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CCHA Rookie Team Announced

USCHO Staff Report
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Defenseman Daryl Andrews of Western Michigan, who led all CCHA blueliners in points, and freshman scoring leader Hugo Boisvert of Ohio State are among the six members of the 1996-97 Bauer/CCHA All-Rookie Team, selected by CCHA head coaches and announced Monday, March 3, by the league.

The team is to be honored at the CCHA’s awards banquet on March 13, where the league’s Rookie of the Year will be announced. Last year’s winner was goaltender Marc Magliarditi of Western Michigan.

The All-Rookie team includes three forwards, two defensemen and a goaltender chosen from among the CCHA’s member teams.

Andrews (6-20–26), a unanimous selection, led the conference’s rookie defensemen in overall scoring, finishing fourth among WMU players. His +6 plus/minus rating led the Broncos, and his six game-winning assists were third among all CCHA players.

Forward Boisvert (11-27–38) led CCHA rookies in both scoring and assists, as well as topping the Buckeyes in assists. He had 16 power-play points, and tied for second in OSU scoring.

Another unanimous selection was forward Joe Dusbabek (13-12–25) of Notre Dame, second to Boisvert in rookie scoring. Dusbabek led the Irish in plus/minus (+2) and tied for the team lead in overall scoring.

Also named to the All-Rookie Team were:

Forward Adam Edinger (11-14–25) of Bowling Green, whose 11 overall goals and six power-play tallies were fourth and second, respectively, among CCHA freshmen.

Alaska-Fairbanks goalie Chris Marvel (9-11-1, 3.69 GAA, .873 SV%), who played over 1,100 CCHA minutes and is the first Nanook ever to make the team.

Defenseman Josh Mizerek (4-15–19) of Miami, who was second among CCHA rookie blueliners in both overall assists and plus/minus (+9).

Honorable mention went to Ray Aho of Ohio State; Nathan Borega and Tyson Fraser of Notre Dame; Shawn Horcoff and Mike Weaver of Michigan State; Ben Keup of Lake Superior; Brian McCullough and Mike Szkodzinski of Ferris State; and Peter Ratchuk of Bowling Green.

Face Off: Week 7

USCHO Staff Report
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Welcome to U.S. College Hockey Online’s roundtable discussion. We’ll be debating a college hockey topic each week in this space, where various members of our staff meet to argue. Sometimes serious, sometimes silly — but either way, watch the feathers fly: no punches will be pulled, and no quarter given, when these people face off.

With the Playoffs Fast Approaching, Which Teams Are the Most Dangerous Darkhorses?

Dave Hendrickson, Hockey East Correspondent: Any one of three Hockey East teams could knock off UNH and/or BU for the league crown. While Providence heads the list, Merrimack and Boston College also have legitimate chances.

Providence is playing like … well … Providence down the stretch. In each of coach Paul Pooley’s previous two years, the Friars made it to the championship game, winning it the last time despite middle-of-the-road results during the regular season. Combining their strong play this past month — winning six of their last seven — with the Pooley defensive stranglehold that tends to be so effective at playoff time makes PC a very strong possibility.

Merrimack goes into the final week as the hottest Hockey East team eligible for the playoffs. Only Maine has been hotter in 1997. Coach Ron Anderson has his team playing with more confidence than they ever have since entering Division I play. Perhaps their biggest problem will arise in the event that they make it to the FleetCenter. Having never gone so far, they may be at a disadvantage against other teams no longer in awe of the surroundings.

Boston College, the darkest of the darkhorses, has done little to inspire title hopes down the stretch. But if the Eagles play like they’ve played against BU all year long, they have a chance. In coach Jerry York’s words, “There’s no team in the league we can’t beat, but there’s also no team in the league that we can’t lose to.” The Eagles are the ultimate wild card.

Tim Brule, USCHO Coordinator: The most dangerous darkhorse in the WCHA is Denver. Through last weekend, they have the nation’s fifth-best record in their last 20 games. Further, they are ninth-best against the so-called “Teams Under Consideration” (teams at or above .500, those used in the Pairwise Rankings).

After struggling earlier in the year, Jim Mullin has been playing well between the pipes of late. As added motivation, the Pioneers need a strong performance in the WCHA tournament to stay on the bubble for the Big Dance.

Jayson Moy, ECAC Correspondent: If you want a darkhorse from the ECAC, you have to go deep into the standings. Why? Because I believe the top seven teams in the ECAC all have a legitimate shot at winning the crown at Lake Placid.

Therefore, we go into the lower end of the standings to find a darkhorse. How about four of them?

Harvard has a solid goaltender in J.R. Prestifilippo, and has shown spurts of playing great offense. Remember, this team has the remnants of the group that upset St. Lawrence last year and almost won the ECAC Championship.

St. Lawrence also has a good goaltender in Clint Owen, and a great offensive threat in Paul DiFrancesco. Add Ryan Cassidy to the mix plus big Joel Prpic, and St. Lawrence can make up for a disappointing regular season.

Dartmouth has two fine freshman goaltenders in Jason Wong and Eric Almon, plus senior Scott Baker. Add forwards David Whitworth, Jon Sturgis, Ryan Chaytors and Darren Wercinski, all of whom almost doubled their career totals in points this year, and you have a combination that could upset.

Yale has youth and exuberance, and Tim Taylor does a great job. Dan Choquette and Alex Westlund in goal are a good pair, and Jeff Hamilton, John Chyz, Geoff Kufta and Keith McCullough are great young forwards, and you can’t forget about Ray Giroux on the blueline.

I’ll take all these teams, even though only three of them will be in the playoffs.

Paula C. Weston, CCHA Correspondent: At the risk of sounding partisan, Ohio State is a definite dark horse going into the CCHA playoffs.

A talented mix of enthusiastic rookies and hardened veterans, this Buckeye team is peaking at the end of the season. Going into this final weekend of play, they are riding a six-game unbeaten streak (5-0-1).

It all began with a crucial two-game sweep of Notre Dame in South Bend. Following that win, the Buckeyes trounced Western Michigan, beat Bowling Green in a non-conference game, tied Bowling Green less than one week later, then pummelled Michigan State by a score of 8-3 in spite of being outshot by a margin of almost 2-1.

The Buckeyes actually took their season series with the Spartans for the first time since joining the CCHA (in 1971 — OSU last took the season series from the Spartans in 1963).

The Buckeyes have had firepower all season from freshmen Eric Meloche and Hugo Boisvert; on line with them, senior Chad Power is having a career season. Senior Pierre Dufour and junior Ryan Root are a threatening combination on the power play; Root is tied for the league lead in points on the power play among defenseman.

In their last six games, freshman goaltenders Ray Aho and Tom Connerty have given up three goals in each. And, finally, the Ohio State defense is stepping up.

Most importantly for the Buckeyes is the feeling of winning, something that the veterans — half the team — are not used to. They like that feeling, and they’d like it to continue.

Adam Wodon, host of “Around the Rinks”: If there is such a thing as an “obvious” sleeper, Union would be it. Good defense and goaltending can take you far if things break right.

But preferring to crawl out upon a more fragile limb, two other sleepers come to mind: Colgate and St. Lawrence, two teams that may not even crack the top seven in the conference standings.

Colgate has a lot of talent, but for one reason or another, has trouble putting it together consistently. The players who returned this year may never have fully recovered from the quarterfinal drubbing at the hands of Cornell last year, but of bigger concern was the loss of assistant Stan Moore to Union.

The discontinuance of Moore’s infamous plastic puck-blocking drills may have come as a relief to Colgate captain Mike Harder, but that kind of toughness helped the Red Raiders in recent years.

Still, Colgate will likely finish over .500, even if it doesn’t place in the top half of the league. And any team with 20-goal scorer Harder, Dave Debusschere and Tim Loftsgard on it is going to be dangerous.

The problem has been defense — more specifically, goaltending. Frankly, Dan Brenzavich is overrated, and his second team All-ECAC status last year (and overlooking of Clarkson’s Dan Murphy) can be chalked up to a strange aligning of the stars when league coaches made their selections.

But last weekend, Shep Harder (no relation to Mike) got the start and earned ECAC Rookie of the Week honors in the process, as Colgate picked up three points. If coach Don Vaughn goes with this hot hand, I like the Red Raiders’ chances.

The book is out on Brenzavich (go top shelf). To be fair, he was more than adequate last year, but he may be the prime example of not recovering from last year’s Lynah Rink shellshock.

Now, it’s always hard to overlook a Joe Marsh team, and so St. Lawrence is definitely in the mix. The Saints’ troubles this year remain a mystery, the graduation of leading scorer Burke Murphy notwithstanding.

Between draftees like Troy Creuer, Derek Ladouceur, Derek McLaughlin, Paul DiFrancesco and Joel Prpic, and goalie Clint Owen, the Saints have too much talent to be where they are.

But, there they are, struggling for ninth place. Still, you have to like the Saints’ chances against Harvard (most likely) in a preliminary game (avenging last year’s quarterfinal upset by the Crimson), which would set up a potential quarterfinal series with North Country neighbor Clarkson.

And in that scenario, it’s anyone’s game.

Lee Urton, Media Relations: The term “darkhorse” implies a team that surprises, that comes from nowhere to upset a favorite.

In the WCHA this season, there are no darkhorses. There are three teams that are significantly worse than the others, yes. But the other seven teams — North Dakota, Minnesota, St. Cloud, Colorado College, Denver, Minnesota-Duluth and Wisconsin — are all so evenly matched, that if they played another ten games against each other, one would expect them to go 5-5-0. Or maybe 4-4-2.

These seven teams will be placed in some order, ranked one through seven, but only because they have to be. If one of them beats another in the postseason, it will be neither “expected” nor an “upset.” What it will be is some good hockey between very even teams.

Don’t expect to see a one-two North Dakota-Minnesota final. It could happen, but is only as likely as any other outcome. To think that a Duluth can’t beat a Denver, or that a St. Cloud won’t beat a Minnesota, or a Colorado College has to lose to a North Dakota is just asking for surprises. Anything can happen.

Scott Brown, Features Editor: Michigan is the commanding favorite to win the CCHA tourney, and with good reason. No one really needs a reminder why, but here goes: a 29-2-4 overall record, including 20-2-3 in-conference. Winning streaks of nine, six and six games. A 2-0 record at the College Hockey Showcase, and yet another Great Lakes Invitational championship. 5-0-1 (pending the outcome of Saturday’s game) against CCHA and national powers Lake Superior and Miami.

The point is this. Every team in the CCHA is playing David to Michigan’s Goliath; if you’re going to challenge for the CCHA tourney title, the road goes directly through the Wolverines. So to have a shot at taking the whole enchilada, you have to be able to beat Michigan.

With this in mind, the number-one contender to Michigan’s title becomes arch-rival Michigan State. Case in point: not only are the Spartans the only team to beat Michigan this year, they did it twice. And as any devotee of this rivalry will attest, the rankings and numbers and seedings go right out the window when UM and MSU hook up.

Now, that doesn’t mean the Spartans will win, or even that they’re likely to. But if anyone’s going to run the Wolverine train off the rails, it’s almost got to be Michigan State.

Deron Treadwell, News Editor: I suspect that Mike Machnik may step up and pick Merrimack as a darkhorse for the Hockey East Tournament, and rightly so. Merrimack has a good chance to finish with home ice for the quarterfinal round, but won’t be expected to challenge Boston University or New Hampshire.

Let’s not forget that Merrimack is the only Hockey East team to beat Maine, which has the best record in Hockey East since Christmas. The Warriors did it twice, once in Orono — where Maine has only lost three times this season (Northeastern and Lowell being the other two).

But the real darkhorse is Providence College. Look at Paul Pooley’s track record: in his first year, 1994-95, he took the sixth-seeded Friars to the title game after mauling number-one seed Maine in the semis. PC just fell short, losing to Boston University, 3-2.

Then last year Providence, the fourth seed, made it to the FleetCenter and jumped top seed seed BU in the semis before finishing on the money end of a 3-2 win over Maine in the title game — their first Hockey East title since 1985 — and an NCAA tourney apperance.

Once again Paul Pooley’s postseason pals are up to their old tricks. A sweep over Lowell last weekend (Friday night, short seven starters due to suspension) gave them home ice for the quarterfinals when it looked weeks before like the Friars were destined for a road trip next week. Now they are a virtual lock for the number-three seed in the tournament, their best since the Pooley era started.

Each year, the experts have bet against Providence, and the Friars have proved them wrong. Clearly, PC cannot be considered a favorite, but recent history says not to bet against those Providence College Friars.

This Week in the ECAC: February 28, 1997

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ECAC Preview: Feb. 28-Mar. 1, 1997 by Jayson Moy

It’s a two-horse race as the finish line nears for the ECAC title. Clarkson and Cornell have emerged as the only teams left that can take the regular-season title, and the resulting automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

Those two teams battle this Friday for the title, the NCAA berth and the number-one seed in the ECAC playoffs, which begin Tuesday.

Just below the leaders is a tight race for the remaining two home quarterfinal spots. It involves five teams — RPI, Vermont, Union, Princeton and Colgate.

RPI was the big loser on the weekend, getting swept. Vermont picked up two points, while Union and Princeton each garnered three points.

Below this pack is Harvard, which is already in the playoffs, but cannot escape a Tuesday night play-down game.

Three teams below Harvard — St. Lawrence, Yale and Dartmouth — are fighting for two playoff positions on Tuesday night. Brown has been eliminated from the playoffs.

Take a closer look at the ECAC Standings

Let’s examine some of the races a little more closely.

If Clarkson beats Cornell on Friday at Lynah Rink, Clarkson takes the regular-season title. It’s that simple.

In order for Cornell to win the ECAC title, two scenarios are available. In both, Cornell must defeat Clarkson. The next evening, Clarkson has to lose or tie for Cornell to be the ECAC regular-season champion. Then Cornell, with a win, or with Vermont and Princeton in the top four and Harvard in the top eight, will win the ECAC regular season.

Home ice in the quarterfinals is one step for RPI and Vermont. Those two teams need a win, plus one point from Princeton; then the quarterfinals are in Troy and Burlington.

Union and Princeton battle on Friday — with the loser of the game most likely on the road for the quarterfinals.

See the ECAC Supplement for a run-through of the playoff possibilities for each team.

On to the last regular-season weekend…

Clarkson (22-8-0, 15-5-0 ECAC, 1st) and St. Lawrence (10-17-5, 5-10-5 ECAC, 9th) at Cornell (16-7-4, 13-5-2 ECAC, 2nd) Friday-Saturday, 7:30 p.m.-7 p.m., Lynah Rink, Ithaca, N.Y.

St. Lawrence (10-17-5, 5-10-5 ECAC, 9th) and Clarkson (22-8-0, 15-5-0 ECAC, 1st) at Colgate (15-12-3, 9-8-3 ECAC, 7th) Friday-Saturday, 7:30 p.m.-3 p.m., Starr Rink, Hamilton, N.Y.

"You scratch and claw for every point you can get with your mitts on," said Clarkson head coach Mark Morris about league play. "You just have to concentrate on what you’re going to do out there.

"We’ve got some unfinished business."

That unfinished business is the ECAC regular-season title, and the automatic NCAA bid. The Golden Knights can take that step with a win over Cornell on Friday night, which would clinch the top position.

Morris knows that it will be tough on the road.

"It’s a hostile crowd (at Lynah Rink) and one that gives no breaks," he said. "Cornell is tough in every facet and they use some key defensemen that can handle the puck very well.

"Offensively they’ve got good depth up front, and great goaltending," he added. "It doesn’t look like they have many weaknesses. They’re a great hockey team."

St. Lawrence is within one point of clinching a playoff spot, thanks to a three point weekend and senior center Joel Prpic — the ECAC Player of the Week.

Prpic picked up five points (3-2) on Friday against Brown, including his first career hat trick. He added an assist on Saturday against Harvard.

One point is all the Saints need to make the playoffs and go the following Tuesday in a play-down game.

"It’s not a matter of adjustments," said head coach Joe Marsh. "It’s a mental thing. It’s the mental aspect of the game."

The mental aspect for the Saints is feeling a lot better now after a successful weekend. On the other hand, Colgate is perched in seventh place, definitely not a place the Red Raiders wanted to be.

"That’s the big thing now," said head coach Don Vaughn about getting out of seventh. "We didn’t get a lot of help over the weekend. Right now we have to worry about ourselves, and what happens, happens.

"If we don’t (avoid a Tuesday play-down game), we have to go out and play and do our best to advance."

The Red Raiders helped themselves out a lot this weekend taking three points from Union and RPI. Freshman goaltender and ECAC Rookie of the Week Shep Harder was a surprise starter on Friday against RPI, and went again on Saturday.

"It may have surprised those on the outside," said Vaughn about starting Harder. "If you look at what we’ve done in the last few games defensively — and this is not anything against Danny (Brenzavich, senior goaltender) — we let in a lot of goals. I thought that change might be good for us."

To call Friday’s game between Clarkson and Cornell "big" is an understatement, except to Cornell head coach Mike Schafer.

"This time of the year, all games are big," he said. "It’s just another game."

Clarkson’s offense worries Schafer, but he thinks his team’s offense is right up there. The Big Red have scored only 10 fewer goals in ECAC competition than the Golden Knights.

"I wouldn’t call [us] a real offensive team," he said. "We’ve put up almost the same offensive numbers. We’re also not a team that changes a lot."

Cornell will once again be without Matt Cooney, Vinnie Auger, Keith Peach and Jamie Papp this weekend. The four did not play over the weekend at Union and RPI.

"I’m not worried about fatigue," said Schafer. "We can play with three lines and one defenseman up front. We’ve been cutting back on hard practices.

"(Fatigue) only becomes a factor if you get down by a couple of goals," he added. "If you’re ahead, it’s less of a factor. If you have to force yourselves, the fatigue factor will set in."

PICKS:

Clarkson at Cornell: Can the Big Red play with just three lines against a team as deep as the Golden Knights? The crowd will pump them up, but the depth of four lines against three is too much, especially with the talent on Clarkson’s top two lines. Clarkson wins the ECAC regular season. Clarkson 4 Cornell 2

St. Lawrence at Colgate: A huge boost for Colgate this weekend with three points. The Red Raiders want to do all they can to get out of seventh place, while the Saints just want to make the playoffs. SLU will have to look towards New Haven and Hanover for help. Colgate 5 St. Lawrence 2

St. Lawrence at Cornell: The Big Red will sting from the previous night’s loss, but clinch second place tonight. Cornell 6 St. Lawrence 4

Clarkson at Colgate: Clarkson has wrapped it up, the Red Raiders want to get out of seventh place. On Silver Puck Weekend, Colgate makes its move. Colgate 5 Clarkson 3

RPI (16-10-4, 11-6-3 ECAC, T-3rd) and Union (17-10-3, 10-7-3 ECAC, T-5th) at Yale (8-16-3, 5-13-2 ECAC, T-10th) Friday-Saturday, 7:30 p.m.-7 p.m., Ingalls Rink, New Haven, Conn.

Union (17-10-3, 10-7-3 ECAC, T-5th) and RPI (16-10-4, 11-6-3 ECAC, T-3rd) at Princeton (15-8-4, 10-7-3 ECAC, T-5th) Friday-Saturday, 7:30 p.m.-7 p.m., Baker Rink, Princeton, N.J.

The youngest team in the league showed its inexperience in stretch drives this past weekend, getting swept by Colgate and Cornell at home.

Despite the two losses, RPI is still in the driver’s seat for home ice in the quarterfinal playoff round.

"It’s a time when you’ve got to really focus, more so than at the beginning of the season," said head coach Dan Fridgen. "Everybody is in game shape, everyone is improved. They’re all on an upward climb.

"You have different situations in different games that you may not have seen before," added Fridgen. "I think what we’re learning is there’s very little room for error as you progress toward the playoffs."

RPI controls its own destiny for playoff positioning, and it’s the Engineers that Fridgen says his club should be concerned with.

"The standings take care of the standings on how we do on a game-to-game basis," said Fridgen. "We haven’t helped our cause this weekend. Now it’s what happens around the league to help our cause. I don’t like doing that. We like to be in control of our own destiny.

"We’ve got to regroup. There’s two games left. We can regroup, or we can roll over and play dead."

The Dutchmen of Union have shot up the standings and into the thick of the race for a home quarterfinal spot. The Dutchmen are 5-1-2 in their last eight ECAC contests, the lone loss coming to league-leading Clarkson.

Union took three points from Colgate and Cornell this past weekend, using the Dutchman formula — a tough forecheck and taking opportunities when it can.

"We played the same dull, boring pattern, which we’re thankful for," Union coach Stan Moore said. "We were focused and stayed consistent in our own end.

"I think they were opportunistic goals," said Moore of his team’s seven goal outburst against Cornell Friday night. "We had some bounces here and there. We had the hustle and effort behind it. We may have had a few breaks earlier, but at least we were consistent in our own end and managed to stay on top."

