reserve,” he said. “I know we make a big deal out of three and three or five and eight, but you know what? Our guys work hard during the year to condition and take care of their bodies.
“I think you can talk yourself into making a big deal out of it, or you can take it for what it is,” he continued. “We’ve got 20 guys in the lineup that are going to show up and have energy tomorrow night.”
Injury Update
St. Cloud State’s Garrett Roe, who was taken off the ice on a stretcher in the earlier game, has been released from the hospital. His X-rays came back negative, and he is reportedly just very sore.
Denver’s Anthony Maiani suffered an upper body injury in the game and will not play Saturday night.
Quotable
“I’d rather have that superstar in the lineup.” — Dave Hakstol, when asked if not having a superstar in his lineup has forced his team to be more balanced as a whole.
Lee’s Confidence Building, and St. Cloud State is Benefitting
The day before his team got set to play No. 3 Wisconsin in the WCHA Final Five semifinals, St. Cloud State coach Bob Motzko decided to start freshman Mike Lee in goal for Friday’s game.
Never mind that Lee finished the regular season a dismal 6-7 with a 3.03 goals-against average, or that junior goaltender Dan Dunn was named to the All-WCHA third team Thursday with a 12-4-2 record.
“Mike’s had some freshman moments, and our league will do that to you,” Motzko said Thursday. “But he’s building confidence.”
The confidence has showed. In his last three games going into Friday, Lee’s save percentage was .934 — most recently, two WCHA first round wins against Minnesota State last weekend.
St. Cloud State goaltender Mike Lee made 37 saves Friday, but he also got help from the post late (photo: Tim Brule).
Lee was nothing short of spectacular in the Huskies’ 2-0 win against the Badgers Friday. He finished with 37 saves in his second career shutout.
“It was a hard fought playoff game,” Lee said. “They got their shots but so did we. I thought our kind of play was sound.”
Lee came up big for the Huskies in the first period when he faced 12 shots before the first intermission. None were bigger than his stops on Jordy Murray and Michael Davies midway through the first period.
Murray grabbed the puck to Lee’s left and walked in on the crease, but Lee was there for the stop and the rebound ended up on the tape of Blake Geoffrion’s stick. Geoffrion caught Lee out of position out of position and centered the puck to Murray, who wasn’t ready for it as the puck slid through the crease.
Minutes later, Lee had to move to his left to rob Davies with his right toe.
“We kind of made it easy for him because we didn’t really put pucks on net,” Davies said. “But he played well.”
Lee had to make only five saves in the second period but the Huskies needed his best efforts in the third. The freshman, who led Roseau to the Minnesota Class AA State title two years ago in the same building, stopped 20 Wisconsin shots Friday to cling to the shutout.
A Brendan Smith shot rang off the right pipe with around 90 seconds remaining.
“I think he played really well but sometimes being lucky is part of the game,” Smith said. “I think today, he had a little bit of Irish in him.”
Lee’s save percentage after the Wisconsin game: .921 with a 2.61 goals-against average as he continues his three-game winning streak. Lee stood tall in the third period Friday, despite losing his stick a few times in the waning minutes.
“I think we’re going to tape it to my blocker tomorrow,” Lee said.
Roe Injury
The Huskies were in the closing seconds of their fifth successful penalty kill when SCSU forward Garrett Roe lost his stick. The puck squirted to the halfboards as Roe tried to beat Smith to the puck.
He dove head-first into the boards with a swiping motion at the puck to clear the zone as his helmet cracked against the boards.
Roe was taken off the ice on a stretcher but no further updates were available.
“It was a big loss,” Huskies forward Tony Mosey said. “We had to get closer and play harder. Other guys had to step up.”
Final Five Follies
The Huskies broke a four-game Final Five losing streak in advancing to the finals, while the Badgers lost their fourth semifinals game since 2006. Wisconsin hasn’t taken better than third in the tournament since 2000, when it lost to North Dakota in the final.
The Huskies will play for their second Final Five title in school history. SCSU beat the Sioux in the 2001 championship game and lost when the two teams met again in the finals in 2006.
Transferring Title?
At the end of last season, when it was fait accompli that the Salem State Vikings would be leaving their long and venerable association with the ECAC East and joining the new MASCAC conference, the challenge to keep some of their most talented players began in earnest.
