What’s He Gonna Do For An Encore?

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November 1, 1996

As a kid he dreamed of playing like Gretzky. At prep school they called him the next Craig Janney. Now he’s making a name for himself at Boston College.

Marty Reasoner ran away with the Hockey East Rookie of the Year award last year after being named Rookie of the Week nine times and Rookie of the Month four times, both records.

“I was excited about it,” said Reasoner. “It was a nice honor to have. It topped off a pretty good year.”

Reasoner’s “pretty good year” included individual totals of 45 points on 16 goals and 29 assists. It also included his role in elevating Boston College from next to last in league standings to only one point out of fourth place.

The accolades have since continued. This summer the St. Louis Blues selected Reasoner on the first round with the 14th overall pick. More recently, the league selected him as the only sophomore on its preseason All Hockey East team.

The Road to Chestnut Hill

Although it now seems like Reasoner was always destined to be the marquee player at Conte Forum, his route to Boston College required a few chance redirections.

The world renowned Pee Wee tournament held at La Colisee in Quebec heads that list. “That’s how I got pushed east. I played in Rochester, [New York] while growing up, but when I was thirteen or fourteen I went to the tournament in Quebec and hooked up with some kids from Boston.”

The friendships clicked. That summer he played in more tournaments with his Boston friends. Over time they all began to look at the same prep schools.

Reasoner also considered going major junior. “When I was about fifteen years old, I had ideas about going major junior. But playing in [Rochester], I wasn’t seen too much by the major junior teams and got passed by in their draft. They didn’t seem interested, so I just decided to go to prep school.”

The major junior teams changed their tune after seeing him at Deerfield Academy, but by then it was too late. “There were a lot of people once I was at prep school that told me to go to major junior, but I had already started on my way [to college] and I was going to keep going in that direction.”

After two All New England years at Deerfield, Reasoner was a highly sought after recruit. “My decision came down to BC and Michigan,” said Reasoner. “The things that made me decide on BC were the location — I liked Boston and the area — and the team. I knew I would be able to step in and contribute right away. I had a lot of confidence that Jerry York would help the team succeed in the future.”

York had returned to his alma mater where he’d been a first team All American in the sixties. The Eagles had hit rock bottom before hiring him, enduring first an embarrassing scholarship scandal and then an abortive hiring of Mike Milbury from the Bruins.

Adding insult to injury, the team sank to new depths in the standings. BC had finished in first place six out of the first seven years of Hockey East’s existence. But only the league’s addition of a new team, UMass Amherst, kept the Eagles out of last place in 1994-95.

At first glance, Boston College hardly seemed the logical destination for one of the top recruits in the country.

“What made me feel comfortable was how Coach York had handled the whole situation,” Reasoner said. “I was confident that he had resolved everything and that he was looking forward to the future and that he was going to bring the BC program back to where it was in the early part of the decade.

“It was a decision a lot like the one I made to go to Deerfield. I went to Deerfield when the team was losing a lot of seniors and I knew I was going to be able to play a lot. BC was in the same situation. They were losing a lot of seniors and I knew I was going to be able to come in and contribute right away. For me, I’ve always benefited the most when I could play a lot and learn by just playing and trying to do my best against the best players. I think it’s worked out.”

The League’s Top Rookie

The Eagles began poorly with a 2-7-1 record. Coming from Deerfield where he’d lost only five games in two years, the losses stung. “It was real hard to take,” Reasoner said. “It was one of the first times I’d [lost a lot of games] in a while.

“I think our start was tough because we were a young team and a team that wasn’t really too sure of itself. I think that as the season went along we became more confident in each other and ourselves as a team. We started to play really well from about the midpoint of the season.”

Not coincidentally, the Eagles began to win when Coach York combined Reasoner and David Hymovitz for good after the 2-7-1 start. Reasoner had played with a variety of linemates but he and Hymovitz formed the perfect playmaker-sniper combination.

“I think we complemented each other really well,” said Reasoner. “He was a great college player and had a great college career. It was fun to play with him. It just took us a while to get used to each other and from there on we just took off.”

In late December Reasoner left the Eagles for two games to play in the World Junior Tournament. Many fans expressed disappointment with Team USA’s fifth place finish, but Reasoner saw things differently.

“In that type of tournament it’s so close between a fifth place [finish] and being in the medal round and maybe finishing in third or second place…. A few bounces here or there and we’re in the final four and have a shot at the gold…. A lot of people like to say we had a terrible tournament, but I guess I’m more one to defend our team.”

Individually, Reasoner excelled. In six games for Team USA he scored three goals and added two assists. His coaches named him one of the team’s Top Three Players. “It was one of the best experiences I’ve had with hockey,” he remembered. “Just being able to play against the best guys in the world helped me as a player and gave me that much more confidence in my game.”

That confidence radiated when he returned to BC. After his return the Eagles finished 10-5-1 down the stretch. “More than anything else we believed in ourselves and believed that we could beat anyone on any given night. I think early in the season that might have been one of our problems. We didn’t have that confidence that we had late in the year.”

Heading into the playoffs, many considered the fifth place Eagles favorites over a Providence Friars team that had finished only a point ahead of them. The Friars limped into the playoffs, their strong start and weak finish an exact opposite of the Eagles’ season.

However, appearances and momentum proved deceiving. Key Friar players who had been out due to injury returned to bolster Providence’s suffocating defense.

“They played us perfectly,” said Reasoner. “They just frustrated us. We really couldn’t do anything offensively and they capitalized on all their power-play opportunities and we didn’t. They really worked hard and got it done both nights.”

Providence swept BC before also beating Boston University and Maine to take the Hockey East Championship and a berth in the NCAA tournament.

Looking to the Future

Then the NHL came knocking.

St. Louis selected him on the first round, setting up a potential future pairing of Reasoner and a guy named Brett Hull.

“Obviously after watching Brett Hull play in the World Cup, I wouldn’t mind playing with him at all,” said Reasoner, laughing. “But that’s something I can only dream about right now.”

In the meantime, he’d like to improve some parts of his game. “This year I’d like to shoot the puck better and score a little more.” He also worked four days a week in the offseason with Strength and Conditioning Coach Greg Finnegan.

With the league’s top recruiting class this past year and an impressive list of verbal commitments already lined up for next year, the Eagles appear destined for greatness. Just how great, however, hangs on whether Reasoner stays for a run at a national title or leaves early for the NHL.

Will he go or will he stay?

“I really have no idea right now,” he said. “I guess I’ll just have to take it year by year and at the end of the season we’ll see what happens. If the offer presents itself and it’s something I can’t pass up, then I may have to think about it. But as of right now I’m playing for BC and I’m going to give them everything I have.”

This year, after opening with back to back road losses to sixth ranked Bowling Green, BC stood deadlocked at 3-3 in a “must win” game against seventh ranked Michigan State. Reasoner, who prefers to display leadership with his actions rather than his words, let his stick do the talking with a breakaway pass that Blake Bellefeuille converted for the winning goal.

The raucous crowd of 4,338 erupted.

You can bet it won’t be the last time Marty Reasoner makes them roar.

This Week in the WCHA: November 1, 1996

By Todd D. Milewski

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November 1, 1996

After a couple of wild weekends of WCHA play, only one team remains undefeated; it looks like the race for the MacNaughton Cup will take the entire year to decide.

And that’s great for fans, because each weekend of play will be important. So players, coaches and teams will have to be at the top of their game to win and keep up.

North Dakota, the lone unbeaten team, will host Northern Michigan this weekend. In other games Michigan Tech goes to Alaska-Anchorage, St. Cloud State travels to Colorado College and Minnesota visits traditional rivals Wisconsin. In a non-conference series, Denver hits the road for a pair of games at Clarkson.

Here’s a look at each of the series.

Northern Michigan (2-3-1 overall, 2-2-0 WCHA) at North Dakota (4-0-0 overall, 4-0-0 WCHA) Friday-Saturday, 7:35 p.m. CT, Engelstad Arena, Grand Forks, ND

North Dakota will try to keep its perfect record intact as they host Northern Michigan in a two-game series.

The Fighting Sioux are at home, where they topped Denver twice two weeks ago. Playing in front of their own fans will be a plus this weekend. Curtis Murphy and Peter Armburst each scored twice in Friday’s win at Michigan Tech, and Dave Hoogsteen had two goals in Saturday’s one-goal win. Key to the wins was that UND allowed MTU just 20 shots on Friday and 27 shots on Saturday. The Fighting Sioux are playing well defensively and that’s what it takes to win consistently.

"Our 4-0 start is especially nice after losing some fine players from last year’s team," coach Dean Blais said on Tuesday. "Right now we are scoring goals and playing well with a young team. I don’t know what to expect from Northern, since they are playing up to 10 freshmen. But they were able to beat CC, which is quite an accomplishment."

Blais likes the way his team is playing. "We are going in the right direction. The kids are playing good hockey. In my first year we fought for a spot in the middle of the pack, but now a team goal is to finish in the top five and get home ice in the first round of the playoffs. Anything after that is a bonus. I don’t think we have enough returning to win the WCHA, but with some of the results already in, it will be a wild, wild year.

"We sold out both games of the Denver series and it’s been quite a while since we’ve done that. There’s a lot of enthusiasm back in Grand Forks and having a 4-0 record adds to that excitement."

The Wildcats split at home against Colorado College last weekend and have the difficult task of going to Grand Forks where teams haven’t had much success this year. John Coyle and Tyson Holly scored their first collegiate goals in Friday’s win, while the Wildcats were outshot 29-26. Holly scored again on Saturday but it wasn’t enough. NMU allowed 46 shots on goal on Saturday, and they can’t afford to do that this weekend.

ELMO Picks: UND wins both, 4-1 and 5-2.

Michigan Tech (4-3-0 overall, 1-3-0 WCHA) at Alaska-Anchorage (2-2-0 overall, 0-2-0 WCHA) Friday-Saturday, 7:05 p.m. AT, Sullivan Arena, Anchorage, AK

This series is important to both teams: Michigan Tech wants to get back to winning ways, and Alaska-Anchorage needs some good efforts to help them reach some team goals.

Michigan Tech has had a good start, but must bounce back after losing twice to North Dakota. Kyle Peterson had a pair of goals last weekend but goalie Luciano Cavaggio had to make 38 saves on Saturday. That’s too many shots on goal for a team to win consistently. Look for the Huskies to improve in that category this weekend. If they can, they’ll enjoy the results.

The Seawolves lost a 5-0 decision to the Canadian national team in their last outing and were idle last weekend. Coach Dean Talafous will continue his disciplined style of play and team defense concept. The Seawolves will win some this year, but will need to hold teams to about 20 shots a game. Against Michigan Tech this weekend, that could be a problem.

ELMO Picks: MTU sweeps, 5-1 and 6-2.

St. Cloud State (3-1-0 overall, 1-1-0 WCHA) at Colorado College (2-2-0 overall, 2-2-0 WCHA) Friday, 7:35 p.m. MT, Saturday, 2:05 p.m. MT, Cadet Ice Arena, Air Force Academy, CO

Colorado College and St. Cloud State will both try to get over the .500 mark in WCHA play in this series.

For CC, Brian Swanson (3-2–5) is leading the way; Darren Clark and Cam Kryway are the only other Tigers with more than one goal this year (two apiece). Getting offensive production was a main concern for coach Don Lucia, and that hasn’t changed. Judd Lambert has been solid in goal with a 2.51 goals-against average and a .901 save percentage.

St. Cloud State has relied on Matt Cullen and Sacha Molin for scoring this year. Cullen (1-5–6) leads in scoring, but Molin isn’t far behind (4-1–5). Goalies Tim Lideen (2-0-0, 1.98 GAA) and Brian Leitza (1-1-0, 2.02 GAA, .927 SV%) have provided strong work in net.

ELMO Picks: CC takes both games, 4-1 and 5-1.

Minnesota (2-2-0 overall, 2-2-0 WCHA) at Wisconsin (2-2-0 overall, 2-2-0 WCHA) Friday-Saturday, 7:05 p.m. CT, Dane County Coliseum, Madison, WI

Here are two more teams hoping to get their heads above water in league play. This is always a classic matchup, the first half of the annual "Border Battle."

Minnesota has coach Doug Woog back behind the bench after he served his one-week suspension. But Woog’s presence wouldn’t have mattered last weekend, when the Gophers split at Minnesota-Duluth — Minnesota was seriously outplayed on Friday, but came back strong the next evening. The Gophers must put a full game together to win. Sometimes they get plenty of scoring, other times good goaltending and defensive play. So far this year, they haven’t had it all at once. Goalie Steve DeBus needs to be solid this weekend and team defense must be part of the plan. There’s talk that the injured Reggie Berg may be back in the lineup, and that’s nothing but good news for the Gophers.