All of a sudden Yale is a hot team. The Bulldogs took two points on the road this weekend. They almost had three, but an overtime goal by Vermont prevented that.

Yale is fighting for the playoffs and faces two tough teams in RPI and Union this weekend. The last time the teams met, Yale was swept by both.

Look for the Bulldogs to continue their goaltending rotation of Dan Choquette and Alex Westlund this weekend. Choquette kept Vermont at bay for over two periods before he was beaten in overtime, and Westlund made 36 saves in the 4-1 win over Dartmouth.

Princeton finally got the frustrations out with three points over the weekend. Two of those points were a 2-0 shutout of Vermont at the Gutterson Fieldhouse. Evan more amazing, the Tigers limited the vaunted Catamount offense to just 15 shots on goal.

Erasmo Saltarelli did the job in net, and head coach Don Cahoon likes what he sees.

"Coming off what was maybe a sub-par performance (Friday), he really responded and just put a terrific effort together," Cahoon said of his goalie after Saturday’s shutout. "That’s what the junior and experienced player will do for you."

PICKS:

RPI at Yale: Two of the youngest teams in the ECAC on the final weekend. You better believe that Eric Healey, Matt Garver and Alain St. Hilaire won’t be shut out of a weekend again, as the Engineers clinch home ice for the quarterfinals. RPI 7 Yale 2

Union at Princeton: You would think that two defensive-minded teams like these would play a low-scoring game, but the last time out it was 3-3 after one period, and ended up in a 6-4 Union victory. These two are essentially playing for home ice in the quarterfinals, and the loser is, in all likelihood, on the road. Princeton 3 Union 2

Union at Yale: Can Yale get the push it needs for the playoffs? Unfortunately for them, the Bulldogs will have to look elsewhere for help. Union 3 Yale 1

RPI at Princeton: Princeton has only lost once to RPI on home ice since 1991. In fact the Tigers have only lost three times to RPI since 1991, one being the ECAC championship game in 1995. The Tigers seem to own RPI in recent years. It will happen again. Princeton 4 RPI 2

Vermont (19-8-3, 11-6-3 ECAC, T-3rd) and Dartmouth (10-15-2, 5-13-2 ECAC, T-10th) at Brown (6-18-3, 3-15-2 ECAC, 12th) Friday-Saturday, 7:30 p.m.-5 p.m., Meehan Auditorium, Providence, R.I.

Dartmouth (10-15-2, 5-13-2 ECAC, T-10th) and Vermont (19-8-3, 11-6-3 ECAC, T-3rd) at Harvard (9-16-2, 8-10-2 ECAC, 8th) Friday-Saturday, 7:30 p.m.-7 p.m., Bright Hockey Center, Cambridge, Mass.

Dartmouth finds itself tied for tenth place in the ECAC all of sudden. After getting one point from two games this weekend, the Big Green are fighting for their playoff lives.

This weekend, they will be looking towards New Haven to see what the team tied with them is doing. But the Big Green must look at their games first. They are 2-7-1 in their last 10 ECAC games, and the slump has not helped them in the standings.

"I was concerned about goals for — now I’m concerned about goals against," said Vermont head coach Mike Gilligan after the ECAC weekend which saw the Cats host Colgate and Cornell.

Gilligan should be concerned with goals for once again. If not for the last four minutes of the game two weeks ago versus RPI, the Cats would have one goal to show for the weekend.

This past weekend, they only scored three goals, all against Yale on Friday. That’s just six goals in four games for the Catamounts, and only 40 shots on goal in two games last weekend.

Brown must look forward to next season. After Saturday’s home game against Dartmouth, the Bears are finished for the season. Pride is the word in Providence this weekend, because that’s all the Bears are playing for.

Harvard, of course, is fighting for one thing — a home game on Tuesday in the play-down round. The Crimson cannot finish higher than seventh in the conference.

J.R. Prestifilippo continued his bid for the ECAC Rookie of the Year award with 80 saves in two games versus Clarkson and St. Lawrence — personal highs for the year.

"J.R. has been the rock," said head coach Ronn Tomassoni. "He has been simply outstanding. He’s only a freshman, but he has not played like a freshman. He’s been consistent — he’s given us the opportunity to win every game, regardless of how we’ve played. He’s also a tremendous competitor, mature beyond his years, and as tough a kid mentally as I’ve coached."

PICKS:

Vermont at Brown: Vermont has had trouble scoring lately, but against Brown, the offense should improve. The Bears have allowed the most goals in the ECAC, but again, pride has a lot to do with keeping the score down. Vermont 4 Brown 2

Dartmouth at Harvard: Dartmouth needs a win to get in the playoffs, can the Big Green do it? Prestifilippo makes his bid for the Rookie of the Year, and Harvard wants a home playoff game. Dartmouth 4 Harvard 3

Dartmouth at Brown: Dartmouth will be thankful that it got the win the night before. Brown 4 Dartmouth 2

Vermont at Harvard: Vermont clinches the number-three seed. Vermont 6 Harvard 3

The regular season is over, so it’s time to fight for the Whitelaw Trophy. On Monday, look for a special ECAC preview on the two play-down games. On Thursday, the ECAC quarterfinal previews arrive.

Jayson Moy is the ECAC Correspondent for US College Hockey Online.

Copyright 1997 Jayson Moy . All Rights Reserved.

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This Week in the CCHA: February 28, 1997

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CCHA PREVIEW: Feb. 28-Mar. 2, 1997 CCHA Preview: Feb. 28-Mar. 2, 1997 by Paula C. Weston

For weeks, the top four teams in the CCHA have known that they’ll be hosting the first round of playoffs. Last week decided which teams among the bottom four would advance to post-season play. All that remains to be seen is the final order of the standings — determining who plays where.

It was no surprise that No. 1 Michigan clinched the regular-season CCHA title last week. With just two losses all season, the Wolverines have proven to one and all that they are contenders for back-to-back national titles. For emphasis, Michigan drubbed Lake Superior 8-0 in Ann Arbor last week.

To the Lakers’ credit, they tied Michigan the next night, taking some of the charm away from Michigan’s seniors’ night. Michigan swings through Ohio this week, stopping in Oxford and Columbus.

With 34 points, Lake Superior will remain in sole possession of third place only if Michigan State earns no points this weekend. Last week’s tie against Michigan in Yost was the Lakers’ last game of the regular season. Not a bad way to end the year.

Michigan State gained two points last weekend, and not the way most CCHA fans could have predicted. The Spartans beat Miami in Oxford, 7-3 on Saturday. On Sunday, their hosts in Columbus were less hospitable: Michigan State lost to Ohio State, 8-3. The two points the Spartans gained give them 33, and put them in a good position to catch second-place Miami.

Miami needs three points to lock second place in the CCHA. If the Spartans take four points and Miami takes two, Michigan State and Miami will tie for second place, with Michigan State owning the tie-breaker. With 35 points, Miami has done better than anyone has expected — anyone, that is, except for Miami. Miami hosts Western Michigan and finishes the season with a home game against Michigan.

Western Michigan and Bowling Green are tied for fifth. Each team has 24 points, but Western has a game in hand on Bowling Green. Western split a home-and-home series with Notre Dame last week, and travels to Ohio to finish the season. The Broncos play Miami on Friday, and Ohio State on Saturday.

Bowling Green lost to Miami and tied with Ohio State last week. The Falcons will host the Spartans Saturday for their final game of the regular season.

Ohio State is the hottest team in the CCHA right now. With a six-game unbeaten streak (5-0-1), the Buckeyes have moved from obscurity to seventh place. The Bucks tied the Falcons last week in the tiny OSU Ice Rink, and won the rubber match of their series with Michigan State at the Expo Center. The Buckeyes finish their season with home games against Western Michigan and Michigan.

Alaska-Fairbanks has a lot to brag about. After starting the season 0-7-0, practically no one thought the Nanooks would make the CCHA playoffs. By taking five points last weekend in a three-game home series against Ferris State, the Nanooks eliminated the Bulldogs from the playoffs, and vaulted themselves into eighth place. The next time Alaska-Fairbanks plays will be in Yost Ice Arena, in the first round of the playoffs.

Notre Dame has one game remaining in its schedule. Michigan State will play in South Bend on Friday night.

Ferris State has finished its season.

Last week’s (dismal) record in picks: 6-5 Overall record in picks: 93-67

It’s better than flipping a coin!

Western Michigan (14-15-4, 10-11-4 CCHA) at No. 6 Miami (23-10-1, 17-7-1 CCHA) Friday, 7 p.m., Goggin Arena, Oxford, OH

When these two teams met in Big Rapids in December, Miami beat Western 5-2, and Western took the second game, 7-6 in overtime. This game against Miami is the first of two rubber games Western plays this final weekend of the season.

Western wants to finish up strong to have some momentum going into the playoffs on the road. Miami needs three points to clinch second place in the conference.

Western head coach Bill Wilkinson knows that this won’t be an easy game. "Miami is vying for the second-place slot. They have Michigan on Saturday, so they’re probably looking at us for two points Friday. They’re going to play with intensity, and we’ll have to match that intensity."

Western split with Notre Dame last weekend, losing 5-4 in OT in South Bend, and returning home in a big way with a 6-1 win. In that 6-1 win, six different Broncos — Justin Cardwell, Steve Duke, Mike Melas, Corey Waring and Joel Irving — scored a goal apiece.

Tim Leahy was the most consistent player for Miami last weekend. Leahy had a goal and an assist each night. Randy Robitaille also had a goal in each game.

The goaltending for each team is solid, if a little inconsistent. Trevor Prior, who looked nearly unbeatable in the beginning of the season, has played well for Miami, and has settled into a very nice .884 save percentage. Prior is allowing just 2.89 goals per game.

Matt Barnes has stepped up for his Broncos just when they needed him most. He’s raised his save percentage to .881, and his GAA is 3.36.

Desire will decide this game. Each team has something to earn. Miami can finish second in the CCHA, behind the number-one team in the country. Western wants to end on an up note and erase the doubts of the beginning of the season.

PICK: Miami 4-3

No. 8 Michigan State (14-15-4, 15-7-3 CCHA) at Notre Dame (9-24-1, 6-19-1 CCHA) Friday, 7 p.m., Joyce ACC, South Bend, IN

This game means one thing in terms of the CCHA standings: points for Michigan State.

The Spartans are two points behind Miami, and can only catch Miami if Miami takes only two points this weekend. Notre Dame is finished after this game — quite literally. With 13 points, the Irish will have to wait until next year for a chance to play in the postseason.

It should be noted that 11 of the 24 Irish losses were by just one goal. It seemed throughout the season that Notre Dame was the bridesmaid of the CCHA. Goaltender Matt Eisler has had a very good season. While his GAA in league play is 3.88, Eisler’s save percentage in league play is .883. Don’t expect to see the Irish back down because they won’t be playing next week.

Michigan State had an odd time of it last weekend. After taking their season series with Miami by beating them 7-3 Saturday, the Spartans allowed the Buckeyes to score at will in an 8-3 loss on Sunday. The Spartans outshot the Buckeyes 45-28, and kept the Buckeyes from scoring on the power play; but goaltending was the problem for the Spartans in this game. The usually-excellent Chad Alban had an off day.

The Spartans are an experienced team that learns from its mistakes. One off day from Alban, a week of practice, and the desire to take advantage of any Miami slip-up will motivate the Spartans in South Bend.

PICK: Michigan State 3-2

No. 1 Michigan (29-2-4, 20-2-3 CCHA) at No. 6 Miami (23-10-1, 17-7-1 CCHA) Saturday, 7 p.m., Goggin Ice Arena, Oxford, OH

Each team would like to undo a little of the psychological damage done last weekend. Miami beat Bowling Green at home, but lost what was through two periods a close game to Michigan State by the score of 7 to 3. Granted, the "damage" to Michigan was just a tie with Lake Superior, but it was home ice, and it was the seniors’ last home game, and just remember what the Wolverines did to poor Alaska-Fairbanks after tying Cornell in a non-conference game.

If the Lakers can skate into Yost and spoil seniors’ night for the Wolverines, you can be pretty darned sure that the Wolverines can skate into Goggin with intention of doing the same.

Even if Miami beats Western Michigan on Friday and the Spartans lose Friday, this game will be hard-fought. With a point in Friday’s game, Miami would lock second place in the CCHA. Michigan’s been in first place half the season, and it’s been clear they’d stay there until the end. If Miami takes that point Friday, there is absolutely nothing at stake in terms of standings in this game. There is, however, some serious pride on the line.

When these two teams met in January in Yost, Miami led the Wolverines through two periods in the first game. This was such a big deal — even though Michigan came back to win 5-2 — that the press led the post-game questions with, "So, how did it feel to trail at home?" Clearly, even the threat of being beaten in Yost was enough to shock the local press and move Michigan head coach Red Berenson to comment, "We didn’t anticipate being behind by two goals in the game. I think it was a good sign for our team to go through that."

It was a good learning experience for Miami as well, who played Michigan tough the second night, losing 3-0.

This should be a great game to end Miami’s regular season. While Michigan clearly has more firepower than Miami (or any other team, for that matter), both teams are threats on the power play, and both have outstanding goaltending. On the power play, Brendan Morrison leads all forwards in the CCHA with 27 points; with 24 points, Miami’s Dan Boyle is tied with two others for overall power-play points among defensemen.

In net for Michigan, Marty Turco has looked like a pro. His save percentage is .892, and his GAA is a remarkable 2.37 — and all this from a guy who’s spent over 1300 minutes in net. For Miami, Trevor Prior has had a career season. With a save percentage of .894 and a GAA of 2.89, Prior is a big part of the reason for Miami’s storybook season.

This game shouldn’t be missed.

PICK: A 3-3 tie

Western Michigan (14-15-4, 10-11-4 CCHA) at Ohio State (12-22-1, 9-15-1 CCHA) Saturday, 7 p.m., OSU Ice Rink, Columbus, OH

Ohio State surprised Western Michigan two weeks ago, beating them 6-2 at the Ohio Expo Center. That game — played just after Ohio State’s weekend sweep of Notre Dame — may have been the game that ignited this Buckeye team. Since the Western game, Ohio State has been 2-0-1.

The Buckeyes take a six-game unbeaten streak into the tiny little OSU Ice Rink, a place Buckeye players affectionately call "The War Memorial." Any game played in the little rink is going to be more physical than usual; because of the rink’s size, it’s hard for players to avoid contact, even when skating on the open ice.

"It’s going to be another dogfight Saturday night," says Bill Wilkinson. "It’s in the smaller building, so it’s going to be a little bit more in the trenches. It’ll be a little bit more physical, with less room for skating."

Wilkinson knows the Buckeyes are hot right now, and playing with a lot of confidence. "If you’re faint of heart," he quips, "you’d better call in sick for this one."

Western split with Notre Dame last week, losing 5-4 in overtime in South Bend, but rebounding strong the following night at home, beating the Irish 6-1.

"I think you want to finish as high as you can going into the playoffs," says Wilkinson. If we can win two on the road, that takes us into the playoffs in a good frame of mind. If not, then you’re scrambling again."

The Buckeyes tied with Bowling Green in the little rink last Saturday, and stunned Michigan State 8-3 at the Expo Center Sunday. They are riding the best streak this Buckeye senior class has ever seen.

A huge part of the Buckeye success is goaltending. The combined efforts of freshmen Ray Aho and Tom Connerty have kept opponents to just three goals per game in each of the last six games. Aho, the starter, is 3-0-1 during this stretch. Connerty is 2-0-0. One win was a non-conference game against Bowling Green, and the other was last Sunday’s win over Michigan State, a game in which Connerty turned aside 42 shots on goal.

This game is going to be physical, and quite possibly nasty. The Buckeye fans fill the little rink, giving the place real college hockey atmosphere.

It’s hard to bet against the Buckeyes right now.

PICK: Ohio State 5-3

No. 8 Michigan State (14-15-4, 15-7-3 CCHA) at Bowling Green (15-15-4, 10-12-4 CCHA) Saturday, 7 p.m., BGSU Ice Arena, Bowling Green, OH

This game means so much more to Bowling Green than it does to Michigan State, even though it’s unlikely that BG will move up in the standings this weekend. It’s a matter of finishing this injury-laden season with some self-respect, and gaining some momentum going into the playoffs on the road.

This is a Falcon team that expected to finish among the top four in the CCHA. "We started 6-0 and we had our full lineup," says Falcon head coach Buddy Powers. "Ever since that first loss, we’ve had injury after injury."

The tone of Powers’ voice borders on disappointment. He’s certainly not disappointed with his talented team, but in the past few weeks, the realization that the only way the Falcons will get an NCAA invitation is to take the CCHA tourney has tempered his view.

"We just have to try to do the best we can," he says. "The situation we put ourselves in, we just have to try to win the playoffs. Whether we going to play Michigan State, Lake or Miami, it’s going to be a huge battle."

Powers says the hope of postseason play has kept his players and coaching staff going during the more trying times of the season. "You’ve got to look to the playoffs to get excited."

Powers thinks the outcome of this game will depend a lot on whether Miami wins Friday. If Miami takes [the game], Michigan State can’t catch them. Power says he’s not sure how hard Michigan State is going to play Saturday.

He’s also not sure how hard his own team will be able to play. Three Falcon forwards and a defenseman are injured, and Powers says he won’t make the decision about playing them until Friday night. "We’ll just have to see what state of repair [Adam] Edinger, [Dave] Faulkner, [Kelly] Perrault and [Curtis] Fry are in. If they’re not 100 percent, we won’t play them.

"The key thing is the playoffs. We have to be strong enough mentally and physically for the playoffs.

"We’re trying to get through a game without any more guys hurt."

PICK: Michigan State 5-3

No. 1 Michigan (29-2-4, 20-2-3 CCHA) at Ohio State (12-22-1, 9-15-1 CCHA) Sunday, 1 p.m., Ohio Expo Center, Columbus, OH

The very last game of regular season CCHA play pits Big Ten rivals Michigan and Ohio State. Last season, the Buckeyes were able to tie the Wolverines twice — one of those at Yost. This season, the Buckeyes have experienced two trouncings at the capable hands of the Wolverines. The Wolverines beat the Buckeyes 7-2 at their home opener; more recently, Michigan beat Ohio State 6-1 in a game that made the Buckeyes look like Pee Wees.

This is the last home game for three Ohio State seniors — three-time captain Steve Brent, co-captain Chad Power and Pierre Dufour — who have never beaten the Wolverines. In fact, Ohio State hasn’t beaten the Wolverines in the last 29 meetings of these two teams — since Nov. 19, 1989.

The Wolverines are going to be looking to keep that streak alive. In spite of the Buckeyes’ recent success, their seniors’ last game will probably be par for the Michigan course.

The Buckeyes are getting much better goaltending from Ray Aho and Tom Connerty, who’ve given up no more than three goals in each of Ohio State’s last six outings. The Buckeyes also want to take some respect with them when they travel to either Oxford or East Lansing next week for the first round of the playoffs.

PICK: Michigan 4-3

Paula C. Weston is the CCHA Correspondent for U.S. College Hockey Online.

Copyright 1997 Paula C. Weston . All Rights Reserved.

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This Week in the WCHA: February 28, 1997

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WCHA Preview: Feb. 28-Mar. 1, 1997 by Steve Page

North Dakota has come all the way back. A weekend sweep of visiting Alaska-Anchorage gave the Fighting Sioux a share of the WCHA regular-season title, their first since 1987. UND also gained the number-one seed for the WCHA playoffs by virtue of the tiebreaker it holds over second-place Minnesota.

The Gophers, though relegated to no better than a two seed, clinched home-ice advantage with their three-point weekend in Colorado Springs. Minnesota could still gain half of the MacNaughton Cup — with a sweep of Wisconsin and two UND losses this weekend.

CC, of course, remains in the hunt for home ice, as do Denver, Minnesota-Duluth, St. Cloud and Wisconsin. Only four points separate those teams in the standings, even at this late date in the season.

Meanwhile, Alaska-Anchorage, Northern Michigan and Michigan Tech continue to jockey for position; those teams are already consigned to road series in the first round.

WCHA Standings

Michigan Tech (8-23-4, 5-21-4 WCHA) at St. Cloud (19-11-4, 16-10-4 WCHA) Friday-Saturday, 7:05-8:05 p.m. CT, National Hockey Center, St. Cloud, MN

St. Cloud State has the inside track to third place in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. The toughest part for the Huskies will be to avoid getting derailed by Michigan Tech.

St. Cloud, third in the WCHA with 36 points on a 16-10-4 record, hosts Tech Friday and Saturday. Tech is 10th with 14 points on a 5-21-4 mark.

”We don’t have to rely on anybody else to lose in order to finish third,” said St. Cloud coach Craig Dahl. ”We just have to win our games.

”This is a better position than hoping somebody ahead of you loses.”

