Home Blog Page 1106

This Week in Atlantic Hockey: October 22, 2009

By
-

It Could Be Worse…

What could be worse than a 1-9 opening weekend for Atlantic Hockey? How about an 0-14 record last weekend to plunge the league to 1-23 in nonconference games to date.

“I’m sure the coaches aren’t any happier than I am,” said league commissioner Bob DiGregorio. “(Atlantic Hockey) teams are just not getting the bounces. Teams have been in plenty of those games but weren’t able to pull them out.”

No AHA team is mentioned in the USCHO.com Division I Men’s poll, something neither the league nor I can find happening before.

Air Force, which opened last season 13-0, is 0-4. It’s the Falcons’ worse start since also losing their first four games of the 1996-1997 season, the year before coach Frank Serratore took the reins. Last weekend, Air Force was swept at home at the hands of Alabama Huntsville by identical 4-2 scores.

“College hockey games are so tight that it comes down to who makes the most mistakes,” Serratore said after the game on Friday. “The team that usually makes the most mistakes is the one that usually loses. We worked hard and our energy was good, but they capitalized on their chances and we didn’t. We are all pressing right now. We have to stick together and I’m confident that we will turn it around.”

Serratore said on Saturday and he was pleased with the effort and can take away some positives going into a big weekend against RIT.

“We took some steps in the right direction this weekend,” he said. “We scrapped and fought hard. We are a struggling team right now and we just have to go back to work and stick together to get through it.”

Co-regular season champion RIT is also winless, dropping games at St. Lawrence (3-1) and Clarkson (5-3). The Tigers are off to an 0-3 start, their worst ever under Wayne Wilson and overall worst since 1987-88. RIT had an 88-49 shots on goal advantage last weekend, but came up empty.

“If I had to use a word, it would be ‘disappointing’,” said Wilson. “Not ‘frustrating’. I’m optimistic. When I think back four years ago when we got outshot by St. Lawrence 65-15 at home and won that game, this is better because we really would have deserved to win if we had been able to pull these games out.

“We held St. Lawrence to four shots in the first period and five shots in the third period. Against Clarkson we had two shots that their goalie never saw but they hit him. Sometimes you get the lucky bounce off a shin pad and it goes in; sometimes you get the opposite. We need a little bit of puck luck now.”

Things don’t get any easier for RIT and Air Force as they square off against each other in conference play this weekend.

“We’ve got to play these games sometime and at this point, it’s good to get on the road early,” said Wilson. “(Air Force) is going to regroup. We know they’re going to be hungry. These games are going to be even tougher than the ones we’ve played. It’s league play now.”

“I think you’ll be seeing all these teams tying their skates a little tighter and really coming out hard this weekend,” said DiGregorio.

Weekly Awards

Player of the Week for October 19, 2009
Cory Conacher – Canisius
The junior had a hat trick, the ninth in program history, to help the Golden Griffins fight back from a three-goal deficit at Lake Superior State.

Goalie of the Week for October 19, 2009
Thomas Tysowsky – Holy Cross
Freshman, Goaltender, Amherst, N.Y.
The rookie from Amherst, N.Y., stopped 25 of 27 shots in is his collegiate debut at Merrimack.

Rookie of the Week for October 19, 2009:
Sean Ambrosie – Connecticut
Ambrosie scored his first career goal and added in an assist last weekend at Ferris State.

Staying Positive

Despite the league’s rough start, there have been positives:

– There were indeed a lot of close games last weekend, with seven of the fourteen contests decided by a single goal or including an empty net goal in the final seconds. Bentley lost by a goal to No. 20 Northeastern and No. 18 Quinnipiac, the latter coming in overtime. Ten of the fourteen games were on the road, which just Canisius and Air Force at home.

– Commissioner DiGregorio was at several of the games and was impressed by the rookies he saw.

“Holy Cross looked very good (at Merrimack),” he said. “(Coach) Paul Pearl has done an excellent job getting some good young players. Army’s freshmen looked impressive (the next night at Merrimack). Bentley played very well despite losing their entire first line. Their young players really chipped in.”

– Attendance at AHA venues so far this year has been excellent. RIT drew a record 7,421 fans to its game against Colgate, played at Rochester’s Blue Cross Arena. Since RIT’s on-campus rink, Ritter Arena, holds only 2,100 and was at nearly 90 percent capacity last year, tickets are going to be hard to come by this season.

Also, Air Force extended its sellout steak to 10 straight games going back to last season. The Falcons averaged 105 percent capacity last year (they can sneak more fans in due to the building being shared with the basketball arena).

Bentley, Army, Air Force and Canisius are home this weekend. The Griffs are hoping for large crowds on their Homecoming weekend.

This Week in the WCHA: October 22, 2009

By
-

We’ve entered the early part of the season, where everything still feels new, on both the spectators’ side and that of the coaches and teams, who are still feeling everything out. This weekend, we get all ten teams in action against each other for the first of five total times this year, an early way to gauge competition.

It’ll be an early glimpse to see how our respective teams match up with others in the conference, to give us an early hint of how our team might fare or to show us that, hey, injuries happen to everyone this early and we shouldn’t be worried just quite yet.

For me, like the coaches, this time of year helps me get a better handle on things to try to guess on how this crazy, unpredictable league just might (maybe) pan out.

Red Baron WCHA Players of the Week

Red Baron WCHA Offensive Player of the Week: Justin Fontaine, UMD.
Why: Scored five points (4g, 1a) to help his Bulldogs sweep Minnesota State.
Also Nominated: Rhett Rakhshani, DU; Chay Genoway, UND.

Red Baron WCHA Defensive Player of the Week: Chay Genoway, UND.
Why: Scored three power-play goals and was a vital member of UND’s special teams to help the Sioux take three points from the Gophers.
Also Nominated: Joe Howe, CC; Marc Cheverie, DU.

Red Baron WCHA Rookie of the Week: Joe Howe, CC.
Why: Stopped 65 of 68 Wisconsin shots to help his Tigers take three points from the Badgers.
Also Nominated: Drew Shore, DU; Danny Kristo, UND.

Howe About Those Tigers

Given how much CC lost this past summer, it’s understandable that no one really expected much out of them. Now granted, it’s still early, but the Tigers are without a doubt this year’s early surprise team.

The Tigers, picked to finish in the lower half of the league (around the seventh or eighth spot), are 2-1-1 to start so far (1-0-1 in conference), thanks in part to a couple different factors, especially the play of freshman goaltender Joe Howe.

“Joe’s played great for us,” said Tigers’ coach Scott Owens. “He’s been poised, he’s been making tough saves and easy saves, he gave us a chance at Wisconsin to pick up those points, especially on Friday night. He got the win against Northeastern, so it’s been a huge bright spot here for us in the early goings. His poise and his confidence is obvious, and I think it’s been a little bit reflective on our team as well.”

Besides Howe, the Tigers have received scoring from unlikely sources, namely third and fourth line players such as Matt Overman, Brian McMillin and Tyler Johnson, all of whom scored in Friday’s win over Wisconsin, and all of whom combined for 23 points last season.

“We’re kind of hoping it’s foreshadowing for our team this year, that we can have some diversified scoring,” said Owens. “Different people stepping up on different nights is going to be key for us if we want to have success.”

As for CC’s start, did Owens expect it? Not in the least.

“I didn’t know what to expect,” he admitted. “I think the team has come together very nicely, and a large part of that is Mike Testwuide as captain as done a great job. I’m pleasantly surprised, and it’s early, but the energy’s been good, the excitement level’s been good and a lot of people have been playing well. From a coaching staff’s perspective, that makes us happy.”

Despite the good things that have happened for the Tigers so far, Owens knows that there’s still a long road ahead as far as the season goes.

“We’ve got a lot of things we need to get better at. We’re still working to become a better team [and] we’re a long ways away, but it’s been an encouraging start.”

Fontaine of Early Success

Another team that has been a pleasant surprise so far is last year’s Broadmoor Trophy-winning Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs. After losing so many people and key components of last year’s squad, predictions on where UMD would end up ran the gamut, from home ice to the league basement.

Now, I’ll stress once again that it’s early, but so far, the Bulldogs’ start has started them on the path to defending last year’s hardware, even if coach Scott Sandelin is cautious to admit as much.

“It’s been like early season play,” he said, when asked to describe his team’s play, before admitting his team played well this past weekend against Minnesota State.

He is happy, however, about the play of his top guys, particularly Justin Fontaine and Jack Connelly, who have seemingly picked right back up from last year.

“Obviously those are the guys going into the year, the type of players they are; you count on those guys to contribute and lead our offense and to this point, they’ve done that,” said Sandelin. “It’s good to see them have a good start, confidence-wise, for both of those guys and then Mike Connelly was back in the line-up, had four points and hopefully those [three] guys can lead us in the early part and continue to have good years. But, we certainly need some secondary scoring but hopefully our young guys will keep growing.”

Along with the scoring he’s gotten, Sandelin is also pleased with the play of his goaltenders, Brady Hjelle and Kenny Reiter

“We were comfortable with our goaltenders going in, even though they didn’t have a lot of experience,” he said. “We know there’s still probably going to be some ups and downs, but I think to this point, obviously Brady’s had a good start and we know Kenny is right there too.”

Still, Sandelin is wary, knowing the youth of his defensive corps and the fact that there’s still a lot of hockey left to be played.

“Hopefully, it can continue. We just want those guys to do their job. If they can do their job, it makes everyone in front of them better too, and we’re still pretty young on the blue line and there’s games where we’re going to get exposed.”

Seawolf Injury Déja Vu

At the second-column-of-the-season point of last year, I wrote about Alaska Anchorage’s early success despite the team being hit by early season departures as well as a few injuries.

This year, the team isn’t quite off to the same start (2-2 as compared to 3-1) and hasn’t had anyone leave early, but the Seawolves have been bitten by the injury bug once again, this time, on their back line.

Senior defensemen Nils Backstrom and Trevor Hunt have been out since before the season started, but this past weekend, during the Brice Alaska Goal Rush, the Seawolves lost junior blueliner Luka Vidmar, forcing coach Dave Shyiak to move Ken Selby to defense.

Now that the Seawolves have been forced to deal with injury early on for the second straight year, is Shyiak frustrated? Probably, but he accepts it as part of the game.

“Different programs deal with injuries at different points in the year,” he said. “Some have them earlier, some have them mid-year and some at the end of the year so we’re no different. We just deal with it the best way we can. What it does is give opportunity to other people to eat up those minutes and see what they can do in those situations.”

Opportunities like that for freshmen Lee Baldwin, who normally wouldn’t be seeing as much action early on.

“Right now, we have some freshmen in that probably wouldn’t be getting as many minutes as they’re getting right now, but we basically have no choice,” said Shyiak. “It does give them experience and it does give them a quicker transition into league play.”

Match-Ups By the Numbers

Our first weekend of all-WCHA play, as you read above, includes all ten teams playing against each other. No byes this week …

#18 Minnesota-Duluth @ St. Cloud State
Overall Records: UMD — 3-1-0 (2-0-0 WCHA). SCSU — 1-2-1 (0-0-0 WCHA).
Head-to-Head: SCSU leads the overall series, 52-37-5.

Michigan Tech @ Colorado College
Overall Records: MTU — 1-1-0 (0-0-0 WCHA). CC — 2-1-1 (1-0-1 WCHA).
Head-to-Head: CC leads the all-time series, 87-71-12.

#17 Wisconsin @ Minnesota State
Overall Records: UW — 0-1-1 (0-1-1 WCHA). MSU, M — 2-2-0 (0-2-0 WCHA).
Head-to-Head: UW leads the overall series, 17-13-4.

#4 Denver @ #11 Minnesota
Overall Records: DU — 2-2-0 (0-0-0 WCHA). UM — 0-1-1 (0-1-1 WCHA).
Head-to-Head: UM leads the overall series, 93-64-12.

#2 North Dakota @ Alaska Anchorage
Overall Records: UND — 3-0-1 (1-0-1 WCHA). UAA — 2-2-0 (0-0-0 WCHA).
Head-to-Head: UND leads the overall series, 40-17-3 (or 39-16-3, depending on whom you ask)

Future WCHA Team Watch

Both future teams are doing well. Nebraska-Omaha took three points from Colgate, is ranked 12 in the polls and hosts Bowling Green this weekend. Bemidji State had a bye week, is ranked 16, and travels to Northern Michigan this weekend.

BSU: 2-0-0 overall, 0-0-0 vs. WCHA
UNO: 3-0-1 overall, 0-0-0 vs. WCHA

Room for Improvement

The first big round of non-conference play is done and the results are in: the WCHA went 12-9-1 against the rest of college hockey. The above-.500 record is good, but probably not good enough in the long run when one thinks of possible future tournament bids.

It also makes one think if we’re once again looking toward another down (relatively speaking) year in the league or, conversely, if it just proves that the parity in college hockey grows bigger every year, closing the gap between the first team and the 58th.

This Week in the CHA: Oct. 22, 2009

By
-

How ’bout them Alabama-Huntsville Chargers?

Paying attention, CCHA?

UAH is off to a 3-1 start. Yes, you read that correctly. Three wins and just one loss.

Granted, we’re only two weeks into the season, but to put this into perspective, the Chargers won just five games all of last year.

What makes the CCHA cringe is the fact one of their top schools, Notre Dame, was the victim of one of those wins. Then last weekend, UAH swept three-time defending Atlantic Hockey champion Air Force.