Coach Jeff Sauer is still looking for win No. 367, which would tie him with Bob Johnson for the all-time lead at Madison. Goalie Kirk Daubenspeck will have to be sharp against the Gopher’s snipers, but if there’s one goalie who can come up with a big game every night, it’s the Badgers’ senior netminder. Last year, the Badgers swept the Gophers in Madison; that’s the goal again this year.

ELMO Picks: Friday UM 4, UW 3. Saturday UW 5, UM 4

Denver (1-3-0 overall, 1-3-0 WCHA) at Clarkson (2-0-0 overall, 0-0-0 ECAC) Friday-Saturday, 7:35 p.m. ET, Cheel Arena, Potsdam, NY

The Pioneers leave WCHA play this weekend after splitting at home against Wisconsin (an 8-3 loss and a 3-2 win).

The Pioneers have been up-and-down so far; take a look at last weekend for a prime example. Coach George Gwozdecky will try to get his team untracked in this non-conference series. Maybe a trip away from home will be the answer. Sometimes, teams just perform better on the road, where players can concentrate on the task at hand, free of the distractions which accompany home games. In any case, the Pioneers need a solid weekend, since they have a home-and-home series with Colorado College upcoming.

The Golden Knights opened two weekends ago and topped Ohio State twice (7-4, 5-2). Denver will give them more to be concerned about. They finished in a solid second place in the preseason coaches poll, behind Vermont and ahead of Harvard. There are six seniors and eight juniors to lead the way, which should make for a solid season.

ELMO Picks: A Denver sweep, 6-2 and 4-3.

Next Week in the WCHA Friday, Nov. 8 Colorado College at Denver North Dakota at Minnesota Minnesota-Duluth at St. Cloud State Wisconsin at Northern Michigan Saturday, Nov. 9 North Dakota at Minnesota Minnesota-Duluth at St. Cloud State Wisconsin at Northern Michigan Sunday, Nov. 10 Denver at Colorado College

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This Week in Hockey East: November 1, 1996

By David H. Hendrickson

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November 1, 1996

Rumors of the demise of Hockey East have been greatly exaggerated.

The league won two of three games against top ten teams last week while splitting four other nonconference clashes. Boston University holds down the number four spot in the rankings while Providence moves up to 10th.

This week features three home-and-home series, Providence and Merrimack acting as travel partners against Colgate and Union, and Maine hosting Division II national champion University of Alabama-Huntsville.

Last week’s record in picks: 7-4 Season’s record in picks: 13-5

UMass-Amherst (1-1-0) vs. Boston University (1-1-0) Friday, 7 p.m., Walter Brown Arena, Boston, MA NESN Saturday, 7 p.m., Mullins Center, Amherst, MA

Last week BU lost the title Beast of the East to Vermont 4-2.

"We’re not playing really well offensively," said Jack Parker. "We have a lot of work to do. But in general I like my team."

Parker singled out Chris Drury and Mike Sylvia as the most effective forwards and also complimented rookies Tom Poti, Dan LaCouture, and Greg Quebec. However, Parker added, "I was disappointed in a couple of guys we depend on who absolutely disappeared. That will have to be addressed."

Terrier practices this week could focus on the power play, which proved pivotal against UVM. It will take time before BU smoothly integrates the replacements for Jay Pandolfo, Mike Grier, and Chris O’Sullivan.

Tom Noble and Michel Larocque should split netminding duties this weekend.

UMass-Amherst split a home-and-home series with UMass-Lowell, dropping the opener 5-2 on the road before winning 4-2 back in Amherst.

"We had some first game jitters, " said coach Joe Mallen. "Give UMass-Lowell credit, they played their game in their rink with its small ice surface. The opposite happened the next night. We played our game on the larger surface at the Mullins Center."

Mallen considered Chris Fawcett and Dean Stork the unsung heroes of the weekend. Fawcett, one of the fastest Minutemen, picked up a goal and then set up another on a give-and-go with Dan Juden in the first game. He then added another goal in the home opener.

Stork played his first official game after sitting out last year with eligibility problems with the NCAA Clearinghouse. He brings not only his 6-3, 210 pounds, but also reportedly great skating ability to the Minuteman blue line. Stork picked up his first assist over the weekend.

"We have to stop Drury and Bates," said Mallen. "It’s important that we play good defense and stay out of the box."

Revenge could play a large role in this matchup. The Minutemen ended last season with a 14-1 humiliation at the hands of BU. Look for 7,000 plus fans in Amherst to almost make the difference.

PICK: BU 5-2 on Friday and 3-2 on Saturday.

UMass-Lowell (1-1-0) vs. Boston College (1-2-0)

Friday, 7 p.m., Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill, MA Saturday, 7 p.m., Tully Forum, Lowell, MA WNDS-TV50

Boston College knocked off seventh-ranked Michigan State last week with a Blake Bellefeuille breakaway goal with only 22 seconds left.

"Bellefeuille had a tremendous game," said coach Jerry York. Bellefeuille is one of four 18-year old freshmen on the Eagles. "At that age level, their upside is tremendous."

York juggled the lines prior to the game, placing Bellefeuille on the top line with Marty Reasoner and Andy Powers. Jeff Farkas moved from wing on Reasoner’s line to instead center the second line with Matt Mulhern and Brian Callahan.

Ryan Mittleman caught the ire of the coaching staff for his poor play against Bowling Green to open the season. As a result, the forward lost his spot on the fourth line to Tony Hutchins, a freshman out of Lawrence Academy. A gifted scorer who tallied 23 points last year, Mittleman will have to work his way back into the lineup.

Although the power play is still oh-for-the-season (0 for 18), York saw positive signs in the Michigan State game. "I was encouraged by our power play despite our not scoring goals. I thought we moved the puck well, especially in the third period."

Although Greg Taylor was spectacular in the net against Michigan State, he and Mike Correia will likely split goaltending duties in this series. "Mike Correia played exceptionally well against Bowling Green. We’re going to get him in our lineup this year," said York.

UMass-Lowell opened with a split against UMass-Amherst.

"I’m very pleased with our progress," said coach Tim Whitehead. "The first night [win] was a great night, obviously. And I could see some real positives in the second game too, especially the way we worked until the last whistle. We didn’t opt for excuses. I was very happy with our attitude and work ethic."

Looking ahead to BC, Whitehead said, "This weekend should be a good challenge. Obviously they are a very good team."

Martin Fillion completes his suspension for breaking team rules by sitting out this weekend. Scott Fankhouser tended the net both games last weekend. Whitehead was noncommittal about which dufflebag he’d use this weekend, but look for Fankhouser to start on Friday, with his performance dictating whether he again gets the nod or if Craig Lindsay takes his place.

PICK: Boston College 5-2 on Friday, and 4-3 on Saturday.

New Hampshire (1-2-0) vs. Northeastern (1-1-0) Friday, 7 p.m., Matthews Arena, Boston, MA Saturday, 7 p.m., Whittemore Center, Durham, NH

New Hampshire edged past Union, a lightly regarded ECAC team, 3-2, before losing to Colgate 6-5 in overtime. According to coach Dick Umile, "It was ironic. On Friday we didn’t play well as a team and we won. Then on Saturday we played well, but we lost.

"We still weren’t opportunistic enough against Colgate, though. We should have had seven or eight goals. Unfortunately, we gave up the game-tying goal in the last minute after they pulled their goalie, and then they beat us in overtime."

Although some reports indicated a weak performance in goal by Brian LaRochelle, Umile deflected that assessment. "It really hurt us to lose both Tim Murray and Eric Fitzgerald on defense." The two are the Wildcats only senior blueliners, not to mention their most reliable pairing. "We had to play the freshmen defensemen a lot, and they made some freshmen mistakes."

Umile hopes to get one of his senior blueliners back this weekend. Fitzgerald looks more probable than Murray, but Murray planned to try skating with a brace on around midweek.

Despite the slow start and the injuries, Umile remained optimistic. "I’m positive we’ll be a good team. We just haven’t put it together yet."

Bruce Crowder’s rookie-laden lineup got out of the chute slowly in their game against Rennselaer and lost 4-3 before shocking seventh-ranked Michigan State 6-5.

"We got some great play from some of our freshmen which, as far as this coaching staff is concerned, is very encouraging," said Crowder. Goalie Marc Robitaille, Roger Holeczy (two goals), Billy Newson (game-winning goal), and defenseman Brian Addesa led the way among the eight Husky freshmen in the lineup.

Crowder noted some of the areas he’d like to see improved. "You need to learn how to play the score. There’s no use when you’re up by two goals [late in the game] trying to beat somebody at the offensive blue line one-on-one. Get it deep and make them come 200 feet. But those are the little things we’re trying to work out as the year goes by."

Justin Kearns, who scored only seven goals last year, already has three in two games. He ties Holeczy for the team lead.

Injuries to upperclassmen have shaved paper-thin Northeastern’s depth. Seniors Eric Petersen, Brad Klyn, and Mike Santonelli as well as junior Kevin Noke all missed the Michigan State game. Bob Sheehan then injured a shoulder during the game, exacerbating the problem. Santonelli and Noke are definite scratches for the upcoming weekend.

"Usually my practices are pretty intense and we work pretty hard," said Crowder, "but with our depth problems I can’t afford to do that now."

On paper, this should be a two-timing romp for New Hampshire. But Northeastern is playing over their heads while attrition is decimating UNH’s blue line, just like last year.

PICK: Northeastern 5-4 on Friday. New Hampshire 6-1 on Saturday.

Merrimack (0-2-0) at Colgate (1-1-0) Friday, 7 p.m., Starr Rink, Hamilton, New York

Here we go again?

Merrimack desperately needed a good start but dropped both ends of a home-and-home with Providence last week. They outshot the Friars 33 to 21 in the first game, only to be stymied by Friar goalie Dan Dennis 3-2. The Friars then turned that domination around in the second game, outshooting the Warriors 46-34 and winning 3-0. Martin Legault played very well in the second game, but in a losing effort.

"We just didn’t score any goals," said coach Ron Anderson. "We’re notoriously slow starters, but we also don’t want to make excuses."

When asked if he planned anything against Colgate’s exceptional Mike Harder, Anderson replied, "Our concern is us. We’ve got to find the right combinations. We’ve got to get the puck in the back of the net."

Anderson juggled lines late in the 3-0 loss. More adjustments can probably be expected.

Eric Thibeault tended the nets in the opening game last weekend; Martin Legault played in the rematch. Anderson will decide on his goaltenders later in the week.

Colgate pushed Maine to the brink before a third period rally rescued the Black Bears. New Hampshire was not so lucky. Despite their preseason selection as the number five team in the ECAC, they’ve started stronger than that and are a very real threat.

Forward Mike Harder stands head and shoulders above the other Red Raiders. Many experts consider him only a notch below his more celebrated conference-mates, Eric Perrin and Martin St. Louis. Harder picked up two goals in Colgate’s comeback win over UNH.

Goalie Dan Brenzavich provides Colgate’s other key to a win.

PICK: Colgate 4-1.

Providence (3-0-0) at Union (0-1-0)

Friday, 7 p.m., Lawrence H. Achilles Rink, Schenectady, NY

Providence fans loved last Saturday night. It began with the raising of their Hockey East Championship banner. It ended with them on top of league standings with a 2-0-0 league mark, courtesy of their sweep over Merrimack.

"Goaltending was important," said coach Paul Pooley. "Friday night they had more play than we did, but Dan Dennis made some key saves. Our specialty teams also came up big. We got a short-handed goal and two power-play goals."

The Friars defense received a scare when Hal Gill’s preliminary test for mononucleosis turned up positive. Gill, the only full-time returning blueliner from last year’s squad and a preseason All-Hockey East selection, sat out the Friday night game. He returned on Saturday when the test was determined to be a false positive.

Freshmen defensemen Jason Ialongo and Josh MacNevin played well both nights. This bodes extremely well for the team’s fortunes, since their loss of last year’s five defensemen constitutes their major roadblock to contending for the league title.

Dan Dennis earned Hockey East Player of the Week honors for his stellar performance, recording a 1.00 goals against average and a .970 save percentage in the series.

Going into last weekend Union College didn’t look like much competition for UNH. They finished 11th in the ECAC last year and were facing the nationally ranked Wildcats. The Skating Dutchmen, however, almost pulled off the upset, outshooting UNH 26-21 but coming up short in the only category that counts, 3-2.

Union’s top scorers from last year — Chris Ford (26 points), Brent Ozarowski (24), and Russ Monteith (17) — did not score against UNH, but picked up two assists. Senior John Sicinski (9 points last year) and newcomer Ryan Campbell accounted for the goals.

Goalie Trevor Koenig posted a 3.13 GAA and .911 save percentage last year. He allowed three goals on 21 shots against the Wildcats.