There are several teams hoping St. Cloud is the team to fall. Colorado College trails the Huskies by one point. Denver is just two back. Sixth-place Minnesota-Duluth is three behind SCSU. Wisconsin is four back, but even if the Badgers catch the Huskies, they would lose the tiebreaker between the two teams.

Dahl said he has passed the importance of this series on to his players. ”It has implications for seeding purposes, for final-five seeding,” Dahl said of the WCHA playoffs. ”Our players are very aware of that. We made them very aware. Now, it’s kinda up to them.”

This is one of those series where one team has everything to lose and the other, well, can have a lot of fun without fear of much happening. Tech coach Tim Watters is hoping that’s just what happens.

”We’ve got nothing to save it for,” Watters quipped.

Watters also said his Huskies should be motivated after losing both ends of last week’s home-and-home series with Northern Michigan, falling 4-3 in Marquette and 5-3 at home.

”That was a real tough series to lose the way we did,” Watters said. ”Friday night, Northern scored the winning goal with 56 seconds left. Then we were up 2-0 going into third period Saturday. To lose a series like that is devastating.”

But Watters said the devastation would be temporary. ”We’ll regroup this week during practice,” he said. ”We’ll go in with good game plan against St. Cloud and prepare for the playoffs.”

According to the coach, it will be an uphill battle at best, even though St. Cloud managed just one point at Minnesota-Duluth last weekend. Tech will play without two injured regulars — defenseman Travis VanTighem and team captain Jason Prokopetz.

”St. Cloud is a very solid hockey club,” Watters said. ”We played them well earlier in the season (a 3-3 tie and a 5-1 loss). ”We have to play them well this weekend and find a way to win.”

The Huskies can do this, Watters insisted. ”We have good, quality people here,” he said. ”We’ll have to rebound. There’s no other alternative. They know we have to do that, and that’s what they’ll do.

”No one feels sorry for you. And we don’t expect them to.”

St. Cloud doesn’t figure to, after its tough series at Duluth, in which it lost 5-2 before leaving town with a 3-3 tie.

”We had the win on Saturday, but they tied it with 10 seconds left,” Dahl said. ”We struggled with their small sheet (of ice) on Friday. Duluth played really well. They were very, very physical. They did a good job.”

Tech also lost winger Matt Noga to cracked vertebrae during the Duluth series. Dahl said his team needs to beware the visiting Huskies. ”They’ve struggled, but in this league, seems like anybody can beat anybody,” Dahl said. ”It’s so tight, you can drop several spots in the standings in one weekend.”

History can provide a necessary lesson, according to Dahl. ”It wasn’t that long ago (four seasons) that Tech was seeded 10th and CC first (in the first round of the playoffs) and Tech upset CC,” Dahl said. ”I’m sure they (Tech’s Huskies) are going to come at us real hard. We have so much to play for. It’s so important. I’m glad we’re home.”

Wisconsin (15-17-2, 15-13-2 WCHA) at No. 5 Minnesota (22-11-1, 19-10-1 WCHA) Friday, 7:05 p.m. CT, Target Center, Minneapolis, MN Saturday, 7:35 p.m. CT, Mariucci Arena, Minneapolis, MN

This is Jeff Sauer’s 26th year as a coach in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, which qualifies him as the league’s resident historian.

In all those seasons, Sauer has never seen one like this. With one weekend to play in the regular season, four points separate third place from seventh in the 10-team conference. The top five finishers get home ice for the first round of the league playoffs.

”It’s never been this tight, with seven teams that have all beat up on each other pretty much all the season,” said Sauer, currently in his 15th season at the Wisconsin helm. ”It’s kinda filtering out now. The people who are healthy, and are strong through the stretch, are going to survive.”

Sauer doesn’t know if his team will survive its series at Minnesota this weekend. The teams play at the Target Center on Friday, and at Mariucci Arena at 7:35 Saturday. Both games are sellouts.

Minnesota has a firm grip on second — and home ice — with 39 points on a 19-10-1 record; Wisconsin is seventh with 32 points on a 15-13-2 mark.

”We haven’t survived the injury part,” Sauer said. ”On Monday, we had 11 guys out of practice.” The latest on the list is junior center Joe Bianchi, who fell to an injury in last weekend’s 5-3, 4-3 home losses to Denver. Bianchi is the Badgers’ No. 2 scorer with 29 points on 14 goals and 15 assists.

”It’s been a real demanding schedule this year,” Sauer said. ”That’s great for the league, because it has been so competitive.”

Unfortunately for Wisconsin, Denver proved more competitive last weekend. ”We’re disappointed, to be honest,” Sauer said. ”We thought we could get at least one, and maybe two. Denver played very well.”

However, Sauer said the injuries have taken a toll. ”The will is there, but the bodies aren’t,” he said. ”I haven’t had as many injuries in any year since I was at Colorado College (1971-82), with the lack of depth and stuff.”

And now, the Badgers have Minnesota looming on the western horizon.

”I don’t know if it’s realistic that we can get home ice after last weekend,” he said. ”The Minnesota series is always good. Hopefully, can get the job done. We’ll be ready.”

Gopher coach Doug Woog says his team still harbors hopes of tying North Dakota for the regular-season title.

”We have our opportunities,” he said. ”This is the last time. You had other opportunities during the year. This is the last opportunity to do anything. ”We’ve got to win two games and hope we get a lot of help (from Denver, which hosts first-place North Dakota).”

The Gophers positioned themselves by taking three of four points at Colorado College with a 3-3 tie and a 3-0 win. ”We secured a lot of things last week — home ice, a top-three finish,” Woog said. ”Our power rankings didn’t get hurt. We put ourselves in position to get a tie for the championship if we get some help.”

But first things first.

”They (the Badgers) have a lot at stake, too,” Woog said. ”They’ll be here with their working shoes on. That we know. They have nothing to lose. They’re going to come out with a lot of energy. I’m sure they will. That’s the way it is when we play them.”

The Gophers figure to be as healthy as they have been recently. Junior defenseman Mike Crowley is back after missing part of last Saturday’s game with a puncture wound.

”These are big games. That’s all I can tell you,” Woog said. ”We still have a chance to win the title; we’ll look at the scoreboard later. If we don’t win, it doesn’t matter anyway. If we win, we still have a chance.”

No. 2 North Dakota (24-8-2, 21-8-1 WCHA) at Denver (19-11-4, 15-11-4 WCHA) Friday-Saturday, 7:05 p.m. MT, DU Arena, Denver, CO

Back on Oct. 18, Jason Blake helped North Dakota get off to a great start in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association season by scoring the tying goal with one second remaining in regulation. North Dakota went on to beat Denver 3-2 in overtime, then posted a sweep with a 6-2 win the next night.

Now, four months later, the second-ranked Fighting Sioux will be looking to win the title outright in their series this weekend at Denver. Any combination of a win or tie by the Sioux, or a tie or loss by Minnesota in its home series with Wisconsin, will give North Dakota its first outright regular-season championship in a decade.

The Sioux, with 43 points on a 21-8-1 WCHA record, meet the Pioneers at Friday and Saturday. Denver is fifth with 34 points on a 15-11-4 record. If Denver doesn’t finish in the top five, this will be the last series played in DU Arena, which is to be razed at the conclusion of the season to make way for a new multi-sport venue.

Both UND coach Dean Blais and Denver coach George Gwozdecky say that initial series between the two clubs has pretty much dictated the paths of their respective seasons.

”We thought if we were competitive, we [might] be in somewhere in the middle of the pack,” Blais said of his team’s preseason hopes. ”That first series was important, because Denver has a good, veteran team. We thought if we could do well against them, we could adjust and aim our goals a little higher.

”That series gave us a lot of confidence going into the rest of the year…. That opening weekend, for a lot of teams — it seems like it can make or break your season.”

Gwozdecky says the Pioneers have been in a chasing mode ever since. ”That first game against North Dakota was important,” Gwozdecky said. ”There’s six seconds to go. We win the draw, but we throw the puck away. Their defenseman wrists it toward the net. It hits Jim Mullin right in between the pads. It falls at the goal line. He can’t see it. At the last second, Jason Blake spies it lying there, and taps it in.

”That’s one point we lost and two that North Dakota gained. You look back and say the whole complection of the league race may have changed with that one game. It’s speculation, obviously, but it’s fun nonetheless.”

Both teams have had their share of fun lately. North Dakota swept Alaska-Anchorage 2-0, 4-0 last weekend to clinch at least a tie for the title and gain the No. 1 seed for the WCHA playoffs. Minnesota could catch the Sioux in points, but North Dakota still has the tie-breaking edge.

Denver, meanwhile, jumped into the home-ice race with a 5-3, 4-3 sweep at Wisconsin.

”It’s pretty exciting, even to get a share of the championship,” said Blais. ”We were picked fifth by the league coaches after we lost some real talent off last year’s team.”

Blais said his players appear ready to take the title outright. ”The guys celebrated last Saturday,” he said. ”I thought there’d be a little bit of a letdown in practice this week. But there hasn’t been.

”We’ve worked hard all year. This is a good bunch of kids who work hard and who bought into my system. They’re good students. I’m real proud of what they have accomplished.

”To get this far, you need a little luck We’ve gotten a few breaks, and we’ve been healthy all year.”

Blais expects a pitched battle from the Pioneers. ”We’re looking forward to a team that’s playing well lately and is a skating team like we are,” he said. ”I’m sure they want home ice in the playoffs.

”They’re 8-0-3 in their last 11 games. With some breaks early on, they could’ve made a run at the championship.”

Gwozdecky says that’s all in the past.

”The most important part of the season is fast approaching,” he said. ”There are five or six weekends left in the college hockey year. Some teams’ seasons could go up in smoke. Teams like ourselves could make a lot of people forget how we started, and make them remember how we finished.”

The Wisconsin people won’t soon forget Denver. That sweep of the Badgers has positioned the Pioneers for a home-ice run and energized their effort.

”We finally put ourselves back in position to gain home ice,” Gwozdecky said. ”Having the number-one team in the league here for our final series is probably what you want them to have. It’s a great challenge; a great opportunity."

"We’re still battling for home ice. Who knows? The way this goofy league has gone, we could finish anywhere from third to seventh. It’ll be a strange, but exciting, finish to the league.”

Minnesota-Duluth (18-13-3, 15-12-3 WCHA) at Northern Michigan (12-22-2, 8-21-1 WCHA) Friday-Saturday, 7:05 p.m. ET, Lakeview Arena, Marquette, MI

Mike Sertich says the real scramble in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association race will come Sunday, the day after the regular season concludes.

”The phones will be pretty busy Sunday morning with people making travel and hotel arrangements,” Sertich said. ”This is the first time I can remember it’s been this close all the way down to seventh. This year, you just don’t know.”

Sertich would like to wake up Sunday morning with the knowledge that he won’t have to be making travel plans. The Bulldogs carry sixth place into this weekend’s series at Northern Michigan; UMD has 33 points on a 15-12-3 WCHA record. That’s just one behind fifth-place Denver, two behind fourth-place Colorado College and four back of third-place St. Cloud State. The Bulldogs are also just one point ahead of seventh-place Wisconsin.

Northern Michigan, eighth with 17 points on an 8-21-4 conference mark, hosts UMD Friday and Saturday. Sertich said his club will be as ready as possible.

”Actually, we’ve played pretty well since Christmas,” he said. ”Now, it all depends on what you do this weekend. There’ll be some interesting series around the league this weekend.”

The Bulldogs go into this series without junior defenseman Laird Lidster, who suffered a second-degree shoulder separation and two broken ribs in what Sertich believes was a check from behind.

”We’ve got some bad injuries. That’s all part of it, too,” he said. ”The biggest is the one to Laird Lidster. We’ve got six defensemen. That’s it. We’re down to bare bones.”

And now, the Bulldogs have to travel to play the Wildcats.

”They’re playing pretty well, from what I gather,” Sertich said. ”They were pretty young when we played them before.

”They must have played well to beat Tech like that,” he said of the Wildcats’ 4-3, 5-3 sweep in their home-and-home series with Michigan Tech. Sertich said his players need to take care of their own business if they hope to climb up at least one spot and gain home ice for the playoffs.

”You don’t worry about what’s going on around you,” he said. ”You worry about what’s going on right at you.”

Northern Michigan coach Rick Comley said his team will also be strapped this weekend. The Wildcats will play without senior goaltender Dieter Kochan, who injured a knee two weeks ago in a 2-1 win over North Dakota.

"[Kochan] is still hurt. We doubt very much whether he’ll play this week,” Comley said. ”If we’re going to do anything in the playoffs, we’re going to have to have him back.”

Comley said the Wildcats are hosting a hot Duluth club. ”I think they’re as talented as anybody in the league,” he said of the Bulldogs. ”Duluth is still competing for home ice, so this is very big for them. With us, it’s a question of where we’re going in the playoffs. It’s a bigger opportunity for them.”

Still, Comley isn’t discounting his youthful team. ”We’ve been trying to get better all year,” he said. ”We’ve played a better second half as our freshmen have gotten more experience and more maturity with the whole thing.

”I think we’re a much better team than we were early…. For us to do anything at this point of the season, a lot of things have to go right. I feel we’re very close to becoming a good team again.

”We’d just like to keep it going on a positive note. We’ve worked hard. That’s the one thing about this sport — the workload never changes. The kids are feeling better; they’re happier. We have a chance, if we play well, to keep it going in a positive way.”

Colorado College (18-13-3, 16-11-3 WCHA) at Alaska-Anchorage (9-20-3, 7-20-3 WCHA) Friday-Saturday, 7:05 p.m. AT, Sullivan Arena, Anchorage, AK

Who scheduled this weekend’s series?

Colorado College plays at Alaska Anchorage on Friday and Saturday, and the games begin at 7:05 Alaska Time. That’s 9:05 in Colorado Springs, 10:05 in the Central Time Zone and 11:05 for the teams from Michigan.

”I don’t think anybody making the schedule out anticipated the race being so close at the top,” said Anchorage coach Dean Talafous.

His club isn’t terribly concerned with that. The Seawolves, with 17 points on a 7-20-3 WCHA mark, share eighth with Northern Michigan. But CC is in the thick of the race for one of the league’s top three spots, as well as home ice. The Tigers are fourth with 35 points on a 16-11-3 mark. They’re one point behind third-place Minnesota, one ahead of fifth-place Denver, two up on sixth-place Minnesota-Duluth and three better than seventh-place Wisconsin.

CC could finish anywhere from third to seventh. So just about everybody else in the league will be watching and waiting — and waiting and waiting.

”At least we’ll know what everybody else has done before we play,” said CC coach Don Lucia. ”If we win two, we know we keep fourth place.” ”We can finish anywhere from third to seventh, with two games to go. That’s the WCHA this year. There’s just a lot of parity.”

Lucia said there’s already an awful lot of parity between the Tigers and Seawolves.

”It’s not an easy trip,” he said. ”We’re 3-2-1 up there the three years they’ve been in WCHA. Even with the great teams we’ve had, we’ve been unable to win two up there.” That’s because the Seawolves have a history of playing quality defense. This year, they’ve also cut down on penalties, averaging an amazing 6.03 penalty minutes per game.

Though the Seawolves were swept 2-0, 4-0 at first-place North Dakota last weekend, they played the second game without a penalty. That’s a school first. In fact, both teams went the entire game without putting anyone in the box; the last WCHA game in which that happened, according to USCHO’s Mike Machnik, was back in 1982.

”We don’t take many (penalties) to begin with,” Talafous said. ”Over the last month, we’re averaging only one or two. That’s our style. It will be every year and every game. It’s not that difficult to play within the rules — it’s an attitude, a mindset.”

One with which CC will have to deal.

”You almost have to go with a mindset that you have to win with two or three goals against Anchorage,” Lucia said.

He said the Tigers are still kicking themselves for blowing a late lead last Friday against Minnesota. That game ended in a 3-3 overtime tie, and the Gophers cruised to a 3-0 win last Saturday.

”If we would have held on and won that first Minnesota game, we would have come away with two points and felt pretty good,” Lucia said. ”Obviously, that was a big point. If we had that, we’d be tied for third, and have a couple-point cushion on Minnesota-Duluth and Denver.

”Since the start of the season, our goal has been home ice for the playoffs. That’s still our goal this weekend. This isn’t the same (CC) team as the last three years. This is a different team, a young team. We’ve fought the battles of a young team that’s been up and down. The only way you gain that maturity is by playing these games.”

So the Tigers will show up Friday.

”We want to hold on to the fourth spot,” Lucia said. ”It would be nice to move up. All we can do is go up and do our best. That’s what I’m most concerned with — putting two good games back to back.”

That’s also the philosophy of Talafous, the Seawolves’ first-year coach. Of his team’s record, Talafous said, ”It’s just one of those things — a new coach, a new team. We’ve played 10 overtime games, but we haven’t won a one (the Seawolves are actually 0-4-3 in overtime).

”We’re not overly talented. We appear to be getting better each week, but it’s a tough league. We’ve played so many close games. We’re ready to make something happen. I just hope we don’t run out of time before something happens."

As far as playing the Tigers is concerned, Talafous said, ”CC, Minnesota — we don’t get too caught up in who we’re playing. We just concentrate on how we’re playing. If we execute our game plan as well as possible, it doesn’t matter who we’re playing, we’re going to have some success.

”We have a lot of pride. We’ve battled everybody real tough. We’re going to get there. It just takes a lot of hard work. It doesn’t matter what your record is, as long as you’re there at the end. So we feel we’re in the same position as everybody else.”

It’s just the Seawolves’ position on the map — and the clock — that will keep everybody waiting.

And waiting.

And waiting.

Next Week in the WCHA: Conference playoffs, first round. Games and times to be annouced.

Steve Page is the WCHA Correspondent for U.S. College Hockey Online.

Copyright 1997 Steve Page. All Rights Reserved.

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This Week in Hockey East: February 28, 1997

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Hockey East Preview: Feb. 28-Mar. 2, 1997 by Dave Hendrickson

Maine’s five-day, three-game sweep of UNH and BU (twice) proved that postseason or no postseason, they are now back among the Hockey East and national elite. Providence College also ended the weekend smiling, its sweep of UMass-Lowell clinching a home-ice berth in the playoffs.

Since early January, everyone has been looking ahead to this Saturday’s BU-UNH contest with great anticipation. Having the first- and second-place teams slugging it out for the regular season crown on the final weekend must certainly warm the cockles of NESN executives’ hearts. Many of the games telecast this year have been one-sided; this game could make up for that and then some.

The Merrimack-Boston College match that evening could also prove pivotal, deciding which of the two teams gets playoff home ice against each other.

Hockey East Standings

Last week’s record in picks: 4-3 Season record in picks: 115-69

No. 3 New Hampshire (24-8-0, 17-5-0 HE) at No. 7 Boston University (18-8-6, 14-4-4 HE) Saturday, 7 p.m., Walter Brown Arena, Boston, MA NESN

Depending on how these two teams fare on Friday night, this game will likely determine the Hockey East regular-season champion. Ironically, both teams are coming off resounding losses to Maine. After a short-handed New Hampshire squad traveled to Orono in mid-week and lost 5-1, BU had a mile-wide opening to grab the regular season title. The Black Bears, however, had other ideas. They swept BU convincingly, 3-0 and 7-2.

"We had our heads handed to us," said BU coach Jack Parker. "They played extremely well. We were back on our heels most of the time. In general, Maine played well and we didn’t."

The Terriers missed three significant players. Jon Coleman reaggravated a previous shoulder injury and is day-to-day for this weekend. Tommi Degerman, out with knee ligament problems, missed the games and will definitely not play this weekend.

And Brendan Walsh is gone. Parker booted the enigmatic forward off the team. It wasn’t Walsh’s first offense. Earlier in the season he’d been left home from a road trip and then later incurred a one-game suspension for violating team rules. This time, however, he won’t be back. According to Parker, Walsh is "gone for good."

Turning to the upcoming games, Parker said, "We’ve got to regroup and get ready for the stretch run. Hopefully we can get ourselves ready to sweep this weekend instead of getting swept and be Hockey East champions.

"The key to both games will be goaltending and special teams. Team defense and goaltending are always important in big games. I think that will wind up true against both Merrimack and UNH."

Since BU swept UNH early in January, the Terriers could presumably establish a significant psychological advantage if they can make it three straight. Parker, however, brushed such talk aside.

"That’s very overrated," he said. "Next time you could instead say that your number is up. And sometimes the team that lost the last game gets more up the next time. [So it could actually work against you.] But in order to be the regular season co-champion, we have to beat UNH in the last game so we won’t worry about how that will feel down the road. We’re more worried about what it gets us right now."

UNH lost seven players for their 5-1 loss at Maine because of suspensions following a postgame brawl against Providence. Although the Wildcats will miss Eric Boguniecki and Jayme Filipowicz for Friday’s rematch against the Friars, they expect a full lineup on Saturday against BU.