Yet the Chargers are no good for the CCHA. For the sake of college hockey, this needs to change. The CCHA will play with 11 teams next year and on paper, that just looks funky.

Why not bring the southern boys aboard? Travel too much? Sure, just ask Alaska and Nebraska-Omaha.

It appears the Chargers are on a mission this year. If they’re forced to go the independent route next year (and that seems likely), if UAH finishes with a winning record and some big wins this year, will that be enough to entice some decent talent to Alabama?

Maybe; and it should, but who knows? Without a championship to play for, most players may shy away. But ask current and past players, and one of the selling points is the lack of a normal winter.

Where else can you mosey to the rink in cargo shorts, flip-flops and a golf shirt? Where else are the car windows down (and if you’re lucky, you’ll hear a Bowx tune emanating from said car; Google it, people) 365 days a year?

Just in Huntsville. Oh, sorry. Just in Huntsville — home to a 3-1 hockey team.

Cowan A Quiet Leader For RMU

When Dave Cowan was named Robert Morris’ captain this season, head coach Derek Schooley said it was the typical “no-brainer.”

Cowan is one of those players that when he doesn’t get noticed, that’s usually a good thing, especially for defensemen. After all, Cowan has just 18 points after his first three seasons over 82 games.

“Dave’s our captain and our leader,” Schooley said. “He’s a stabilizing force back there and anchors our blue line. He’s very good, solid player and plays a good stay-at-home game for us.”

Cowan, the younger brother of ex-RMU captain Rob Cowan, a 2008 RMU graduate, came to the Colonials from the Olds Grizzlys of the Alberta Junior Hockey League, near his Calgary home.

He was named the Grizzlys’ Rookie of the Year in 2003-04 and was an AJHL All-Rookie Team selection, in addition to earning a spot on the AJHL South Prospects Team in both 2003-04 and 2004-05.

Now a senior, Cowan wants to finish out his career with a bang, but even if championship glory evades the class of 2010, Cowan has had a blast in Pittsburgh.

“Our guys are probably the tightest-knit group of guys I’ve been a part of in my hockey career,” Cowan said to RMUColonials.com. “It’s quite a special thing how close everybody is in our program. That’s kind of been a theme since I’ve been here. That’s kind of how Robert Morris is as a school.”

Niagara Nipped By Clarkson, St. Lawrence

It was a rough weekend for Niagara, as the Purple Eagles dropped a pair of in-state non-conference games on the road to Clarkson and St. Lawrence

Friday night, NU lost in overtime, 4-3, to Clarkson.

Sophomore goalie Chris Noonan made his NCAA debut at the start of the third period and kept Niagara in the game.

“For Noonan to come off the bench and give us a chance to win the game was great,” NU head coach Dave Burkholder said. “In his first collegiate minutes in net, he made several huge saves.”

Tyler Gotto, Paul Zanette, and Sam Goodwin, whose tying goal came with 5:51 left in the third period, scored Niagara’s goals.

Burkholder felt a different outcome was due for his squad, as they lost their third OT game in a row dating back to last season.

“The momentum swings were unbelivable,” Burkholder said. “We took control of the game in the second period, but breakdowns towards the end of the period hurt us. I thought we deserved better in the end.”

Noonan finished with 16 saves, only allowing Matt Beca’s OT winner with at 4:17 of the extra session. Adam Avramenko started and stopped 14 of 17 for Niagara.

The next night at St. Lawrence, NU was unable to hold a 3-0 lead and gave up four unanswered goals to drop a 4-3 decision.

C.J. Chartrain and Jeff Hannan registered their first collegiate goals to go along with one from Gotto and Noonan kicked out 28 in the loss.

UAH Blasts Air Force

In a renewal of one of the oldest rivalries in the 30 years of Alabama-Huntsville hockey, UAH swept away Air Force in Colorado Springs last weekend.

The Chargers took 4-2 wins each night.

Chris Fairbanks, Justin Cseter, Neil Ruffini and Andrew Coburn lit the lamp to back Cameron Talbot and his 40 saves.

“Our defense doesn’t handle pressure real well,” Air Force coach Frank Serratore said after the game. “We can’t drop bombs like we did tonight and give them easy scoring chances. College hockey games are so tight that it comes down to who makes the most mistakes. The team that usually makes the most mistakes is the one that usually loses. We worked hard and our energy was good, but they capitalized on their chances and we didn’t.”

Scoring three unanswered goals, the Chargers rallied past the Falcons Saturday night.

Coburn, Fairbanks, Tom Train and Cody Campbell were the UAH goal scorers.

Freshmen Matti Järvinen and Curtis deBruyn each picked up their first collegiate points as both assisted on Train’s goal.

Talbot made 34 saves as he improved to 3-1-0 on the year.

Colonials Split With Alaskan Squads

Robert Morris kicked off their regular season last weekend with a trip to Alaska for the Brice Alaska Goal Rush against both teams from the state.

Dave Cowan of Robert Morris.

Dave Cowan of Robert Morris.

Friday night, RMU ran into penalty trouble and fell to Alaska, 4-2.

One positive, though, was goalie Brooks Ostergard, who turned in a 45-save outing. That number ranks as one of the top five save performances by a Colonials’ goalie in a single game.

Cody Crichton and Denny Urban picked up RMU’s goals.

On the second day, Robert Morris University fired on all cylinders as they took advantage of power-play opportunities and downed Alaska-Anchorage, 5-3 in a fast-paced and penalty-filled contest.

Scott Kobialko, Trevor Lewis, Brandon Blandina, Denny Urban and Nick Chiavetta scored for the Colonials. Chiavetta’s was his first career goal and Tom Brooks picked up his first career point with the secondary assist.

Ostergard tallied 24 saves in the first Robert Morris victory of the 2009-2010 season.

Huntsville To Groh With Goaltender In ’10-11

Springfield Jr. Blues goaltender C.J. Groh committed over the summer to Alabama-Huntsville for the 2010-11 season.

“CJ proved he’s capable of being an elite goaltender at this level and he’s worked very hard for this opportunity,” said Jr. Blues head coach Andy Maher. “I expect him to have a very successful career at Alabama-Huntsville.”

A 19-year-old from Cincinnati, Groh posted a 15-15-3 record in 34 regular-season appearances in 2008-09 to compliment a 2.62 goals-against average and a .917 save percentage. He also recorded four shutouts in NAHL play.

This season, Groh is 5-3-2 with one shutout, a 2.86 goals-against average and a .918 save percentage.

He Said It

“Everyone who plays in the NAHL dreams of going to a strong college hockey program and for me that dream is coming true.” — Robert Morris freshman forward Joe Harcharik.

Tuesday Morning Quarterback: Oct. 20, 2009

By Jim Connelly and Todd D. Milewski
-

Jim: Well, first off Todd, welcome aboard. For a couple of years, I’ve had the always witty Scott Brown to debate and I know that won’t change with you behind the keyboard. Salutations aside, let’s get down to business. With a couple of weekends of college hockey in the books, we’ve seen a few things that should grab our attention thus far. I’ll start out east where the defending national champions didn’t get off on the best foot, losing to a Massachusetts team on Friday night that was picked by the coaches in Hockey East to finish seventh. Obviously, not the start coach Jack Parker wanted. The Terriers peppered the UMass goal with 41 shots but scored only twice. On the flip side, Kieran Millan, easily the best rookie on the team last year, gave up three goals including the game-winner in a third period in which he saw just four shots. Though the season isn’t based on a single game, this was certainly an eye opener to many who thought BU has a legitimate chance to repeat.

Todd: Thanks, Jim, for the welcome. I can only hope to be as witty a debater as Scott is. The BU result was a surprise at first, but then in the context of what we’ve seen over the first two weeks of the season, it fits the rest of the landscape. We’ve seen Denver, a team that is very well thought of around the WCHA, get off to only a 2-2 start with series splits against Vermont and Ohio State. We’ve seen Notre Dame, another preseason favorite, post the same record with home splits against Alabama-Huntsville and Providence. Michigan lost to Alaska in a non-conference tournament game. This is one of the things that I like so much about college hockey’s schedule — the top teams get tested right away. There’s no such thing as a preseason, for better or worse. That way, you get a much quicker understanding of which teams are making their way toward the top.

Carter Camper has three goals in four games this season for Miami (photo: Tim Brule).

Carter Camper has three goals in four games this season for Miami (photo: Tim Brule).

Jim: Yeah, there certainly have been a few shockers over the first few weeks. That has also allowed a few teams to emerge right away. Miami showed that it’s ready to do business with a fast start. The RedHawks held serve at home against St. Cloud State and then went into New Hampshire and did what few teams do: take three of four points. They got No. 1 on my ballot this week, that’s for sure. Vermont also caught my eye last week with a win at home at Boston College after upsetting Denver on the road the week prior. And we can’t forget Alabama-Huntsville, which took full advantage of its “statement game,” walking into Notre Dame and handing the CCHA powerhouse a loss on opening night, just a few months after the CCHA rejected its membership bid. Vermont and Miami are coming off trips to the Frozen Four so I think it was really important for them to make early statements. Huntsville just needs to make statements — doesn’t matter if they’re early or late.

Todd: Alabama-Huntsville followed up its split at Notre Dame by sweeping at Air Force last weekend, so the Chargers are well into their statement already. I understand the idea behind people thinking UAH needs to make a statement, but to whom are they stating? The CCHA has already turned the Chargers down and appears to be moving forward with an 11-team format. UAH is in a tough spot. They’re going to make a run at the last CHA championship, but, in a show of how truly perplexing things can be sometimes, winning games might not help them get a lot of non-conference dates in future seasons.

Jim: You make a good point. Though right now, I think UAH really just wants to show that they’re a desirable team to any conference that will look. And I wouldn’t write off the CCHA just yet. No conference wants to be 11 and if things change financially and UAH shows it’s a competitive team, they might just be on the radar at some point down the line. I hope so for college hockey’s sake, and of course for the school.How about this week? What do you have your eye on, Todd?

Todd: A couple things to keep an eye on from my perspective. I’ll be interested in the Boston College-Notre Dame game on Friday. I wasn’t tremendously impressed with BC from what I saw in its game against Vermont on Sunday, and we’ll see how the Irish respond after shutting out BU in Boston on Tuesday. The headliner in the WCHA is Minnesota hosting Denver for a pair. But keep an eye on the Wisconsin-Minnesota State series in Mankato. The Badgers have never played well at the Mankato Civic … er, Midwest Wireless … er, Alltel … er, Verizon Wireless Center, and they can’t afford to start 0-3-1. A similar start is what killed their NCAA hopes last season. What’s on your radar, Jim?

Jim: Well, my eyes will be on what happens at those games this weekend as well, but I’ll personally be watching a few interesting Hockey East storylines develop. On Friday night, I’ll see Merrimack and Vermont face off. We’ve talked about Vermont’s hot start and it’s tough to ignore Merrimack’s freshman Stephane DeCosta, who put up a five-spot against Army on Saturday. It will be interesting to see him with my own eyes. On Saturday, I’ll also see an interesting battleground game in Hockey East when Mass.-Lowell hosts Northeastern in a rematch of last year’s conference semifinal. Lowell is looking to becoming a major player in the league while Northeastern is trying to sustain the season it had last year. That should be interesting.

Todd: I’m really interested to see how Lowell gets going this season. There are a lot of eyes on the River Hawks after they got picked for second in Hockey East, and I’m one of those who still needs to be sold on the idea that they’re going to make the jump to the upper reaches of an awfully tough conference. Plenty to watch this weekend.

Vermont, UNO Climb as Miami Holds Top Spot in Poll

USCHO Staff Report
-

Miami reigns as the top team in the USCHO.com/CBS College Sports Division I Men’s Poll, but Vermont and Nebraska-Omaha made the biggest jumps.

Related: The full poll

Vermont impressed the voters with a 4-1 victory over Boston College on Sunday, and that moved the Catamounts up four spots to seventh.

Nebraska-Omaha earned a win and a tie at Colgate over the weekend and moved up four spots to 12th.

Miami claimed a win and a tie at New Hampshire to improve to 3-0-1 and earn the top spot for the second straight week.

No. 2 North Dakota got one first-place vote, while No. 3 Boston University got two and Vermont got one.

No. 18 Minnesota-Duluth (home sweep of Minnesota State) and No. 19 Colorado College (win, tie at then-No. 13 Wisconsin) moved into the poll; St. Cloud State and Northeastern dropped out.

The Badgers had the biggest fall of those still in the poll, dropping four spots to No. 17.

It won’t take long this week for a meeting of ranked teams. No. 3 Boston University hosts No. 9 Notre Dame on Tuesday.

Other top-20 matchups include No. 4 Denver at No. 11 Minnesota on Friday and Saturday; No. 14 Boston College at Notre Dame on Friday; and No. 5 Michigan at BU on Saturday.

‘Selfless Act’ Defines Providence Freshman’s Character

By Mike Scandura
-

As far as Providence coach Tim Army is concerned, we “live in a society that is ‘me’ focused.”

But that “society” doesn’t include freshman forward Tim Schaller.

What Schaller did two years ago transcended anything he could ever accomplish on the ice. Period.

Schaller, a native of Merrimack, N.H., donated his bone marrow to his older brother David who:

• Was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 2006.

• Contracted aplastic anemia a year later, after his cancer was pronounced in remission.

Aplastic anemia is a rare blood disorder — it affects fewer than two people per 1 million in the United States on an annual basis — which causes the bone marrow to fail to produce sufficient numbers of blood cells.

Typically, patients have low blood counts across all three types of blood cells: red, white and platelets.