Union College trailed the rest of the ECAC in goal scoring last year and could muster only two against an injury-depleted UNH defense. Once Providence puts the defensive clamps on, Dutchmen fans may give their boys a standing O if they can even muster a shot on goal.

PICK: Providence 4-0.

University of Alabama-Huntsville (1-0-0) at Maine (2-1-0)

Friday, and Saturday 7 p.m., Alfond Arena, Orono, ME

The Black Bears needed three third-period goals to catch Colgate 4-3 last week. Coach Greg Cronin found fault with two specific aspects of his team’s play. "They bottled us up at times in our own zone. We’ve got to get better at moving it out of there.

"And our special teams was an abortion." The Black Bears gave up three power-play goals in only four Red Raider opportunities, while they could only ring up a single man-advantage tally themselves in six chances.

Although most fans instinctively write off a Division II opponent, Cronin does not share their casual dismissal. "I hate these type of games. You’re expected to win and win big. But they come up here totally enthusiastic about playing us and go at it with nothing to lose.

"We don’t know much about them. So we’re going to worry about our team, especially our specialty teams."

The University of Alabama-Huntsville is not just any Division II team. They are the D-II national champions, posting an undefeated 26-0-3 record last year. When they beat Penn State 15-0 to open this year’s season, they stretched their winning streak to 35 games.

The Charters graduated four of last year’s D-II All-Americans as well as five of their six defensemen. Returning players include honorable mention All-American Tony Guzzo (13 goals and 39 assists for 52 points), K.C. Schneider (16-8-24), Jamie Baby (8-14-22), and Eric Bilyeu (11-10-21).

Forward Ty Hartigan and defenseman Jim Alauria and Mark Motowski transferred to UAH from the deceased UIC program; fellow transfer defenseman Jason Mucciarone arrived from Elmira College.

UAH has shown in the past that they could steal a game or two from their D-I brethren. Three years ago they split a series with Merrimack; two years ago they beat Ohio State 4-3.

Can they do it again?

Don’t count on it. Maine is stronger than both of the D-I teams UAH beat. They could scare the potentially complacent Black Bears for two periods on Friday, but it will stop there.

PICK: Maine 5-3 and 5-0.

Providence (3-0-0) at Colgate (1-1-0) Saturday, 7 p.m., Starr Rink, Hamilton, New York

Paul Pooley talked about the Colgate matchup. "Mike Harder is a tremendous player. They’ve had a very effective power play and he’s certainly a big part of that. We’ll need to be disciplined and stay out of the box."

Both teams, covered in detail above, could be poised to rise above their middle-of-the-pack preseason projections.

PICK: Providence 3-2.

Merrimack (0-2-0) at Union (0-1-0)

Saturday, 7 p.m., Lawrence H. Achilles Rink, Schenectady, NY

If Merrimack loses to Colgate on Friday night, could this become a "must-win" game? The first weekend in November is ridiculously early for such designations, especially against a non-conference opponent. But a win here would be a huge shot in the arm for the Warriors. A loss would also be a shot, but somewhat lower.

Both teams are discussed above in previews of games against other teams.

PICK: Merrimack 2-1.

I am indebted to University of Alabama-Huntsville’s Dr. Tim Newman who provided me with a wealth of information. Without his assistance, the preview of UAH’s games with Maine would have been superficial at best.

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This Week in the CCHA: November 1, 1996

By Paula C. Weston

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November 1, 1996

Last week demonstrated several of the things which make consistent winning difficult in the CCHA. Again, vital early-season points were taken from Alaska by the visiting Wolverines, who didn’t take Fairbanks too lightly. Miami sought to distance itself from the bottom half of the league by taking hard-fought games from Notre Dame and Ferris State, to extend its unbeaten streak to five games.

Bowling Green made a case for itself as a contender, swiping three of four points from the floundering Lakers, to the dismay of both Lake Superior and Michigan State, which had a horrible ride out East. The Spartans came home broke, losing to both Boston College and Northeastern and consequently dropping out of this week’s Around the Rinks/USCHO poll.

Notre Dame found a goaltender as Matt Eisler stopped Ohio State cold, and Ferris suffered the Buckeyes’ frustration in a loss the following evening. All in all, an informed writer picked five — and lost five, raising his meager record to 12-10. This record will resemble those of several CCHA teams, before it is all said and done.

This week there are some intriguing matchups, led by the USCHO Game of the Week, Michigan at Michigan State. Also, Ohio State and WMU face off for two, MSU and Bowling Green reopen old wounds, and Michigan and Notre Dame battle it out in the "schools-wishing-their-football-teams-were-as-good-as-OSU Bowl". Finally, Miami and Lake State take trips to Vermont and St. Lawrence. Here’s my view of the upcoming action.

Ohio State (1-4-0, 1-1-0 CCHA) at Western Michigan (1-1-1, 0-1-1 CCHA) Friday, Saturday, 7:00 p.m., Lawson Arena, Kalamazoo, MI

Ohio State makes its first important road trip, desperately in need of juniors Dan Cousineau and Derek Beuselinck to produce leadership and scoring. Thus far, the two have four points between them. Sophomore Brandon LaFrance is in the same category, producing one point so far. The power play is an ugly twelve percent, and both goaltenders are giving up freshman goals that they can not afford.

Western is also in need of production from junior Steve Duke and senior Justin Cardwell, neither of whom has a goal yet. Sophomore Matt Barnes is 1-1-1, with a .920 save percentage, and could be the difference this weekend. The Bronco penalty-kill is off to a good start at 90 percent, which does not bode well for the Buckeyes.

Pick: Friday WMU 5, OSU 2; Saturday OSU 5, WMU 4

Bowling Green (6-0-0, 2-0-0 CCHA) at Michigan State (3-2-0, 2-0-0 CCHA) Friday, 7:00 p.m., Munn Ice Arena, East Lansing, MI

This could foreshadow the final weeks of the season, as Bowling Green looks to take the early lead for second place, with its 36 percent power play. The Falcons have found strong scoring so far, behind the play of seniors Curtis Fry (5-14–19) and Mike Johnson (11-6–17). Freshman Adam Edinger has shown he belongs, with three goals and four assists thus far. In net, both Savard and Petrie are 3-0.

Michigan State, on the other hand, needs this game to revive itself after a humiliating loss to Northeastern last weekend. junior Mike Watt leads the team with six goals, and junior goalie Chad Alban has a 2.14 GAA and a 3-1 record. He will have to play well this weekend.

Pick: BG 4, MSU 3

Michigan (5-0-0, 2-0-0 CCHA) at Notre Dame (2-1-1, 1-1-1 CCHA) Friday, 7:00 p.m., JACC, South Bend, IN

Michigan takes a strong offense into Notre Dame to face Matt Eisler and the Golden Domers. Senior John Madden is leading the team with six goals so far, followed by Junior Bill Muckalt with five. Marty Turco is a perfect 5-0, with a 2.44 GAA after five games.

Sorry, but Notre Dame does not have enough firepower to hold off Michigan yet. The penalty-kill could save them, with its 91 percent efficiency, but unless Eisler is up to it, that will not be enough.

Pick: Michigan 5, ND 2

Notre Dame (2-1-1, 1-1-1 CCHA) at Bowling Green (6-0-0, 2-0-0 CCHA) Saturday, 7:00 p.m., Bowling Green Ice Arena, Bowling Green, OH

Notre Dame will not fare much better on the road than they did last weekend. Expect Bowling Green to physically dominate Notre Dame as Miami did. Notre Dame freshman Ben Simon faces off against his former teammate-turned-Falcon Mike Jones for the first time.

Bowling Green is not going to lose many home games this season.

Pick: BG 5, ND 3

Michigan (5-0-0, 2-0-0 CCHA) at Michigan State (3-2-0, 2-0-0 CCHA) Saturday, 7:00 p.m., Munn Ice Arena, East Lansing, MI

Michigan and Marty Turco versus Michigan State and Chad Alban. This is what college hockey is all about. The problem for Michigan State is that Michigan has the depth that MSU lacks, especially on defense.

If Alban has a big weekend, he will spoil either BG or Michigan’s night, but the Spartans will have to keep their special teams working, as this will be a tough game. The home crowd will help.

Pick: MSU 4, UM 3

Miami University (6-1-0, 5-0-0 CCHA) at Vermont (2-0-0, 0-0-0 ECAC) Friday, 7:00 p.m., Gutterson Field House, Burlington, VT

Miami had a disastrous trip out East last year, but looks to change that with its goaltending this season. Adam Lord and Trevor Prior have been unbeatable in their regular starts so far, and this will be the first big test for one of them. They play behind a team scoring 4.43 goals a game so far, and only giving up two.

The penalty-kill is a solid 81 percent, and they will need it against Vermont. Vermont has more speed and skill, but toughness and depth I wonder about. Goaltending will be the key, as All-Everything Tim Thomas brings a .930 save percentage to the table. Eric Perrin and Martin St. Louis might find Miami’s defense more formidable than last year.

Pick: A draw — Miami 3, Vermont 3

Miami (6-1-0, 5-0-0 CCHA) at St. Lawrence (0-2-0, 0-0-0 ECAC) Saturday, 7:00 p.m., Appleton Arena, Canton, NY

Miami will have plenty of firepower and physical toughness to handle St. Lawrence. Look for sophomore Randy Robitaille to continue his scoring streak, with 15 points in his first 7 games. St. Lawrence has a solid goaltending duo in Owen and Bracco, as well as strong forwards such as Paul DiFrancesco, who paced the team with 16 goals last season. Depth will be the difference between these two teams; Miami’s junior class is stacked.

Pick: Miami 4, SLU 2

Lake Superior (1-4-1, 0-2-0 CCHA) at St. Lawrence (0-2-0, 0-0-0 ECAC) Friday, 7:00 p.m., Appleton Arena, Canton, NY

Lake Superior is in desperate need of a lift, and this should provide it. A tuneup against St. Lawrence will help the Lakers find their scoring touch before their next big game. Senior Matt Alvey and junior Ted Laviolette need to produce for this to occur. Also, the power play is dreadful, converting only one gaol on 11 attempts.

St. Lawrence will need all it can muster in the net to stop the frustrated Lakers. Forwards Paul DiFrancesco and Scott Stevens must continue their strong play from last year.

Pick: LSSU 4, SLU 2

Lake Superior (1-4-1, 0-2-0 CCHA) at Vermont (2-0-0, 0-0-0 ECAC) Saturday, 7:00 p.m., Gutterson Field House, Burlington, VT

Lake Superior is clearly not the team they were at the end of last season, and that team could not beat Vermont. This one will not either. The special-teams play of LSSU is suspect, and their depth cannot match Vermont’s quickness after the Lakers’ top two lines.

Look for another frustrating loss to build on, as Martin St. Louis and Eric Perrin continue to add to their scoring totals.

Pick: VT 5, LSSU 3

Ferris State (3-4-0, 0-3-0 CCHA) at Mankato State (1-3-0) Friday, 7:00 p.m., Mankato Civic Center, Mankato, MN

Ferris State needs a game like this to get back on track after a long road trip last weekend. The special teams need to work out the kinks, as neither the power play (one-for-11) nor the penalty kill (70 percent) has helped. The scoring has been spread around, though, which is a good sign. Six forwards have all scored three goals or more. Junior Jeff Blashilll (.800 SV%) will have to be stronger in net for his team.

Mankato is looking to find some scoring punch also, as it strives to become a future WCHA contender.

Pick: FSU 4, Mankato 3

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Gooning It Up

By Scott Brown

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October 31, 1996

For the record, let me say this: I am a hockey purist.

Now, the word “purist” means a lot of things. When a baseball fan says it, he means that he hates the DH and Astroturf. A football purist hates the forward pass, or something like that. There aren’t any basketball purists (apologies to Michael Jordan).

In hockey, though, we mean something different. A hockey purist likes to see guys get hit. This does not mean that we don’t like to see smooth skating and good wrist shots; but there’s an art to a solid check that is every bit as legitimate as a wraparound goal.

Which brings us to the first topic of discussion today: the goon. This majestic creature is an endangered species in North American hockey, his native habitat overrun by faster-moving, more graceful European skaters. But he can still be found in one place, at least: the penalty box. This is the goon’s favorite nesting area, and he visits it often.

The penalty in hockey serves two purposes, which are really at odds with one another. First, the penalty is just that: it punishes conduct outside the rules. But, strangely enough, it also legitimizes such conduct by writing it into the flow of the game. For example, suppose you’re a goon (work with me here, people). The opposing team’s top sniper has gotten by you, and is now one-on-one with your goalie. What do you do?