"The whole weekend is going to be good matchups," said UNH coach Dick Umile. "The BU-Merrimack game and Providence-UNH, those are four good teams — along with what Maine’s been doing lately — that are playing well.

"The last time we went down there we didn’t play very well, [losing 9-4 before returning home to lose 3-2]. But it’s just like years past or other previous games at this point. They don’t mean much of anything. Whatever happens Saturday night won’t be because of those last two games."

PICK: At other points in the season it might have come down to BU’s considerable home-ice advantage. Not now. When BU’s paper-thin depth is exposed, they become very vulnerable. UNH 6-4.

Providence (15-17-1, 12-10-1 HE) at No. 3 New Hampshire (24-8-0, 17-5-0 HE) Friday, 7 p.m., Whittemore Center, Durham, NH WMUR-TV9

Providence swept UMass-Lowell 6-1 and 5-2 to run their February record to 6-1-0 and clinch home ice for the playoffs. In all probability, they’ll be hosting in the playoffs the same River Hawks that they beat three times this year by a cumulative 19-5 score.

"Defensively we played pretty well," said PC coach Paul Pooley. "We lost our man a little bit but when you have [Lowell’s Shannon] Basaraba, [Greg] Koehler, and [Neil] Donovan, those guys are good offensive hockey players who can make you miss. We got away from our game early [on Saturday but eventually] we played pretty well, shutting them down."

Netminders Dan Dennis and Mark Kane split time on the weekend. In contrast to the inconsistency of the Friar goaltending earlier in the season, Dennis and Kane now give Pooley two options.

"Mark [Kane] played [on Saturday] because he deserved to play," said Pooley. "He got us started a few weeks ago and won a big game for us and then played well against BC and Merrimack. Danny played well against UNH and [Friday night] against Lowell. It’s nice to have both of them going and feel confident in both of them. Danny will start against UNH and we’ll see what happens after that."

Pooley is also getting contributions from unexpected sources. Fourth-liner Nick Sinerate was named Hockey East Player of the Week two weeks ago and has continued to play well since. Sinerate’s sometime-linemate Doug Sheppard earned this week’s Rookie of the Week honor.

"Nick understands his role," said Pooley. "He bangs. He has the ability to score because he’s got a good shot. He’s big and he goes to the net. He’s playing with Sheehan and Sheppard… and they’re all playing pretty well on what is supposedly our fourth line. Nick has played really well for us and given us a spark."

Another sparkplug has been Mike Omicioli. Pooley benched him earlier in the season, but the 5-5 sophomore now centers PC’s top line.

"Last year before the FleetCenter I sat out because I was injured," said Omicioli. "I was bored so I was really pumped up when I came back. Right now I don’t want to be out of the lineup anymore so I’m just going to play hard every minute."

Earlier this month, the Friars split a home-and-home with UNH, first dropping a 9-5 road game after taking a 4-2 lead into the third period. Back at Schneider Arena they grabbed a 3-2 win that was marred by a postgame brawl, resulting in suspensions to seven players from each team.

"We won’t repeat that," said Pooley. "There’s no way. That’s over and done with in our minds.

"Obviously it’s going to be a very loud, hotly contested battle. They’re going to want to blow us out. We’ve just got to keep our heads. We let the crowd affect us last time. Hopefully, we’ve matured since then and we’ll come out ready to play good defensive hockey.

"Our whole team is predicated on defense and our forecheck, our D-zone coverage, and being able to transition [well]. We’ve got to be solid there. I also don’t think we’re shooting the puck as much as we should. I think we’re passing up opportunities and sometimes that’s cost us. And we’ve got to keep working on our specialty teams."

Could UNH be looking past this game to their Saturday night marquee matchup against BU?

"I don’t think we’ll be looking past Providence at all," said Umile. "We’ve played each other twice now and they’ve won one and we’ve won one. Providence is playing extremely well right now, and not just defensively. They’re scoring goals too. In the last month and a half they’ve been one of the highest scoring teams. So it should be a really good matchup."

The Wildcats will miss Eric Boguniecki and Jayme Filipowicz, both of whom will serve their second game suspension resulting from the previous UNH-PC game’s brawl.

"We’ll decide who’s going to center in Boguniecki’s spot but the next night [against BU] we’ll just go back to him so we won’t try to do anything drastic," said Umile.

PICK: UNH 4-2.

Merrimack (14-16-2, 10-10-2 HE) at No. 7 Boston University (18-8-6, 14-4-4 HE) Friday, 7 p.m., Walter Brown Arena, Boston, MA

Merrimack’s "magic number" for a first-ever home ice playoff berth stands at one. Their dramatic turnaround, captured

statistically by radio color broadcaster Mike Machnik, appeared to be stalled last weekend. They opened with a 1-1 tie at Northeastern — a lost point that in retrospect would have clinched home ice.

"It was wide-open hockey," said MC coach Ron Anderson. "We both had about 35-40 shots. Both goaltenders played very well. Their guy stopped us on five breakaways so we had to tip our hat to him."

MC’s Martin Legault continued his excellent play which recently netted him the school’s all-time career saves record which now stands at 3,054.

"The one area that’s been the most stable for us the last four years has been our goaltending," said Anderson. "He played very well as a freshman and has continued to get better, save for a couple of periods when he had a couple injuries. He’s been very, very consistent for us all four years and I couldn’t be happier for him.

"There is a good side and a bad side to making a lot of saves. Obviously your team is giving up a lot of shots, but on the other hand he’s played very well for us and done a tremendous job."

Following the 1-1 tie, the Warriors then faced a potential major disaster, trailing the Huskies at home 6-3 in the third period. Previous Merrimack teams might never have come back, but this year’s team scored four goals in four minutes to pull out the "W".

"We’re a team that’s learned how to win," said Anderson. "That’s a big part of it. With pretty much an upperclassmen team, it’s supposed to be that way. When you have that level of experience, you need to find ways to pull out games. I was really pleased with our response to that situation, getting the job done and getting the win, whether it was dramatic or not."

One freshman who is also getting the job done is Drew Hale, winner of Hockey East’s Rookie of the Week award two weeks ago. The distinction, rare among defensemen in general comes as an even greater surprise to a defensive blueliner.

"Sometimes defensemen who score a lot of points get a lot of recognition but a lot of times defensive defensemen don’t," Anderson said. "Drew has come in and been very solid for us. He was one of those guys who was unheralded but so was Steve McKenna when he came here four years ago and he turned out to be pretty good. He’s a little different type of player but Drew plays mostly the same kind of game, staying at home and playing good defense. He’s a character-type kid, a very honest, sincere player both in his attitude and his efforts. He’s going to be a very solid player for us."

Merrimack will need solid play against a BU team slapped awake by Maine’s sweep. "No matter who you play at this time of year it’s all playoff hockey," said Anderson. "Everybody is trying to gear up, getting on top of their game as they head down the stretch run into the playoffs.

"Everybody knows BU hockey and for them to lose a couple last week, you know they’re going to be working hard to get their ship righted. I expect a real tough game.

"We said at the beginning of the year that we wanted to be in the thick of things in the last two weeks of the season and we wanted to be playing our best hockey. What we expected, and what we wanted is what we’ve got. So now we have to enjoy that situation and say, ‘Hey, we got ourselves where we wanted to be, so now let’s make sure that we apply ourselves, play our best, and be on top of our game and see what happens.’"

Behind the other bench, stands Parker. Over the past three years, the Warriors have entered the third period against BU either leading or tied seven out of eight times. Although BU has gone on to post a 5-2-1 record in those games, it hasn’t been easy for the Terriers.

"Over the last three or four years they’ve really played us tough," said Parker. "They’re playing the best hockey they’ve ever played in this league right now. We’ll have our hands full. The biggest problem there is that both of their goalies have played extremely well against us. We have to make sure we get to the net and put some pressure on. At the same time, we’ve got to make sure that we move the puck out of our zone because they’re a real good forechecking team."

PICK: BU 4-3.

UMass-Amherst (12-20-0, 7-16-0 HE) at No. 10 Maine (23-10-1, 15-7-1 HE) Saturday, 7 p.m., Alfond Arena, Orono, ME

Talk about going out with a bang! Maine completed a stunning week in which it took apart UNH 5-1, and BU 3-0 and 7-2.

"We played very, very well," said coach Shawn Walsh. "It’s encouraging for the future because we’re relying on so many young players. A guy that deserves a lot of credit is Grant Standbrook. He’s gone out and recruited one of the best recruiting classes in the country. With all the negatives being thrown about verbally, it didn’t affect his recruiting. He went in different directions and found other players.

"We’ve also been very lucky with injuries in the second half. This week we caught these two teams who are in a battle for the championship but at the same time they were beaten up. We weren’t and we really took advantage of it."

A key component to the second-half Black Bears success has been the power play. Over the last seven games they have converted 20 of their 42 chances, lifting them head and shoulders above everyone else in Hockey East (31.1 percent in Hockey East games and 29.1 percent overall).

"We’ve kept it simple," said Walsh. "Stevie Kariya is a key because he gets the puck and wheels with it so well and he’s so good in tight situations. Our point men — [David] Cullen, [Jeff] Libby, [Jason] Mansoff, and [Corey] Larose — have all been very effective." Cullen, a sophomore, earned Hockey East Player of the Week honors for the second time in five weeks.

The fans apparently are back in full force at Alfond Arena, both in numbers where they set a new attendance record of 5,543 on Saturday, and in volume.

"They were very supportive," said Walsh. "It was like the old times. The biggest thing that has occurred is that our second half has brought the excitement back. I think our fans have been spoiled [by the team’s success in previous years] and entered into a relaxed mode almost. What I see now is a renewed exuberance and an appreciation of our players."

The team’s number ten ranking is their first top ten appearance since the start of the year. In all probability, they would rank higher if not for the NCAA sanctions keeping them off some voters’ ballots.

"I don’t know where we should be rated but I think our record is certainly right up there among the top five teams in the country," said Walsh. "You’d have to say that the only team that has surpassed us in the second half is Michigan. So if you base it on how we’ve played in the second half, then we’d have to be one of the top teams in the nation. If you base it on the whole year, we’ve got to be somewhere in the picture.

"It’s a shame that we’re not in [the Hockey East playoffs] because that wasn’t an NCAA ruling, it was a league ruling. It’s just too bad because you play your playoffs for revenue. We’re going to lose a lot of revenue in our league. And also I think the New England fans would enjoy seeing us.

"But that’s okay. It’ll pass. We’re already looking forward to next year.

"We only lose four seniors, [Dan Shermerhorn, Jason Mansoff, Reg Cardinal and Trevor Roenick]. The four we lose are very, very good…. So looking towards this weekend, this is the one game for us to honor those four who stayed loyal to the program.

"We want to dedicate the game to those four seniors who made the decision to come back. Believe me, they’re happy they did that now. They’ve meant a lot to the rebuilding of the program. We owe it to them to go out and play as well as we can."

Last week UMass-Amherst lost 3-2 to Boston College.

"It was a great late-season game," said UMass coach Joe Mallen. "We came out of the blocks early and probably had nine shots in the first five or six minutes. The bottom line of the game was [BC goalie] Greg Taylor. He had four or five just great saves.

"We also had — I believe in the second period — a disputed goal. We thought it went up underneath the crossbar and in and bounced out but the goal judge couldn’t see it and the referee didn’t see it. Play actually stopped… then they discussed it and ruled no goal. You can’t change those things. We had plenty of chances and it was a very well-played game in both ends of the ice. To me, it looked more like a playoff game which I thought was good. We just couldn’t beat Taylor.

"The interesting thing about the game is that I recruited both goalies," said Mallen, an assistant coach at BC before taking the head position at UMass-Amherst. "I guess I should have done a lousier job recruiting Taylor."

His own goaltender, Brian Regan, passed 2,000 career saves recently, one of only five such juniors nationally.

"I think Brian Regan is a very underrated goalie in this league," said Mallen. "He’s had to play on a brand new team for three years and he’s a tremendous goalie. He’s got great angles, great reflexes, and great movement. We’re hoping that the best is yet to come for him."

Mallen has seen first-hand the Maine second-half juggernaut, losing to them twice at home two weeks ago, 6-4 and 8-1.

"I thought the Maine team I saw the second night when they beat us 8-1 was the best team we had played against all year long," he said. "I thought offensively they looked good, defensively they looked good, they looked good on their special teams and their goaltender made the saves they needed. I was pretty disappointed obviously to lose at home by that score, but when I saw them beat BU 7-2 one week later, it just reinforced what I thought about their team. They were just doing everything right.

"Win, lose, or draw we’re going to wind up playing one of the hottest, and one of the top three teams, in Hockey East for the last game. [Then in the playoffs] we’re going to play one of the top two teams for the next two out of three, so we’ve got to prepare a game plan right now that will keep us in those games.

"The one thing [we might be able to use] is that Maine probably enjoyed a little more success in the big rink here, whereas at their [regulation-sized] rink maybe there’s a way we can bottle them up a little more.

PICK: Maine 6-2.

Northeastern (7-22-3, 2-18-2 HE) at Boston College (12-17-3, 8-11-3 HE) Friday, 7 p.m., Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill, MA

Boston College bounced back from recent disappointments to beat UMass-Amherst 3-2.

"I thought we played well," said coach Jerry York. "Even though we only scored three, I thought we had some good chances offensively. It was good to see our goals against stay at two. I thought we played very strong defensively. We’re technically solid in many aspects of the game which is very refreshing and very positive for us as we enter the last two games of the season."

After being swept the previous week by Merrimack, including an 11-5 stinker in the second game, York put his enigmatic squad into Training Camp Phase II. Although many good teams have lost to Merrimack down the stretch, the Eagles poor play in the 11-5 loss proved difficult to fathom for anyone who had earlier seen their impressive games against arch-rival BU.

"I think [the training camp] was a good theme for us," said York. "We got back to hard work and discipline. There’s no team in the league we can’t beat but there’s also no team in the league that we can’t lose to."

The Eagles maintain a real chance to still earn playoff home ice, needing to beat Northeastern and Merrimack and have Boston University beat Merrimack on Friday.

"I think Northeastern’s played well [despite their record]," said York. "They have one of the top freshmen goaltenders in the country in Robitaille. He’s had three shutouts this year. They were capable of playing Merrimack 1-1 and 7-6, so we’ll fully concentrate on Northeastern, trying to get ourselves to Saturday night when we could get home ice. We still feel we have a shot at it, but Merrimack could beat BU on Friday and it would be all over."

Northeastern followed a 1-1 tie last Friday night against Merrimack with a 6-3 third-period lead before surrendering four goals in four minutes to lose 7-6.

"I thought we were playing some pretty good team defense up until Saturday night and then everything seemed to cave in," said NU coach Bruce Crowder. "I’ve got to give Merrimack a lot of credit. They stuck with it. They could have folded the tent, but they came back and deserved to win the hockey game…. Once it started to go, we couldn’t stop the bleeding."

Despite their poor won-loss record, 18 of the Huskies 32 games have been ties or decided by a single goal.

"So we’re in the games," said Crowder. "There’s been very few times that we’ve gotten blown out. Our biggest thing is just to keep ourselves going and maybe we’ll get a heck of a break when it counts and do something. We went eight games with only scoring 12 goals and then we got six in one game, so for me that’s a positive. Our goals against have been pretty good until everything caved in on Saturday night in the third period."

Their Friday night match against BC represents a rematch of their opening round Beanpot game against BC in which they held to a 1-1 tie going into the third before losing 4-1.

"For us it’s an opportunity to maybe show ourselves better than we did in the Beanpot," said Crowder. "It’s one of those games that we hope the kids will come to play. I think they will."

PICK: BC 4-3.

Boston College (12-17-3, 8-11-3 HE) at Merrimack (14-16-2, 10-10-2 HE) Saturday, 7 p.m., Volpe Center, North Andover, MA

"On some nights this year we’ve been excellent," said BC coach Jerry York. Their four games against Boston University have all been a pleasure to watch and have shown the Eagles at their best. Two weeks ago, however, coming off a riveting Beanpot final, BC got swept by Merrimack. The Warriors now rank as the league’s second hottest team, bested only by Maine.

"We’re fully aware of that," said York. "We saw them at the top of their game a week ago."

Merrimack’s resurgence has finally gotten some attention around the league. Players and coaches have seen first-hand that this is "not your father’s Merrimack team" but casual fans have only recently taken notice.

"I think our win at Maine was the one that really got us believing in ourselves," said Merrimack coach Ron Anderson. "We were working to get ourselves in position to make a run in the second half and we had chipped away and won a couple of games and got back into the pack, but I think going up there and winning up there — that’s the one that got us over the hump as far as our confidence was concerned."

Anderson sees five advantages to grabbing home ice, which could be decided in this game. "1) You don’t have to travel, 2) there’s less demand on you getting there and getting out of some place, 3) obviously you know the rink, 4) it has an impact on the other team, and 5) that means you finished ahead of whoever you’re playing, and that’s a psychological edge as well."

PICK: BC 4-3.

UMass-Lowell (13-19-1, 9-13-1 HE) at Northeastern (7-22-3, 2-18-2 HE) Sunday, 2 p.m., Matthews Center, Boston, MA

The UMass-Lowell ship has been taking on water in recent weeks, going 0-8-1 in their last nine games. With few exceptions, the losses have also not been particularly close. Last weekend Providence swept the River Hawks 6-1 and 5-2.

Lowell has now played their last 464 minutes without a lead. Ending that streak would be a plus as an end unto itself, but would probably also get Lowell playing looser as well.

"It’s been tough because we played so well the previous Friday in the first period [against BU], outshot them 16-10, and a puck bounced over our guy’s stick and they scored shorthanded and came out ahead 1-0," said coach Tim Whitehead. "The same thing happened [Saturday night]. But stuff happens and hopefully the next bounce will go our way.

"We just need that goal in the first period to break through. We’ve had some great first periods against some great teams but it hasn’t fallen in. I have faith in our players that we’ll bounce back down the stretch. We have a lot of character and leadership in that locker room. I’m very confident that they’ll come back."

The primary problem has been a scoring drought. Aside from the 5-5 tie to BU and a 6-4 loss to UMass-Amherst, the River Hawks have scored only seven goals in the last six games and have been shut out in 29 power-play opportunities.

"During our opening run [when we were third in the league], we were at the top of the league [on the power play]," said Whitehead. "That’s important, no question. There’s no surprises this time of year. Teams have us scouted very well. We just have to turn that around."

Whitehead also considers it imperative to reduce the number of penalties to help make scoring easier.

"I was upset with some individuals that took some penalties that hurt us," he said after the latest loss. "We had a couple opportunities to come back but a couple guys lost their composure and took penalties that hurt us. Granted, we killed them off, but you can’t score when you’re killing penalties. I want the guys to understand that for us to be successful in the playoffs we can’t be taking penalties like that."

Looking ahead to the game against Northeastern, Whitehead said, "We always look forward to a game against Bruce [Crowder]. They’ve played a lot of close games this year. Sunday should be no exception."

Crowder sees similarities between the two clubs.

"The two teams are kind of a mirror image of each other right now," he said. "They’re struggling and they’ve been through the school of hard knocks the last three or four weeks so it could be a very interesting game. Who knows, it could be 6-5 even though both teams haven’t been scoring goals.

"For us it’s going to be Senior Night and we’re going to try to make it special for those kids. Hopefully that will enhance things a little bit."

PICK: Northeastern 5-4.

Dave Hendrickson is the Hockey East Correspondent for U.S. College Hockey Online.

Copyright 1997 Dave Hendrickson . All Rights Reserved.

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Bertagna named Commissioner of Hockey East

By Adam Wodon
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Joe Bertagna was named the fourth commissioner of Hockey East on Tuesday in an announcement made by the conference’s Board of Directors.

The Arlington, Mass. native leaves the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC), where he was employed for 15 years, including the last three as the conference’s first Hockey Commissioner.

Bertagna will stay with the ECAC until his current contract expires on June 1. He is expected to take a month off before assuming his post with Hockey East on July 1.

“I am sincerely excited about the opportunity to work for the schools of Hockey East,” said Bertagna, 45. “My 15 years with the ECAC have been terrific and this decision did not come without some difficulty. But I look forward to new relationships and new challenges in one of the nation’s premier athletic conferences.”

Bertagna is a respected ambassador of the game who has worn many hats for the ECAC since his hiring in 1982-83 as tournament director. Bertagna has served as the Executive Director of the American Hockey Coaches Association since 1984.

“I am very excited and I know all of the Hockey East athletic directors are as well to have Joe moving into the job this summer,” said Gary Strickler, Chairman of the Hockey East Executive Committee and Director of Athletics at Boston University, “Joe brings a national hockey reputation and I know he will make our strong conference even stronger.

“We know what a good job Joe has done for ECAC hockey, and look forward to him doing the same for Hockey East.”