“What Tim did is the type of thing that makes us better as people,” Providence coach Tim Army says of Tim Schaller, above (photo: Providence Athletics).

As a further means of explanation, aplastic anemia causes a person’s immune system to shut down.

“I was the first person tested [for a match] and I was told there was a 25 percent chance of being a match,” Tim Schaller said. “From what I knew, Dave and I didn’t have the same blood type. But it was close enough to where they could clean out his system and put in mine and it would turn out OK.”

Still, think about that number for a minute: 25 percent. That’s a one in four chance, or at the risk of using a baseball metaphor, it’s hitting .250 which, of course, is a mediocre average.

Yet the stakes were much higher than winning a game regardless of sport.

“Forget sports,” Army said. “What Tim did is the type of thing that makes us better as people.

“The percentages weren’t great. But to him, this was his brother. This was in his hands. There wasn’t any concern about his future. It was about making his brother better. To see this family strength is refreshing.”

What the Schaller family went through in 2006 was excruciating.

“When Dave had testicular cancer, I remember the day it happened,” Tim Schaller recalled. “My brother and dad [Robert] had gone to an appointment with a doctor and mom [Susan] got a phone call. Mom broke down crying.”

Dave Schaller underwent chemotherapy which suppressed the cancer.

“He was doing fine,” Tim Schaller said. “In 2007, he had come home from [New England College] and went to a Celtics game with his girlfriend. But he looked pale … yellow.

“Then, he went to see a doctor and was told something was wrong with his blood.”

In a cruel twist of faith, Dave Schaller’s bout with cancer and subsequent chemo had zero to do with his contracting aplastic anemia.

“It was completely out of nowhere,” Tim Schaller said. “It had nothing to do with cancer. He just didn’t have good blood cells.

“Dave went to Brigham and Women’s Hospital [in Boston] and was told he was sick and his immune system was down. In about two weeks, he was told he needed a bone marrow transplant.

“When he was in his [hospital] room, all visitors had to put on gloves and a surgical mask,” the younger Schaller continued. “[The anemia] killed his white blood cells, which affected his immune system. If he got any germ he would get sick quickly and wouldn’t recover from it.”

Not surprisingly, Tim Schaller knew very little about what the procedure required and what might be its aftereffects.

“It was very scary at first. … I didn’t get too much information up front,” he said. “I didn’t know about the procedure and how difficult it was. But when I learned what I could be doing if there was a blood match, there was no way I could have backed out.

"A lot of families cope with this every day. There are a lot of intriguing variables in this situation. What Tim did really speaks to his character and integrity."

— Providence coach Tim Army

“This was my brother. My life was in his hands. When they found out it was a match, in a couple of days they had me on the operating table and had me ready to go.”

The procedure lasted a good two hours.

After it was over, Tim Schaller’s mind essentially was in another world.

“I really wasn’t thinking too straight at the time because I was on drugs,” he said. “Then it hit me afterwards when I saw my brother — it hit me when I saw my bone marrow and blood going into him.”

Dave Schaller recovered to the point where he was able to go on and play hockey for New England College.

Tim Schaller, meanwhile, wasn’t exactly able to step back onto the ice and play with the talent he displayed first at Merrimack High and then with the Eastern Junior Hockey League’s New England Huskies — which attracted Army’s attention.

“I had to be non-active for about six weeks and I gained 30 pounds,” he said. “I weighed 170 and came out at 200. After that, I worked out and lost about 15 pounds.”

Ironically, the bone marrow transplant occurred after Tim Schaller fractured a wrist during hockey season at Merrimack High — which required an operation to repair the damage.

“It took a good couple of months for me to recover from everything,” Tim Schaller said. “But because it was summer, I could concentrate on working out.”

What Schaller did left an indelible impression on the Friars’ Army.

“You don’t know when you go through this process how it’s going to affect you,” he said. “You’re providing something that will save somebody’s life but you don’t know how you’ll respond. It was a selfless act.

“In a sense, it could be a risk to your own health and your own life. A lot of families cope with this every day. There are a lot of intriguing variables in this situation. What Tim did really speaks to his character and integrity.”

How true.

The Casting Call, 2009-10 Edition

By
-

Yeah, I know, I’m a bit late to the party this year, but better late than never.

Welcome back to the Hobey Watch blog, where I, your humble correspondent, analyze the race for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award, and attempt to predict the finalists and winner for college’s top individual honor.

Now, I’m pleased to report that due to a couple of developments since I came back to USCHO last year, I’ll be able to see more college hockey this season, both on TV and in person, which should give me additional perspective for my projections and analysis this season. However, as is my custom, I’ll start with the Casting Call, wherein I look at last year’s group of Hobey finalists, and look to fill those players’ roles for this season.

This part of my job is about as easy as it’s been, as four of last year’s Hobey finalists have returned: Air Force forward Jacques Lamoureux, Colgate forward David McIntyre, Princeton goaltender Zane Kalemba, and Michigan forward Louie Caporusso.

  

Now, never mind that we haven’t had a repeat Hobey finalist since I’ve been doing these “Casting Calls.” Big things are expected from all of those players, and I’ll join in those expectations. I’m not re-casting their roles just yet.

Jamie McBain is one of the three Hobey finalists I didn’t pick last season, mostly because of the issue with his plus/minus rating, but the fact remains that he was one of the nation’s most potent offensive defensemen last season, albeit for a team that missed the NCAA tournament.

I wouldn’t expect Denver to be sitting home in March – although it has happened to a team with high preseason expectations before (2004-05 Minnesota Duluth, anyone?) – but that’s really not the concern here. What I’m looking at is the fact that Patrick Wiercioch stepped in at Denver and became one of the nation’s top offensive defensemen. If he can replicate that performance as a sophomore, and if the Pioneers can live up to their high expectations, I’d look for Wiercioch to be a big part of the Hobey conversation.

Wisconsin’s top rival Minnesota also missed the NCAA tournament last year, and as the Gophers look to change that, I’ve got my eye on Cade Fairchild. He and Wiercioch are the top two offensive defensemen returning to college hockey, and both actually put up more points than did Jamie McBain. However, the Badgers came closer to the NCAA tournament than did the Gophers, and we know Hobey doesn’t especially like freshmen

When I think of Alaska’s Chad Johnson and Northeastern’s Brad Thiessen, I think of two goalies who took a traditional non-factor and put them in the mix come March. Obviously, Thiessen’s Huskies got into the NCAA tournament, while Johnson’s Nanooks did not, but the profile is still largely the same. I’m going to pick two players here for this role.

As a sophomore. Dartmouth’s Jody O’Neill may be a bit young for the role, but he was a major factor in Dartmouth’s quick turnaround his freshman year. Evan Stephens and Joe Stejskal should lead a strong blueline corps in front of him, so O’Neill will have a chance to put the Big Green in the NCAA tournament after spending the majority of Bob Gaudet’s tenure on the wrong side of the bubble. If that happens, look for him to get some Hobey buzz.

Certainly, the perennial also-ran with the highest expectations this season is UMass-Lowell, and the River Hawks have gotten strong goaltending in the past from both Carter Hutton and Nevin Hamilton. If one of those two netminders can grab the reins and drive the River Hawks into the NCAA tournament, that’s a good place to look for a Hobey finalist.

Viktor Stalberg was one of three Hobey finalists I didn’t see coming last season, so it’s going to be a little bit difficult for me to figure out who fills the role. It’s tempting to pick his younger brother, Vermont freshman Sebastian Stalberg, but let’s let the kid adjust to college hockey a bit, huh?

I think the things that stood out to me about Stalberg when I had the chance to watch him are his skill level and the balance he was able to strike between goals and assists. It’s a combination that Louie Caporusso has at Michigan, obviously, but he’s already on the list.

Boston University junior Nick Bonino is the top returning scorer for the reigning national champions, and the top returning goal-scorer as well. He was a bit more of an assist man last season, but with two finishers like Brandon Yip and Jason Lawrence graduating, Bonino will be called on to keep putting the puck in the net, and if you’re looking for potential Hobey contenders, a guy who had 50 points a year ago is a good place to start.

Army’s Owen Meyer fits more in the roll of “Small Conference Superstar” currently held by Jacques Lamoureux, but he’s worth keeping an eye on if Lamoureux’s numbers drop this season. He was part of a really nice line two seasons ago with Luke Flicek and Bryce Hollweg, and had 21 goals and 18 assists. His numbers fell off a bit last season, but if he can come back strong as a senior, I’d look at him for a potential Hobey finalist spot.

Colin Wilson’s low goal total last season made it hard to take him seriously as a true contender for the Hobey, but there was no denying that he was one of college hockey’s top players last season, and a major factor in Boston University’s run to the NCAA title. A player who hands out the helpers with the skill and frequency that Wilson showed last season will be part of the mix.

In some ways, Jordan Schroeder is almost the opposite of Wilson: he certainly doesn’t have have Wilson’s stacked physique, and while Wilson’s stock skyrocketed heading into the draft (largely due to said physique), Schroeder fell from a projected Top-5 pick to a late first-round grab by the Canucks. Still, Schroeder is a top assist man, and like Wilson, he impressed at the World Junior Championship. What’s more, like Wilson last year, Schroeder is part of a proud program looking to restore itself to glory after missing the NCAA tournament.

The other assist man I’d keep an eye on is Aaron Palushaj of Michigan. Some people had him pegged for a finalist spot last year, but that spot went to Caporusso because Hobey prefers goals. That said, Palushaj showed himself to be an elite setup man, and there is an opening for one of those this season.

(Added 10/21: My bad on the Palushaj pick…insert grumbling about early signings here…let’s give it another go…Ryan Lasch and Garrett Roe of St. Cloud have been on my radar for a while, and they’re both upperclassmen now. Lasch has filled this role before, when he was a Hobey finalist two seasons ago, and Roe was one of my picks as a Hobey finalist last season, although the real voters disagreed. I feel like one or both of these guys could easily get back to that level one more time.)

Let’s be perfectly honest. There’s no one in college hockey this season whose overall package of on- and off-ice can be compared to Matt Gilroy. This isn’t fawning or putting Gilroy up on a pedestal: it’s just a matter of fact. Really, how often do you find a walk-on who switches positions as a freshman, develops into an all-American as a sophomore, turns down more than 20 pro offers after his junior year, then winds up captaining the best team in the country to a national championship as a senior? It just doesn’t happen, and that it did with Matt Gilroy will long remain one of the best stories that college hockey has ever produced. I would say the same for Jeff Lerg and Jacques Lamoureux as well, but we’re not talking about those guys right now.

As good as Gilroy’s story is, it doesn’t make him last year’s Hobey winner without the on-ice component, so let’s start with that. I’m looking for a defenseman in a leadership position on an elite team that missed the NCAA tournament last season (as BU did in 2008).

I just talked to Wisconsin’s Ryan McDonagh for a New York Daily News feature, and the Badgers certainly fit the profile as a traditional power that watched from home back in March. As a first-round NHL draft pick and former Mr. Hockey in his home state of Minnesota, McDonagh doesn’t have Gilroy’s underdog story, and he also doesn’t have the track record that Gilroy had built at BU before last season. Still, he’s likely to eventually be Gilroy’s teammate with the New York Rangers after Montreal traded his draft rights this past summer, and McBain’s departure will leave some bigtime minutes to fill, and McDonagh, one of the Badgers’ tri-captains this season, is a likely candidate to do some of the filling.

The other guy I’d keep an eye on is Chris Summers of Michigan. Sure, Michigan didn’t miss the NCAA tournament last season, but the Wolverines did take a kick in the collective gut with their first-round loss to Air Force, so there’s a certain amount of pride to be reclaimed. As for Summers himself, he’s Michigan’s captain, and he’s a first-round draft pick who opted to play all four years of college hockey (although, when your NHL draft rights are held by the ugly mess of an organization that is the Phoenix Coyotes, that probably makes the decision easier). Summers has seen time both at forward and on defense in his time at Michigan, and he’ll need a big breakout season to get into the Hobey conversation, but he’s certainly the kind of guy I’d keep my eye on.

Of course, as we’ve seen, my preseason casting call isn’t a particularly reliable indicator as to who’s going to be a Hobey finalist at the end of the year, but then, picking teams at the beginning of the season is dicey enough, let alone picking players. As such, this is as good a place to start as any, and we’ll see where it goes from here.

Stay tuned.

This Week in Atlantic Hockey: Oct. 15, 2009

By
-

Slow Start

It wasn’t the start that Atlantic Hockey teams wanted. AHA squads went 1-9 to open the season:

• Canisius got the conference’s only win on Saturday, a 1-0 victory over Ferris State thanks to a sterling performance by goaltender Dan Morrison (48 saves). The Golden Griffins lost to the Bulldogs 5-1 the night before.

• Army lost twice in the Icebreaker Tournament in Omaha, Neb., once to the host Mavericks (6-4) and then to St. Lawrence (5-2) in the consolation game.

• Air Force was swept at Bemidji State (3-1 and 7-3), a reversal of last year’s series in Colorado Springs. Goaltender Andrew Volkening will not be playing every minute of every game in net this season, as he was pulled at the 12:13 mark of the second period on Saturday after surrendering six goals on 17 shots.

• Holy Cross dropped a 2-1 decision at Providence. The Friars got the game winner late in the second period.

• RIT came up short in a 3-2 loss to Colgate at Blue Cross arena in front of 7,421 fans. The attendance set a record for both RIT and for a home game by an Atlantic Hockey school.