Easy. You haul him down. You get to go sit in the box for two minutes, and he gets to think about his glory denied. That’s a smart penalty, one taken for the good of the team. Nobody gets hurt, and the score doesn’t change, at least if your penalty-kill is any good. At any rate, that’s your job, especially when you’re a goon.

Let me clear something up, before the outraged comments start pouring in. When I say “goon,” I mean it in the affectionate way that best friends use when they insult one another to say hello. I’m going to call some guys goons in a few minutes, and that’s not a bad thing. Hockey needs goons. Coaches call these guys “physical players” or “enforcers,” which mean the same thing. But “goon” is a lot more fun to say over and over — try it. Besides, the title of this article reads a lot better than “Physical Playing It Up” would have.

One of the oft-held myths about the goon is that he has limited hockey skills — that he’s just out there to cross-check people and start fights. This is not true. To prove my point, let’s examine the CCHA scoring figures from last year. The following table lists the leading (overall) scorers among players averaging at least two penalty minutes per game:

Player, team               G     A   Pts    PIM
Jason Botterill, Mich     32    25    57    143
Brett Punchard, BGSU      20    32    52     75
Warren Luhning, Mich      20    32    52    123
Keith Aldridge, LSSU      14    36    50     88
Kelly Perrault, BGSU      14    32    46    101
Kyle Millar, WMU          19    20    39     84
Mike Peron, UIC           15    14    29     73
Tony Tuzzolino, MSU       12    17    29    120
Dan Boyle, Miami           7    20    27     70
Quinn Fair, BGSU           6    21    27     76

Pretty nice numbers, especially when you consider that Botterill, Luhning and Tuzzolino were the three most-penalized players in the CCHA last season. By the way, did you notice that NCAA champion Michigan has two of the top three on our list? Now let’s look at the “gentlemanly” players, those averaging less than one-half penalty minute per game:

Player, team             G    A   Pts   PIM

Kevin Hilton, Mich      10   51    61     8

Mike Hall, BGSU         23   22    45    16

Cody Bowtell, UAF       21   23    44     8

Chris Brooks, WMU       17   26    43    12

Mike York, MSU          12   27    39    20

Pat Williams, UAF        8   28    36    18

Gerald Tallaire, LSSU    9   21    30    18

Pierre Dufour, OSU       8   22    30    10

Jeff Trembecky, UAF     14   13    27    12

Dallas Ferguson, UAF     5   22    27    14

If we scan these two tables, we notice that the goon numbers are awfully similar to those of the gentlemen. In fact, adding up the scoring, the goons total 159-249–408, vs. 127-255–382 for the nice guys. Pretty close, indeed.
Now, when you’re a coach, you’d like to have a balance of strength and speed on your squad. Some teams lean one way and some the other, but you need a little of both if you’re going to succeed. So the question presents itself: can we find a relationship between team penalties and winning? Let us look…

Team	      CCHA Record   PIM (rk)   Opp (rk)  Diff

Lake Superior     22- 6-2    632 (4)    700 (3)    -68 

Michigan          22- 6-2    613 (5)    648 (6)    -35 

Michigan State    22- 7-1    579 (9)    660 (4)    -89 

Western Michigan  21- 6-3    733 (1)    727 (1)      6 

Bowling Green     18-11-1    570 (10)   581 (9)    -11 

Ferris State      10-17-3    606 (8)    605 (7)      1 

Miami (Ohio)       9-17-4    630 (6)    524 (10)   106 

Ohio State         8-17-5    609 (7)    594 (8)     15 

Alaska-Fairbanks   8-22-0    705 (2)    710 (2)     -5 

Notre Dame         6-20-4    689 (3)    659 (5)     30 

Illinois-Chicago   6-23-1    538 (11)   494 (11)    44

Some things are apparent from looking at this table. For instance, there is no clear relationship between a team’s success and the number of penalty minutes it takes (the “PMin” column). Western Michigan, the most-penalized team in the CCHA, was an NCAA tournament team, while the second-most penalized squad was lowly Alaska-Fairbanks.

On the other hand, Michigan State took very few penalties en route to a third-place finish (and a bid to the national tournament), while the now-defunct UIC squad came in last — both in penalty minutes and in the CCHA. Apparently, then, taking a lot of whistles was no barrier to success last year in the CCHA, and taking only a few was no help.

Nor is the opponents’ overall ranking any good. As before, we find teams high and low without any apparent pattern. However, examining the difference between the two penalty totals, we notice that, generally speaking, teams who took fewer penalties than their opponents ended up at the top of the league.

Even this relationship is not strong, though. In fact, the most striking thing in the data above is how closely a team’s total penalty minutes correlate with its opponents’ totals. For instance, Western Michigan not only was first in minutes against, but also first in opponents’ minutes. Similarly, UAF was second in both the “for” and “against” columns.

In fact, going down the list, we find that for nine of the 11 CCHA teams, penalties for and against correspond very nicely (the exceptions being Michigan State and Miami). This begs the question: why?

The knee-jerk response is to say something like this. “Well, obviously, when you come to play a physical team like Western Michigan, you’re lured into playing their game, and therefore Western’s opponents end up with lots of penalty minutes, just like Western themselves do.” And vice versa for low-penalty teams. The only problem with this line of reasoning is that it doesn’t make much sense. For example, when “physical” WMU plays “gentlemanly” UIC, what happens? Well, if you look at Western Michigan’s line up above, you’d say they must have played rough. If you look at UIC’s, they played nice.

So here’s what I think. The numbers above don’t tell us as much about the teams as they do about the officiating. Please allow me to elaborate: how many times have you seen a guy get high-sticked (or cross-checked, or tripped, or slashed) and retaliate, so that both guys end up in the box? Or, maybe one guy starts a fight. There’s a little scrum, and multiple players get to sit. Usually a nice even number, so nobody gets a power-play out of it.

This happens a lot, and when it does the home fans start screaming at the refs and chanting things about glasses and so forth. And rightly so, because sometimes an official just puts two guys in the box because he doesn’t know who started it. And that’s the whole problem; there’s only three guys to watch for this kind of stuff, and there’s six thousand up in the stands with loud voices and eagle vision.

What to do? I recommend sweeping changes in the NCAA officiating structure. We can begin by putting seventeen officials on the ice. This will not only improve the quality (and number) of calls, but will also dramatically increase fans’ enjoyment of refs getting hit with the puck or run into by the players. While this is just a start, I think it’s a good one.

Now if we could just get Jordan to lace up the skates …

This Week in Hockey East: October 25, 1996

By David H. Hendrickson

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October 25, 1996

Hockey East took it on the chin last week, dropping four of its six games against the other three conferences.

CCHA power Michigan State and four ECAC teams prepare for battle with Hockey East this week. Providence and Merrimack, as well as UMass-Amherst and UMass-Lowell, open league play with home-and-home series.

One of the top games of the year features the number two and three ranked teams in the country, Vermont and Boston University, facing off at Walter Brown Arena.

Last week’s record in picks: 6-1 (not including exhibitions)

Vermont (1-0-0) at Boston University (1-0-0) Saturday, 7 p.m., Walter Brown Arena, Boston, MA

Who is The Beast of the East?

We will know by the end of Saturday night.

Boston University played just well enough to win against Rensselaer last week. "We played pretty well at times but fell into some defensive lapses," said coach Jack Parker. "We weren’t sharp." Parker singled out Shawn Bates, Chris Drury, Michel Larocque, and the freshmen for strong performances.

Bates was not expected to play due to a hip injury sustained in last Friday’s practice, but gave it the thumbs up after the pregame skate. Brendan Walsh, who was left home from the trip to attend to academic concerns, rejoins the team.

Walsh’s return likely means a repeat of the lines BU opened the season with against Minnesota: Bates centers freshman Dan Lacouture and Matt Wright; Drury is between Bill Pierce and Chris Heron; and Walsh centers Mike Sylvia and Albie O’Connell.

Tom Noble will be in the nets for the Terriers.

Parker wants to stay five-on-five against the Catamounts. "With their offensive strength and their power play proficiency, we’ll need to stay out of the box. We probably can’t shut down their first line, but we want to make sure they don’t kill us.

"The other thing we’ll have to do is go to their net and get the rebounds. [Tim] Thomas has shown he can stop the first shots. We’ll need to work for the rebounds and create traffic in front of the net to keep him from getting a good look at the puck."

In Vermont’s win over New Hampshire, they displayed more balanced scoring than last year, when almost all of their offensive production was generated by the Catamount top line of Eric Perrin, Martin St. Louis, and J.C. Ruid. In the win, the first three goals were scored by other forwards, although the third tally was a power play goal assisted by St. Louis and Perrin.

Tim Thomas excelled in the nets. Although that’s hardly news to Vermont followers, his importance to the Catamounts cannot be overstated.

Despite the comfortable victory margin, coach Mike Gilligan was unhappy with some of his team’s play. "There are some glaring changes that will need to be made in order to beat a solid BU team," said Gilligan. "We can’t always rely on Tim [Thomas]. We’re going to tighten up in the neutral zone. Our defensemen have to make some better decisions, as well.

"BU will get as many chances as UNH and they’ve got some kids who regularly put it in. That’s what scares me."

Look for Tim Thomas to be the difference in this game.

PICK: Vermont 4-3.

Michigan State (2-0-0) at Boston College (0-2-0)

Friday, 7 p.m., Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill, MA

Boston College returns home after a double-dip against sixth-ranked Bowling Green. Despite the losses, Coach Jerry York remains upbeat. "We played one of the top four or five teams in the country and showed some marked improvement in some areas over our play last year. We outshot and outchanced an excellent team in both games. Unfortunately, we were not as good on the special teams."

The Eagles power play, next-to-last in the league last year, buried them against the Falcons. For the weekend they went 0-for-13 while giving up two short-handed goals.

At first glance the penalty-killing unit also dragged BC down, giving up four goals in 13 Bowling Green power play opportunities. However, in their defense, they also scored two short-handed goals themselves, and two of the Falcon power-play goals were during five-on-three advantages.

The one brightest note for the Eagles was the offensive production of their heralded freshman class. Jeff Farkas, Blake Bellefeuille, and Mike Mottau scored the BC goals in the opening game. Farkas added an assist in the rematch.

Unfortunately, BC gets no respite. The seventh-ranked Michigan State Spartans await them. "Now we play another top ten team," said York. "But we benefit from scheduling such strong non-conference opponents. It makes us a better team. I feel last weekend was very rewarding for us. We played well and I feel very positive about this team."

Greg Taylor will be in the nets, after splitting chores with Mike Correia last weekend.

Although Michigan State lost leading scorer Anson Carter to graduation, they still return eight of their top 10 scorers from last year. Up front they distribute their scoring among: Mike Watt (17 goals, 22 assists for 39 points last season), Mike York (12-27–49), Sean Berens (12-25–37), Richard Keyes (14-14–28), and Steve Ferranti (12-14–26).

Spartan defensemen contribute significantly to the offense. Tony Tuzzolino (12-17–29), Chris Bogas (1-20–21), and Jeff Kozakowski (6-14–20) comprise the most offensively-active blueliners.

Junior Chad Alban (3.07 GAA, .876 save percentage) is a workhorse in the nets, accounting for all but two of the Michigan State decisions.

PICK: Michigan State 5-3.

Providence (1-0-0) at Merrimack (0-0-0)

Friday, 7 p.m., Volpe Complex, North Andover, MA Merrimack (0-0-0) at Providence (1-0-0)

Saturday, 7 p.m., Schneider Arena, Providence, RI

After opening this home-and-home series at Merrimack, Providence will raise their Hockey East championship banner on Saturday night. But coach Paul Pooley isn’t about to let his team rest on their laurels. "I don’t look at us as defending champs. Big deal. That has nothing to do our season right now…. We’re picked for fifth, or in some polls sixth, in our league and that’s right on. We’ve got a lot of work to do."

The Friars are led by All-Hockey East goaltender Dan Dennis, preseason All-Hockey East blueliner Hal Gill, and a first line of Mike Omicioli, Russ Guzior, and top recruit Fernando Pisani. Pisani, who set an Alberta Junior Hockey League record for playoff assists by a left winger last year, picked up where he left off, nabbing three assists against Army to open his collegiate career. Fellow rookie Jason Ialongo and junior Stefan Brannare both netted two goals.

Providence’s biggest question mark is on the blue line where they graduated five seniors last year. Pooley hopes to overcome that loss "with good goaltending and good team defense as opposed to relying on any one individual or any one set of players. We’ll have to play great team defense to be successful."

The matchup against Merrimack features two teams with similar styles, according to Pooley. "This will be a very, very good test for both teams. They both play hard. They both play good defense. It’ll be a war."

Merrimack coach Ron Anderson hopes his Warriors are ready for battle. "We’re notoriously slow starters," he said, "but we have to get off to a good start some time. If we do, that would set the stage for a strong season."