Bertagna started working primarily as the public relations coordinator for the ECAC following a stint as the sports information director at Harvard, his alma mater. He is credited for creating the ECAC’s tournament television package, regular season television package and corporate sponsorships with Bauer and Karhu. He was a driving force behind the Hockeyfest Tournament at the Boston Garden in 1991 and 1992 and played an instrumental role in moving the ECAC Championships to Lake Placid, N.Y., the tournament’s home since 1993.

“The entire ECAC ice hockey community of over 90 programs is heavily indebted to Joe for the tremendous job he’s done for us all,” said Clayton Chapman, Commissioner of the ECAC. “He has given us strong and inspired leadership, taking our ECAC Division I Men’s League to national prominence year in and year out, was a pivotal force in the creation of our successful ECAC Women’s League and Alliance, and in the establishment of the only women’s conference championships in the country.

“Joe Bertagna’s name will always be remembered as synonymous with ECAC Hockey, and we all join in wishing him well as he moves on to new challenges with Hockey East.”

Bertagna, a 1973 graduate of Harvard University, enjoyed a fruitful playing and coaching career as a goaltender. He starred at Harvard under Bill Cleary and at Arlington High School under Eddie Burns. Bertagna played professionally for the Milwaukee Admirals and in Cortina, Italy. He authored “Goaltending,” a textbook on the fundamentals of the position, and “Crimson in Triumph,” a book dedicated to Harvard athletic history.

Bertagna began his coaching career in 1985 with the Boston Bruins, staying with the Bruins as the goaltenders coach until 1991 and rejoining the team for the 1994-95 season. He also has coached with the Milwaukee Admirals (1994-96). Bertagna has operated his own goalie camps in the summer since 1973.

“I am excited with Joe’s decision to become our commissioner,” said Robert M. DeGregorio, Jr., the director of Athletics at Merrimack College and former Hockey East Commissioner. “I have known Joe for many years. I have worked with him both as a commissioner and as an athletic director and I feel his expertise will help move Hockey East into the next century.

“He is well-known and well-respected throughout the hockey community and his expertise will only further enhance the greatness of the Hockey East Association.”

Abbott and Costello Visit Hockey East

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Over 50 years ago, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello created arguably the most famous comedy routine in history, “Who’s on First.” It is with great pleasure that we welcome them to the Hockey East stage.

LOU: Heeyyy, Abbott! You’ll never guess what happened. I saw my first college hockey game and, boy, was it terrific! I didn’t really understand what was going on, but I loved it when they crashed into each other. Smash! Bam! Pow! Now I can’t get enough of it.

BUD: I’ve been a fan myself for years.

LOU: Just do me one favor.

BUD: You name it.

LOU: Don’t confuse me like you did with “Who’s on First.” Just speak English.

BUD: I couldn’t do that.

LOU: Couldn’t do what?

BUD: Speak English.

LOU: Why not?

BUD: He redshirted. English, I mean. Brad English. UNH.

LOU: Abbott, I don’t care if the shirts he wears are red, or green, or brown or white!

BUD: That would give you your penalty-killers.

LOU: What would?

BUD: Green or Brown or White. Don’t you know what you’re saying?

LOU: Of course I don’t know what I’m saying!

BUD: David Green is a senior at Providence. Craig Brown is a UMass-Lowell freshman. They both play forward. Tony and Brian White are defensemen for Merrimack and Maine. The four of them would make a great penalty-killing unit.

LOU: Penalty-killing? You’re killing me!

BUD: Weren’t you watching the players while they were crashing and smashing and bashing? Knowing the players is half the fun. Lou, you really need to buy a program.

LOU: All I’m asking is that you just speak English!

BUD: I told you he redshirted.

LOU: Abboooott!!

BUD: Let me explain.

LOU: How noble!

BUD: Isn’t he a great goaltender?

LOU: Who?

BUD: Who’s on first. You were talking about Noble.

LOU: Noble, who?

BUD: Noble is in the nets. Who is on first. Please stick to hockey, Lou.

LOU: You’re doing it again! You’re trying to drive me crazy! Am I right?

BUD: Matt and Dennis. BU and UMass-Amherst.

LOU: There you go again!

BUD: Say, did you know that when Matt Wright enrolled at BU, he didn’t even expect to make the team? And he won a national championship! What a story. Gotta love the success of a walk-on.

LOU: Now what are you talking about? I thought we were talking about hockey.

BUD: We are, except when you bring up Who, the guy on first base.

LOU: So what’s this about a walk-on? I may be stupid, but I know that you skate in hockey. You don’t walk.

BUD: You don’t understand.

LOU: Nooo kidding!

BUD: Let me explain.

LOU: I don’t want to hear it! All I know is that Noble is in the nets. I don’t know if he’s acting noble there, but that’s where he is. And he isn’t speaking English because English is redshirting. Not greenshirting, or brownshirting, or whiteshirting. Because those are David, Craig, Tony, and Brian. Whatever that means! And maybe I’m wrong but I’m certainly not right because right is a walk-on named Matt even though he’s supposed to be skating.

BUD: Lou, you’re brilliant. That’s perfect.

LOU: I don’t even know what I said!

BUD: You said that…

LOU: Stop! I don’t want to hear another word! I’m one word away from going over the edge, Abbott, and it’s all because of you. There’s a punishment for guys like you. If I hear one more word out of you, I’m gonna cane you.

BUD: Goaltender. Providence. Mark Kane.

LOU: Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!

Note: UNH’s Brad English has not yet been officially designated a redshirt. He has, however, not played this year primarily due to knee problems and would seem an obvious redshirt candidate. Our mythical Abbott and Costello felt that technicalities should not get in the way of a good routine.

This Week in Hockey East: February 21, 1997

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Hockey East Preview: Feb. 21-22, 1997 by Dave Hendrickson

Boston University and New Hampshire made Hockey East a two-team race for the regular-season crown so long ago that fans might easily ignore two other teams that are playing very well down the stretch. In fact, since the Christmas break, Maine and Merrimack have supplanted the two powerhouses as the league’s hottest teams.

Maine 11-2-0 .846 Merrimack 7-3-0 .700 BU 6-2-3 .682 UNH 7-5-0 .583

Although the above doesn’t account for scheduling differences, there’s no dismissing the Lazarus act done by Maine and Merrimack, both of which looked dead in the water at the Christmas break.

Maine must consider this week’s three games against Boston University and UNH — the latter won by a 5-1 score — as its "playoffs." With the the denial of the Black Bears’ NCAA appeal, they have only those games and a finale against UMass-Amherst to close out their season.

Merrimack, on the other hand, now stands poised to earn its first playoff home ice since moving up to Division I. Coach Ron Anderson and his squad deserve admiration for not rolling over after a 3-11-1 start. They have rebounded with a vengeance, winning six out of their last seven. Considering the struggles that program has endured, fans of the underdog will have an obvious favorite come playoff time.

Hockey East Standings

Last week’s record in picks: 4-6 (ugh!) Season record in picks: 111-66

No. 4 Boston University (18-6-6, 14-2-4 HE) at Maine (21-10-1, 13-7-1 HE) Friday and Saturday, 7 p.m., Alfond Arena, Orono, ME

After hearing that its NCAA appeal had been denied, Maine showed no letdown, beating UMass-Amherst 6-4 and 8-1. The games prompted UMass coach Joe Mallen to say, "From what I saw on Saturday night, they played as well as BU or UNH have played during the course of the year."

Cory Larose earned Rookie of the Week honors with two goals and four assists on the weekend. He has recorded 10 goals and 24 assists in 31 games this season, tops among Hockey East rookies.

"He’s been terrific," said Maine coach Shawn Walsh. "He’s really made a case to be Rookie of the Year. [Not only did] he get six points, he did it when the game was on the line early in both games. He really was a dominant guy."

Another freshman, goaltender Alfie Michaud, has dramatically turned around his season. He has played in four straight games after previously sharing duties with Javier Gorriti, allowing only a single goal in the last two.

"We made a decision last week that we were going to go with Alfie," said Walsh. "Maybe not every game, but he’s certainly our number one guy. He showed this weekend that he’s ready for it. He wasn’t, earlier in the year, but he proved himself in January when he was Rookie of the Month. His confidence is up and he’s playing better."

The youngsters are playing well even though Walsh chose not to adopt a rebuilding philosophy in the absence of a post-season.

"I owe it to our players to try to win each game," he said. "Forget about the future. The future is going to happen by itself. Our players are developing fine. We’ve only had four seniors in the lineup in this stretch of being 13-3 since December 20th.

"I think what’s speeded up the development of our young players was [Jeff] Tory, [Brett] Clark, [Blair] Allison and [Tim] Lovell leaving. All of these young guys have gotten their ice time, guys like David Cullen. I think he’s coming into his own.

"These guys deserve to have fun and feel good about themselves. We certainly do right now. My number one priority is to see how we stack up against two truly great teams [UNH on Tuesday and BU on the weekend].

"It’s a great schedule, because we can actually consider this a national tournament week because the calibre of the opposing teams will be Final-Four calibre. You can’t ask for anything better. We’re just doing it three weeks ahead of time."

Maine opened its "national tournament week" with a 5-1 win over a UNH squad depleted by seven players suspended after a brawl with Providence. That win all but ensures that the Black Bears will finish third in Hockey East. They now look to continue that success against a BU team they beat 3-1 last month.

"BU has a style of play that is very predictable," said Walsh. "That’s because they’re well-coached. Jack does a good job of having them play his way and it’s a fairly obvious way. We’ve had success with them over the years, over an eight- or nine-year span, so we just have to play our game.

"I’m fully cognizant that they will probably play better than they played against us in January because they want revenge. So we’ll have to raise our level. I think it’ll come down to execution on both team’s parts.

"Anyone who loves college hockey will love this series."

BU coach Jack Parker poured cold water on Walsh’s "national tournament week" concept, hardly surprising given the strained relations between the two.

"Shawn says a lot of things," said Parker. "This is not the national championship, this is not a playoff game, it’s a regular-season game for both teams. It counts for one, it doesn’t count for the other. That’s all it is. It counts for us, so we’ll definitely be up. Whenever we play Maine we’re up for it."

This past weekend Parker watched his club open with a clear-cut 6-1 win over UMass-Lowell. Michel Larocque kept the Terriers in the game during a wide-open first period before BU seized control in the second and the third.

"Both goalies are playing great," said Parker after the win. "Noble played great in the Beanpot the other night. It’s almost like it’s one-upsmanship. One guy puts on a show and spins a three-hitter and the next guy tries to pitch a two-hitter. That position has been our most consistent all year long."

The fourth line of Bill Pierce, Brendan Walsh and Matt Wright continued its recent offensive contributions. The line scored the tying and winning goals in the Beanpot championship and then figured in three of the six goals on Friday night.

"They’re playing real well," said Parker. "They’re playing real smart. I’m very, very happy for those guys, all three of them. They’ve worked really hard all year. Billy Pierce has really been snakebitten. Brendan has had a great year. Matty has been up-and-down but has been playing great of late. To see them chip in with some goals and some nice plays is great. It’s very, very important to have that line going."

Parker then watched in dismay as the River Hawks came back to tie BU 5-5 on Saturday. In a telling moment, Parker referred to the tie as a loss, a Freudian slip if there ever was one.

"I thought we were a completely different team in a 24-hour span," Parker said. "We didn’t play nearly as focused or as hard. Lowell played much harder than us. I was very disappointed in our overall effort. Frankly, that hasn’t happened too many times this year. Maybe twice we haven’t shown up this year and that was one of them.

"[Tom Noble] wasn’t the reason we lost; I don’t think he played real sharp but he didn’t play horribly either. He wasn’t the problem. The problem was all six defensemen played horribly, unfocused and lackadaisical. We had about half of our forwards playing well and the other half out to lunch."

The Terriers now trail New Hampshire by two points in the standings, but hold two games in hand. With UNH inactive this weekend, this series gives BU the opportunity to cash in the extra games and move into first place.

"These games are two points in the league so they’re important to us," said Parker. "We’re playing a team that’s not going to be in our playoffs, so it’s not that important to them but they’re really important to us. We’re trying to stay abreast of, and [within] striking distance of UNH. Anyway you look at it, it’ll probably come down to the last weekend of the year."

PICK: BU 5-4 on Friday. Maine 4-2 on Saturday.

UMass-Lowell (13-17-1, 9-11-1 HE) vs. Providence (13-17-1, 10-10-1 HE) Friday, 7 p.m., Schneider Arena, Providence, RI Saturday, 7 p.m., Tully Forum, Lowell, MA NESN

Providence appeared on the verge of a major upset on Friday, leading third-ranked New Hampshire 4-2 going into the final period. But the Wildcats showed why they’ve earned the nickname

"The Detonators" by scoring seven, count ’em, seven goals to blow the game open.

"We just made a lot of mental mistakes," said PC coach Paul Pooley. "Three faceoff goals and two back-door goals on their power play. We made poor reads off two center-ice faceoffs and off an end-zone faceoff just didn’t pick our guy up. It was unfortunate. I thought we were playing very, very well up to that point."

Saturday night back at Schneider Arena, they took the lead and held it for a 3-2 win. "It was a game of inches," said Pooley. "We played very well. We got our sticks on a lot of passes and blocked a lot of shots that didn’t get to the net. Our [penalty-kill] was good…. Specialty teams were very big. We scored two power-play goals and killed off some key penalties down the stretch."

Dan Dennis returned after being supplanted by sophomore Mark Kane for the last four and a half games. "Danny really answered the bell," said Pooley. "Danny really played solid in his net and looked like he had that spark back again. That was good to see.

"It’s Senior Night here on Friday and you always want to start your senior [so he’ll play]. But I feel we have two goaltenders right now, Mark Kane and Dan Dennis, who both have the capabilities to play."

Overshadowing the game, however, was a postgame brawl that resulted in the suspensions of seven players from each team. The suspended Friars include Leigh Dean, Travis Dillabough, Josh MacNevin, Mike Mader, Mike Omicioli, Tom Sheehan and Nick Sinerate.

"It’s unfortunate that emotions ran over," said Pooley before the suspensions were announced. "A lot of animosity built up between the teams quickly. At the end of the game some things happened that maybe shouldn’t have happened. When you look back in hindsight, emotions got the best of everybody.

Some reports indicated that coach Umile and Pooley were none too happy with each other. "No, I don’t think that," said Pooley. "That gets blown out of proportion for the most part. We were out there trying to get our players back and away from everybody. We were obviously talking back and forth but it wasn’t anything personal. It was, ‘Hey, you take care of your players and I’ll take care of mine.’ That type of thing. Then it just erupted.

"It’s a negative thing and you don’t want to dwell on it. It’s not part of the game and its unfortunate that it happened. It’s going to hurt both of our teams. I gave [the league] a tape of what happened because I don’t want to hide anything. I want to come forward and just deal with this thing as up front as I can because it’s not going to go away."

The short-handed Friars will face Lowell on Friday at home. They will then welcome their suspended seven back for the final regular-season game to be played at Lowell’s Tully Forum. In taking on the River Hawks, they face a team that seemed headed south before grabbing a 5-5 tie with BU.

"They’re very resilient," Pooley said. "I think [the tie] was a real emotional boost for them. It’s a big weekend for us that’s going to [go a long way in deciding playoff positions.] It’s unfortunate that this thing last Saturday night could decide the outcome of the game.

"We feel we’re playing really well right now. Both goaltenders are playing well and our specialty teams are coming around and our lines are balanced. We’re playing hard and we’re excited no matter how many guys we’ll have. We’re not going to use that as an excuse.

"We feel we’re coming together. People have accepted their roles. We seem to be responding to the situations we’re put in, whether we’re checking or on the power play or on the PK. You have certain people you know you want to put out onto the ice in certain situations and that’s really comfortable. Early in the year I didn’t know that. People had not emerged. It’s good to know that we have certain people that can do certain things really well at this stage."

Lowell struggled in a 6-1 Friday night loss to BU at Tully Forum.

"Our guys are working hard and trying to generate more shots on net, which we’ve definitely done the last three games," said UML coach Tim Whitehead after the loss. "But that’s a tough team to spot a goal against and that’s what happened.

"We definitely wanted to come out and get a couple in the first and we had our chances — quality chances — but they didn’t fall for us. We just can’t let ourselves get frustrated because we’re getting the chances."

Lowell took advantage of those chances the following night, coming back with a surprising 5-5 tie at Walter Brown Arena. "Coming back" was the operative phrase, as the River Hawks overcame 2-0, 3-1, 4-2, and 5-4 deficits, continuing their 340-minute stretch without a lead.

"The guys showed a lot of composure and did a nice job going into BU’s rink," said Whitehead. "BU was obviously a team that was playing really well. We were playing well too, but weren’t getting any results for it. After losing the night before 6-1, coming out with a comeback tie like that was a big step for us [even though ties aren’t] exactly where we want to be at."

Senior tri-captain Neil Donovan was selected to play for Team USA in the World University All-Star Game against a Canadian university all-star squad. The game will be played April 4 at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

"He’s been a great leader on and off the ice," said Whitehead. "He leads by example on the ice. He’s a very hard worker. He’s always the first guy here at practice. He’s working on his game before we even get on the ice as a team. He sets a great example as a guy who plays well in the big games and gets some really big goals for us. Whenever we need a big play, he’s the guy who does it for us."

The River Hawks now go head-to-head with Providence. A sweep by either team would seem to give the victor home ice and the loser a seat on the bus to someone else’s rink.

"They’re a strong team and they’re playing really well," said Whitehead. "They’re a good defensive team so it’ll be a great challenge for our guys. We’re excited about it."

The back end of the series will mark the final regular season game played in the Tully Forum. The River Hawks will move to a new, on-campus facility next year. They will be honoring their 30-Year Anniversary Team as part of the final-game ceremonies.

PICK: PC’s seven absentees tilt the scales toward Lowell 5-3 in the opener. PC comes back to gain the split 4-3 in Lowell’s barn.

Merrimack (13-16-1, 9-10-1 HE) vs. Northeastern (7-21-2, 2-17-1 HE) Friday, 7 p.m., Matthews Arena, Boston, MA Saturday, 7 p.m., Volpe Center, North Andover, MA

Merrimack fans, as long-suffering a lot as there is in the league, have begun pinching themselves to make sure they’re not dreaming. With their red-hot team making a charge for home ice, they must wonder if they are like the person married and divorced nine times who is convinced that this time it really is true love. Will Cupid pull out his bow-and-arrow and shoot them in the butt one more time?

The arrows stayed in the quiver last week, when the Warriors swept Boston College in a pivotal series, 5-2 and a jaw-dropping 11-5. In the opener, the Warriors caught BC goalie Greg Taylor on a severe off-night and won despite being outshot 38-19. Taylor’s counterpart in the Warrior nets, Martin Legault, received his coach’s plaudits but won the netminding battle essentially by default.

"Our guy played very well on Friday night," said Merrimack coach Ron Anderson. "We came to play but BC played very well. I think our goaltender stole us a game."

Not in his wildest dreams could Anderson have expected the offensive explosion his team set off to win 11-5 the following night. Defenseman Darrel Scoville led the way with a first-period hat trick.

"It was a pleasant surprise for us, a team that doesn’t score a lot of goals," said Anderson. "They had a bad night, the kind of night we had on Friday, except that we survived Friday."

Anderson deflected talk about his team being one of the hottest in Hockey East. "I can’t say whether we’re the hottest team in the league or not because I’m not looking at anyone else. I’m looking at us, making sure that we’re playing our best hockey every night."

"A year ago, we turned this team over to [what is now our] senior and junior classes. We had some discussions at the end of last year and early this year about how this was their team. Now they’re really carrying the team."

Two-year captain Rob Beck stands front and center among the senior leaders. Last week Hockey East named him the Player of the Week after he scored three goals and added three assists over the weekend. The red-hot Beck now has six goals and 10 assists in his last six games.

Legault broke former All-American Jim Hrivnak’s school record for career saves on Saturday, and now totals 3,005. After splitting time early in the year with Eric Thibeault, he is shouldering most of the netminding duties these days.

The biggest surprise during the team’s resurgence has been Merrimack’s goal-scoring prowess. The Warriors averaged less than three goals per game over the first half, but have scored at a 5.86 clip in their last seven.

A key contributor has been the power play. Far and away the worst in the league prior to Christmas (around 10 percent), Merrimack’s man-advantage has climbed near a 25 percent success rate during 1997. Casey Kesselring has also grabbed the league’s longest scoring streak, picking up points in his last 13 games.

The Warriors now take on last-place Northeastern, which received a shot in the arm when Maine’s postseason appeal fell through. The odd man out if Maine had qualified, Northeastern will now have playoff life.

"We’ve been right where Northeastern is right now a lot of times," said Anderson. "[When you’re in that position] all of a sudden you focus on a three- or four-game season. So what’s happened to them over the course of the year… we’re not going to get decoyed by that.