Having played in one of the best conferences in D-III hockey, which also included the interlock with the NESCAC conference, the move to a new conference that would be largely made up of state schools departing the ECAC Northeast was not the road several of the Vikings’ players wanted to travel.
Forward Justin Fox and defenseman Kevin Huinink, who both hail from Whitby, Ontario had bigger aspirations for their college hockey careers and in the process, found an opportunity to play for a perennial D-III power with a chance for a national championship.
Justin Fox scores for Oswego (photo: Angelo Lisuzzo).
Trading in their Salem State colors for the green, yellow and white of the Oswego State Lakers was not a difficult decision to make.
“I really transferred for one reason,” stated Fox. “The goal was to come to a school that has a great program and Coach (Ed) Gosek has brought in players that all have the same goal. This is a great bunch of guys with great team chemistry. I am not even sure that I can describe the chemistry. These guys really gelled together and the season has been everything that I expected coming here.”
The combination has clearly benefited both the players and their new team, as Oswego has been ranked nationally at one or two all season. Moreover, both players have fit right in with a Lakers program looking to regain the national title they won last in 2007.
Fox, a former ECAC East league all-star, has been matched with junior Chris Laganiere and first team All-American Eric Selleck. The line has been very productive, with all three players having point totals greater than 40. The three are the top three point-getters for the Lakers and have combined for 17 power-play goals and nine game-winning goals this season.
For his career, Fox passed the 100 point plateau as a junior this season. In only 79 games played, he has already amassed 119 points, including 45 in his first season as a Laker.
When asked about his linemates and his move to Oswego, Fox noted, “It really has been a lot of fun this season and this weekend is something you dream about as a player — our goal is to win a national championship.”
For Kevin Huinink, the transfer has also been a good one, as the junior has been a fixture on the blue line for coach Ed Gosek’s team. Regularly paired with fellow Ontario native Tyler Lyon, the sturdy backliner has been a solid player for Oswego in the defensive end of the ice.
“All of the new guys have fit right in here,” stated Gosek. “The seniors have done a great job making everyone feel welcome and like a big part of the team. With as many new players and a goaltending change, if you told me we would be playing this weekend back at the beginning of year, I would have given you a hug.
“Everyone likes to talk about Foxie, Eric [Selleck] and Laganiere because they get the points and deserve a lot of the credit for our success. I am very proud of this team and all of the contributions they have made. While losing tonight to St. Norbert is not the outcome we had hoped for, it doesn’t take away from the terrific season they had.”
This weekend concluded a great season with the Frozen Four in Lake Placid, which is not that far away from Ontario. This is definitely a case of a change benefiting both the school and the student-athletes. Winning the SUNYAC championship was one big step for the Lakers, but their visions of more than one game this weekend were dashed by the Green Knights by a 4-3 score.
Justin Fox was a big part of the game with a goal and an assist for Oswego, and had several good chances in the third period to put the Lakers up on the scoreboard. It wasn’t to be for the Lakers this time around, but at least two of the new Lakers wouldn’t transfer this season for any other experience.
National Semifinals Notebook
Walk on to All-American
It may not exactly be a rags-to-riches story, but it’s pretty close for Norwich goaltender Ryan Klingensmith, who was just named First Team All American.
“I’d like to have him four more years,” Norwich coach Mike McShane said. “A great story. He came on as basically a walk-on goalie. He got better each and every year. We put him in a game a few years back, and he proved that was right. The defense loves him.”
Norwich netminder Ryan Kligensmith (photo: Angelo Lisuzzo).
Klingensmith made 29 saves in the Cadets victory over Plattsburgh. He led the nation in goals against with a minuscule 1.34. He’s also had great success against Plattsburgh, allowing just one goal in each of the regular season match ups and two tonight.
“The rivalry that we have and we’ve developed with Plattsburgh — we don’t really like them very much,” he said. “As a goalie you know there are going to be tough games [against Plattsburgh], and you have to battle in net. If you don’t like a team, then that’s the game you want to win.”
“Obviously, he’s pretty good,” Plattsburgh head coach Bob Emery said. “He’s pretty good against anybody, just not us. We knew going in, we had to keep it out.”