Goalie Martin Legault, an integral part of a strong Warrior campaign, twisted a knee in last weekend’s exhibition win over St. Francis Xavier. Although the injury is minor and Legault could probably start this weekend, Anderson remains wary of rushing him back too soon. The coaching staff is pleased with the play of backup Eric Thibeault and could feel by the weekend that he gives them the luxury of playing it safe with Legault. As of Tuesday, however, it was too soon to tell.

The first line of Rob Beck, Martin Laroche, and Cam Neely-impersonator John Jakopin appears primed for a huge season. What could surprise fans, though, is the second unit. Casey Kesselring appears fully recovered after an injury-prone 1995-96 campaign. He teams with Rejean Stringer and rookie sniper Sandy Cohen. Cohen scored on his first shot in last weekend’s exhibition, surely a mouth-watering omen for Warrior fans hungry for a winner.

Although celebrated rookie Jayson Philbin did not impress, fellow freshmen Andrew Fox, Chris Halecki, Joe Savioli, and Drew Hale appeared to be solid contributors.

Look for the home town fans to go home grumbling twice.

PICK: Providence 4-3 on Friday. Merrimack 3-2 on Saturday.

UMass-Amherst (0-0-0) at UMass-Lowell (0-0-0) WNDS-TV

Friday, 7 p.m., Tully Forum, Lowell, MA UMass-Lowell (0-0-0) at UMass-Amherst (0-0-0)

Saturday, 7 p.m., Mullins Center, Amherst, MA

The big story out of Lowell is that Martin Fillion must sit out this series and the next because of a disciplinary suspension. As of Tuesday, coach Tim Whitehead had not decided whether Scott Fankhouser or Craig Lindsay would open the series.

The River Hawks will field a young squad. Freshmen and sophomores comprise eight of the 12 forwards, four of the six defensemen, and one of the goalies.

As a result, Whitehead has set his expectations appropriately. "At this point of the season we’re looking more for effort than results. If we keep getting the effort, the results will take care of themselves."

Even so, Whitehead is excited about opening against sister school UMass-Amherst and competing for the Alumni Cup, given to the winner of the season’s series. "I like the rivalry we have with UMass-Amherst… I think it’s great. I’m glad it’s our opening game of the season."

UMass-Amherst coach Joe Mallen had more tepid praise for the competition between the two schools. "UMass-Lowell has been trying to build this into a rivalry, but within the league there are all kinds of rivalries being built as our program develops. However, the Alumni Cup is unique. We were lucky enough to win it last year and hope to do so again this year."

Rob Bonneau and Warren Norris lead the Minutemen up front. Brian Regan, a former league All-Rookie selection, tends the nets behind an experienced blue line corps.

"It should be an evenly matched series," said Mallen. "It will probably come down to special teams and experience."

PICK: UMass-Lowell 4-3 on Friday. On Saturday UMass-Amherst evens it 4-2.

Colgate (0-0-0) at Maine (1-1-0)

Friday, 7 p.m., Alfond Arena, Orono, ME

Forward Mike Harder, defenseman Jack McIntosh, and goalie Dan Brenzavich lead the Colgate Red Raiders. Last year Harder earned second-team All-ECAC honors for the second time in his three years. Going into this season with 159 career points, he needs another 54 to become the Colgate all-time scoring leader.

McIntosh and assistant captain Todd Murphy provide senior leadership on the blue line while trying to replace Brad Dexter.

On the other side of the ledger, Maine entered last weekend’s games against Michigan and Lake Superior State concerned about their defensive zone play. But against Michigan, that was the strongest part of the Black Bear game, according to coach Greg Cronin. "Shawn Mansoff, Leo Wlasow, and Alfie Michaud played very well," said Cronin. "Unfortunately, our offense was atrocious. I was disgusted by our lack of fire."

A Saturday night practice in Sault Ste. Marie brought the aggressive side out of the Black Bears the next day. "We did a good job of playing smashmouth offense against Lake State. And the power play that was non-existent against Michigan got us three goals.

"That was a long trip, " said Cronin. "It will be nice to play at home. We’ll need to build on our aggressive play against Lake State and pick up the team defense. I’m not happy giving up seven goals in two games."

Auntie Em, it’s good to be back home.

PICK: Maine 5-2.

Union (0-0-0) at New Hampshire (0-1-0)

Friday, 7 p.m., Whittemore Center, Durham, NH

UNH fell 5-1 to second-ranked Vermont last week but remains a top ten team.

Leading defenseman and captain Tim Murray injured a knee and is out for the weekend. His loss hurts deeply since the blue line remains a major question mark on the Wildcat squad. Erik Johnson, who had moved to forward for the Vermont game, moves back. Rookie Dan Enders who had assumed Johnson’s place, remains in the defensive rotation.

New Hampshire will need to capitalize on their chances better. They created numerous odd-man rushes, especially early in the game, but couldn’t convert. Coach Dick Umile said, "Our shooting was horrendous. We missed the net far too many times."

Union College finished 11th in the ECAC last year. Led by new head coach Stan Moore, the Skating Dutchmen hope to score more than in 1995-96, when they finished last in league scoring. Chris Ford (8-18–26), Brent Ozarowski (13-11–24), and Russ Monteith (6-11–17) led the scoring for Union last year. All three return.

The Dutchmen graduated their top two defensemen, but return both goalies, Trevor Koenig and Leeor Shtrom. Koenig, a junior, saw the majority of the action and posted a 3.13 goals-against-average and a .911 save percentage.

UNH will show why they’re top ten material.

PICK: New Hampshire 6-2.

Colgate (0-0-0) at New Hampshire (0-1-0)

Saturday, 7 p.m., Whittemore Center, Durham, NH

Both teams are described above in previews of games against other teams.

Although Colgate will put up more of a fight against New Hampshire than fellow ECAC member Union did, the Wildcats will still prevail.

PICK: New Hampshire 4-3.

Northeastern (0-0-0) at Rensselaer (0-1-0)

Friday, 7:30 p.m., Houston Fieldhouse, Troy, NY

The Rensselaer Engineers mustered a fine performance last weekend before Boston University closed them out 5-3.

One of the major questions for the Engineers going into the season rested in the nets. Freshman Joel Laing reportedly had an excellent game against BU and could be the answer. Northeastern, however, probably will not face Laing. Fellow rookie netminder Scott Prekaski, up next in the rotation, is expected to receive the nod.

Other Engineer players who caught USCHO ECAC Correspondent Jayson Moy’s eye were freshmen Brian Pothier and Doug Shepard, as well as much-improved sophomores Mark Murphy and Matt Garver.

Northeastern begins their rebuilding program under Bruce Crowder. "We’re going to try to establish what we have to work with here," said Crowder. "Once we have a better feel for the team, we’ll incorporate a system that will allow us to be successful."

Dmitri Vasiliev, Jonathan Calla, and Maine transfer Brad Mahoney comprise one top line. Top returning scorer Scott Campbell, rookie Billy Newson, and Justin Kearns make up the other.

Freshman Marc Robitaille will tend the nets.

Rensselaer gets the nod based on their impressive performance against BU, even if the Terriers weren’t operating on all cylinders.

PICK: Rensselaer 3-2.

Michigan State (2-0-0) at Northeastern (0-0-0)

Sunday, 1 p.m., Matthews Arena, Boston, MA

Both teams are discussed above in previews against other opponents.

Marc Robitaille could come back in the nets for the Huskies depending on his play against Rensselaer. Otherwise, fellow freshman Judd Brackett or upperclassman Kevin Noke will get the nod.

Michigan State is ranked seventh in the country. Hockey East coaches pegged Northeastern for eighth out of nine in the league. No contest.

PICK: Michigan State 6-1.

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This Week in the WCHA: October 25, 1996

By Todd D. Milewski

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October 25, 1996

The second weekend of WCHA play is here, and if there’s as much excitement as last week, fans are in for some memorable moments at the rink.

Last weekend North Dakota topped Denver twice at their home rink, serving notice of their talent. Colorado College and Minnesota split, as expected; Minnesota dominated play at times in Friday’s game, and even though the Gophers outshot CC on Saturday, the Tigers played better team defense and got the win. UM-Duluth made the trip to Alaska-Anchorage and swept the Seawolves. Wisconsin got a shutout in the first game against visiting St. Cloud and the Huskies came back for a close win in the second game.

This week Colorado College heads for Northern Michigan, Wisconsin is at Denver, North Dakota travels to Michigan Tech and Minnesota goes to in-state rival Minnesota-Duluth. In a non-conference series St. Lawrence visits St. Cloud State.

Here’s a look at this weekend’s games…

North Dakota (2-0-0, 2-0-0 WCHA) at Michigan Tech (4-1-0, 1-1-0 WCHA) Friday, 7:35 p.m., Saturday, 7:05 p.m., John MacInnes Student Ice Arena, Houghton, MI

This is the top game of the week, with both teams off to fast starts.

The Huskies get back to conference battle after sweeping Mankato State last weekend. For the first time since 1984-85, the Huskies have won four of their first five games, with goalie David Weninger recording his first career shutout in the 3-0 win on Saturday. Coach Tim Watters knows the weekend series will be a battle, as the WCHA is competitive this season, and North Dakota is a very good hockey club coming in. They must be very disciplined and must play sound hockey at both ends of the ice.

Dave Hoogsteen had three goals and three assists and was named the WCHA Offensive Player of the Week. He’s only 5-7, but had 10 goals and 10 assists last year, so he’s off to a great start. Jason Blake, centering Hoogsteen’s line, also had a great weekend. Defensively North Dakota held DU to just 22 shots on Friday and 20 on Saturday. And goalie Toby Kvalevog was there when his mates needed big saves.

The Fighting Sioux will have to play some solid hockey at a tough place to play. Tech is always tough on their rink because they are a physical team. Their veteran players are off to a good start and they have good goaltending. "Our keys are to continue to do what we did last weekend; get contributions from everyone," Sandelin said.

ELMO Picks: MTU 4, UND 1 on Friday; UND 5, MTU 4 on Saturday.

Colorado College (1-1-0, 1-1-0 WCHA) at Northern Michigan (1-2-1, 1-1-0 WCHA) Friday-Saturday, 7:05 p.m., Lakeview Arena, Marquette, MI

Colorado College invades Northern Michigan as both teams look to get above the .500 mark in WCHA play.

Colorado College got what they needed last weekend at Minnesota — a split. But this weekend the Tigers are looking for more. With some injured players (Chad Hartnell, Dan Peters, Lee Groom, T. J. Tanberg) out of the lineup, the entire squad must work together to get the job done. The Tigers were outshot in Saturday’s 2-1 win, but those shots came from far out. Coach Don Lucia liked the way his team played defense on Saturday and wants to continue this weekend.

NMU, a young team, has a chance to beat CC, something they haven’t done in the last eight meetings. Bud Smith will have to keep up his fine play; in last week’s 4-4 tie with LSSU he had two goals and an assist. The Wildcats must play solid hockey to win, and to keep its confidence high, which is a must for any young team. A strong effort against CC will do just that.

ELMO Picks: CC 4, NMU 1 on Friday; CC 3, NMU 1 on Saturday.

Wisconsin (1-1-0, 1-1-0 WCHA) at Denver (0-2-0, 0-2-0 WCHA) Friday-Saturday, 7:05 p.m., Denver University Arena, Denver, CO

Both Wisconsin and Denver surprised the scribes last week — Denver by getting swept at North Dakota and Wisconsin with a split with St. Cloud. These are two teams which need to find direction this weekend.

Badger goalie Kirk Daubenspeck pitched a 2-0 shutout against St. Cloud Friday and has a .952 save percentage entering this weekend. He will play a key role in these games, since Denver will try to put a full-blown offensive blitz on him. The Badger freshmen had a great weekend against St. Cloud, collectively accounting for a goal and four assists among the team;s four goals and five assists. Dustin Kuk (0-2–2), Steve Reinprecht (1-0–1), T.R. Moreau (0-1-1) and Niki Siren (0-1–1) all tallied their first points in their first series as Badgers. Coach Jeff Sauer needs two wins to tie Bob Johnson’s school record.

The Pioneers should play like a possessed team this weekend after dropping two games. Coach George Gwozdecky will need to jumpstart his squad because the Badgers will be ready to play, and early in the season the Pioneers have plenty of time to get back on the winning track. Antti Laaksonen had a goal and assist on Friday and Anders Bjork finished the weekend with the same. Now it’s time for the rest of the team to step up.

ELMO Picks: DU 4, UW 2 on Friday; DU 4, UW 3 on Saturday.