"Our objective is to make sure we stay on top of our own game and play as well as we can play, and not look at anything behind us. After we discuss the past weekend and any problems we had, when we hit Tuesday we’re just looking at what’s coming up on Friday. We’re all right now as long as we don’t do something stupid mentally."

Northeastern hit rock bottom in a free-fall season, losing 2-1 to Army last weekend.

"Our inability to score goals really hurt us," said coach Bruce Crowder. "We put 41 shots on net and their kid stopped 40. Some of them were of the spectacular type and some were ‘let’s hit the "A" or "R" on the guy’s chest.’ It just wasn’t meant to be. I thought we got great goaltending from Robitaille to keep it close, but the guys just have a real inability to finish."

Northeastern’s new-found life in the Hockey East playoffs will likely prove short since it will be staring into either the BU or UNH howitzer.

"We’ve been given a little bit of life per se with the playoffs," said Crowder. "Anything can happen. It’s just that our scenario is that we’re going to have to play some pretty good games when we get into the playoffs to get past the first round.

"Obviously we haven’t fared very well against UNH this year. Even though the results against BU have been the same in terms of wins and losses, I think we played them a little tighter than we did against UNH, so I guess that means ‘Go Terriers!’ We’ll see what happens."

Of course, the playoffs are still a couple of weeks away, and the Huskies have the immediate misfortune to catch Merrimack at the worst possible time.

"Ronnie [Anderson] has got them going," said Crowder. "When we went to play them last time, Ronnie mentioned that they were having trouble scoring goals but that they were playing well. Obviously since then, they haven’t any trouble scoring goals against us or Providence or BC. Considering what he’s done, maybe I should go over and watch one of his practices.

"They’ve got good goaltending and are getting some timely goals. This is one of those weekends in the schedule where we’ve got to put some pucks away. We’ve scored only [seven goals in our last five games] and I don’t care who you play, you’re not going to win a lot of hockey games with that."

PICK: Merrimack rolls on, 5-2 and 6-2.

Boston College (11-17-3, 7-11-3 HE) vs. UMass-Amherst (12-19-0, 7-15-0 HE) Saturday, 7 p.m., Mullins Center, Amherst, MA

In the last month, BC has posted a 2-6-2 record, beating only UMass-Amherst and Northeastern, the bottom two teams in the league, and playing impressively against BU and gaining two ties, a loss and a lot of respect.

Nonetheless, the Eagles have played oft-undistinguished hockey in their other five losses. The enigmatic squad fell to new depths last weekend, getting swept 5-2 and 11-5 by Merrimack.

The Eagles exhibit the greatest dynamic range of any team in the league. Their peaks against BU show a highly-skilled team that isn’t far away from being a contender. Their valleys, however, against almost everyone else are baffling. Since the Merrimack series held the key to playoff home ice, BC’s double-dip causes much head scratching.

"I thought Friday night we played exceptionally well, limiting Merrimack to 19 shots on goal while we had 38 shots on them," said BC coach Jerry York. "I thought we controlled the tempo of the play and played very, very well. The score didn’t indicate how well we played. We missed some tremendous scoring opportunities and gave up some soft goals.

"I’m not blaming it all on Greg [Taylor]. Some of the soft goals were the result of miscues on defense. They just had very few chances. As a matter of fact, when we were trying to get back into it, it was 3-2 going into the third period and we had one save in the third period. We had two goals against and one save. We had the puck that whole period but Legault was exceptional. We created chances but couldn’t get any red lights.

"But Saturday night was all Merrimack. We played poorly in all facets of our game. They were extremely strong, so it was a complete role reversal for both teams. Generally you get a split in that type of weekend but that wasn’t the case. Now we have to look forward to three games left in our season.

"We started what we called our brand new training camp here on Monday. We started all over from scratch. Despite the fact that last Monday we played probably our best game of the year against BU [in the Beanpot final] and followed that Friday night with a tremendous effort against Merrimack, Saturday night’s loss just stays in our system because of how poorly we played.

"So we went back to Training Camp Phase II and really worked very hard this week in preparation for the final three games of the season. Hopefully, that will produce some solid results and some victories going into the playoffs."

The Eagles now take on a team in even worse straits. UMass-Amherst has lost seven of its last eight and seems a near certainty to finish next-to-last and face either BU or UNH in the playoffs.

"These are two struggling teams that are looking for something positive heading into playoffs," said York. "We’ll travel down the Pike this Saturday afternoon and look for a typical, hard-fought Hockey East game."

Last weekend UMass-Amherst hung with Maine only to lose 6-4 on Friday and then got whipped 8-1. Is Maine that good, or are the Minutemen playing that poorly?

"I think we ran into a real fired-up Maine team," said UMass-Amherst coach Joe Mallen. "They had the previous weekend off, they’d lost to Merrimack in overtime in their last game, and they had the announcement that they weren’t going to be allowed in the playoffs.

"They really deserve a lot of credit. They were down to their last few games and they played real well. Their special teams executed real well and from what I saw on Saturday night, they played as well as BU or UNH have played during the course of the year."

Mallen, like York, sees similarities in the two teams matched up on Saturday.

"At this point you’re looking at two teams that have lost some games in a row and are trying to get back on the winning side," he said. "The one thing that our team knows is that we’re playing in the playoffs no matter what.

"We’ve got two more games before we get there, so it’s up to us to make the improvement that can put us in a position to do something special in the playoffs. That’s what we’re pointing to now. That’s good team play, good systems play and good discipline on the ice."

PICK: Boston College wins 6-3.

Dave Hendrickson is the Hockey East Correspondent for U.S. College Hockey Online.

Copyright 1997 Dave Hendrickson . All Rights Reserved.

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This Week in the ECAC: February 21, 1997

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ECAC Preview: Feb. 21-22, 1997 by Jayson Moy

Twelve little Indians. One by one they fall. until now two are left.

When the ECAC weekend started, four teams were tied for first place. After all was said and done, only two remained — Clarkson and Cornell. The Big Red and the Golden Knights swept their weekend series, Princeton and Yale for Clarkson, and Harvard and Brown for Cornell.

RPI looked destined to keep pace with the two teams, but a late comeback by Vermont forced a tie, and now RPI sits one point behind the leaders while Vermont is three points back. This week’s battle between the leaders is Cornell at RPI on Saturday.

Meanwhile, a fight is brewing just three points behind the lead pack, with four teams separated by just two points. Princeton and Union have 20 points, Harvard and Colgate 18. There are some key matchups within this group, highlighted by Union-Colgate on Saturday night.

And yet another battle is underway among the four teams at the bottom of the league, with five points separating St. Lawrence in ninth and Brown in last. Dartmouth and Yale are 10th and 11th, respectively.

ECAC Standings

Pivotal games in this group this weekend include St. Lawrence playing Brown, and Yale against Dartmouth.

The jockeying continues this weekend, with nothing close to being settled.

Colgate (14-12-2, 8-8-2 ECAC, T-7th) and No. 10 Cornell (15-6-4, 12-4-2 ECAC, T-1st) at RPI (16-8-4, 11-4-3 ECAC, 3rd) Friday-Saturday, 7:30 p.m.-7 p.m., RPI Fieldhouse, Troy, N.Y.

No. 10 Cornell (15-6-4, 12-4-2 ECAC, T-1st) and Colgate (14-12-2, 8-8-2 ECAC, T-7th) at Union (16-10-2, 9-7-2 ECAC, T-5th) Friday-Saturday, 7:30 p.m.-7 p.m., Achilles Rink, Schenectady, N.Y.

Cornell remains in first place with a sweep of Harvard and Brown, 2-1 and 7-2, respectively. The Big Red have done it with both offense and defense.

They are the third-highest scoring team in the ECAC with 68 goals in 18 games, though only one member of the Big Red, Kyle Knopp (9-10–19), is among the ECAC scoring leaders. Knopp had four points (3-1) on the weekend and stretched his goal-scoring streak to six games. This means the Big Red are getting balanced scoring from all lines, and even from the defense.

In nets, the Big Red have two of the top six goaltenders in the ECAC. Jean-Marc Pelletier is third in GAA (2.36) and has a save percentage of .922. Jason Elliot, who won both games this weekend, has a GAA of 2.65 and a save percentage of .914.

Head coach Mike Schafer has mentioned that he likes one goaltender to carry the team through the stretch run and the playoffs. Perhaps Elliot’s two starts this weekend mean that Schafer has chosen him to bear the load.

Colgate’s first-period field goal was enough to keep Brown at bay, 10-7 on Friday, but the Red Raiders returned and dropped a 5-2 contest to Harvard on Saturday. Now, instead of putting points between themselves and Harvard, they are tied for seventh in the standings.

The man for the Red Raiders this weekend was Mike Harder. Harder had six points (2-4) and now stands just six behind Steve Smith in his quest for the all-time scoring mark at Colgate.

RPI came oh so close to keeping pace with the leaders in the ECAC, but a Vermont comeback to tie the game kept RPI one point behind the leaders. RPI won in overtime the night before, 5-4 against Dartmouth. The Engineers also lost a two-goal lead in the third period of that one before winning it in overtime on an Eric Healey goal.

"It goes to show that you’ve got to focus for 60 full minutes," said RPI coach Dan Fridgen. "Against a good hockey team, if you lose focus for 15-20 seconds, bad things happen.

"I told those guys that if you want to be a championship team, you have to focus for 60 minutes. Good teams keep coming, and if you give them an opportunity, they’ll get you. It’s all a learning experience for these guys."

Fridgen says the basics are important at this time of year. "We’ve got to keep the game simple. Just get the puck over the blue line."

There are two games this week, and that’s how the Engineers are looking at it.

"You have to put it in perspective," said sophomore right wing Matt Garver. "We have to come back and win two games next weekend."

"We’re not worried about what the other teams are doing at this point; we have to worry about what we do," said Fridgen. "All the other teams can win for that matter — it doesn’t really matter [since] we’re the ones that are in the race."

Union is also in the race, and in a big way. With two consecutive shutouts this weekend over Vermont and Dartmouth, Union has pulled into a tie for fifth place with Princeton. In goal for both 2-0 victories was Trevor Koenig, the ECAC Player of the Week for the second straight time. Koenig now has four shutouts, and leads the nation in save percentage and goals-against average.

Union’s two wins this weekend were a milestone in several ways. The win on Saturday clinched an ECAC playoff spot; also, they were the first consecutive shutouts for a Union squad since the 1938-39 season. It was also the 16th win for Union, their most in a season since they upgraded the program to Division I in 1991.

"I’m very pleased and happy for the players," said head coach Stan Moore after the Dartmouth game on Saturday night. "I’m very pleased that they can not only boast a playoff spot, but they can boast the career number of wins by a Union team. It’s an important milestone."

PICKS:

Cornell at Union: These teams battled to a tough 3-3 tie in Ithaca back in December. Expect no less when they get together this weekend. Neither team really opens it up, so it will be low-scoring and tight-checking. Playing at home gives Union an advantage. Union 2 Cornell 2

Colgate at RPI: These two teams also played a 3-3 tie back in December. Which Colgate team will show — the one that put up 10 goals against Brown, or the one that lost to Harvard? The Jekyll-and-Hyde persona of the Red Raiders has to be figured out. For its part, can RPI bounce back from a disappointing tie to Vermont? It has the offense. RPI 5 Colgate 2

Colgate at Union: Stan Moore sees his old team for the second time this season, with a quarterfinal-round bye possibly on the line. Both teams are certainly different now, and Union has it.Union 3 Colgate 1

Cornell at RPI: RPI played the perfect game the last time these two teams met, winning 4-2. Cornell is looking to exact revenge some on the Engineers. It will be a matter of stopping RPI’s offense. RPI 4 Cornell 2

Harvard (9-13-2, 8-8-2 ECAC, T-7th) and Brown (6-17-2, 3-14-1 ECAC, 12th) at No. 5 Clarkson (20-8-0, 13-5-0 ECAC, T-1st) Friday-Saturday, 7:30 p.m.-7 p.m., Cheel Arena, Potsdam, N.Y.

Brown (6-17-2, 3-14-1 ECAC, 12th) and Harvard (9-13-2, 8-8-2 ECAC, T-7th) at St. Lawrence (9-17-4, 4-10-4 ECAC, 9th) Friday-Saturday, 7:30 p.m.-7 p.m., Appleton Arena, Canton, N.Y.

Harvard had a good weekend despite losing one game. That loss, to Cornell, 2-1 on Friday night was a hard-fought battle defensively, right up the alley of Harvard. J.R. Prestifilippo was impressive again in goal, but did not get the offense he needed for the win.

The next night Harvard came back and Prestifilippo did get some scoring in a 5-2 win over Colgate. The Crimson need to keep the offense going in order to win games, though Prestifilippo is certainly keeping pucks out of the net.

Brown is fighting for its playoff life. After a shocker over Princeton, Brown lost to Colgate 10-7, and then 7-2 to Cornell. Brown’s big game this weekend will be against St. Lawrence. The Saints are in the same grouping with the Bears at the end of the ECAC standings, and Brown cannot afford to lose any more points.

The Bears are a combination of four points away from being eliminated from the playoffs, the combination occurring with Dartmouth.

Meanwhile, St. Lawrence earned two ties this weekend, and the points pushed the Saints past Dartmouth into ninth place in the standings. Two ties would often leave a coach unhappy, but not Joe Marsh.

"I’m not frustrated," said Marsh. "It would’ve been nice to hang on, but the way we’ve been going in the struggle for points, we have to take that one point and go with it. We took two points on the road the hard way, I guess, but I don’t care."

"[Ninth place is] where we’re at right now," said Marsh. "And I think in some cases we made our own bed. We’ve had a season that’s been rocky in a lot of areas.

"I was really pleased with the effort in both games [this weekend]…. That’s indicative of our season; we’re not quite finishing. We sustain some pressure for a while, then we’re prone to unforced turnovers. Nothing’s going real easy for us. But we’ll just keep working and plugging, and get into the playoffs, and hopefully we can get a second lease on life."

Clarkson remains in first place with a 2-1 overtime win over Princeton Friday, and a 2-0 shutout of Yale the next night.

"To come out with a win is a bonus, because we didn’t play our best hockey tonight," said head coach Mark Morris after the overtime thriller.

It was Hobey Baker candidate and ECAC Player of the Year favorite Todd White that came through for the Golden Knights.

"He’s the best all-around, two-way player in the country," said Morris on White. "He is. There’s no question in my mind. I’ve seen all the best players. And he’s a plus-25 right now.

"I compare him with a Brendan Morrison, a (Martin) St. Louis and (Eric) Perrin. He’s a better player at all facets of the game. He can play defense, he can play offense. He’s strong, he’s quick, and he does a lot of things well. And on top of that, he’s a 3.6 (GPA) academically. He does it all and it’s pretty impressive."

With just two losses in 1997, the Golden Knights are brimming with confidence as they head into the last two weekends.

"Confidence can do unbelievable things for individuals and teams, and it’s nice to know we’re headed in the right direction," said Morris.

PICKS:

Harvard at Clarkson: Harvard defeated Clarkson the last time out in December, 5-4. That was last time, though. Clarkson is red-hot, and full of confidence. Clarkson 6 Harvard 2

Brown at St. Lawrence: Brown is trying to avoid elimination from the playoffs, but it looks like it’s just a matter of time. The Saints — at home — make that time now. St. Lawrence 5 Brown 3

Brown at Clarkson: This game won’t mean a whole lot to the Bears, except in the pride category. They will put up a fight, but against a team going for first place, it’s not enough. Clarkson 7 Brown 3

Harvard at St. Lawrence: These two tied in December, 3-3. Can the Saints earn their first sweep of the year? Probably not. Harvard 4 St. Lawrence 3

Princeton (14-8-3, 9-7-2 ECAC, T-5th) and Yale (7-15-3, 4-12-2 ECAC, 11th) at Dartmouth (10-14-1, 5-12-1 ECAC, 10th) Friday-Saturday, 7:30 p.m.-5 p.m., Thompson Arena, Hanover, N.H.

Yale (7-15-3, 4-12-2 ECAC, 11th) and Princeton (14-8-3, 9-7-2 ECAC, T-5th) at No. 8 Vermont (18-7-3, 10-5-3 ECAC, 4th) Friday-Saturday, 7:30 p.m.-7 p.m., Gutterson Fieldhouse, Burlington, Vt.

Princeton has had a tough go at it since returning from its break. The Tigers lost senior Mike Bois, the best defensive forward on the team, to academic ineligibility. The Tigers have also last three of their last five ECAC games. In the meantime, Princeton has fallen from first place to a tie for fifth.

The latest ECAC weekend saw Princeton lose to Clarkson with 11 seconds left in overtime, and tie St. Lawrence on Saturday.

"I believe wholeheartedly that (the recent losses are) not through lack of effort," said Princeton coach Don Cahoon. "The first period was OK (against St. Lawrence), the second period was deplorable and the third period we got on them."

Through it all, Cahoon thinks that only good things lie ahead for his Tigers.

"We struggled at Cornell, last night was tough, and we struggled at Brown," Cahoon said after Saturday’s tie. "There was definitely some concern about being in the blahs, and I think we’re out of the blahs now. Now it’s a question of whether we can package a couple of good games to be able to get back in the hunt."

Yale is another team fighting for a playoff chance. The Elis are currently in 11th place, but are only one point behind Dartmouth and two behind St. Lawrence. That, of course, makes the Bulldogs’ game with Dartmouth an important one.

In order for the Bulldogs to get into the playoffs, they must score. Yale is now the lowest-scoring team in the ECAC after getting just four goals on the weekend. Yale’s top three scorers, Keith McCullough, John Chyz and Jeff Hamilton, have only scored nine, nine and two points respectively since the start of 1997. Not one single Bulldog is averaging over a point a game.

Dartmouth lost a place in the standings when the Big Green were swept by RPI and Union. Friday’s loss to RPI was extremely disappointing, as it came in overtime after the Big Green overcame a two-goal deficit in the third period.

"I thought the guys did a great job battling back to get it tied at 4-4," said head coach Roger Demment. "It’s a shame it had to end like that.

"It’s extremely frustrating, and we’re fighting for points for a playoff spot. I thought we matched up well against them. We battled back, and to give up a goal (in overtime) is pretty tough."

The last time Dartmouth faced Yale and Princeton, it was swept, 5-4 and 4-2, respectively. The game against Yale is one that looms large.

Vermont suffered the biggest fall of the four teams tied for first this weekend — shut out by Union and forced to battle back to tie RPI.

"I think we had a few things bouncing for us at the end of the game," said Vermont coach Mike Gilligan after the RPI game. "The puck hasn’t bounced for us the last couple of nights, but it started to in the last four minutes. We were very fortunate to come out of here (RPI) with a point.

"It was a real important point. It’s something I give the kids a lot of credit for hanging in there and getting it."

Gilligan hopes that things can carry over to this coming weekend, especially in the scoring department. "We were shooting at legs, sticks, and bodies," he said. "We have to convert, and we started to convert."

PICKS:

Princeton at Dartmouth: Princeton won the first matchup, 4-2. It looks like Princeton has gotten things together. Dartmouth also had things together, but could not get a point this past weekend. Princeton 4 Dartmouth 3

Yale at Vermont: Vermont will enjoy the game at home. Yale is young and fighting for a playoff spot, while Vermont will get scoring from the French Connection this weekend. Vermont 6 Yale 2

Yale at Dartmouth: The winner of this game has the upper edge on the last playoff position. At home, Dartmouth will hold a slight edge, and its offense increases that margin. Dartmouth 5 Yale 4

Princeton at Vermont: Vermont won a close one back at the beginning of January, 3-2. This is the last regular-season home game for the French Connection and Tim Thomas; for Princeton, that means tough luck. Vermont 3 Princeton 2

It’s here, ladies and gentlemen. The final weekend of the regular season is coming up, and it’s highlighted by a matchup between two potential first-place teams, Clarkson and Cornell.

The last weekend of the regular season:

Friday, February 28: Clarkson at Cornell St. Lawrence at Colgate RPI at Yale Union at Princeton Vermont at Brown Dartmouth at Harvard

Saturday, March 1: Clarkson at Colgate St. Lawrence at Cornell RPI at Princeton Union at Yale Vermont at Harvard Dartmouth at Brown

Thanks to Adam Wodon for help on this article.

Jayson Moy is the ECAC Correspondent for US College Hockey Online.

Copyright 1997 Jayson Moy . All Rights Reserved.

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This Week in the WCHA: February 21, 1997

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WCHA Preview: Feb. 21-22, 1997 by Scott Brown

Despite a split against Northern Michigan, the North Dakota Fighting Sioux edged ever closer to the MacNaughton Cup last weekend. Although the Sioux managed only two points on the road, their competitors fared no better: Minnesota split a home series with Minnesota-Duluth, and Denver and Colorado College each won one game of a home-and-home series. Among the contenders, only St. Cloud, which took four points at home from Wisconsin, managed to gain ground on UND.