• Mercyhurst dropped a pair of games at the Kendall Hockey Classic in Anchorage, Alaska. The Lakers lost 5-3 to the host Seawolves on Friday and then 5-1 to Alaska on Saturday.

“We played pretty well on Friday,” Mercyhurst coach Rick Gotkin said. “When you play well you expect to win, but sometimes it’s not that simple. It was a very winnable game against a good team.

“Saturday we were not playing well, and Fairbanks really took it to us. I don’t think we could have won that game even if we did play well. But we stunk up the joint.”

Gotkin says one positive his team can take away from the weekend was making good on its goal to limit the opposition’s scoring chances.

“We limited two pretty good teams in terms of shots on goal,” he said. “It’s something we need to focus on this season: limiting the other team’s transition and not turning the puck over. I thought we did a good job of that.

“It’s a tough trip. It’s a tough trip for North Dakota, for anybody.”

The Lakers travel to Western Michigan this weekend for a pair of games. Mercyhurst has a tough start to the season with nine of its first 10 games on the road. The Lakers are trying to avoid the slow start they had last season, when they opened with eight straight road games and won just one of them.

“We want to build on some of the things we did last week and correct others,” Gotkin said. “And we’re looking forward to a trip with less wear and tear. A six-hour bus ride beats an eight-hour plane trip.”

Weekly Awards

Player and Goalie of the Week for Oct. 12, 2009
Dan Morrison – Canisius

The sophomore netminder’s performance was so impressive it earned him duel honors from the league. His 48-save shutout performance led the Golden Griffins to a 1-0 victory over Ferris State. Those 48 stops are the most in a shutout in school history, breaking the old mark of 46 that was set back in 2000.

Rookie of the Week for Oct. 12, 2009
Eric Artman – Air Force

Artman opened his college hockey career in style, with a goal in each game in a apir of Falcons losses at Bemidji.

Preseason Predictions

Atlantic Hockey doesn’t do a preseason all-star team, but if it did, here’s who I would predict as choices:

Forwards:

Jacques Lamoureux, Air Force — A no-brainer. Lamoureux led the nation is goals (33) by a wide margin last season.

Owen Meyer, Army — Meyer is the most dominant player in the league. Every team knows when he’s on the ice.

Matt Fairchild, Air Force — Has the knack for scoring big goals in big games. One of the best skaters in the league.

Defense:

Dan Ringwald, RIT — Can do it all on the blue line: runs the power play, sets up goals and is rock-solid.

Carl Hudson, Canisius — Had 14 goals last season and should top that this year.

Goalie:

Andrew Volkening, Air Force — He got pulled on Saturday, but he’s got the stats and the track record over two-plus seasons to earn the honor.

Let’s compare this list to the one the league puts out in March and see how I did.

Beginnings

On Oct. 8, Sacred Heart named long time Yale assistant C.J. Marottolo as its new coach. Marottolo replaces Shaun Hannah, who resigned suddenly in September.

“It’s a home run for me,” said Marottolo, who lives just 25 miles from Milford.

“Any assistant coach aspires to be a head coach,” Marottolo said. “Sacred Heart is a great school with an emerging hockey program. Shaun built a good foundation here.”

Plus, the new coach doesn’t have to change his address.

“Family was an important consideration,” Marottolo said. “It was important not to disrupt them, so this is a wonderful opportunity.”

Marottolo said his 13 years at Yale has prepared him for the job, but now, the buck stops with him.

“Everything falls on you,” he said of being a head coach. “The wins and losses come back to the head coach, as they should. Tim Taylor and Keith Allain gave me a lot of responsibility at Yale, but it was their name on the program.”

The new coach says he’s getting acclimated in a hurry at Sacred Heart, which opens its season on Oct. 31 at Princeton.

“I’m still learning the players’ names,” he said. “[Assistant coaches] Lou Santini and Dan Muse and I are starting fresh. I haven’t loooked at game tape from last year. I want to get my own impressions of the players.

“We have our goals for the year but for now they’re staying within our team. Obviously we want to win games and we’ll do that by working hard and paying attention to the little things. I can’t tell you how excited we are to start the season. We’re ready to go.”

This Week in the CHA: Oct. 15, 2009

By
-

Maybe it was ironic that mere months after the CCHA chose not to accept Alabama-Huntsville into the conference, UAH opened its season on the road at Notre Dame.

Most figured it would be a cinch for the Irish to get four points from the Chargers, but “most” didn’t include the Chargers themselves as UAH earned a split in the series after a dramatic last-second win Friday night.

Cody Campbell scored a power-play goal with five ticks left to give UAH a 3-2 win. Not only was that goal deflating for the sold-out Joyce Center, but so were Cameron Talbot’s 39 saves for Huntsville.

Alabama-Huntsville's Neil Ruffini scores against Notre Dame (photo: Doug Eagan).

Alabama-Huntsville’s Neil Ruffini scores against Notre Dame (photo: Doug Eagan).

“We knew he was a good goaltender,” Irish coach Jeff Jackson said. “He played well against us a couple of years ago in the RPI Tournament. He’s big and athletic and he played well for them [Friday] night.”

Tom Train and Justin Cseter each tied the game earlier as Train’s goal made it 1-1 and Cseter’s made it 2-2 when he finished off a break with Train.

In another bit of irony, Ryan Thang was in the box when Campbell scored. Thang’s double-overtime winner in the opening game of the Midwest Regional in 2007 eliminated UAH from the NCAA tournament.

The loss for Notre Dame was also its second straight to a CHA team as Bemidji State topped Notre Dame in the first round last spring.

Huntsville also gained some confidence in killing off a five-minute major to Keenan Desmet at the end of the second period and start of the third.

“We got the first 2½ minutes killed, then we had intermission,” UAH coach Danton Cole said to the Huntsville Times. “Then we got the other 2½ minutes. We had a break between and were able to catch our breath.”

Notre Dame rebounded, however, with a 3-1 win the next night.

Neil Ruffini evened the score, 1-1, at 2:01 of the second for the Chargers’ lone goal.

Talbot made a career-high 48 saves.

Cole added that he knew his squad would be in much better shape, literally, this season.

“All summer they did a great job of working out,” he said. “We’re a much fitter team.”

NU, Colgate Play To Tie

Niagara opened its season at home last Friday night against Colgate, but couldn’t hold onto a two-goal lead, settling for a 4-4 tie in front of 1,508 fans at Dwyer Arena.

The Purple Eagles were leading, 4-2, heading into the third period, but two goals in a span of 2:25 late in the period sent the game into overtime, where nothing was settled.

“We battled hard and did all the right things for 40 minutes,” Niagara coach Dave Burkholder said. “We just couldn’t finish it off.”

Dan Baco scored shorthanded just three minutes into the game and a little over three minutes later, Brent Vandenberg tallied his first NCAA goal.

Ryan Olidis and Marc Zanette (first collegiate goal) also scored for NU, which got a 26-save outing from Adam Avaramenko.

Bemidji State Brooms Aside Air Force

Tom Serratore won the latest battle of the Serratore brothers as Bemidji State swept Air Force and older brother Frank last weekend in Bemidji.

Bemidji State's Dan Bakala earned his first collegiate victory over Air Force (photo: BSU Photo Services).

Bemidji State’s Dan Bakala earned his first collegiate victory over Air Force (photo: BSU Photo Services).

Sophomore Dan Bakala turned away 20 shots in a 3-1 victory Friday evening for his first collegiate win. Bakala went 3-0 last year in exhibition games.

Captain Chris McKelvie, Ian Lowe and Ryan Cramer scored for BSU.

Saturday night, Bemidji State scored four goals in the first period en route to a 7-3 win.

Matt Read scored a pair and Jordan George, Aaron McLeod, Brady Wacker, Brad Hunt and Cramer recorded the BSU goals and Bakala finished with 21 stops.

George, McLeod and Wacker’s goals were all No. 1 for them at the NCAA level.

“Overall, it was a good weekend,” Tom Serratore told the Bemidji Pioneer. “I think we had some carry over from last year with our veterans, and the young guys are figuring things out a little quicker than normal. As a group, I think they’ve done job of self-coaching, since we only had a few days of actual practice.”

Saturday’s victory continued Bemidji State’s dominance in the all-time series with Air Force as it improved to 25-8-2, including 16-1-2 mark versus the Falcons at the Glas, and a 20-3-1 record since Jan. 19, 2002.

Colonials Take Both Exhibitions From Queen’s

They were just exhibition games, but Robert Morris chalked up two wins last weekend against Queen’s University from Kingston, Ontario.

RMU won 8-4 Friday night and 3-2 Saturday night.

Nathan Longpre scored twice and also got goals by Furman South, Cody Crichton, Chris Kushneriuk, Zach Hervato, Andrew Blazek (more on him below) and Scott Kobialko.

In net, Brooks Ostergard made 14 saves.

Saturday night, James Lyle, Ron Cramer and Denny Urban lit the lamp and Ostergard and Eric Levine combined to stop 24 shots.
 
“Tonight was great for our hockey team,” RMU coach Derek Schooley said to USCHO. “We would have got nothing out of playing another 8-4 game again. We played hard and got our chances.  At the end of the day, I was pretty pleased. It was a good test for us.”

Blazek Thrilled To Play for Hometown Colonials

Coming home to play college hockey is not a dream many players get to realize, but Blazek has that chance with Robert Morris.

Blazek, a Pittsburgh native, committed to the Colonials late in the summer. Prior to his playing in the NAHL with Texas and Topeka, Blazek received two varsity letters in hockey at Upper St. Clair High School in the Steel City.

Topeka head coach Scott Langer had a hand in getting Blazek to the next level.

“Coach Langer got me on the ice and helped with recruiting,” Blazek said.  “If it wasn’t for him and the rest of the guys, I wouldn’t be playing Division I hockey this year.”

Blazek also offered advice for the current crop of RoadRunners working through the system in hopes of landing on a college roster.

“I would tell the rookies to get their names out there any way possible, and to develop their skills because college hockey is a lot harder than juniors,” Blazek said.

Niagara Hosting ’99-00 Reunion on Nov. 8

Niagara will celebrate the 10th anniversary of the program’s first NCAA tournament team on Nov. 8 against Massachusetts, its next home contest.

Members of the 1999-2000 Purple Eagles team will be in attendance for autographs, pictures and a special celebration. 

The first 500 fans in attendance will receive an autographed poster of the championship team. The players will be recognized on ice at the first intermission and will be available for autographs during the second intermission.

That ’99-00 team featured current men’s assistant coach Greg Gardner and current women’s head coach Chris MacKenzie. The Purple Eagles boasted a 30-8-4 record which included a 15-0-2 league mark and an upset of New Hampshire in the first round of the NCAA tourney.

Pittsburgh Showcase Goes Again in January

Tickets for the Pittsburgh College Hockey Showcase, hosted by Robert Morris, are on sale.

The showcase will take place Friday, Jan. 8, as the Colonials will take on Miami at Mellon Arena. For the second year, the Robert Morris women’s team will kick off the event as it hosts Connecticut.

The middle game will feature the Robert Morris ACHA men’s team taking on Penn State.

“Once again, we have an excellent opponent at the Pittsburgh College Hockey Showcase as we face 2009 national runner-up Miami University,” Schooley said. “Also, playing for the final time at Mellon Arena should be an exciting experience for our players, fans and university.”

Tickets are priced at $12 for general admission and $17 for Igloo Club reserved.  The tickets are valid for all three games.

He Said It

“Everything is just perfect. The academics, the campus, it’s 45 minutes from home. The coaches there are over the top. I’m happy that I will get a chance to play there.” — Niagara recruit and Eden, N.Y., native Kevin Ryan, a defenseman with Topeka.

Freshman Ryan Leaves BC for Major Juniors

USCHO Staff Report
-

Freshman winger Kenny Ryan has left Boston College, coach Jerry York said Thursday.

Kenny Ryan played in two exhibition games for Boston College before leaving school (photo: Melissa Wade).

Kenny Ryan played in two exhibition games for Boston College before leaving school (photo: Melissa Wade).

Ryan is expected to join the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League.

The move comes after Ryan played in two exhibition games with BC. The Eagles open the season Sunday at Vermont.

A second-round draft pick of the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs this year, the 6-foot, 204-pound Ryan played two seasons with the U.S. National Team Development Program.

The Spitfires didn’t confirm that Ryan would join their team.

“It’s an interesting situation, but we have no comment,” Spitfires general manager Warren Rychel told The Windsor Star.

Windsor owns Ryan’s rights — it selected him in the seventh round of the 2007 OHL Draft.

This Week in the WCHA: Oct. 15, 2009

By
-

Why, hello there again. Are you ready for hockey season? Most of the WCHA turned up to play this past weekend, with all teams in action but one earning victories Friday night. Granted, most of those teams lost on Saturday, but it’s always nice starting off one’s season with a notch in the win column.

Besides, the first weekend of the season is for teams to find themselves.

“[The first weekend] is going to give you a lot of videotape to see what you do well, but more importantly, maybe areas of weakness of our team and what we really need to work on.”

Though those words belong to Gophers coach Don Lucia and are in reference to his team playing North Dakota in their first actual games this weekend, Denver’s George Gwozdecky said essentially the exact same thing after his team lost to Vermont last Saturday.

Red Baron WCHA Players of the Week

Red Baron WCHA Offensive Player of the Week: Brett Olson, MTU

Why: Scored five points, including his first collegiate hat trick, in the Huskies’ victory over Northern Michigan.