Minnesota (1-1-0, 1-1-0 WCHA) at Minnesota-Duluth (3-1-0, 2-0-0 WCHA) Friday-Saturday, 7:05 p.m., Duluth Entertainment & Convention Center, Duluth, MN

Minnesota Coach Doug Woog (suspended for a violation of NCAA rules) won’t be behind the bench, but that doesn’t take any excitement from this in-state rivalry. This series is always hotly anticipated by fans of both teams.

UMD made its trek to Alaska last weekend and survived to sweep Anchorage. However, that trip often takes a lot out of a team, and the Gophers hope to take advantage. But the Bulldogs are at home, which will help; Mike Peluso (4-1–5) and Curtis Doell (1-4–5) lead the team. Sergei Petrov and Max Wikman have a goal and three assists each. Goalie Brant Nicklin is undefeated in three games and has a 0.67 (how small?) goals against average and a .971 (wow!) save percentage.

With their off-ice problems the Gophers have had this week, there is always the chance that they’ll be unprepared — but don’t count on it. This is a series with the Bulldogs, after all. Erik Rasmussen has played everything like a first-round draft choice so far, with two goals and an assist against CC. Goalie Steve DeBus has a 2.00 goals against average and a .920 save percentage. If the Gophers keep focused, they should be in control of the series.

ELMO Picks: UM 4, UMD 2 on Friday; UM 5, UMD 2 on Saturday.

St. Lawrence (0-0-0, 0-0-0 ECAC) at St. Cloud State (1-2-0, 1-1-0 WCHA) Friday-Saturday, 7:05 p.m., National Hockey Center, St. Cloud, MN

St. Cloud State will try to improve in a non-conference series with St. Lawrence, which is opening its season.

The Huskies split at Wisconsin, getting shut out in the first game but coming back with a solid effort Saturday, when SCSU got two goals and an assist from Sacha Molin and goaltender Tim Lideen turned away 30 shots to record his second win.

This is St. Lawrence’s opening weekend, a season after finishing with a 20-12-3 record which earned them a fourth-place finish in the preseason ECAC coaches poll. Last year the Saints were third with a 15-4-3 record. Top returning players include Paul DiFrancesco (16-39–55) and Derek Ladouceur (7-33–40). Jon Bracco (11-3-0, 3.62 GAA, .884 SV%) will be the main man in goal, and he can come up with big saves. The Saints are solid in all three areas of the game and are hungry for the season to start.

ELMO Picks: SCSU 3, SLU 2 on Friday; SLU 4, SCSU 1 on Saturday.

Next Week in the WCHA Friday-Saturday, Nov. 1-2 Michigan Tech at Alaska-Anchorage St. Cloud State at Colorado College Minnesota at Wisconsin Northern Michigan at North Dakota Denver at Clarkson

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This Week in the CCHA: October 25, 1996

By Paula C. Weston

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October 25, 1996

Last weekend the CCHA got under way with a number of interesting matches. Miami got off to a solid start, sweeping Alaska-Fairbanks three straight games on the road. Michigan overpowered perennial Hockey East foe Maine 3-0 at the Joe, only to watch as Maine trounced Lake Superior the following day 7-4. Maine forward Dan Shermerhorn scored a hat trick in the second period to put the Lakers to rest.

Clarkson’s offense proved too strong for Ohio State’s freshman goalies, and Notre Dame and Western tied 3-3 in a tough game, signaling the parity that pervades this strong league. Michigan State got the best of WMU 3-1 the following evening, and Bowling Green indicated that the CCHA may be the dominant conference early on, displaying its firepower to the dismay of Boston College fans.

This weekend will be a telling one, as Bowling Green and Lake Superior face off in the Soo for two. Ferris State and Notre Dame will make their I-70 swing through Ohio State and Miami, which will determine who will take the upper hand in the standings early on. Michigan will get their road trip to Alaska out of the way, and Michigan state will meet Hockey East rivals Boston College and Bruce Crowder’s Northeastern team on a trip out east.

I tried to pick conservatively last week, and as anyone with half a brain knows, to pick winners in a competitive league is not a lot of fun. The strength of the offenses surprised me, as goaltenders are usually dominant this time of year. But, with my record at 7-5, I will try to make amends this week.

Here is a look at the games:

Michigan (3-0-0, 0-0-0 CCHA) at Alaska-Fairbanks (0-5-0, 0-3-0 CCHA) Thursday, Friday, 7:00 p.m., Carlson Center, Fairbanks, Alaska

The Nanooks did moderately well against Miami in their home opener, despite losing. The offense struggled to only four goals in three games, and the power play has scored only once in 18 attempts.

Michigan does well to get this trip out of the way early. With a defense as strong as its offense, and a penalty kill unit which has stopped all seven attempts against it, this team should not lose. They gave up only 20 shots to Maine, and Alaska-Fairbanks is no Maine.

Pick: Michigan sweeps, Friday 6-2 and Saturday 7-1

Bowling Green (4-0-0, 0-0-0 CCHA) at Lake Superior (3-1-0, 0-0-0 CCHA) Friday, Saturday, 7:30 p.m., Taffy Abel Arena, Sault Ste. Marie, MI

Bowling Green hopes this weekend will prove it belongs with the big boys in the league. The Falcons can put it in the net (as Mike Johnson showed last weekend), with Bowling Green scoring 12 against Boston College. But this weekend special teams will come into play for both sides, in their first true league games.

Lake State has something to prove, so Steve Battaglia has to keep putting up numbers. LSSU was only two for eight on the power play against Maine, blew a lead against Northern Michigan, and have struggled five-on-five thus far. Look for a more aggressive forecheck this weekend against rival BGSU; goaltender John Grahame needs to calm his defense down.

Pick: Friday, LSSU 4, BG 4; Saturday BG 5, LSSU 4

Ferris State (3-1-0, 0-0-0 CCHA) at Ohio State (0-3-0, 0-0-0 CCHA) Saturday, 7:30 p.m., Ohio State Ice Arena, Columbus, Ohio

Ferris State began with two tune-ups against Western Ontario, and the offense was productive, outshooting and outscoring their rivals, 5-4 and 6-3. The playing is over, as Ferris must do the same thing to the Buckeyes’ young goalies to gain the victory. Ohio State learned something last week: shooting helps.

The Buckeyes must use their size and speed to their advantage, mainly to help protect the goal on the defensive. Freshmen Ray Aho and Tom Connerty need all the help they can get right now. Ohio State did look strong against Clarkson for four of the six periods they played, but they lost the last one in each game, and must not falter late this week. Special teams will be critical to the outcome of this game. OSU must stay out of the penalty box, as misconducts ruined a hopeful weekend against Clarkson.

Pick: OSU 5, FSU 4

Notre Dame (1-0-1, 0-0-1 CCHA) at Ohio State (0-3-0, 0-0-0 CCHA) Friday, 7:30 p.m., Ohio State Ice Arena, Columbus, Ohio

Notre Dame has all the firepower necessary in young forwards like Ben Simon (though he missed a number of breakaways last weekend), but they still lack a physical presence compared to some teams.

Ohio State has that presence, and must use it to contain the Irish. The Buckeyes led No. 8 Clarkson last week in both games, and must learn to sustain that pressure. Ohio State’s defense cannot continue to surrender as many shots as in their first three games, atotal of 122. Ohio State has an offense to match Notre Dame’s with Pierre Dufour and Brandon LaFrance leading the way.

Pick: OSU 5, Notre Dame 3

Notre Dame (1-0-1, 0-0-1 CCHA) at Miami (4-1-0, 3-0-0) Saturday, 7:30 p.m., Goggin Ice Arena, Oxford, Ohio

Notre Dame again must prove it can play physically against a stingy Miami defense. Goaltending will be a key in this one. Miami has had strong special-teams play thus far, especially killing penalties. The Redskins have killed 17 of 18 attempts.

Juniors Adam Copeland and Tim Leahy and sophomore Randy Robitaille pose a potent offensive threat. Each had three points in Miami’s first game, against Alaska last week. Look for Adam Lord to shut Notre Dame down.

Pick: Miami 6, Notre Dame 2

Ferris State (3-1-0, 0-0-0 CCHA) at Miami (4-1-0, 3-0-0 CCHA) Friday, 7:30 p.m., Goggin Ice Arena, Oxford, Ohio

Ferris State, with junior Andy Roach, can use this game as a measuring stick. Ferris lacks depth on offense, and their goaltending has not been tested yet. Special teams will probably be sloppy, and that will cost them against a Miami team that is rolling early.

Miami scored a total of 19 goals in their last four games, but their power play is only around 20 percent. Five-on-five, this may be one of the toughest teams in the league. Adam Lord and Trevor Prior are both experienced enough to last a game like this.

Pick: Miami 5, Ferris 3

Michigan State (2-0-0, 1-0-0 CCHA) at Boston College (0-2-0, 0-0-0 Hockey East) Friday, 7:30 p.m., Conte Forum, Boston, Mass.

Michigan State is going to find out if Steve Ferranti is their leader this week, or Mike York, or Mike Watt — all of them can score. But the power play has not, having converted only one of seven attempts so far. Hint: use the back door! Defensively, they shut Western Michigan down, but after a long trip, allow for a mistake or two.

Boston College, I am afraid, is going to have nightmares early in the season. However, the experience will pay off for them in February. Depth is the problem; sophomore Mary Reasoner might be the best of his class, but he and junior Ken Hemenway will need their linemates to beat MSU. Senior Goalie Grag Taylor is solid, with a 15-16-3 record last season, and could steal this one for Coach York, but I doubt it if Chad Alban is playing on the other end.

Pick: MSU 5, BC 3

Michigan State (2-0-0, 1-0-0 CCHA) at Northeastern (0-0-0, 0-0-0 Hockey East) Saturday, 7:30 p.m., Matthews Arena, Boston, Mass.

Michigan State will have all they can handle with a new Northeastern system in place, but if they get through the first period, the Spartans will prevail. Size, depth, speed: these things all permeate the MSU lines, whereas their opponents are lacking here and there.

Northeastern is going to be as good as everyone thinks, but not right away. It takes time to build your own team, as Crowder knows well. Four of the five top scorers from last season are gone, leaving Scott Campbell and his 32 points in 1995-96 looking for help.

Pick: MSU 6, NE 2

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This Week in the ECAC: October 25, 1996

By Jayson Moy

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October 25, 1996

The past weekend kicked off action for three of the 12 ECAC teams; now the other nine take to the ice for the first time this season.

The ECAC started off the season with a 3-1 record in non-conference play. Clarkson swept a pair from Ohio State, and Vermont defeated New Hampshire. The lone blemish for the ECAC was a loss by Rensselaer to Boston University. The ECAC hopes to improve on its non-conference record this weekend.

(All times EDT)

ST. LAWRENCE (0-0-0) at ST. CLOUD (1-2-0) Fri-Sat, 7:00 PM, National Hockey Center, St. Cloud, MN

The Saints start without suspended goaltender Clint Owen, which leaves Jon Bracco in goal for the Saints. His numbers from last season are actually better than Owen’s (3.69 GAA, .886 SV%), and with the two splitting time last season, there might not be the problem that everyone is predicting for the Saints. Their forwards are first class. Paul DiFrancesco is one of the finest centers in the ECAC (16-39–55), and he should be centering Scott Stevens (13-14–27) and Derek McLaughlin (10-16–26).

The Huskies come off a split with the Badgers of Wisconsin last weekend in WCHA play. After generating only 18 shots on goal and getting shut out on Friday evening, they rebounded with a 3-2 win with the help of two goals from Socha Molin. Expect to see the two Huskie goaltenders split games once again this weekend. Brian Leitza was solid in allowing only two goals on Friday, and Tim Ledeen also allowed only two goals on Saturday.

Which St. Cloud team will show up? Will it be the one that could only generate a few shots on goal, or the one that produced 37 shots on Saturday night? How will St. Lawrence start? Looks to be a defensive effort from the home team as they try to stop the quick forwards of St. Lawrence.

PICK: A St. Lawrence sweep, 4-1 and 5-4.

NORTHEASTERN (0-0-0) at RENSSELAER (0-1-0) Friday, 7:30PM, Houston Fieldhouse, Troy, NY

Northeastern begins their season on the road with their brand-new head coach Bruce Crowder. They come into the season without their top three scorers from last year in Jordan Shields (12-31–43), Dan Lupo (17-22–39), and Danny McGillis (12-24–36). They also lose both goaltenders in Todd Reynolds and Mike Veisor. What is Crowder to do? Can freshmen Todd Barclay, Roger Holeczy, and Billy Newson make an immediate impact? Can Scott Campbell and Justin Kearns add to their numbers from last year (20-12–32 and 7-9–16 respect- ively)? Should be a test for the Huskies this Friday.