The senior has one more game to cap off his walk-on to All American ascension.
Stayed On
St. Norbert’s Cody Keefer has 13 goals and 13 assists so far in his freshman year. But none were as big as his first college game winner with 39.4 seconds left in the game against Oswego. And, he wasn’t even supposed to be on the ice.
“I was going to go for a change,” he said. “Saw the puck come loose. It wound up on my stick, and I just shot it.”
Jones’ Replacement
The last time St. Norbert was in Lake Placid, all the talk was about Kyle Jones, the all-everything goalie for the Green Knights. He shutout the entire competition, leading St. Norbert to their first national championship. Then, he put the icing on his career when he was invited to the NCAA Frozen Four Challenge, and was the only goalie the entire competition to not let up a goal in any of the drills.
After he graduated, St. Norbert struggled, finishing in fourth place in the NCHA and getting bounced in the semifinal round of their league playoffs. B.J. O’Brien and Blake Basher split duties that season. Coach Tim Coghlin did not like any of their performances, so last spring, he told them they will compete for the number one spot, and the winner was going to see the majority of the work.
St. Norbert goalie B.J. O’Brien (photo: Angelo Lisuzzo).
O’Brien came out on top and played in 29 of the 30 games this year, going 24-2-3 with a 1.63 GAA and .921 save pct.
“B.J. was the biggest difference from last year to this year,” Coghlin said. “He made a couple of huge saves during those Oswego flurries.”
O’Brien has one more game to go down along with Kyle Jones as a winning goalie for a St. Norbert national championship.
Even Years
St. Norbert has played in the national championship game four consecutive years ending in an even number. So far, all of these games ended in a shutout. In 2004, they lost to Middlebury, 1-0, in overtime. They were shutout again by Middlebury in 2006, 3-0. They won the title in 2008 with their own shutout, beating Plattsburgh, 2-0.
St. Norbert has now won six consecutive NCAA playoff games, and have never lost in Lake Placid.
Last Time
The last time Norwich made it this far, they won the national championship, beating Oswego, 2-1, in 2003 on home ice.
First Time
This is the first time Oswego has lost in the national semifinals. Whenever they have made it this far, they always got to the finals. In 1987, they defeated St. Cloud State, 5-2, before losing to Plattsburgh, 8-3, in the final. Sixteen years later, they shutout Middlebury, 6-0, but lost to Norwich, 2-1. They won the national championship in 2007 with a pair of 4-3 overtime wins over St. Norbert and Middlebury, respectively.
No Shorties
Four teams in Division III did not let up a short-handed goal this season. Three of them are in the SUNYAC, and two were in Lake Placid — Oswego, Plattsburgh, Fredonia, and Williams (NESCAC).
Goaltender Wilson Filling in Nicely for Maine
When Maine suspended goaltender Scott Darling indefinitely just days before the Hockey East quarterfinals, the Black Bears turned to senior Dave Wilson — a career backup goaltender — to fill the gaping hole between the pipes.
Maine’s hope of postseason glory dimmed with the recollection of Wilson’s earlier stints in net. Prior to this postseason, he opened and closed the regular season with losses and posted a 0-4-0 record in nine games for Maine.
Dave Wilson took over as Maine’s starting goaltender at the start of the playoffs (photo: Melissa Wade).
In October, Wilson kicked things off against Union with consecutive losses of 4-1 and 6-3 while filling in for an earlier Darling suspension. He sporadically filled in during four other Maine losses and a 10-1 trouncing of St. Lawrence on Nov. 28 before losing to Massachusetts 4-3 just one week before the Hockey East quarterfinals.
With the news of Darling’s punishment, most, if not all, playoff predictions unsurprisingly pegged Maine for an early exit from the Hockey East tournament.
It certainly seemed that way, as the Black Bears fell in heartbreaking fashion to Massachusetts-Lowell in Game 1 of the tournament quarterfinals. Wilson turned in an admirable 19-save effort, but still had not yet backstopped Maine to a key victory.