Also Nominated: Joe Colborne, DU; Jack Connolly, UMD; Rylan Galiardi, MSU, M; Mike Cichy, UND.

Red Baron WCHA Defensive Player of the Week: Kurt Davis Jr., MSU, M

Why: Scored three points and had a plus-4 overall rating to help the Mavericks sweep Bowling Green.

Also Nominated: Patrick Wiercioch, DU; Steven Seigo, MTU; Chay Genoway, UND.

Red Baron WCHA Rookie of the Week: Michael Cichy, UND

Why: Had three points (1g, 2a) and a team-high plus-4 rating to help his Sioux sweep Merrimack.

Also Nominated: Rylan Schwartz, CC; Matt Donovan, DU; Steven Seigo, MTU; Kevin Murduck, MSU, M.

Diving Right In

When Wisconsin takes to the ice this weekend, it’ll be the last WCHA team to play an actual game. The other nine teams have games under their belts, most with several, given exhibitions. When it seems like almost everyone else as at the very least an exhibition game, often against a Canadian university, and most have non-conference series as well, why wouldn’t someone?

According to Badgers coach Mike Eaves, it was just a quirk in the schedule, and instead, he’s just been working on details the past few weeks. In other words, he has treated the season-opening break like he would a bye week mid-season.

“I relate to the fact if you have a bye week,” he said. “We get to detail work.”

As for how his team will do this weekend against CC? Same deal.

“We’ve come off bye weeks and played really well,” Eaves said. “Our concern is the first period. If we come out ahead or tied, we’ll be OK.”

“Hey, What’s With the Random Time-Out?”

While there aren’t any new rule changes to inform you all about this year, you may have noticed that your teams congregated at their benches a few times a period to talk strategy. I didn’t notice it myself until the Northeastern people I was sitting next to in the World Arena’s press box expressed their confusion at what they saw on the ice.

What they (and you) observed was a new official time-out policy the WCHA instituted this year. The Official Time-outs let each team go to its respective bench, last one minute and occur three times a period; roughly around the 15:00, 10:00 and 5:00 marks.

The time-outs were something voted on by the league in April to be instituted this year; why, exactly, is unsure. However, it does let coaches talk to their teams about stuff without having to use their one crucial regular time-out.

WCHA: Not Twitterpated

While there often isn’t much interesting on the yearly preseason media teleconference call besides the usual talk from the coaches about how they see their years shaping up, occasionally a fellow journalist will ask something that is.

This year, Andy Baggot from the Wisconsin State Journal asked several of the coaches if they have any rules regarding their players and the usage of Twitter and/or Facebook.

I presume his questioning was spawned off the recent NFL controversy with Larry Fitzgerald’s brother, and, given that college kids are generally on top of the newest social media, it was a fair thing to ask. The responses varied about team rules, but it was generally found that the coaches themselves have no want, desire or need for such social media.

“I don’t have a Facebook account and I don’t Twitter, so I don’t understand and use them on a daily basis,” North Dakota’s Dave Hakstol said. “Our players are responsible for them and their own personal use of those areas.”

“Our compliance officer does monitor some of the information that is on Facebook,” MTU’s Jamie Russell said, “but like Dave Hakstol, I’m not on Twitter or Facebook. The players are responsible for the content they put up on those various sources and definitely in today’s day and age, you have to be careful of what is put out onto the mainstream.”

“I’m an old guy; twitterpating to me was when all the bunny rabbits got twittered, twitterpated with Bambi back in those days. When you fell in love, you got twittered. It means something really different now,” quipped Lucia. “I’m not big on guys twittering to the media, they have media access right now, so it’s something we monitor. We try to monitor their Facebooks, but it’s not something that I’m going to worry about, but our SID has access to all their Facebooks and pays attention to what goes on there.”

“I take this thing very seriously,” Gwozdecky said. “We monitor this, we have an assistant coach who is assigned to monitor Facebook on a daily basis and it’s interesting to note that many times, you’re shocked to see what [kids] think is appropriate and what you know is not. We monitor it not only for the short-term consequences, but the long-term consequences.”

From someone who has been on Facebook since virtually its inception, I’ve noticed a change in profiles of student-athletes as the years have gone by, as players de-tag themselves in what might be considered improper photos and block their account access to everyone but friends. In the beginning, these guys didn’t care as much but now, they go to much greater lengths to either make their profiles more appropriate or harder to access.

Match-Ups By the Numbers

The first week of columns also means the start of conference play.

#3 Denver @ Ohio State
Overall Records: DU — 1-1-0 (0-0-0 WCHA). OSU — 0-2-0 (0-0-0 CCHA).
Head-to-Head: DU leads the overall series, 5-3-0.

Colorado College @ #13 Wisconsin
Overall Records: CC — 1-1-0 (0-0-0 WCHA). UW — 0-0-0 (0-0-0 WCHA).
Head-to-Head: UW leads the overall series, 105-57-8.

#9 Minnesota @ #4 North Dakota
Overall Records: UM — 0-0-0 (0-0-0 WCHA). UND — 2-0-0 (0-0-0 WCHA).
Head-to-Head: UM leads the overall series, 130-124-12.

Minnesota State @ Minnesota-Duluth
Overall Records: MSU, M — 2-0-0 (0-0-0 WCHA). UMD — 1-1-0 (0-0-0 WCHA).
Head-to-Head: UMD leads the overall series, 15-14-5 (or 14-12-5, depending on whom you ask).

#19 St. Cloud State vs. Union
Overall Records: SCSU — 0-2-0 (0-0-0 WCHA). Union — 2-0-0 (0-0-0 ECAC).
Head-to-Head: SCSU leads the overall series, 1-0-0.

Alaska Anchorage vs. Rensselaer, Robert Morris @ Fairbanks
Overall Records: UAA — 1-1-0 (0-0-0 WCHA). RPI — 1-1-0 (0-0-0 ECAC). RMU — 0-0-0 (0-0-0 CHA).
Head-to-Head: UAA is tied with both teams overall (1-1-0 vs. RPI, first meeting with RMU).

Future WCHA Team Watch

As you all probably know by now (and if you don’t, you probably should), the league grows to 12 teams next year with the additions of Bemidji State and Nebraska-Omaha.

As a result, the league is going to look different next year in several different ways, besides the obvious of a few new teams, faces, colors, logos and fan bases at the Final Five in March 2011. The schedule is going to be a bit wackier than normal, as the current format of 28 league games isn’t changing. I haven’t quite heard how it’s going to work yet — whether each team will only face every other team once except for a “rival” series (say, DU and CC will face everybody once except each other, where the four total games will stay), or something else, but it’s certain to be quite a bit different.

Anyway, given that we’re going to be embracing the Beavers and Mavericks into the fold, I wanted to add in a quick bit near the end of every column keeping up with the two teams. I don’t mean anything big; just each team’s overall record as well as their record against current WCHA opponents (or future, as UNO and BSU play each other at the end of the season). This way, all of us know what we’re in store for next year.

BSU: 2-0-0 overall, 0-0-0 vs. WCHA
UNO: 2-0-0 overall, 0-0-0 vs. WCHA

Dear Hockey Season …

… to be honest, I wasn’t ready for you to come this year. For the first time in a long while, I really enjoyed not thinking about you or hockey in general for the past five months. I enjoyed my summer (as busy and as work-filled as it was) and although I love you and covering teams during your tenure, I wasn’t ready for you to come knocking at my door.

However, now that you have, I’m ready. I’m here, I feel more confident than ever to face you and let’s face it, the fall weather that’s come around the past few weeks hasn’t hurt things either.

In closing, hockey season, while I might not have been as ready or as willing for you to come back this year as I have been in years past, I’m ready now. Bring it.

Love, T

This Week in ECAC Hockey: Oct. 15, 2009

By
-

Every year, in every league, folks say that “this year looks even more competitive and balanced than last year, or any other year for that matter.”

Every single year, without fail.

It’s what they — the coaches, administrators and players — are expected to say. It’s a way of showing a little “aw, shucks” humility and respect for the opposition, be they Michigan or Merrimack.

And yet, ECAC Hockey always seems to find a way to make truth of the cliché; at least, as long as I’ve been paying attention. Two years ago was tight. Last year was tighter, and this year’s parity looks unparalleled.

It’s a good time to be a part of the smartest league in the world.

EZ-AC? Not so fast …

The league made a nationally significant splash right out of the gate, going 7-4-1 in non-conference games in the first week of play. The notable victors included Quinnipiac, Union and Rensselaer, but Colgate and St. Lawrence also won out-of-conference games in the season’s opening weekend.

In case you missed it, the Bobcats bullied host Ohio State out of a poll spot (the Buckeyes had been 17th going in) with a weekend sweep, and Union not only beat Maine for the first time ever, but swept the Black Bears in Schenectady to improve to 2-7-0 all-time against the Hockey East power.

While RPI suffered a penalty-laden loss at Massachusetts to start the 2009-10 campaign, the Engineers rebounded superbly in a stunning 3-1 triumph over visiting New Hampshire. Feeding off Allen York’s stalwart play in the crease, RPI knocked previously 16th-ranked UNH out of the top 20 as well. York’s winning performance was especially encouraging after the sophomore waved home five goals on 28 shots against the Minutemen, but bounced right back with a one-goal, 37-save performance against New Hampshire.

A Touch More Dutch

Union had an outstanding weekend against one of coach Nate Leaman’s former teams.

Not only did the Dutchmen get off to their sixth-ever 2-0-0 start, but they did it in style. Junior goaltender Corey Milan stopped 53 of the 57 shots he faced, and drew even with Kris Mayotte (’06) for third on Union’s all-time win list with 27. The netminder currently leads the program in career goals-against average (2.54) and pulls in third once more in save percentage (.908).

The two-game takedown of UMO (UMaine-Orono, for the uninitiated) also marked the program’s first sweep of a Hockey East opponent.

Now for some less historical but more encouraging notes: 16 players earned points on the weekend (leaving only four participants who didn’t); six different players scored in Saturday’s 6-3 win; two Dutchmen currently hold plus-5 ratings (Mario Valery-Trabucco and Mike Schreiber); and frosh forward Jeremy Welsh played well enough to earn league rookie of the week honors (two goals, one helper).

Bobcat Crease Runneth Over

Quinnipiac netminding tandem Eric Hartzell and Dan Clarke proved stellar in Columbus. Six-four rookie Hartzell only gave up two goals on 32 shots in Friday’s 4-2 victory, while second-year Clarke returned his teammate’s opening serve with an astounding one-goal, 44-save exhibition on Saturday.

Clarke’s workout included a 25-shot first period in which he allowed the solitary goal — had he stopped that lone shot, he would’ve earned a tie with Jamie Holden (’04) for most saves in a period. (Holden accomplished that feat in the second period of a 6-2 win over Connecticut on March 1, 2002.)

It was also the 22nd 40-save game for a QU ‘keeper. Holden was responsible for 10 of those performances, but eight of those — including the top four — fell on Holden classmate Justin Eddy, who had 58-, 56-, 51- and 49-save outings among his 75 games played. (Last year’s starter, Bud Fisher, only appears on the list thrice.)

For the sake of Quinnipiac’s season, here’s hoping that Clarke won’t appear on that list again for a while.

No Relief for the Raiders

It’s true, it’s true, the program’s ridiculous run of overtime games ended at eight with Colgate’s 3-2 win at RIT on Saturday. But that’s not to say that the Hamilton club has had any time to breathe during recent competition.

The team, you see, is still firmly embedded in a 13-game streak of one-goal (or tie) games. The Raiders have fared well, going 6-4-3 over the stretch, which dates back to a 3-2 overtime loss against Princeton on Feb. 6 of last year.

Unfortunately, the perceived upside of participating in so many tight games — valuable experience and confidence for the tightly played postseason — didn’t pan out for the Raiders last year, as they fell in three games (all overtime affairs, of course) to Quinnipiac in the first round.

But then, maybe the first half-dozen games gave them the experience, and the latter handful merely killed their legs. I’ll have to leave that question to the philosophers.

Q & A with The Commish

Obviously, the biggest news to come out of the league office in some time is the relocation of the ECAC Hockey Championship from Albany to Atlantic City. Starting next season — and for at least three years thereafter — the league semis and finals will be contested at Boardwalk Hall.

Since this is a development that pretty much everyone who reads this hopes to be affected by, I got commissioner Steve Hagwell on the line to ask him about the league’s surprising selection of venue.

Brian Sullivan: It’s a big change, so would you address the arguments for picking up and moving from Albany to Atlantic City?

Steve Hagwell: Well, let me tell you a little bit about the process. Last fall, from a good-business standpoint, we examined what we were doing as a league with our administrators and coaches and we looked at things, and thought, “OK, we know what our numbers are in Albany, we know what the interest is in Albany, is there a possibility of another site out the that we should explore just to know what’s out there?” So we sent out requests for proposals to gauge the interest in our championship, we received some bids, and at the February deadline we looked at them. We had some people visit the site, and we decided that it would be best for the league to go to Atlantic City, to take their bid, which was very attractive and aggressive.

BS: Did you get much blowback? Were there any major disagreements with the move, or did everyone pretty much get on board?

SH: Well, we had plenty of discussions … and we talked about all of those issues on the table: the location in terms of, it’s outside of our geographic footprint … we hashed out everything. People had the opportunity to speak up in favor of sites that bid that they were in favor of, and at the end of the day — just like we do with all league issues — we had a vote among our administrators and the result was that their votes were favorable to Atlantic City.

BS: Are you at liberty to tell me any of the other sites that made bids?