Rensselaer had almost the same questions going into last week’s game against Boston University. But the freshmen looked impressive, as did the returning players. Freshman Joel Laing got the start last week, and we should expect to see the other freshman goalie, Scott Prekaski, get his first start this Friday. Eric Healey (1-0-1) looks like he is going to pick up where he left off in the scoring department, and the defense returns experience. Watch out for freshman defenseman Brian Pothier (0-1-1), who looks like a potential star for the Engineers.

Northeastern is searching, but Bruce Crowder is a great coach. The young and inexperienced Engineers got a great test in Boston University last weekend and did an admirable job and gained confidence. Northeastern has a a great chance at winning this one if Marc Robitaille and Judd Brackett get off to strong starts in their rookie games.

PICK: This is going to be a close one. RPI 5, Northeastern 4.

UNION (0-0-0) at NEW HAMPSHIRE (0-1-0) Friday, 7:00PM, Whittemore Center, Durham, NH

The Dutchmen begin their 1996-97 campaign on the road, and the same questions surround them as last year. Who will score for this team, and if they do, can they outscore their opponents? The debut of new head coach Stan Moore should see him try to find more scoring from returnees like Brent Ozarowski (13-11–24), Chris Ford (8-17–25), and Russ Monteith (5-11–16). They are solid in net with either Leeor Shtrom (3.09 GAA, .902 SV%) or Trevor Koenig (3.13 GAA, .910 SV%). They allow three goals a game, but can they score more than three goals?

The Wildcats come off a loss to highly-ranked Vermont last weekend. They also took a huge hit, as Captain Tim Murray was lost for a few weeks with a knee injury. Eric Boguniecki got the lone goal for UNH in their loss. The Wildcats played UVM tough, but could not match the outbursts of the Fabulous Frenchmen. They should have an easier time against Union. Brian Larochelle will have an easier time as well against the Dutchmen. But then again — new coach, more shots for the boys from Schenectady, who knows?

UNH has had two games to get things settled, and Union is not UVM. Union is starting a new era with Stan Moore.

PICK: UNH 7, Union 1.

COLGATE (0-0-0) at MAINE (1-1-0) Friday, 7:00PM, Alfond Arena, Orono, ME

Colgate begins their campaign with a trip to the Far Northeast and the Maine Black Bears. Colgate begins with high expectations for their star center Mike Harder (23-31–54). He should spearhead the offense which includes such returnees as Tim Loftsgard (8-11–19), Dru Burgess (8-11–19), and Jack McIntosh (7-10–17). Dan Brenzavich returns as the third-year starter (3.11 GAA, .893 SV%), and McIntosh rules the blue line for this team. Don Vaughn faces high expectations this year, and his team looks to get off to a hot start against the power from Hockey East.

Maine split a pair in the state of Michigan last weekend, losing to defending NCAA champions Michigan and defeating Lake Superior State. The Black Bears only generated 17 shots on goal against Marty Turco on Friday, but put up seven goals against the Lakers. The heroes on Saturday were senior Dan Shermerhorn, who netted the hat trick, and junior Scott Parmentier, who added two goals. Freshman Alfie Michaud was solid in net, turning back 12 of 16 shots against the Lakers and 28 of 31 against Michigan.

This should be one wide-open game with the better defense prevailing. I think that’s Colgate. It’s a tight one.

PICK: Colgate 3, Maine 2.

BROWN (0-0-0) at YALE (0-0-0) exhibition Friday, 7:30PM, Ingalls Rink, New Haven, CT

Brown starts to answer the question this weekend at the Yale Whale: who will score for them? Mike Flynn (9-13–22) is the leading scorer and Marty Clapton (8-8–16) joins him, but other than that, there is not much. A strong defense is led by Bob Quinnell, and D.J. Harding and Jimmy Andersson also bring strength to this position. It will probably be Jeff Holowaty in the net (3.33 GAA, .901 SV%), and he hopes to continue his solid play.

Yale also starts to answer a question this weekend at home: can this team win a game this year? Their leading returning scorer is defenseman Ray Giroux (3-17–20), and their leading returning forward is Matt Cumming (8-6–14). The returnees must increase their offensive output or else this is just the start to a very long season for the Bulldogs, goalie Alex Westlund (4.95 GAA, .856 SV%) and head coach Tim Taylor.

This one should be a low-scoring affair as both teams struggle to put it in the net. Brown’s defense makes the difference.

PICK: Brown 3, Yale 1.

COLGATE (0-0-0) at NEW HAMPSHIRE (0-1-0) Saturday, 7:00PM, Whittemore Center, Durham, NH

Colgate’s next dance partner is New Hampshire. The Red Raiders should enjoy the larger ice surface more than the regulation one in Orono. The forwards should excel in this rink, being that they are the speedy playmaking type. Mike Harder should find some good skating room. The key here is the defense for Colgate. If they can cover the wider surface, then they can stop the UNH forwards.

New Hampshire gets a tougher opponent tonight. The defense will be tested sorely, and here’s where the loss of Tim Murray may severely hurt the WIldcats. If Brian Larochelle goes for a second consecutive evening, he will see one of the greatest shots in the ECAC in Harder. Scoring is a must for this game, as Colgate can put them up.

Wide-open end-to-end play at Towse Rink tonight. The hot goalie is the one that makes the difference.

PICK: UNH 5, Colgate 3.

VERMONT (1-0-0) at BOSTON UNIVERSITY (1-0-0) Saturday, 7:00PM, Walter Brown Arena, Boston, MA

The game of the week in many eyes. The number-two team in the nation against number three. "Wow" is an appropriate word for this one. Half of the Final Four participants from last year clash in what should be an exciting game.

Vermont comes off a 5-1 win over UNH last week. Five points from the Flying Frenchmen, Eric Perrin (2-1–3) and Martin St. Louis (0-2–2), helped spur the victory. But the real story was that there were contributions from others. Matt Stelljes (the captain), Jason Hamilton and Matt Sanders also scored, and that’s where Vermont sneaks up on you. Most teams concentrate on that first line, and the other lines then take advantage against their counterparts. Tim Thomas will be solid as usual in the net, and a superb defense led by Jan Kloboucek will try to contain the Terrier forwards.

Boston University played a less-than-stellar game against Rensselaer last Saturday, but has enough talent to win games in which they do not excel. Bill Pierce was the main man against RPI as he scored two goals, one short- handed and one on the power play. The Terriers are another team that has depth among lines. Their third- and fourth-line play from such contributors as John Hynes, Peter Donatelli, Albie O’Connell, and Bobby Hanson make things tough on competitors. Tom Noble should be back in net against the Catamounts after defeating Minnesota in an exhibition. A defense which is not spectacular, but consistent, is led by Shane Johnson and Jon Coleman.

This is a tough game to call. It will come down to stopping Chris Drury and Shawn Bates for Vermont, stopping St. Louis and Perrin for BU, third- and fourth-line play, and special teams. This should be a barnburner.

PICK: BU 4, Vermont 3.

TEAM POLAND at HARVARD (0-0-0) Saturday, 10/26, 7:00PM, Bright Hockey Center, Cambridge, MA

I am in the same quandry that Dave Hendrickson was in. I don’t know much more about the Polish team than he does, except for one thing – they lost 6-1 to UMass-Amherst last weekend, and got pounded by Clarkson on Wednesday night. I’ll take Dave’s offer one further: a dozen of the finest from Famous Lunch in Troy for more info.

Harvard starts the season, and Peter Zakowich and J.R. Prestifillipo can become the latest in the goalie tandems which have served the Crimson so well. Henry Higdon has his chance at becoming the latest and greatest center in Crimson history, and Ashlin Halfknight joins a long string of Crimson captains. But what is Harvard’s dilemma? Scoring. Craig Adams and Craig MacDonald have a year under them, and last year’s heralded freshman class are now sophomores. In comes another touted freshmen class. Can they contribute? Lots of questions for Ronn Tomasonni.

I’ll go out on a limb on this score.

PICK: Harvard 6, Team Poland 1.

TEAM POLAND at BROWN (0-0-0) Sunday, 2:00PM, Meehan Auditorium, Providence, RI

Team Poland continues their tour in Providence. Let’s make that two dozen of Famous Lunch’s finest.

Here’s exactly what Bob Gaudet was looking for. A game situation to mix his lines, play the freshmen, and find good chemistry for his team. It also lets some of his players get the scoring touch.

That limb is getting shorter…

PICK: Brown 4, Team Poland 2.

OTTAWA at DARTMOUTH (0-0-0) exhibition Sunday, 3:00PM, Thompson Arena, Hanover, NH

Ottawa has played two Division I teams this year: Boston College, who pasted them 9-2, and UNH, which to the surprise of many tied the Wildcats 3-3. Goalie Joel Gagnon faced 76 shots on goal, and Head Coach Mickey Goulet saw goals from Mike Chelbus, Benoit Constantineau, and Andre Deschenes.

Dartmouth returns their six top scorers in David Whitworth (13-18–31), Bill Kelleher (11-16–27), Owen Hughes (4-14–18), Jon Sturgis (7-9–16), Brent Retter (5-8–13) and Alex Dumas (4-9–13). They also return two senior goalies in Ben Heller (4.98 GAA, .824 SV%) and Scott Baker (4.11 GAA, .870 SV%). This will hopefully be Roger Demment’s breakthrough year as head coach. This team has a lot of promise.

Should be another penalty-filled game, making the power play for Dartmouth very important.

PICK: Dartmouth 7, Ottawa 2.

TEAM POLAND at PRINCETON (0-0-0) Tuesday, 10/29, 7:30PM, Hobey Baker Rink, Princeton, NJ

As for Poland, we’d better make that three dozen Famous Lunch’s.

Princeton starts out the season. J.P. O’Connor returns after a one-season layoff and should be expected to bring his scoring. Others must help him, though. Sophomore Jason Given will be expected to score more than his six goals and 11 assists from last season. The defense will see a lot of new faces with Jason Smith, Barrington Miller and Dan Brown graduating. In between the pipes, James Konte is gone, and the Tigers turn to Erasmo Saltarelli.

Another limb?

PICK: Princeton 5, Poland 2.

TEAM POLAND at CORNELL (0-0-0) Wednesday, 10/30, 7:30PM, Lynah Rink, Ithaca, NY

More Poland in the United States. This one should hurt a lot as well. Make it four dozen.

Cornell begins play as the defending ECAC champions. It’s been a long time for the Big Red Faithful, and second-year head coach Mike Schafer looks for the repeat. Brad Chartrand is gone, but Matt Cooney (13-21–34), Kyle Knopp (11-19– 30), and Ryan Smart (8-19–27) return. Let’s hope Vinnie Auger (5-15–20) can be healthy for one full season. One of the best blue-line tandems in the nation includes Chad and Steve Wilson. Jason Elliot emerged as the starting goalie for the Big Red last season with a 2.35 GAA and a save percentage of .923.

Only one more game left for the Polish Nationals next week.

PICK: Cornell 9, Team Poland 0.

NEXT WEEK:

ECAC league action begins with the annual opener between Brown and Harvard; plus, non-conference action continues.

Friday, November 1 Lake Superior State @ St. Lawrence Miami (OH) @ Vermont Denver @ Clarkson Army @ Dartmouth Merrimack @ Colgate Air Force @ Princeton Providence @ Union

Saturday, November 2 HARVARD @ BROWN Denver @ Clarkson Miami (OH) @ St. Lawrence Lake Superior St. @ Vermont Merrimack @ Union Providence @ Colgate Air Force @ Princeton Army @ RPI Waterloo @ Cornell (exhibition) Team Poland @ Yale (exhibition)

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The Key Is In Goal

By Jayson Moy

-

October 23, 1996

The ECAC has its share of great forwards: Mike Harder at Colgate, Martin St. Louis and Eric Perrin at Vermont, Todd White at Clarkson, Paul DiFrancesco at St. Lawrence, Ryan Smart at Cornell, Henry Higdon at Harvard, and others.

There are also a number of quality defensemen: Mikko Ollila at Clarkson, Jeremiah McCarthy at Harvard, Steve Wilson at Cornell, Jan Kloboucek at Vermont, along with others.

But at the goaltender position, there remain questions. For years coaches have preached that a great goaltender can help a team reach new levels. Nowhere was this more evident than on the big stage last year, in the NHL and the World Cup of Hockey.

The Florida Panthers were able to reach the Stanley Cup Finals based largely on the strength of their goaltender, John Vanbiesbrouck. The Panthers were not a great skating or scoring team, but the Beezer raised the level of their play.

Speaking of which, how about Mike Richter? Team USA’s netminder played a crucial role at the World Cup; while the Americans were deep offensively, Richter shined in the final series against Canada, who pelted the goal mercilessly. Without Richter, the USA doesn’t win the World Cup. Period.

The same idea can be applied to the ECAC. It is clear that goaltending can turn an otherwise-average team into a contender, or take a team with talent up front back to the middle of the pack.