Once placed in a do-or-die situation, Wilson mounted a dramatic turnaround that carried the Black Bears out of the quarterfinals and into the championship game. Wilson pushed the series to a deciding third game by stopping all 23 shots and stoning the River Hawks on all five power plays in a 2-0 shutout of Lowell in Game 2. Spearheaded by Wilson’s 26-save effort, Maine locked up its 17th appearance in the Hockey East semifinals with a 3-2 overtime nail-biter over Lowell in the rubber match.
“Every game was an elimination game for him,” said Black Bears coach Tim Whitehead. “You never really know when guys are going to rise up like that in unexpected moments. … I’ve seen other guys rise up in other situations, which he certainly has done for us this postseason.”
Entering tonight’s game with a 2-4-0 record, Wilson’s statistics were deceptively strong: 2.19 GAA and .903 save percentage in 11 games. Skeptics continued to question Wilson’s longevity when the Black Bears drew tournament mainstay Boston University in the semifinals matchup.
His performance against the Terriers in Friday’s game, however, will go a long way to silencing the naysayers. Wilson, who never cracked the 30-save mark this season, stymied the Terriers a season-high 37 times in Maine’s decisive 5-2 victory over BU.
“Did I expect it? Yes and no,” said Whitehead. “It’s a pleasant surprise. The one thing about Dave [Wilson] is he really persevered and I’m so proud of his ability to focus when we needed him the most.”
Wilson’s highlight reel-worthy save came with just under three minutes to play in the final frame. After enduring a nine-minute review granting BU a controversial second goal, Terriers forward Ross Gaudet came in all alone on a breakaway and threatened to knot the game at 3. Wilson stoned Gaudet like a seasoned veteran, and propelled Maine for the 13th time to a spot in the coveted championship game against Boston College.
“As long as I have fun and relax, I can make those saves,” Wilson said. “I saw [Gaudet] coming down at me so I tried to get out and challenge him on that breakway. But like I said, I was just trying to relax and have fun out there.”
Wilson will have one night to savor the effort — on the night of his 25th birthday — before facing off against the Eagles in the finals Saturday night for the chance to raise a sixth Hockey East championship banner to the rafters.
With Dutchmen Defensemen, ‘U’th is Served
The Union Dutchmen aren’t playing in the ECAC Hockey championship game Saturday because they’re experienced.
They’re not residing on higher ground than the program has ever achieved because they’re older.
And they’re certainly not making a run at a first-ever NCAA berth because they have a veteran defensive corps.
Union’s blue line is younger than Larry King’s latest marriage. They’re fresher than Pine-Sol. With 18 combined NCAA seasons between them, Union’s 10 rostered defenders average out to less than sophomores. (Nolan Julseth-White played in only two games last year, so he is considered a frosh-plus.) Yet the group is a combined plus-77 this year, with only one player — freshman Ryan Forgaard — towing a negative number (minus-4). Not only are these greenhorn rearguards pulling their weight in the defensive zone, but they’re putting up some points, too: Eighteen goals and 53 assists are no beginners’ luck.
“It’s not tonight or the past three games,” said coach Nate Leaman of his defensive corps’ success. “I thought they did a pretty good job. They had good stick-on-puck play. We knew coming in [to the year] that we’d have three freshmen on defense … but the guys had good buy-ins, which makes it easy for the coach to put in a system that will help support that defense.”
Did we forget to mention that senior sentinel Mike Wakita is out with an injury, too? No big deal. Union forced St. Lawrence to take long shots through optimistic screens, boxing out any would-be invaders with game-long success.
“They work real hard,” said victimized coach Joe Marsh. “You’ve seen the development and maturation of their team. They showed a lot of maturity, they play within their capabilities, they play well as a group, and they don’t over-do things.”
Wakita’s classmate and fellow blue-liner Mike Schreiber never really saw his younger colleagues as, well, younger.
“I wouldn’t really say they’re young guys,” he said. “They came into camp ready to learn, and that’s what they’ve done all year. They worked hard in the weight rooms, they’ve worked hard on the ice, they keep everything simple.”
Schreiber knew this would be a group that played beyond its years early on.
“One or two weeks into the year,” he said. “Not just in games, but in practices also.”
Union had never played in a league championship weekend before this one. They’d never won 20 games in a season before, much less played for an ECAC Hockey crown.
But that’s the fun thing about youth … it can’t succumb to lessons that it’s never been taught.