Farther down the standings, Michigan Tech moved out of the basement for the first time in recent memory, sweeping Alaska-Anchorage in Houghton. Northern gained the aforementioned split with the conference leaders, but dropped into last place anyway.

WCHA Standings

Meanwhile, the battle for home ice rages unabated. Second-place Minnesota, with 36 points, and third-place St. Cloud, with 35, seem good bets to finish in the top five, but Colorado College, Wisconsin, Denver and Minnesota-Duluth are all still in the hunt.

In particular, Minnesota plays at CC this weekend, Denver visits Wisconsin and St. Cloud heads to Duluth in three series which will have considerable impact on the arrangement of the standings. Rounding out the schedule are UAA’s visit to Grand Forks to play North Dakota, and Michigan Tech versus Northern Michigan in a home-and-home between in-state rivals.

This week’s games:

No. 7 Minnesota (21-11-0, 18-10-0 WCHA) at Colorado College (18-12-2, 16-10-2 WCHA) Friday-Saturday, 7:35 p.m. MT, AFA Cadet Ice Arena, Colorado Springs, CO

This one is probably the biggest series in the WCHA this week. Minnesota, despite blowing a chance to get within one point of North Dakota last weekend, is still in contention for the title, while Colorado College, five points behind the leaders, is gunning mainly for home ice.

The Gophers were blown out on their home ice last Friday, dropping an 8-4 decision to Minnesota-Duluth. In that game, a five-goal Duluth second period erased what had been a 3-1 Minnesota lead. The loss kept the Gophers from gaining ground on first-place North Dakota, which had been beaten earlier in the evening by Northern Michigan.

Minnesota’s team effort did not sit well with many players, some of whom referred to the result as an embarrassment.

But Minnesota did come back to post the split. The Gophers won the recap going away, by a final score of 7-1. Minnesota goalie Steve DeBus (18-10-0, 3.23 GAA, .888 SV%), who made 20 saves, came within two minutes of his first shutout of the season before Brad Federenko got on the board for UMD.

The Saturday win, which kept the Gophers in sole possession of second place in the conference, was head coach Doug Woog’s 350th. Ryan Kraft totaled a career-high five points (1-4) in the win, and now has 5-7–12 in his last four games. Kraft leads the Gophers in goals (19), and is second in points (36).

In the meantime, Dave Spehar (14-17–31) scored three goals on the weekend (two in Saturday’s win) and was named WCHA Rookie of the Week for the first time.

Of even greater note was the performance of Minnesota’s special teams: on Saturday, the Gophers enjoyed an astonishing fifteen power plays, and converted five, both season highs. Simultaneously, the Gopher penalty-kill held UMD to an 0-for-5 performance on power plays.

Colorado College is coming off a home-and-home with traditional rival Denver. The Tigers split, 4-3 and 1-6, which means that it’s been 60 series since they lost a sweep.

CC’s impressive offense is headed up by WCHA scoring leader Brian Swanson (14-30–44), who has 20 points in his last 13 games despite being held to two assists on the weekend. Stewart Bodtker (14-17–31) missed Saturday’s contest thanks to a DQ the previous night — one assessed with only seconds to go in the game. He should be well-rested for Minnesota.

Scott Swanson (3-13–16), who has had a tough time generating offense this season, assisted on two scores Friday. Rookie of the Year candidate Toby Peterson (10-15–25) scored the game-tying goal.

Head coach Don Lucia went to Jason Cugnet (5-2-1, 3.24 GAA, .868 SV%) for netminding duties Friday, and was rewarded with a 4-3 victory. Number-one goaltender Judd Lambert (13-10-1, 3.40 GAA, .878 SV%), however, allowed six goals on 36 shots in the loss on Saturday.

Picks: Although Minnesota would love four points on the road, it ain’t likely to happen. Make it 61 straight for the Tigers. CC 4-2, UM 5-3

St. Cloud (19-10-3, 16-9-3 WCHA) at Minnesota-Duluth (17-13-2, 14-12-2 WCHA) Friday-Saturday, 7:05 p.m. CT, DECC, Duluth, MN

St. Cloud was the big winner last weekend, moving into third place in the WCHA via its sweep of the Badgers.

Mark Parrish (18-13–31) earned his Offensive Player of the Week award, scored four goals and assisting on another. But he got plenty of help from Dave Paradise (19-15–34), whose three goals included both game-winners, and defenseman Randy Best (5-10–15), with a goal and two assists. Saturday’s win also featured the first goal of defenseman Geno Parrish’s (1-8–9) collegiate career.

Brian Leitza (13-5-0, 3.29 GAA, .884 SV% WCHA) played both games in net for the Huskies, making 47 saves for the two-game series. Leitza has been the primary goaltender down the stretch for SCSU, after splitting time most of the season with Tim Lideen (3-4-3, 3.07 GAA, .905 SV% WCHA).

The Huskies are 4-1-0 in their last five, and have not been swept during the 1996-97 season. They should face a stout test in Duluth, where UMD is 12-6-0 this season, versus only 5-7-2 on the road.

The friendly confines of the Duluth Entertainment and Convocation Center are home to a team that looked to be on its way out of contention a few weeks ago. First, the Bulldogs were swept in their own building by a charging Wisconsin team; then, the very next weekend, UMD granted Michigan Tech its first win in nearly three months, and followed that up with a tie for a one-point weekend in Houghton.

But the Bulldogs showed there’s no quit in them, bouncing back to sweep Denver and split a series with Minnesota at Mariucci Arena. Friday’s game against the Gophers cemented the UMD surge, as the Bulldogs used a five-goal second period to ice the victory.

In that game, UMD got consecutive goals by leading scorer Mike Peluso (18-17–35); freshman goaltender and Rookie of the Year candidate Brant Nicklin (17-12-2, 3.13 GAA, .900 SV%) turned in a 32-save performance against a pressing Gopher squad. Nicklin is on the verge of becoming the first Bulldog goaltender in 30 years to play every single minute of the WCHA season.

The next night, the Gophers turned the tables despite 39 saves from Nicklin (who did allow seven goals in the process). Only Brad Federenko’s (9-10–19) late goal prevented the shutout.

Picks: As mentioned above, the ‘Dogs are tough at home, and a sweep isn’t out of the question, especially since this could be the last home series for UMD. But St. Cloud’s probably too strong to let that happen. SCSU 4-3, UMD 6-3

Alaska-Anchorage (9-18-3, 7-18-3 WCHA) at No. 2 North Dakota (22-8-2, 19-8-1 WCHA) Friday-Saturday, 8:35 p.m. CT, Engelstad Arena, Grand Forks, ND

The Seawolves of Alaska-Anchorage finish up the season the hard way, traveling to North Dakota before coming home to wrap up the regular season against Colorado College.

UAA looked for much of the season to be a half-step better than its brethren — Michigan Tech and Northern Michigan — at the bottom of the WCHA; but after a 1-5-1 stretch which culminated in a road sweep by Tech last weekend, one that moved MTU out of the cellar and pulled UAA back toward it.

Friday’s loss was especially difficult to stomach, as Anchorage lost a 3-2 lead with nine seconds left in regulation and went on to lose in overtime. UAA also lost the recap, 5-3, with goaltender Doug Teskey (7-12-3, 3.27 GAA, .891 SV%) making a total of only 31 saves in the two games combined — that’s a .775 save percentage for the weekend.

The Seawolves, by the way, are winless (0-4-3) in OT this season.

The only piece of good news for the team last week came out of Detroit: senior center David Vallieres (7-18–25 WCHA) was selected to play for Team USA in the inaugural World University Games, to be played at the Joe Louis Arena in April.

Conversely, fans in North Dakota are getting closer and closer to being able to celebrate a WCHA regular-season title and the resulting NCAA tournament berth. The Fighting Sioux are now in a commanding position to claim the title — a three-point lead with only four games to play. In addition, the Sioux became the first team to clinch home-ice, with Saturday’s 5-3 win over Northern Michigan.

That game was critical for UND, which feared the consequences of being swept in what is still an open race to the MacNaughton Cup.

"We thought if we lost [Saturday’s] game, we’d probably lose first place, and we could lose the league title," said Kevin Hoogsteen in Tuesday’s Minneapolis Star Tribune.

But the Sioux didn’t lose, despite spotting the Wildcats a 2-0 lead through two periods; the UND snipers came through again late in the game, scoring five goals in the last 20 minutes to win. Sophomore Jesse Bull (11-6–17) was vital to the comeback, notching his first two-goal game with the first two Sioux tallies. Ian Kallay (16-20–36) had two goals as well, including the game-winner.

Going into this weekend, the Sioux’ confidence level might be further enhanced by a little history: although the all-time series between UND and UAA is fairly even (12-9-0 in favor of the Sioux), North Dakota has never lost to the Seawolves in Grand Forks.

Picks: Much as in the UM-CC series above, there’s a trend to consider here. Can Anchorage win its first game at North Dakota now? Probably not. UND 4-1, 5-2

Michigan Tech (8-21-4, 5-19-4 WCHA) at Northern Michigan (10-22-2, 6-21-1 WCHA) Friday, 7:05 p.m. ET, Lakeview Arena, Marquette, MI Saturday, 7:05 p.m. ET, MacInnes Student Ice Arena, Houghton, MI

Michigan Tech is riding high this week, the product of its weekend sweep of Alaska-Anchorage, a performance that lifted the Huskies out of last place for the first time in some time.

Andre Savage (14-14–28 WCHA) was the hero in Friday night’s OT win, scoring both the game-tying goal (a six-on-five with an empty net behind him) and the game-winner (just 29 seconds into overtime, on the first shot on goal for either team). Savage was quiet the next night, but his teammates didn’t need his help; Bret Meyers scored his seventh and eighth goals of the season to lead the way.

In net, Luciano Caravaggio (5-9-4, 3.36 GAA, .904 SV% WCHA) didn’t get a lot of work, facing only 43 shots on the weekend, including a bare 13 on Friday — none of which came after the second period. Caravaggio can undoubtedly use the rest: coming into the weekend, he was among the WCHA leaders in saves per minute of play.

The Wildcats should also be pleased with the results of their weekend, as they managed a split with the conference-leading Fighting Sioux. Friday’s 2-1 victory earned goaltender Dieter Kochan the Defensive Player of the Week award, despite the fact that he was held out of Saturday’s game with a knee sprain.

Kochan made 37 saves in the game, including 16 in the third period, and had a shutout spoiled at 19:59 of the third period, seconds after Aaron Cain scored an empty-net goal to secure the victory.

Northern is led on offense by its freshmen: Bud Smith (9-15–24) leads the team in points; Marquette native Roger Trudeau (10-5–15) is tops among the Wildcats in goals; Tyson Holly (9-3–12) scored the first goal on Friday; and J.P. Vigier (8-9–17) rounds out the rookie class of snipers despite missing the last five games with an ankle sprain.

Denver (17-11-4, 13-11-4 WCHA) at Wisconsin (15-15-2, 15-11-2 WCHA) Friday-Saturday, 7:05 p.m. CT, Dane County Coliseum, Madison, WI

This series could go a long way toward deciding home ice in the first round of the playoffs. Both the Pioneers and the Badgers are on the bubble right now — Wisconsin holds down a tenuous fifth, and Denver is just two points behind them, tied with Minnesota-Duluth for sixth.

It’s unfortunate for the Pioneers that they have to play this series on the road, since they have a current 11-game unbeaten streak (8-0-3) in Denver. That streak was preserved last Saturday against Colorado College, a 6-1 thrashing of the Tigers in the second game of their home-and-home twin bill. That victory broke a less-welcome streak the Pioneers had built — six consecutive losses against their in-state rivals.

Eight different Pioneers scored the nine Denver goals against CC last weekend, with Gavin Morgan, who scored his fifth of the season on Friday and his sixth the next evening, the only repeater. In goal, the tandem of Jim Mullin (6-6-4, 2.96 GAA, .889 SV% WCHA) and Stephen Wagner (7-5-0, 3.10 GAA, .896 SV% WCHA) performed credibly, though Mullin took the loss on Friday, allowing four goals on 29 shots. The duo are currently one-two in WCHA goals-against average.

In contrast to their home record of success, the Pioneers are only 6-9-1 on the road this year, including a 1-4-0 record in their last five. That’s just fine with the Badgers, who host Denver this weekend. Wisconsin was swept out of the National Hockey Center last week, losing a 5-4 battle on Friday before being blown out, 7-1 on Saturday.

There wasn’t much for Jeff Sauer’s bunch to cheer about after those games. The defeat in the opener was Wisconsin’s first loss to a WCHA foe on Friday all season (11-1-1), although Brad Englehart (16-16–32) managed a goal and an assist.

On Saturday, all-time Badger saves leader Kirk Daubenspeck (13-13-2, 3.91 GAA, .883 SV%) suffered the ignominy of being pulled midway through the second period, after allowing a shorthanded goal to make the score 7-0. Daubenspeck’s replacement, Mike Valley, had better luck, with nine saves on nine shots over the final 30:10.

The lone Badger goal on Saturday came courtesy of Joe Bianchi (15-16–31), whose unassisted tally gives him 11 points in his last eight games. Freshman Dustin Kuk (7-17–24), who scored Friday, is tied for the WCHA rookie lead in assists (with Minnesota’s Dave Spehar).

Next week’s action, listed below, is the final week of WCHA regular-season play. After that, fans can look forward to U.S. College Hockey Online coverage of the WCHA first round, and reports from the Final Five at the St. Paul Civic Center.

Friday, Feb. 28 Colorado College at Alaska-Anchorage North Dakota at Denver Wisconsin at Minnesota (at Target Center) Minnesota-Duluth at Northern Michigan Michigan Tech at St. Cloud

Saturday, March 1 Colorado College at Alaska-Anchorage North Dakota at Denver Wisconsin at Minnesota Minnesota-Duluth at Northern Michigan Michigan Tech at St. Cloud — End regular season —

Scott Brown is Features Editor for U.S. College Hockey Online.

Copyright 1997 Scott Brown. All Rights Reserved.

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This Week in the CCHA: February 21, 1997

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CCHA PREVIEW: Feb. 21-23, 1997 CCHA Preview: Feb. 21-23, 1997 by Paula C. Weston

With just two weeks of regular-season hockey left in the CCHA, several teams are scrambling to make the playoffs. Others are working for NCAA recognition.

The No. 1 Michigan Wolverines held firm to first place last week, beating the Notre Dame Fighting Irish to sweep that season series. This weekend — the last weekend of regular-season play for Michigan’s core of amazing seniors — finds the Wolverines hosting Lake Superior, a team tied for second in the CCHA with Miami.

Last weekend, the Lakers beat Ferris State on Friday, but allowed Michigan State to gain some ground, losing to the Spartans on Saturday. Lake Superior and Miami each have 33 points, and it’s highly unlikely that either team will catch Michigan before the regular season ends.

Miami had a great weekend north of the border, beating both Ferris State and Michigan State. Miami will host its next four games, beginning with a Mid-American Conference rivalry game against Bowling Green on Friday night. Miami then hosts the rubber match of its series with the Spartans on Saturday.

The fourth-place Spartans finish their swing through Ohio with another series-deciding game. This one will be against the Buckeyes; last weekend, the Spartans lost to Miami, and beat Lake Superior.

Fifth-place Bowling Green is coming off a conference win and a non-conference loss. The Falcons beat Western Michigan at home, and lost on the road to the Buckeyes. The Falcons are on the road, but in their home state this weekend — playing Miami on Friday, and Ohio State on Saturday.

Western Michigan lost two conference games last weekend, to Ohio State and Bowling Green. The Broncos had been on quite a tear before the losses. They’ll try to recapture that momentum this weekend in a home-and-home series against Notre Dame.

Ohio State has moved into seventh place, at least for the moment. The Buckeyes surprised Western Michigan, then beat Bowling Green in a non-conference game, both at home. Ohio State will try to extend its four-game win streak when it hosts Bowling Green on Saturday, and Michigan State on Sunday.

Eighth-place Ferris State travels to ninth-place Alaska-Fairbanks to battle for the eighth and final CCHA playoff spot. These three games are the last for either team in the regular season. Ferris lost last weekend to two of the top teams in the conference, Lake Superior and Miami. Alaska-Fairbanks beat Division III leader St. Norbert in two games at home.

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are in last place in the CCHA, after losing two games to Michigan last weekend. The Irish want to make the games against Western count this weekend, since they’ll have just one game remaining after this series.

Last week’s record in picks: 7-4 Overall record in picks: 87-62

Lake Superior (19-11-4, 15-7-3 CCHA) at No. 1 Michigan (28-2-3, 19-2-2 CCHA) Friday and Saturday, 7 p.m., Yost Ice Arena, Ann Arbor, MI

These two games will be emotionally charged for both teams — they are the last games Lake Superior will play in the regular season, and the last games the Wolverine seniors will play during the regular season at Yost. Expect tears, and lots of them.

But no one should cry about the matchup itself. Lake Superior at Yost — what a way to end a season!

"When the Lakers go to Yost," says Laker head coach Scott Borek, "the crowd noise is not twice as bad, but it’s at least one and half times as bad as it usually is. What a great test for our team. We’re playing the team most people consider the odds-on favorite in the country to repeat for an NCAA title."

Although the Lakers would like the points, Borek says there’s little pressure on his players. They know they have home ice for the playoffs, they know they can’t catch Michigan, so all they have to do is go to Yost to play their best hockey.

"No matter what we do, Miami and Michigan State can pass us. The pressure’s off us. With only two games left, you can focus on these guys [Michigan] totally. You don’t have to worry about anyone else."

Michigan head coach Red Berenson expects tough games against the Lakers this weekend. The Lakers and the Wolverines have met twice before this season, and both decisions went to Michigan: once for the Great Lakes Invitational title, and then a three-goal victory in a conference game at Joe Louis earlier this month.

"We’ve had good games against them," says Berenson. "I can’t say that we’ve handled them easily. We’ve scored timely goals in close games. It’s important to them to look good at the end of the year."

Berenson says his team is not invulnerable, in spite of only two losses and two ties this season. "We expect this will be a good test for us. We’re like any other team. If we don’t work hard and play together, we don’t play well. We really need our role players to play well as well as our talented players."

Berenson says that most people think of only those graduating seniors and star players when they think of the Wolverines, but if the other players on the team don’t play well, Michigan can — dare we say it? — lose.

"You know the opposition is going to give you that second effort against Michigan," says Berenson, "so you’d better give the second effort [too]."

Michigan is more than a team of talented seniors. Don’t forget junior goaltender Marty Turco, who has logged 1,239 league minutes in the net for the Wolverines while maintaining an astonishing 2.42 goals-against average.

Only a couple of other CCHA goaltenders have matched the time Turco has spent in the net this season, and one of them plays for Lake Superior. Laker John Grahame has 1,478 league minutes, and his GAA is 3.33.

The emotion of Lake Superior’s last regular-season games and the last regular-season home games Michigan’s seniors will play, combined with some veteran CCHA goaltending, should make for great games this weekend in Yost.

PICKS: Michigan 3-2, 4-2

Ferris State (11-21-2, 7-16-1 CCHA) at Alaska-Fairbanks (12-20-0, 6-18-0 CCHA) Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 6 p.m., Carlson Center, Fairbanks, AK

If you want drama on ice, forget the Ice Capades — this is the real thing. These are the final three regular-season games for both of these teams, and they’re potentially the final three games of the season for each of the these teams. As unlikely as it may be, both teams could miss the playoffs. Both really, really need these points.

The Nanooks are hot right now, having won six of their last seven games. Unfortunately, only one of those was a conference game. The momentum they’ve gained, however, could carry them through this weekend.

The Nanooks will be bolstered by the welcome homecoming of injured player Erik Drygas. As most hockey fans know, Drygas injured his spine during a practice before the beginning of the season, and has spent the last few months in therapy in Colorado. Drygas, a Fairbanks native, will be present at the Ferris series, and there will be a special presentation to him between the second and third periods of the first game against the Bulldogs.

Drygas’ presence alone will lift Nanook spirits.

The Nanooks are getting some nice goaltending from freshman Chris Marvel. Marvel played inconsistently at the start of the season, but has lowered his GAA to 3.87. His save percentage is .871.

The Bulldogs, for their part, don’t know yet which goaltender will get the start Friday. "They’re goaltending has been good lately," says Ferris State assistant coach Drew Famulak. "Our goaltending has been inconsistent. [Jeff] Blashill played well early. [Mike] Szkodzinski played well in the middle. We don’t know who we’ll go with."

Famulak acknowledges that the Bulldogs’ season comes down to this weekend. "Both teams will be battling for the playoffs. Right now we are in the playoffs. Fairbanks could change that for us this weekend."

The Nanooks have 12 points, the Bulldogs 15. Nothing is decided yet. A sweep by either team could mean more than just a playoff spot — it could mean a finish higher than eighth place, and a first round against someone other than Michigan.