The correlation between goaltending and the top of the standings is clearer than ever this season in the ECAC. Let’s examine the 12 conference teams (in reverse predicted order of finish), and assess their goaltending.

The last time Yale made a run at the top of the standings was with second-team All-ECAC goalie Todd Sullivan. Dan Choquette and Alex Westlund are now the netminders, combining for a goals-against average (GAA) of 4.59 last year. There is no question that these are competent goalies, but not of the caliber of Sullivan, who allowed well under four goals per game.

Union, in their short Division I history, has not had a strong goaltending tradition. But things seem to be changing on that front. They now have Leeor Shtrom (3.09 GAA) in the net, and because of him Union is a dangerous team. The Dutchmen were picked next-to-last, but if they find any kind of offense, they could move up several spots — because their netminder can play with the best.

Princeton’s recent rise was with James Konte in goal. In fact, one might argue that he led them to the ECAC Championship game in 1995. Konte has since graduated, and Erasmo Saltarelli assumes the role of starting goaltender. For Princeton to have success, Saltarelli must impress.

With Brown, we have the same story of solid but not spectacular. Brian Audette and Jeff Holowaty are back, and get the job done, but are not guys that can steal the show like Geoff Finch could.

RPI is another team looking for a presence in net. With a great tradition of goaltending from folks like Kevin Constantine, Darren Puppa, Neil Little, and Mike Tamburro, RPI fans have grown accustomed to counting on their goaltenders. Now two freshmen, Scott Prekaski and Joel Laing, are fighting for the job, and no one knows what that will mean.

The Harvard Crimson have been blessed with quality tandems in goal such as Chuckie Hughes and Allain Roy, Aaron Israel and Tripp Tracy. But what about now? Peter Zakowich and J.R. Prestifillipo are the candidates. As of yet they are untested, but so were the others once. If they can make the adjustment, Harvard could be in for one nice ride.

For Dartmouth, Scott Baker and Ben Heller return with a combined GAA of 4.59 and with a stronger D in front of them this season. While these two haven’t proven it yet, they will likely steal some games, and if they do, Dartmouth will be up there in the standings.

Now we get into the elite class of goalies in the ECAC, starting with Cornell. Jason Elliot is a one man gang; he backstopped the Big Red to the ECAC Championship last year, and brings back a GAA of 2.35 and a .923 save percentage. Can he do it again? If so, Cornell is in for another sweet season.

Clint Owen is the man for St. Lawrence, and he is a good one. He’s got the tools necessary to put St. Lawrence over the top. However, he will have to sit out the first half of this season because of an undisclosed violation of team rules. That leaves Jon Bracco minding the store. Though Bracco is solid, St. Lawrence will take a step back with him in the net. Life will be good in Canton when Owen gets back, but until then, what will the Saints do without him?

Dan Brenzavich leads the Colgate Red Raiders. He is overshadowed by others in his class, but Brenzavich is a winner in his own right. However, he has yet to prove he can win the big games, and until he does, how far Colgate can go remains a mystery.

Dan Murphy is Clarkson’s workhorse, a second-team All-ECAC pick for the second year running. He plays almost every game for the Golden Knights, and is as solid as they come (2.70 GAA, .912 SV%). The Golden Knights usually have the goalies; this year is no different.

What else can you say about Tim Thomas? He has done the job since he first stepped onto the ice in Burlington. A 2.34 GAA is right on his career numbers, and now that the nation knows him better, what he can do, everyone should see what the fanfare is about.

Generally, then, the second-division teams do not have a strong presence in net. Conversely, the teams at the top have the elite ones, as is usually the case.

Some of the teams in the middle of the pack could make significant moves one way or another depending on how their goaltending questions pan out. Dartmouth could finish as high as fifth or sixth, but could drop much lower if their keepers don’t perform.

On the other end of the spectrum, there are teams like RPI and Harvard, who could finish better than predicted if their goaltenders come off solidly. Harvard is in a slightly different position; they are well-regarded, but if their tandem fails to get the job done the Crimson could be in serious trouble.

Basically, the top spots in the conference could come down to which goalie can put his team on his back. The ECAC is typical in that regard — strength between the pipes is a must. Clearly some teams are set up nicely in this regard, while others will struggle. As the season goes on, we’ll find out a lot about the league by how the goaltenders play.

Watters, Talafous Accepting Challenges in WCHA

By Jim Thies

-

October 22, 1996

Challenges.

Some people run, while others choose to ignore them. But still others grab hold and work to overcome them. Those folks may conquer, or they may fall short.

For Tim Watters and Dean Talafous, the latest challenge is as head coach of a WCHA team — working to get to the top of one of the premier Division I hockey conferences in the nation.

Both are looking forward to the work ahead.

Watters Returns to MTU

Tim Watters returns to Michigan Tech after a splendid 13-year career in the NHL. He spent seven years with the Winnipeg Jets (1981-88) where he was a co-captain and received the team’s 7th Player Award for contributions both on and off the ice. He was signed as a free agent with the Los Angeles Kings (1988), playing for the next six years. He was voted the team’s top defenseman and won the club’s Unsung Hero Award.

Watters, a Kamloops, B.C., native, played his college hockey with the Huskies and scored 19 goals and 93 points in three seasons. In 1981 he helped the Huskies to a third place finish in the NCAA tournament and was named an All-American and to the All-WCHA team.

He got a taste of coaching last year as an assistant with the Boston Bruins. He liked the experience and returned to Houghton in August.

“It’s just fabulous to be back; it’s great being back in Copper Country,” said Watter. “Ever since I turned pro, we’ve had a summer home close by. For me and my family, being back coaching the Huskies is a great thing.”

The Huskies are off to a good start with a 4-1 overall and 1-1 WCHA record. And Watters is happy about the team’s early-season success.

“Our players have picked up the systems very well. Whenever there’s a coaching change there are always periods of adjustment for everyone. The players are getting a feel for me and I’m doing the same with them. But it’s gone quite well and we’ll keep going strong.

“We had players step to the front: Andre Savage, Jeff Mikesch, Rob Kinch and Jason Prokopetz. They’ve done a very good job for us. I think throughout the year a lot of players will have the chance to prove what they can do. We lost a lot of players to graduation and other things, so there will be plenty of opportunities.”

So why would a man with a chance to coach in the NHL move to a new challenge at the collegiate level?

“I believe this program has great potential,” he said. “It’s a program I went through and went on to be successful. This program can offer, in my eyes, besides the top education and good hockey, a school in an area that brings the best out of people. Quality people are here and that is the type of program we want; we want to attract quality people.”

That sounds like a solid theme to work with, and Watters has proven at least two things in his career; he understands what it takes to be successful and he knows how to accomplish his goals.

“Right now the best thing about our young season is I am very pleased with the character of the team. It is a great group of individuals and all the coaches look to mold them into a good hockey club.”

North to Alaska

Last May, Dean Talafous became just the second coach in Alaska-Anchorage hockey history. He firmly believes in the hockey program and wants to win a national championship. He believes he can accomplish that lofty goal, or he would not have taken the job.

But he also knows that it will take time, a commitment from everyone in the program, and a “no excuses” attitude.

That attitude helped Talafous win a 1994 NCAA Division III national title at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls and a berth in four straight championship finals. No other NCAA Div. III team advanced to the finals four straight years. Plus he spent several successful seasons in the NHL.

Talafous isn’t new to the WCHA, having played at Wisconsin (1971-74), where he helped the Badgers to the NCAA title, being named tourney MVP in the process. Before going to UW-River Falls he was an assistant at Minnesota when the Gophers won two WCHA titles.

So far this year he has enjoyed some early-season success with a 2-2 overall record. Last weekend the Seawolves dropped a pair of close WCHA games to Minnesota-Duluth, and are 0-2 in the league.

“So far the players have been real receptive to our ideas,” said Talafous. “We have three captains who are good listeners. They follow instructions and the rest of team follows their lead. Stacy Prevost, David Vallieres and Todd Bethard have been good leaders.

“We are much farther along than I thought we would be at this point. We have to look at our own progress and not the end results. We must play strong defense and then generate more offense. In the areas of discipline and team defense we are moving along. Most important is the effort from the players has been there; there’s a good work ethic with them.”

The Duluth, Minn., native will apply the same tactics used on him to convince players to move to Alaska and play hockey.

“We can make people aware of how Alaska can grab you — the beauty and friendly people,” he said. “There’s no other place on earth with the beauty of the ocean and mountains. People here come from other places and have to bond together and support each other to get along. Alaska is not for everybody, but for the player who wants adventure and the experience of a lifetime, there’s no other place like it.”

Talafous has noted the attention the Seawolves get and that has been his biggest adjustment this year.

“The big difference [from UW-River Falls] is the media attention. There is tremendous community interest. I’m speaking, doing TV, radio and newspaper interviews on a daily basis. We must be organized to get the job done on the ice, which is number one for us. People desperately want a winner here.”

With time and that “no excuses” attitude, the winning can’t be far off.

Minnesota Head Coach Suspended

By Frank Mazzocco

-

October 21, 1996

Minnesota today suspended hockey coach Doug Woog and pulled one scholarship from the program for Woog’s role in obtaining cash to help a former player pay tuition expenses after his eligibility had ended.

The decision was announced by men’s athletics director Mark Dienhart at an early-evening news conference at Mariucci Arena.

Dienhart said Woog gave Chris McAlpine $500 in 1994 to put towards spring quarter tuition during his senior year. He also said the University has reported the NCAA rules violation to the national association.

In a St. Paul Pioneer Press report today, unnamed sources contend the money was not Woog’s and was not given by anyone affiliated with the university. McAlpine reportedly was given the cash after changing his mind about signing a professional contract in favor of completing his senior year of classes. By that time, however, McAlpine’s tuition money for the quarter had reportedly been allocated to another player.

In an emotional appearance before the media, Woog admitted to making an error and violating an NCAA rule. He expressed remorse for the attention he has brought to the university, his players and Dienhart, whom he called a friend. Woog says his decision to give the money to McAlpine happened quickly, was not premeditated and was not done with malice.

Specifically, these are the provisions of the university’s self-imposed penalties:

Woog will be suspended for at least one week, without pay.

The program’s scholarships will be reduced from 18 to 17 for the 1997-98 academic year.

Woog will be required to attend, at his expense, an NCAA rules seminar.

The duration of the suspension could increase depending on the findings of the internal investigation. He will not be behind the bench for the team’s games at Minnesota-Duluth Friday and Saturday nights, and could miss games in the following weekend at Wisconsin. Those schools represent Minnesota’s biggest traditional rivals.

During the suspension, Woog will not be allowed to have contact with his players or assistant coaches.

Dienhart said the scope of the penalties was determined following consultation with the NCAA, which will conduct its own investigation into the matter. Dienhart said the penalties would have been much stiffer had the violation occurred while McAlpine had eligibility remaining.

This is the first NCAA violation of significance by Woog, who Friday began his 12th season as Minnesota’s head coach. Last spring, however, he was suspended by the WCHA for abusing an official during the association’s playoff tournament.

Associate head coach Mike Guentzel will coach the team during Woog’s absence.

NCAA To Investigate Minnesota

USCHO Staff Report

-

October 20, 1996

The University of Minnesota and the NCAA are engaged in an investigation into possible rules infractions, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported Sunday, October 20, 1996.

Reportedly Gopher head coach Doug Woog gave co-captain Chris McAlpine $500 after the conclusion of the 1993-94 hockey season, once defenseman McAlpine had used up his hockey eligibility. The money was to be used to finish school.

University officials had no official comment to make on the matter.

McAlpine played four years for the Minnesota team, from the 1990-91 seasons. In his senior season he was co-captain, and is on the all time leader board for assists and points by a Minnesota defensemen. He was named to the second team All America squad in 1994.

McAlpine is currently with the Albany River Rats of the AHL.

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What’s He Gonna Do For An Encore?

The Road to Chestnut Hill

The League’s Top Rookie

Looking to the Future

This Week in the WCHA: November 1, 1996

This Week in Hockey East: November 1, 1996

This Week in the CCHA: November 1, 1996

Gooning It Up

This Week in Hockey East: October 25, 1996

This Week in the WCHA: October 25, 1996

This Week in the CCHA: October 25, 1996

This Week in the ECAC: October 25, 1996

The Key Is In Goal

Watters, Talafous Accepting Challenges in WCHA

Watters Returns to MTU

North to Alaska

Minnesota Head Coach Suspended

NCAA To Investigate Minnesota

Erik Drygas: Trying to Triumph Over Tragedy

This Week in the ECAC: October 18, 1996

This Week in the CCHA: October 18, 1996

Charges Against McLeod Could Be Dropped

This Week in the WCHA: October 18, 1996

Lowell Goalie Suspended

New Ohio State Arena No ‘False Image’

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