SH: I don’t think that’s pertinent. I’m at liberty to tell you, but I just don’t think it’s pertinent. I haven’t gone down that road; from my perspective, I don’t think that’s information that needs to be out there.

BS: There are a lot of venues that fit into the seven- to twelve-thousand-seat range in the Northeast, from New Jersey on up. What made you decide that Atlantic City — as a city, as a location, and as a package — was the most desirable of those you explored?

SH: Well I agree with you that there are plenty of venues that fit in that range, and like I said, we sent out [requests for bids] to basically every facility, including NHL-type facilities on down in the Northeast that we thought would be viable and may have an interest in our league championship. Everybody from a site standpoint got the information, and those that were interested submitted bids. Those that were not, some called and said they had conflicts; we didn’t hear from others, and I take that as a sign of disinterest. In terms of Atlantic City, when we got the bid, we looked at it. We had a chance to go down as a staff, and we had some staff members from Princeton go up and check out the facility and meet with the people down there. Later in the summer several members of our institutions on the administration side were in meetings in that area and had a chance to go over, so there were several people within our league who had a chance to visit the site, meet with people, check it out firsthand. We took all that feedback into consideration, let people speak their views, and that’s what we decided on.

BS: Is the arena itself substantially different from Albany’s Times-Union Center?

SH: I was pleasantly surprised. I didn’t have any preconceived notion, having never been to Atlantic City prior to going down for a site visit, so I really didn’t know what to expect. I wanted to go down with a clear mind and a blank slate, and the structure is beautiful. It seats about 10,000, maybe just a shade under; the locker room situation is good — there’s always that situation with the fourth locker room, that we’ve had in Albany, and it certainly occurs in other places — but aside from that, the venue’s very nice. I think the facility is very conducive to our championship, and I think it’ll work very well.

BS: Was the fact that there’s a large alumni population for pretty much every school in the country in the New York City area a major consideration?

SH: It was certainly a topic that was on the table, a variable. When we were discussing every site that bid, all that information came out: where it was located geographically, the New York City factor like you said. It was certainly a positive, because we do have institutions with large numbers of alumni in the area. Can that be a positive? Sure, but they still have to go to the games. The fact that there are alumni in New York City is great, but it doesn’t really do anything other than [signify] that they’re there. They still have to come down.

BS: The major concern for a lot of fans is obviously that they’re now more far-flung from the championship. How do you and the administrators feel that this venue compensates for that?

SH: We looked at the fact that Atlantic City is, from Clarkson and St. Lawrence for example, a seven- or eight-hour ride, and that topic was raised. That’s a long way to go for their season ticket-holders, for their people, whether it be Cornell or Clarkson, St. Lawrence, to get to Atlantic City. We talked about that. There was no site that was 100 percent on the positive side. There were issues on both sides, positive and negative. People chimed in with their thoughts, but again, at the end of the day, when we laid it out and we looked at the places that were on the table as potential venues for our championship, we got the sense that Atlantic City was the best option for 2011 and the three years that we signed that agreement. Could that change? We hope we don’t have to move again in four years, but we’re going into a little bit of an unknown and we’re going to do everything we can on a staff standpoint to make this successful.

This Week in Hockey East: Oct. 15, 2009

By
-

One Last Satisfying Look

For a while there, I was fielding the same question following one national championship game after another.

“Why can’t your guys win it all? You guys always finish second.”

The words invariably came from the mouth of a smug WCHA fan (pardon the redundancy), a drink in one hand and a mocking grin on his lips.

Oh, how I wanted to wipe that grin off those lips.

But the facts were the facts.

Since 1997, Hockey East had placed a team in the title game every season but 2005, the year of the all-WCHA Frozen Four. But until Boston College’s title two years ago, Hockey East teams had won it all only in 1999 (the all-Hockey East championship game between Maine and New Hampshire) and in 2001 (BC in glorious overtime over North Dakota).

Which boiled down to 1-for-9 against other conferences in that Bridesmaids Streak. Not much I could say.

But Hockey East has now taken two titles in a row, BC two years ago and Boston University last season.

So I’ve got to say it.

“Hey, WCHA? Where you been? You ready for us to three-peat?”

Let’s see if you can wipe the grin off my lips.

On the Other Hand

I suppose I should hold my braggadocio in check for a few more weeks to see whether or not Hockey East is going to duplicate last year’s commanding nonconference record. Last season, the league jumped out to a dominating start and coasted home with four (and almost five) NCAA berths. It made the most of those berths with BU and Vermont advancing to the Frozen Four where they unfortunately had to meet in the semifinals.

Last weekend’s start, however, wasn’t all that auspicious. Hockey East lost to all three of the other traditional conferences: 0-1 vs. the CCHA; 2-3 vs. the ECAC; and 2-4 vs. the WCHA.

A trend or a fluke? We’ll see.

One More Piece of Backtracking

In my opening comments, I didn’t intend to paint every WCHA fan with my smug brush. After all, the North Dakota fan who sold me his Frozen Four tickets couldn’t have been nicer. A great guy and a great college hockey fan. My son, his girlfriend, and her family enjoyed those tickets immensely.

My wisecrack was intended only for those WCHA fans who have filled my mailbox (and will no doubt fill it again this week) or rubbed my nose in some very painful losses before the wounds had even begun to heal.

So no offense intended toward all of you courteous WCHA fans. As for the rest of you …

If you dish it out, baby, you’ve got to take it.

Heh, heh, heh.

Husky Talk

Perhaps the single most scrutinized position in the first few weeks will be Northeastern’s goaltender. Freshman Chris Rawlings is being asked to fill the immense shoes of last year’s Hockey East player of the year, Brad Thiessen.

Rawlings got off to a rocky start last weekend at Colorado College. The freshman gave up a 65-footer less than three minutes into his official collegiate career.

“When the guy put the shot in from 65 feet, I think it was a reflection of how nervous [Rawlings] was,” NU coach Greg Cronin said after the game. “I was actually hoping the kid would shoot it on the goal because we had the puck the whole time and … maybe [Rawlings] stops that one and kind of gets a little confidence from it.

“I was looking at my notepad because I assumed it was going to be a harmless shot, but then I heard the crowd and I was like, uh-oh.”

The Huskies went on to lose with Rawlings giving up four goals, all even strength, on 37 shots.

Both Rawlings and Northeastern, however, turned it around the following night. The Huskies won, 4-3, with the goaltender stopping 34 of 37 shots. Two of CC’s three goals came on the power play.

“Tonight he played well,” Cronin said after the win. “I could tell before the game he was relaxed and confident. He’s a young goalie; he’s a freshman and it’s a process with goalies. There’s a total adjustment that needs to be made.

“[But] a lot of credit has to go to our goalie; he was the star of the game.”

Of course, the Huskies have to replace more than just Thiessen. Last year’s seniors imbued the program with their grit and perseverance.

“They went through a three-win season as freshmen,” Cronin said. “They created stability and composure with the strength of their willpower and their confidence as they built the program up.

“So we not only lost some hockey players, we lost people that were responsible for mortaring the bricks that are the foundation of our program.”

Everyone knows that it’s brutally difficult to get from three wins in a season to 25. But what often goes beneath the radar is how tough it is to keep those 25-win seasons coming even after players like Thiessen leave early, not to mention turn some of those years into 30-win campaigns.

“When I was at Maine,” Cronin said, “Shawn Walsh had that vision that we were going to sustain what we did. God bless him, if you look back and knock off those games that he was given a forfeit because of ineligible players, we were ripping off 30-win seasons something like five or six in a row and seven of nine.

“That wasn’t because we had luck. We had a program and a culture we developed and [assistant coach and top recruiter] Grant Standbrook reinforced that culture every year with players, knowing we were going to lose kids early like a Brad Thiessen.

“That’s what we’re trying to do here at Northeastern. We’re trying to get players that fit what we do as a program.

“I think our identity as a team has been very visible over the past couple of years. It’s a question of putting guys into roles that they’re going to be confident and comfortable in and then making sure that gels as a group. That’s the challenge of coaching.

“The nice thing is the foundation is there. Now we have to get players to replace the players that moved that foundation over the last four years.”

BC Eighth?

Are You Nuts?

That was the tenor of a couple emails I received this week after fans began to notice my projections in the Hockey East Season Preview.

BC eighth? After the league coaches picked the Eagles to finish third? Jim Connelly picked them third too. Eighth? Have you lost your mind?

Those with short memories might have even wondered if I’d become a BC-basher, forgetting that a few years ago some circles referred to me as “that BC grad.” Neither is correct. I’ve never attended the school and I’d like nothing better than for the Eagles to win the national championship. (I hope a Hockey East team wins it all every year.)

However, I have serious concerns about this year’s team.

Let’s start in goal. One could certainly argue that John Muse’s hip problems caused the “sophomore slump” in which he dropped from a .921 save percentage to .904. Makes perfect sense. But will he be better this year following surgery that went beyond the originally expected labrum repair?

“He spent eight weeks on crutches,” BC coach Jerry York said in the Season Preview. “It was a little bit more than the average hip surgery. They went it to repair the labrum but they also found some defects in his hip socket.

“Right now, Muse is day-by-day. He’s taken some shots. He’s not back to the form we’d like to see him.”

A little bit more than the average hip surgery?

I’m sorry, but if I’m a BC fan, the thought of my goaltender — the guy who has played virtually every minute the past two seasons — requiring hip surgery makes me cringe. And when the doctors find a little more that needs repair, the blood drains from my face and the room starts spinning about me. I reach for a chair because … I’m … going … down.

I think of Red Sox third-baseman Mike Lowell trying to flash a pad save, requiring a near spread-eagle and it simply doesn’t compute. I like to think I have a creative mind, but it isn’t that creative.

The original timetable was for Muse to return “no earlier than November.” He’s receiving shots now. Yikes!

Hey, when Jerry York speaks, I tend very much to believe him. But when he says of Muse, “As the year progresses, though, we think he’s going to be a lot more athletic,” I’m not sure whether that’s a realistic prognosis, a wildly optimistic one, or whistling past the graveyard.

Muse has played a period in both of BC’s exhibition games and is slated to start this weekend, but I’m not sure if anyone knows which John Muse the Eagles will get.

So what about the goalie BC recruited at the last minute, Parker Milner? I’ve never seen the kid play and I wish him all the success in the world. But the harsh truth is that cream-of-the-crop goalies were locked up by the time York and his recruiting staff realized they needed insurance. Milner was available either because he wasn’t quite good enough or because he was perceived to need a little more time. I suspect the latter since he just turned 19, but that doesn’t change my doubts about what he can do this year.

Perhaps Milner will make me eat my words. Perhaps Muse will be close to 100 percent in short order (before BC digs itself too deep a hole) and by the second semester he’ll be the difference-maker he was as a freshman.

But I have my doubts.

And in this league if you have goaltending problems, you can’t win.

What about the rest of the team?

On defense, the Eagles lost Tim Kunes, Tim Filangieri, Nick Petrecki and Anthony Aiello. Carl Sneep is the only returning blueliner who dressed game in and game out.

Up front, BC lost Brock Bradford and his 25 goals and Kyle Kucharski’s 10; they were the only double-digit producers in that category. The Eagles also lost Benn Ferriero (third in points) and Andrew Orpik.

Admittedly, BC’s recruiting class is a heralded one. The NHL drafted four of them in the top two rounds: Chris Kreider in the first round; Kenny Ryan, Brian Dumoulin, and Philip Samuelsson in the second. But the size that the NHL loves (those four top picks are 6-2, 205 pounds; 6-0, 186; 6-3, 195; and 6-3, 198) make me think more Brooks Orpik than Brian Gionta in terms of immediate freshman impact.

[Last minute update: Kenny Ryan has left school to play for the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League.]

Let’s also not forget that BC finished only .500 within the league last year. The subtractions and question marks weren’t applied to an NCAA title contender.

Personally, I suspect that if another school, one that hasn’t been a perennial Hockey East and national power, suffered a similar fate following a .500 campaign, most other projections would be close to mine.

It’s just that most people, myself included, have trouble envisioning BC having two straight down or even so-so years. A part of me says that somehow Jerry York will wave his magic wand and the Eagles will again be a force on the national stage, if not in the early going then down the stretch and into the playoffs.

I hope it happens. I love to see Hockey East teams be successful and for its standard bearers to kick butt and take names.

But if Muse doesn’t fully recover until next year (or too late this year) and if those highly regarded freshmen don’t produce, York’s magic wand will need to be made of pure gold.

Recommended Reading

USCHO’s own Scott Weighart has written Burn the Boats: A Seven-Championship Season for Boston University Hockey, chronicling last year’s magical ride for the Terriers.

Buying a copy is a no-brainer for BU fans — you haven’t ordered yet? — and recommended for all who’d enjoy an inside look at a championship team.

And Finally, Not That it Has Anything to do With Anything, But …

I’d planned all sorts of insightful Red Sox and Patriots comments but barely made this column’s deadline at all because I had to finish my taxes.

Whaddya mean, April 15? What good is a six-month extension if you don’t use it?

Thanks to Jim Connelly, Theresa Spisak and Candace Horgan.

This Week in the CCHA: Oct. 15, 2009

By
-

Beginnings, Auspicious and Otherwise

Not with a bang, but with a whimper. Or, maybe, a tiny yelp. Not very loud. A smallish hooray.

It was the proverbial mixed bag in the opening weekend for the CCHA, with clear-cut winners, out-and-out losers, and teams that were somewhere in the middle.

Congratulations to the Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks, this year’s Ice Breaker Champions! The Mavs scored 10 goals in wins over Army and Massachusetts-Lowell, allowed 20 or fewer shots on net in each contest, and produced the tournament MVP, junior Rich Purslow (2-2–4).

And congratulations to the Alaska Nanooks, who captured the Kendall Hockey Classic with wins over Michigan — Michigan! — and Mercyhurst. Not only did the Nanooks defeat the Wolverines, a team they’d lost to 37 times in 41 meetings — but they shut them out, 2-0. UAF sophomore goaltender Scott Greenham was the MVP of the tourney.

Two CCHA teams swept nonconference opponents in non-tournament play, so thank you Miami and Michigan State.

Two CCHA teams were swept by nonconference opponents in non-tournament play. Bowling Green dropped two to Minnesota State on the road, and Ohio State lost two at home to Quinnipiac … so, thank you, Buckeyes, for making everyone who picked you to finish fourth this season — coaches and media alike — to question their early October sanity.

And then there’s the rest of the pack, everyone else who played and split. In all, the CCHA went 12-8-0 against nonconference opponents last weekend, providing anything but a definitive opening statement.

At least the league went 6-4-0 against the WCHA. That’s gratifying, for the moment.

Speaking of Gratification

They came not merely to play, not merely to win. The Alabama-Huntsville Chargers came to South Bend to prove something. The shame of it is that they’re the only ones who think they have something to prove.

The Chargers split their weekend against Notre Dame, knocking off the defending CCHA regular-season and playoff champs, 3-2, Friday night before dropping a 3-1 decision Saturday.

When Tom Train scored for UAH at 13:13 in the second Friday to tie the game 1-1, the team and Chargers faithful reacted as though they had struck a blow against the Great Forces of Darkness. After Huntsville won, I heard a common refrain among the Chargers’ fans, family relations, and even some players: “Are we good enough now?”

It wasn’t plaintive; it was defiant. And because there wasn’t a single CCHA fan in attendance who wasn’t sympathetic to UAH’s cause, because every coach in the league would gladly have taken the Chargers had the votes been up to them, because every CCHA player wouldn’t mind a trip to Huntsville in February — and even because this CCHA beat writer has been banging the drum for UAH since we all saw the CHA writing on the wall — the sentiment was kind of, well, silly.

Understandable, given human nature, yes. But silly, since no one in attendance was, in fact, the enemy.

UAH coach Danton Cole — a Pontiac, Mich. native who played for Michigan State (1986-89) — said that he and his coaching staff did not look upon the weekend series with Notre Dame as some sort of grudge match but admitted that maybe there was some residual bad blood “for the players.”

“For us, it’s nothing we’ve really talked about in terms of, ‘Let’s go make a statement,'” Cole said. “Every game, we need to play a certain way and live up to that level of play and kind of build that kind of culture where regardless of who and where we’re playing. That’s been our focus.”

Cole said that he and the coaching staff addressed the CCHA’s vote at the beginning of the year at a team meeting and then told the Chargers to put it behind them. “We’re going to put a great independent schedule together [for 2010-11] and that’s what we’re going to do — and that’s been the end of it. I’m a CCHA guy. I grew up a season ticket holder for a bunch of years, and I played there and have a lot of really good friends there.”

In the end, Cole said, “We showed up and worked hard.” That’s why the Chargers won Friday’s game; they outworked the Fighting Irish.

“I’ve been on the other side of those games before,” Notre Dame coach Jeff Jackson said. “I know how they are. It’s a monumental game for them; [the players] want to make a statement, and they did. Danton had them well prepared and I thought they played extremely hard.”

As for dropping the opener, Jackson said, “It’s the first game of a long season.”

More on That Gratification Thing

I told you that there was more to the CCHA’s vote on Huntsville than anyone knew. As it turns out, there was a juicy piece of the puzzle missing from information I had when I wrote about it in August.

There was serious talk about a Big Ten hockey conference this summer. This week, Andy Baggot published a story on Madison.com, online home of the Wisconsin State Journal and the Cap Times, about the talks surrounding the formation of a Big Ten hockey conference, from which a hero has emerged who should be familiar to CCHA fans: Minnesota athletic director Joel Maturi.

Maturi, former athletic director at Miami, is the voice of reason among Big Ten schools with hockey programs. In essence, Maturi said that Minnesota would not be in favor of such a conference.

Not surprisingly, The Ohio State University is all for it. Quoted in the article, Chris Schneider, an associate athletic director at OSU, said that a Big Ten hockey conference is something people in Columbus would “like to see accomplished.”

This is unsurprising on two levels. First, The Ohio State University is all about revenue. Second, the Buckeyes don’t get to play Wisconsin and Minnesota annually, as the other two CCHA/Big Ten hockey schools get to do.

Another hero to emerge from these talks was Wisconsin head coach Mike Eaves. Apparently, there was real talk of the Badgers leaving the WCHA for the CCHA, but Eaves wisely quashed this.

All of this is nutty — real, actual, but nutty. And it’s not over. Everything about collegiate sports is driven by money. Sure, there are purists among the fans, coaches, players, etc., but make no mistake about this being big business. If there’s a better way to make a buck off of the little niche sport we’ve come to love so well, someone will find a way to do it … and force it into existence.

Baggot’s story should give some comfort to those good folks in Huntsville who think that the CCHA deliberately snubbed them for not being good enough. It just isn’t about UAH. In addition to the Big Ten nonsense and pressure to somehow make the sport more profitable in really bad economic times, half the schools in the CCHA are located in Michigan, the state that’s been hit harder economically than any other in the U.S., the state with the highest recorded unemployment in the country.

Maybe it’s better in northern Alabama, but here in Michigan, there are whole academic institutions struggling to stay afloat. I am not exaggerating. When a college or university is worried about staying viable, it may have reservations about committing to anything it thinks may further strain its budget — including the acceptance of a hockey program struggling to stay afloat.

Folks, there’s just much more to this than any of us knows. To paraphrase someone close to the story, it’s so hard to know who to trust. And so few people want to go on the record.

Gratification, Part 3

“So — we got a sweep? Amazing.” So said Michigan State senior Nick Sucharski after the Spartans beat Clarkson back-to-back. It was particularly gratifying to Sucharski, who had to sit out last season with a shoulder injury.

“The boys deserve it, I think,” Sucharski said. “It was fun as anything. We haven’t had a sweep in a long time, and it was a good feeling to get back on the right track, and it’s something we look forward to happening many times this year.”

The Spartans did not beat one single opponent in consecutive games last season, and their last sweep of a single opponent in a single weekend was a home-and-home sweep of Bowling Green, Feb. 29 and March 1, 2008; their last home sweep of a single opponent was Nov. 9-10, 2007, against Mercyhurst.

“I think we have a little bit more of an aggression about us and guys are willing to work,” Sucharski said. “You’ve got to fight to be in the lineup, and not only do you have to fight to be in the lineup, but you have to fight to be in the special teams.”

And the special teams were special. MSU went 5-for-16 against Clarkson last weekend; the Spartans scored just 20 power-play goals for all of 2009-10. On the weekend, Michigan State netted 10 goals in two games; last year, they had 62 goals total.

After Saturday’s 4-3 win, coach Rick Comley said: “We’re going to be in a lot of close games. We hurt ourselves with some avoidable penalties, obviously, a little bit sloppy that way. Hard fought. Good opening weekend. Gives us something positive to build on.”

A Weekend of Firsts

Many CCHA players recorded their first collegiate goals in action last week. Congratulations to freshmen Chad Gehon (UAF); Eric Alexander, Kyle Bonis and Travis Ouellette (FSU); Devin Mantha and Curtis McKenzie (Miami); Chris Brown (UM); Derek Grant, Zach Josepher and Chris Forfar (MSU); Terry Broadhurst (UNO); Kyle Palmieri and Riley Sheahan (ND); and Alex Carlson (OSU).

Congratulations, too, to Nebraska-Omaha’s Dean Blais on his first wins as a CCHA coach.

Congrats also go to Alaska sophomore goaltender Scott Greenham, whose Friday night shutout of the Wolverines was the first in Nanook hockey history.

When Lake Superior State beat Michigan Tech, 3-1, Saturday, it was the first win for the Lakers in the three-year history of the Superior Showcase. The Lakers are now 1-3-2 all time in that season-opening event.

And Ohio State’s sweep at the hands of Quinnipiac marked the first time since the 2004-05 season that the Bucks lost their two season-opening games. After those losses — to New Hampshire and St. Cloud State in the Ice Breaker — the Buckeyes managed to put together a season that earned them an invitation to the NCAA tournament.

As Jeff Jackson said, it’s a long season.

Not a First, but a Milestone

Congratulations to Comley, who recorded his 750th career win with the Spartans’ 6-1 decision over Clarkson last Friday.

Early Impressions

I managed to get to South Bend for the UAH win over Notre Dame Friday and East Lansing for Michigan State’s nightcap against Clarkson. Here are a few observations and other tidbits from the weekend:

• The Spartans are much improved. That’s perhaps a given. What I didn’t expect is how fun the freshmen would be. Derek Grant is impressive.

• Another freshman who made an impression is Notre Dame’s Riley Sheahan. I loved the chemistry between him and Ryan Thang Friday.

• Both the Irish and the Spartans are teams that will take a bit of to adjust to life after franchise goaltenders. It’s hard to replace goalies like Jordan Pearce and Jeff Lerg; it’s harder still to remember that they’re not in net. Both ND and MSU have younger blue lines that will learn to protect the goaltenders that they are unaccustomed to seeing in net.

• Both Notre Dame junior Brad Phillips and Michigan State senior Bobby Jarosz played well in the games that I saw. Both made many good first and second saves before leaving open back-door opportunities. They were solid, and it was good to watch someone new in net in each building.

• That having been said, it was good to see Jeff Lerg in the press box in East Lansing. Lerg, recovering from surgery, will be helping out with the Spartans until about midseason, when he’ll rejoin the New Jersey Devils organization.

• The Alabama-Huntsville Chargers have the sweetest ride I’ve ever seen. They travel in a tricked out tour bus with enough bunks for every player and a separate coaches’ room in the front. The driver has been with Cole for 11 years, since Cole’s first season as an assistant coach with the Grand Rapids Griffins.

• Is it too late for me to swap OSU and MSU in my preseason polls?

Shake-Up Leaves Miami on Top of USCHO.com/CBS College Sports Poll

USCHO Staff Report
-

It’s not unusual for the USCHO.com/CBS College Sports Division I Men’s Poll to get quite a shake from the preseason to the first week of the regular season, and that’s exactly what happened this season.

Only six of the 20 teams ranked in the preseason poll kept their spots. Leading the change was Miami, which moved up three spots to become the new No. 1.

Related: The full rankings

The RedHawks won a pair of tight games against St. Cloud State on the opening weekend of non-exhibition play, while preseason No. 1 Denver split a pair at home against No. 11 Vermont.

The Pioneers fell to third, one spot behind Boston University.

The rest of the top 10: North Dakota, Michigan, Cornell, Notre Dame, Yale, Minnesota and Princeton.

Four teams — Minnesota-Duluth, New Hampshire, Ohio State and Air Force — lost their spot in the poll.

They were replaced by No. 15 Bemidji State, No. 16 Nebraska-Omaha, No. 17 Alaska and No. 18 Quinnipiac.

The Beavers swept a home series against then-No. 19 Air Force. The Mavericks claimed the IceBreaker championship with victories over Army and No. 14 Massachusetts-Lowell.

Alaska claimed a pair of victories at the Kendall Hockey Classic in Anchorage, beating No. 5 Michigan and Mercyhurst. Quinnipiac upended then-No. 17 Ohio State in Columbus.

The upcoming weekend features matchups of ranked teams on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

No. 4 North Dakota hosts No. 9 Minnesota on Friday and Saturday, while No. 11 Vermont hosts No. 12 Boston College on Sunday.

2009-10 Minnesota Season Preview

By
-

Strictly speaking in conference, Minnesota had a down year.

The Gophers had most of their struggles after the New Year, managing to finish one game above .500 and squeaked into the final home ice spot in the playoffs, where they proceeded to sweep St. Cloud before falling to Minnesota-Duluth in the Final Five play-in game. Minnesota also came up short nationally, failing to make the NCAA tournament.

Where does this leave the Gophers coming into this year? All right, all things considered. Despite losing forward and leading scorer Ryan Stoa to early departure (something the team knew was going to happen anyway), the team returns 81 percent of its offense, a decent defensive corps and a goalie who will be entering his third year of WCHA action.

Like several other teams in the league, the Gophers have some senior experience returning, which should help them with an early, tough schedule, where they open up with North Dakota, Denver, Alaska-Anchorage and Wisconsin.

Up Front

True, the Gophers lost Stoa. However, they got a big boost with the return of sophomore Jordan Schroeder. Schroeder was just one point behind Stoa in the stats column (45 to Stoa’s 46), won the league’s rookie of the year title and is this year’s preseason player of the year.

“Obviously, Jordan, he’s our player,” coach Don Lucia said.

From there, though, they “have to have that secondary scoring like a lot of teams do,” said Lucia.

Lucia will first look to his senior experience, as Jay Barriball, Mike Carman, Ryan Flynn and Tony Lucia all put up decent numbers, as did junior Mike Hoeffel.

If those guys don’t pan out, however, Lucia has a lot of forwards to lean on — 15, to be precise.

“I think we’ll have some pretty good competition about who’s going to be playing night in and night out,” he said. “It’s a unique situation to have.”

One freshman to watch out for is Zach Budish, who is coming in after having a year off due to a knee injury and will, according to Lucia, be in the lineup every night.

On the Blue Line

Minnesota’s biggest returning player defensively is probably junior Cade Fairchild, who was the fourth-highest scorer on the team last season and strong in his own end as well.

Though the Gophers retain almost all of their defensive corps from last season, fans will see some new things in store defensively, according to Lucia.

“The upgrades I think you’ll see on the back line,” he said. “The guys are bigger and stronger and the addition of Nick Leddy and Scott Helgeson I think are going to complement each other well. One’s a puck mover and the other’s a stay-at-home defender with some size, which is something we’ve needed on our blue line from last year.”

Besides Fairchild and the aforementioned freshmen, some of the same familiar faces return, including seniors David Fischer and Brian Schack.

In the Crease

Undoubtedly manning the pipes again for the Gophers will be junior Alex Kangas, who won the starting job halfway through his freshman season. Kangas struggled at times during his sophomore campaign, but one can most likely chalk that up to him playing in his first full season.

Besides Kangas, we’ll probably see sophomore Kent Patterson in a few games here and there throughout the season.

2009-10 Minnesota-Duluth Season Preview

By
-

Last year was quite the wild ride for Minnesota-Duluth. The Bulldogs struggled early, picked it up around the holidays before going on a skid to end the season 0-3-2. That late skid dropped them to seventh in the league, but as soon as they hit the playoffs, they found the fire.

First they swept Colorado College on the road to advance to St. Paul.

Then they took out Minnesota, North Dakota and Denver to become the first team to win three straight games at the Final Five to take home the Broadmoor Trophy and catapult themselves into the NCAA tournament.

Once in the tournament, their luck continued. They took on the ECAC’s best goaltender on in Princeton’s Zane Kalemba and bested him, winning 5-4 in overtime. However, they couldn’t keep their magic going to get them to Washington, D.C., as the eventual national runner-up Miami edged them out of the playoffs 2-1.

With all of that, why aren’t the Bulldogs picked to finish in the top half of the league? Simple. When you lose nine players, seven of them seniors and one of them your goaltender, you end up having a few questions entering the next season.

“I think there’s a lot of uncertainties when you kind of lose half your team [and] obviously, three key guys, including probably our best player in [goalie] Alex Stalock,” said coach Scott Sandelin. “Obviously we’ve got some holes to fill and certainly it starts in goal.”

If Duluth can fill its holes, it might end up coming close to what itdid last season. If not, the Bulldogs might be in for a long season.

Up Front

Offensively, the Bulldogs had a lot of questions last season, given that their then-leading scorer, MacGregor Sharp, only had 17 points. Sharp and the Bulldogs answered that one with a vengeance, with Sharp scoring 50 points and two more players with point totals in the 40s.

UMD lost Sharp to graduation, as well as supporting players Andrew Carroll, Michael Gergen and Nick Kemp.

On the plus side, the Bulldogs still have those two 40-point guys in junior Justin Fontaine and sophomore Mike Connolly. Fellow, unrelated sophomore Jack Connolly was just under the 30-point mark. If all three guys can have big seasons again, that will help the Bulldogs tremendously. Getting more scoring from seniors Drew Akins and Jordan Fulton should also help.

If all else fails, Sandelin has four freshmen forwards he can try plugging in and seeing how they’ll perform.

“We’ve added some skill and speed and I think the style that we can play this year might be a little bit different than last year,” Sandelin said.

On the Blue Line

Duluth lost three big defensemen over the offseason. Josh Meyers, a defensive presence who could also put the puck in the net as well as steady defenseman Jay Cascalenda graduated and would-be junior Evan Oberg, just behind Meyers in point production, chose to leave early.

As a result, the Bulldogs are going to have a steep learning curve when it comes to their back line.

“We’re very young on the blue line,” Sandelin said. “I think it’s going to be a work in progress.”

One of those works in progress is freshman Dylan Olsen.

“He’s a 6-3 defenseman that can bring a physical presence, I think he’s got tremendous hockey sense and he’s got good hands,” said Sandelin. “I don’t think he looks like a freshman … but he’s going to be an ace addition.”

In the Crease

As mentioned previously, the Bulldogs lost their workhorse in Stalock, as he chose to leave Duluth early. That choice leaves Sandelin with one of three options: sophomore Brady Hjelle, who has the early nod, sophomore Kenny Reiter or freshman Aaron Crandall.

“That’s going to be a battle there,” said Sandelin.

2009-10 Michigan State Season Preview

By
-

If you love Spartan hockey, here are three words for you to embrace for the upcoming season: bigger, stronger, older.

Last year’s tender young Michigan State team, picked third by the media and fifth by the coaches in the 2008-09 preseason CCHA polls, finished tied for 10th place with Lake Superior State at the end of the season, victimized by so many unforeseeable events — including more than half a dozen shoulder injuries — that by the end of the season, all anyone associated with Spartan hockey could do was shake it off and look to a new year.

While senior goaltender Jeff Lerg proved once and for all that he was for real, playing terrific hockey without a terrific team in front of him, the rest of the team struggled to remain healthy, struggled to find chemistry with an ever-changing lineup and struggled especially to score goals. MSU managed to average 1.63 goals per game, tied for 57th nationally in scoring offense. And lest you’ve forgotten, there are 58 Division I men’s ice hockey teams.

“Goal scoring was a major problem last year … and I still think it will be a challenge,” said Rick Comley, who practically had to take out classified ads to find enough healthy bodies to dress for games last year. “I think for sure we’re a better team. We’re bigger, stronger, we’re older. I think that will benefit our entire game.

“Who will score and who will lead that area, I think that’s difficult to say right now. I expect players like Leveille and all those young kids who were really thrown to the wolves last year with the early signings and the injuries and the suspensions and those variables … they’ll benefit from the ice time that they had.”

Sophomore Daultan Leveille is MSU’s top returning scorer without having totaled 20 points last season. After Leveille, only two other returning players — juniors Dustin Gazley and Andrew Rowe — netted more than five goals, and they scored 13 between them.

Given the bench-shortening circumstances of last year’s Spartan season, it’s no surprise that MSU will turn to rookies to produce goals. And play defense. And special teams.

“I like our freshman class,” said Comley. “There are nine of them, and I expect them all to play. They’re an older, bigger, stronger group.”

Older. Bigger. Stronger. And hopefully less fragile.

One big boost for the Spartans is the return of Nick Sucharski, a medical redshirt last season. He was out with one of those shoulder injuries.

“Sucharski returning as a fifth-year senior is a big, big plus for us as far as maturity, ability to win faceoffs,” said Comley. “He’s been through it, played on a national championship team, so there’s tremendous benefits.”

Another bright spot for the Spartans is sophomore goaltender Drew Palmisano, who looked promising the few times he played behind Lerg last year. “We brought him in a year early to work with Jeff Lerg and I think he really benefitted from that,” said Comley.

Like every coach, Comley is optimistic about the start of a new season. “Hockey is that one sport where you can improve a tremendous amount in one year.”

Not as catchy as “bigger, stronger, older,” but certainly a philosophy that Spartan fans can hope to embrace this year.

2009-10 Bowling Green Season Preview

By
-

Can the Bowling Green Falcons finally take a breath? And will the revolving door of assistants finally stop spinning?

After rumors about the potential demise of the BGSU program were leaked to the press earlier this year — former head coach Scott Paluch heard about them as he was walking into Nationwide Arena in Columbus to see a Blue Jackets game with his son — a much clearer picture of Falcon hockey emerged for fans to see.

A neglected ice system so out of date that replacement parts for it have to be made to order. Grumbling from alumni about Paluch-era hockey. A university that itself appears to be in genuine financial trouble.

Add to that an inconsistency in staffing during the last decade, and it’s no wonder that the Falcons have struggled in recent seasons. More than half a dozen coaches have come and gone at Bowling Green in the last seven years. Interim head coach Dennis Williams, a BGSU alum (1997-2001), served for one year as an assistant under Paluch before landing this gig. He’s hired two new assistants — Mike Mankowski from Canisius and Scott Stirling from Brown. There’s even a new volunteer assistant coach and video coordinator, Doug Slipacoff.

With the constantly changing coaching staff, it wouldn’t be a stretch to liken the current Falcon upperclassmen to kids from broken homes. How can anything stabilize when so few coaches have been there long enough to build anything?

At least the university has committed publicly to the hockey program, having announced in July that $2.5 million in capital improvement funds will be allotted to the Ice Arena, and in September, the university announced a major fundraising drive for hockey itself. All of this helps the hockey players “to focus on hockey and going to school,” said Williams. Until the plan to raise funds was announced, said Williams, “… there were a lot of questions from student-athletes … and rightfully so, wondering what was going on with this program.”

So now can we get back to hockey in BG?

This year’s seniors have 36 wins total in their careers, half of those coming in the 2007-08 season. To put that in perspective, the league’s top team last season, Notre Dame, had 31 wins for the year and sixth-place Northern Michigan had one more victory in 2007-08 than half of that BGSU three-year win total.

In order for the Falcons to be successful, they must have better goaltending. Junior goaltender Nick Eno played just seven games last season because of a bad ankle injury, one year after being named to the CCHA All-Rookie team. Senior Jimmy Spratt tried — and he did shut out the Wolverines in Yost — but he never measured up, ending the season with an .891 save percentage, which was actually the best of his career.

Eno and newcomer Andrew Hammond will “battle it out,” said Williams and “hopefully … make it difficult for us to pick our goalie.”

With eight overall wins in 2008-09 and a 12th-place finish, there’s nowhere for Bowling Green to go but up.

Mazzoleni Joins St. Norbert as Assistant Coach

By
-

St. Norbert College has announced that Mark Mazzoleni will be joining the staff of head coach Tim Coghlin for the upcoming season. A Green Bay, Wis. native, Mazzoleni was a four-year letter winning goaltender at Michigan State from 1977-80.

Mazzoleni is no stranger to the Division III and the NCHA, having coached UW-Stevens Point to three consecutive national titles in 1989, 1990 and 1991. He compiled a 135-52-10 record in six seasons with the Pointers.

Following his time in Stevens Point, he served as an assistant at the University of Minnesota for three seasons before accepting the head coaching position at Miami University. He led the RedHawks to the NCAA tournament in 1997. Following his stint in Oxford, he was head man for Harvard and led the program to three consecutive NCAA births from 2002-04.

All told, he holds a 302-207-43 record as a collegiate head coach and most recently served as head coach of the Green Bay Gamblers in the United States Hockey League.

Green Knights’ head coach Tim Coghlin expects Mazzoleni’s contributions to be invaluable to the program.

“There are very few men with the knowledge he has,” said Coghlin. “He’s been coaching for 30 years and has been very successful everywhere he has been. To bring in someone with the character and experience of him is something that will contribute heavily to our program and to the experiences of the young men on our team.”

Interestingly, though Mazzoleni is now an assistant under Coghlin, it was Coghlin who was a member of Mazzoleni’s inaugural recruiting class at Stevens Point.

“Over the years we have come to know each other very well, and I think there is a lot of respect there both on a professional and a personal level. We have been in close contact going all the way back to when I played for him,” said Coghlin.

Mazzoleni is initially expected to work primarily with the goaltenders, though that certainly will not be the extent of his contributions.

“To start off he’s going to work with our goaltending situation because that’s where he has the most experience and that’s where he played,” said Coghlin. “That said, he brings so much to the table that there is no question he will certainly help this program in every way imaginable.”

The Green Knights finished last season 19-8-1 and failed to make the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2001. They open this season on October 27 with a home tilt against Lake Forest.

1...1,1051,1061,107...1,531Page 1,106 of 1,531

Latest Stories from around USCHO

‘A proud day’ as former Minnesota Duluth women’s hockey captain Brodt tabbed new head coach for St. Scholastica

USCHO Staff -

Denver sophomore blueliner, recent Wild signee Buium tabbed USCHO Player of the Year for ’24-25 season

USCHO Staff -

Western Michigan’s Ferschweiler leads Broncos to national championship, named unanimous USCHO Coach of the Year for 2024-25 campaign

USCHO Staff -

After 48-point freshman season with Boston University, Hutson adds to accolades with 2024-25 USCHO Rookie of the Year honor

USCHO Staff -

Wisconsin’s Simms, McNaughton, Minnesota’s Primerano take home final women’s hockey HCA monthly honors for ’24-25 season

USCHO Staff -

Final HCA men’s hockey monthly honors for ’24-25 season go to Western Michigan’s Washe, BU’s Hutson, Denver’s Davis, Bentley’s Hasley, Minnesota State’s Tracy

USCHO Staff -

Norwich grad Dawes named new men’s hockey coach for Cadets, leaves Stevenson after nine seasons behind Mustangs bench

USCHO Staff -

Trio of All-USCHO teams announced for 2024-25 NCAA Division I men’s college hockey season

USCHO Staff -

NHL’s Devils sign Boston University forward Lachance, who gives up last two years of NCAA eligibility

USCHO Staff -

Minnesota men’s hockey coach Motzko, who ‘knows what it takes to have success,’ named head coach of 2026 U.S. National Junior Team

USCHO Staff -

Kaplan inks NHL deal with Philadelphia, leaves Boston University after junior season

USCHO Staff -

After pair of seasons, national championship with Western Michigan, Bump leaves Broncos for NHL contract with Flyers

USCHO Staff -
©1996-2025 USCHO.com – U.S. College Hockey Online