"Right now Fairbanks is full of confidence," says Famulak. Ferris State is coming off a two-loss weekend. "We need to concentrate on playing good, solid hockey and creating more scoring opportunities."

Ferris State may be a little overwhelmed by UAF’s Olympic-size ice sheet.

PICKS: UAF 4-2 Friday, Ferris 4-2 Saturday, UAF 5-3 Sunday

Western Michigan (13-14-4, 9-10-4 CCHA) vs. Notre Dame (8-23-1, 5-18-1 CCHA) Friday, 7 p.m., Joyce ACC, South Bend, IN Saturday, 7 p.m., Lawson Arena, Big Rapids, MI

These are two teams that need to rebound. After going 4-2-2 in their games previous to last weekend, the Broncos dropped two league games while traveling through Ohio. They will make the playoffs, but where they finish and who they play may be determined by the games this weekend.

The Irish, on the other hand, are trying to break an eight-game losing streak. With just 11 points and three games left, Notre Dame will have a hard time making the playoffs.

"We’re hanging in, just," says Irish head coach Dave Poulin. "We still have a hope, but we need some help."

The Irish own the series against their closest competitor in the standings, Alaska-Fairbanks. But both Ferris State and Ohio State have the edge in their respective series against the Irish, so it’s going to take more than Notre Dame victories to give the Irish a playoff berth.

Notre Dame had the chance to put some distance between themselves and the Buckeyes in a more positive way two weeks ago. Instead, as Poulin puts it, "We put them on a roll.

"It was very disappointing that weekend [against Ohio State]. We just didn’t respond — flat-out didn’t respond. It was the most pressure we’ve experienced since I’ve come here. You can get away with a couple of people not responding, but when the whole team lacks response, you lose."

The Irish lost two to Michigan last weekend, but Poulin says that his team rebounded from the losses against the Buckeyes to play the Wolverines well in Yost.

Michigan head coach Red Berenson agrees. "Those are games we were expected to win, but we had to work hard to score against [Irish goaltender] Eisler on Friday. He was outstanding. The Irish put themselves in a tough position. They’re a team that’s up-and-coming."

But maybe not this season. Poulin admits that he and his team have a lot to learn, and experience may be the key to this weekend’s games. Western is a team that is more used to winning than is Notre Dame, and they’ve done so more recently.

Just one point behind Bowling Green, Western Michigan has almost as much to gain as the Irish do in this series. Home ice is out of the question at this point, but playoff position can be key. Although who finishes where hasn’t yet been decided, you can bet that Western would rather play the fourth-place team than the third-place team.

PICKS: Western Michigan 4-3, 4-3

Bowling Green (15-14-3, 10-11-3 CCHA) at No. 6 Miami (22-9-1, 16-6-1 CCHA) Friday, 7 p.m., Goggin Arena, Bowling Green, OH

This in-state rivalry pits two schools whose other teams compete in the Mid-American Conference. According to Miami head coach Mark Mazzoleni, that revs up an already exciting matchup.

"With Bowling Green," says Mazzoleni, "because we’re MAC schools, our fans get into it. Also, since I’ve come here, they’ve been a very good team. They’ve been a team we’ve been chasing."

The roles are reversed this season for Miami and Bowling Green. BGSU, picked as high as eighth nationally in preseason polls, has been plagued with injuries and inconsistencies. Miami, picked to finish no higher than sixth in the CCHA in preseason polls, has been a team to chase this season.

Miami won two road games last weekend, one against Ferris State, and one against Michigan State. Miami broke a four-game losing streak with a road tie against Bowling Green; since that game, Miami has won three straight.

Since that tie with Miami, Bowling Green has been 2-3-1. The Falcons have been up and down and back and forth all season. If it hasn’t been the injuries, it’s been the goaltending. If it hasn’t been the goaltending, it’s been lack of leadership. At this point, Bowling Green is no longer playing for home ice, and the Falcons are likely no longer playing for NCAA recognition.

Miami has the distinct advantage of playing at home after two road wins. Bowling Green lost a non-conference game to Ohio State last weekend after soundly beating Western Michigan at home.

Also, Miami is playing like a team. For many reasons, especially injuries, the Falcons haven’t resembled one of those much this season. Throw in Miami’s ability to score "opportunistic" goals and its superior goaltending, and it’s tough to pick against them.

PICK: Miami 3-1

No. 9 Michigan State (18-10-3, 14-6-3 CCHA) at No. 6 Miami (22-9-1, 16-6-1 CCHA) Saturday, 7 p.m., Goggin Arena, Oxford, OH

The most recent meeting between these two teams was just last weekend in Munn, and Michigan State head coach Ron Mason was not too pleased with the outcome.

"Miami played well," says Mason. "They had some opportunistic goals." But, added the Spartan chief, "I didn’t feel too good about the game." The final score was 2-1, and Miami held the Spartans scoreless until 13:49 of the third period.

Miami head coach Mark Mazzoleni says he’s certain that the Spartans will be motivated when they come to Oxford Saturday night. "The guy [Mason] hasn’t won 800 games for nothing."

Mason says he knows something of what to expect when his team plays the rubber game of this series. "Miami will continue with their same style — good checking, and their goaltender comes up with big saves.

"They’ll probably play a little better than they did here," says Mason, in his typically-understated way. "And they played O.K. here."

Both teams have secured home ice during the playoffs, but each team want to play well for NCAA recognition. "Right now we’re motivated to win as many games as we can," says Mason. "We’re right on the NCAA bubble."

Mazzoleni says, "We went into the stretch with six games, and we haven’t put any more emphasis on any one game. We’re a team that’s not good enough to look ahead at any games beyond the one we’re playing next."

Miami plays Friday night. This game is Michigan State’s first game of the weekend. Revenge is an ugly word to use in college hockey, but the thought has probably crossed a Spartan mind or two. Both teams will be motivated by nearly identical reasons. What a game.

PICK: Miami 3-2

Bowling Green (15-14-3, 10-11-3 CCHA) at Ohio State (11-22-0, 8-15-0 CCHA) Saturday, 7 p.m., OSU Ice Rink, Columbus, OH

It’s been called "The Ice Dink." Ah, the much-maligned Ohio State Ice Rink. Small, no bathrooms or concessions, and if the puck hits the ceiling — which it frequently does — play is usually stopped to clean up the debris that’s fallen to the ice.

"The guys are excited to come back to the small rink," says Ohio State head coach John Markell. "They call it the War Memorial."

After many seasons that must have felt more like campaigns, it may seem absurd for the Buckeye players to want to play in the tiny Ice Rink. But if you attended last week’s Thursday night game between Western Michigan and Ohio State at the Ohio Expo Center, you might know how the "guys" feel. Only 560 people attended that game in an arena that holds over five thousand. At the Ice Rink, 560 can make some noise.

The Buckeyes get to bunker in their happy place when Bowling Green comes to town, and location may make the difference in this game.

These two teams met in a non-conference game last Sunday, and Ohio State won 4-2. That was at the Expo Center, with a small, non-noisy crowd, and little at stake for either team. Ohio State did manage to keep its win-streak alive; four games in a row is as many as OSU has won since the 1991-92 season.

Defense has been a big part of the recent Buckeye turn-around. "I think what’s really helped is that Ryan Skaleski has come in and solidified our defense," says Markell. "The defense is doing the little things right. They’re giving themselves the chance to get things right. It’s just little things."

Arguably, one of the best "little things" is freshman Buckeye goaltender Ray Aho. Much has been made of Aho’s height — he’s five feet, six inches tall — but this freshman has shown that he has absolutely everything he needs to play at this level. "He’s got confidence," Markell explains. "His reaction is quicker because he’s become more acclimated to the league."

Markell knows that Bowling Green will come in ready to play. "I think they’re going to come in with a better effort. We only played two periods of hockey [in last Sunday’s win], and we have to have a better effort."

Lately, the Buckeye effort has not gone unnoticed. In the past five weeks, Buckeye players have won Player of the Week four times: Aho earned the honor two weeks in a row. Two weeks later, Dan Cousineau was named Defensive Player of the Week. Just this week, Jarret Whidden was named Offensive Player of the Week for his five points — including the game-winning goal against BGSU — last weekend.

A little momentum can go a long way.

PICK: Ohio State 4-2

No. 9 Michigan State (18-10-3, 14-6-3 CCHA) at Ohio State (11-22-0, 8-15-0 CCHA) Sunday, 1 p.m., Ohio Expo Center, Columbus, OH

A little momentum may travel far, but maybe not too far. This is, oddly enough, the rubber match of the series between these two teams. Michigan State won one in Munn Ice Arena; Ohio State also took one in Munn. It used to be that no one but the Spartans won there.

"Our building is not as intimidating as it used to be," claims Michigan State head coach Ron Mason. "Also, our kids put a lot pressure on themselves to win at home."

Sometimes that pressure backfires. Not only did the Buckeyes beat the Spartans in Munn, so did Miami, just last week. And so did the Nanooks, earlier in the season.

Ohio State head coach John Markell expects Michigan State to come to play for revenge. "They have four games left," he says. "They could move up the ladder."

Mason knows the key to beating Ohio State is getting to them early in the game. "Ohio State plays a more laid-back, defensive style of hockey. They have that good neutral-zone trap. If you can get to their goaltender and open the game up, you have a good chance with them."

The confidence that Ohio State feels is shared by the coaching staff. "Every team is aware of us now," says Markell. "Teams are going to have to come in here with their ‘A’ game. We’re starting to get attention. People know that we’re not an easy game.

"If we could win our next four, we could catch Western."

With Bowling Green, Michigan State, Western Michigan and Michigan remaining for the Buckeyes, that could be the biggest "if" in history. On the other hand, all four of those games are at home, and two are at the "War Memorial."

Nah.

Ohio State needs points to secure a playoff berth, but Michigan State really wants to go to the NCAA tournament. Ohio State won’t lay down, but Michigan State’s experience — at every level — will give the Spartans the definite edge.

PICK: Michigan State 5-3

Paula C. Weston is the CCHA Correspondent for U.S. College Hockey Online.

Copyright 1997 Paula C. Weston . All Rights Reserved.

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UMass-Lowell Announces 30-Year Team

USCHO Staff Report
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UMass-Lowell announced their 30th Year Anniversary Team to commemorate three decades of varsity hockey. The team will be honored during the final regular season home game on Saturday against Providence.

The program marked its beginning in 1967 when it formed a Division II team, became a powerhouse in the late seventies and moved into Division I in 1983-84. Players from all eras populate the 12-man squad.

Dwayne Roloson (1994 graduate) and Brian Doyle (’80) backstop the team.

Roloson, a 1993-94 Hockey East Player of the Year and Hobey Baker finalist, recorded 1,148 saves in 1992-93, still a school record. In his senior year he led UMass-Lowell to the Hockey East championship game and into overtime in the NCAA quarterfinals. He currently plays in the NHL for the Calgary Flames.

Doyle holds the Lowell career records for wins (74) and lowest goals against average (3.26). He ranks second with most wins in a season (25) and save percentage in a year (.905). Doyle backstopped the 1978-79 NCAA Division II championship team.

Paul Lohnes (’82), Bob Kearin (’73), Paul Ames (’87), and Ed Campbell man the anniversary team’s blue line.

Lohnes earned Division II Hobey Baker honors in his senior year after leading his team to its third NCAA championship in four years. A three time All-American, Lohnes remains the top-scoring defenseman in Lowell history with 58 goals and 109 assists, good for eighth place overall. The New England Hockey Writers Association named him the top defenseman in New England after his senior year.

Kearin represents the earliest player selected. He helped lead UMass-Lowell to its first-ever postseason appearance in the ECAC tournament in 1972. He holds school records for most shorthanded goals by a defenseman in both a game and a season. His four goals against Connecticut also stands as a school mark for defensemen.

Ames, a two-time All-Hockey East selection, scored 17 goals and added 57 assists during his career. As a senior, he led UML to 22 wins, good for their first second-place finish in the league.

Campbell, scored 20 goals to go with 71 assists in three years before signing with the New York Rangers. He holds the dubious school record for career penalty minutes (326).

All six forwards — Mike Carr (’83), Jon Morris (’88), Craig MacTavish, Greg Bullock, Dean Jenkins (’81), and Tom Jacobs (’79) — earned All-America honors at least once during their careers.

Carr won the 1983 Divison II Hobey Baker, giving the school back-to-back winners with Lohnes. His 134 goals, 145 assists and 279 points all rank as school records. In his senior year he led UMass-Lowell to a 29-2 record and earned All-America honors.

Morris trails only Carr with career marks of 97 goals, 134 assists, and 231 points. As a junior he earned All-America honors and a berth on the All-Hockey East team. Morris won the G. Harvey Chandler Award as the team’s top scorer in all four of his seasons.

MacTavish, winner of five Stanley Cups, totaled 62 goals and 71 assists in just two years. In 1978-79 he helped lead Lowell to its first NCAA championship. His 88 points that year — still a school record — earned him All-America honors.

Bullock registered 49 goals and 75 assists in his two years. After a Rookie of the Year season in 1993-94, he then added All-America and Hobey Baker finalist honors the following year. That year the New England Hockey Writers Association also named him top forward in New England.

Jacobs ranks third in career scoring, his 97 goals, 103 assists and 200 points surpassed only by Carr and Morris. His 42 goals during the 1978-79 NCAA championship season still stands as a school record. His 80 points that year is bettered only by MacTavish’s 88 and garnered him All-America honors.

Jenkins, a sophomore on the 78-79 squad, added another NCAA crown in 1980-81. He earned All-America honors as a junior and senior during which Lowell went 50-12. His 73 goals and 118 assists puts him fifth in career scoring.

The team was selected by a committee consisting of UML Director of Athletics Dana Skinner, Assistant Director of Athletics Tim Burton, Sports Information Director Jim Seavey, former head coach Bill Riley, former player and assistant coach Norm Bazin ’94, Assistant Athletic Trainer Artie Poitras, Tully Forum rink manager Don Lampron, Lowell Sun writer Chaz Scoggins, WLLH Radio Sports Director Bob Ellis, and former sports information director and current SID at Southern Maine B.L. Elfring.

A Whole Lotta $&#?ing Going On

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One thing can be said for certain about hockey in Yost Ice Arena: there’s a whole lot of sucking going on. Don’t take this writer’s word for it; ask the fans. Or don’t — they’ll tell you anyway.

Trevor Prior is in net for Miami. The press box phone rings. On cue, the crowd chants. “Hey, Prior. Phone call. It’s your mother. She says — you SUCK!”

The crowd at Yost is nothing if not fair. Goaltenders from other schools also suck.

After a Wolverine score against the Buckeyes, Ray Aho gets the ever-popular “sieve” cheer. “You’re not a goalie, you’re a sieve. You’re not a sieve, you’re a funnel. You’re not a funnel, you’re a vacuum. You’re not a vacuum, you’re a black hole. You’re not a black hole — YOU JUST SUCK! YOU JUST SUCK! YOU JUST SUCK!”

Visiting goaltenders don’t just suck at Yost; they’re also to blame.

“It’s all your fault! It’s all your fault! It’s all your fault!”

For that matter, the phenomenon is not limited to goaltenders. Sometimes, whole teams suck.

After Michigan State kills a penalty, the P.A. announcer tells the crowd, “Michigan State is at full strength.” Most of the 6,000 assembled fans respond, “And they still SUCK!”

And it isn’t limited to players, either.

CCHA referee Matt Shegos blows the whistle, and a Wolverine heads to the box. The crowd chants, “Ref, you SUCK!” and repeats as needed.

Of course, the crowd can be nice — when someone tells them something they want to hear. When the announcer says that there’s one minute left in a given period, the crowd at Yost always remembers to say, “Thank you.”

Yost Ice Arena, home of the 1996 NCAA Champion University of Michigan Wolverines, is the place to see a hockey game in the CCHA. Don’t like the Wolverines? Who cares? Don’t come to cheer the game — come to watch the crowd in action.

It’s hard to get a ticket to see a game in Ann Arbor, but it wasn’t always this way. There was a time in the 1980s when student fan support was virtually nonexistent.

Longtime season ticket holder Angie Hall says the fans started to come when the Wolverines started winning. “It started in about ’90,” she says.

“When I started coming in ’86-’87, this was only half-filled most of the time,” says Angie. She says there’s always been a core of non-student fans.

“It’s fun to hear the fans get into it,” Diane Hatfield says, “because they weren’t always that way when we started coming to hockey games.”

Diane and her husband, Fred Hatfield, have been season ticket holders for 20 years. Both have been active in the Dekers, a Wolverine hockey booster club. Fred’s been president twice. Diane’s been treasurer “two or three” times. “I’ve been membership vice-president for the last five years,” she says.

“Dekers comes from the hockey term ‘deke,’ which means to fake out your opponent,” says Diane. “When people started the club in 1964, for some strange reason, they picked ‘Dekers.’ Since nobody knew what dekers meant — half the time they’d say ‘deckers’ — we officially changed it to the Dekers-Blue Line club about ten years ago.

“When Red first came,” says Diane, “we were at the very bottom. He brought in a team and was trying to build this program. It takes a while to do that. When we didn’t have a lot of people in the stands, we were the quietest people you’ve ever heard in your life.”

Things have changed at Yost, where chanting in unison is now expected. “The fans are very into it,” says Diane. “It’s intimidating for the opposing team.”

John Hauessler writes D’Scream, a fanzine for “the section formerly known as D,” It’s known now as Section 3, in the aftermath of the recent Yost renovations. Hauessler has been coming to Michigan hockey games since the 1987-88 season, and he says the Yost fan phenomenon built for several years before becoming the standard form of behavior fans and visitors alike have come to expect.

“It took root in the late 1980s, when UM passed the .500 mark (1987-88). Michigan was a rough-and-tumble team trying to get into the CCHA first division. There was a loyal group of obnoxious fans, but not enough to fill Yost by any means. But, each year the regular fan base increased and seemed to get more fanatical.

“All hell broke loose in 1990-91, when UM not only made the NCAA tourney for the first time in recent history, but hosted Cornell at Yost in the first round. That three-game series is often looked to as the turning point in Yost fandom.

“It was building, building, building for about four years, and that series put Yost over the top. It became the most obnoxious arena in the CCHA in March 1991, and has remained so ever since. But it didn’t happen overnight. Many people have forgotten the crescendo of the late 1980s.”

Diane Hatfield credits the Michigan hockey pep band for starting the tradition of chanting in unison. “The band really started the chant for the most part,” says Diane. “The students picked it up.” At first, she says, the band members would show up at the beginning of games because they were getting credit for being there, but they’d “slowly disappear” during the contests.

Now, says Fred Hatfield, the band is one of the best components of the Michigan hockey crowd. “They know when to play and not to play.” (You might ask the non-Michigan fans at last year’s NCAA tournament in Cincinnati about that — but that’s a whole ‘nother article.)

The Michigan hockey pep band is responsible for more than just introducing cheers to the crowd. It’s responsible for the marriage of Jennie and Pete Dalton.

“I got to Michigan in the fall of ’81,” says Pete. “I was in the marching band as a tuba player, and I found that there was a hockey pep band. All I wanted to do was go play my horn. It took me four or five years just to figure out what icing was. The program was not very good, and I didn’t know anything about hockey.

“Jennie, who I met in the hockey band, grew up in the U.P. [Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, a land of forests and snow], where hockey is life. She was also in the marching band, [and] her perspective was, ‘You mean, all I have to do is be in the hockey band and I can get into the games for free?'”

Jennie says, “I grew up with the Michigan Tech band, where it was very competitive, freshmen don’t get tickets, you’re lucky to get standing room — it’s a real big deal to get to go to a game. As I was working my way through school, season tickets were so expensive that I didn’t figure I’d get to go to the games here.”

Pete joined the band to play; Jennie joined the band to see hockey. With a story like that, how can anyone complain about the fans at Yost? Well, some do.

“The students get out of hand, a little bit,” says Fred.

“I’d like people to know that we have some of the best non-profane hecklers in the sport,” says Hauessler. “Yost is known for the often too-obnoxious student section, but students come and go every year.

“There are some great ‘regular’ fans around Yost, many of whom started their days as students. These people are too often lumped in with the students when other folks talk (usually unflatteringly) about UM’s fan base. “I don’t mind other CCHA fans not liking us … but I’d rather they disliked us because we’re witty and our team happens to be winning, than dislike us because we’re jerks.

“Some fans are jerks and will always be jerks,” says Hauessler, “and they give the rest of us a bad name.”

News of Hauessler’s “wit” has spread beyond the confines of Yost. As editor and primary writer for D’Scream, he has made a name for himself as a funny man.

The first issue of D’Scream for the 1996-97 season is subtitled “Back by Popular Apathy Issue.” The issue of D’Scream produced for the weekend series against Miami was the “Where’s Kevyn Adams? Issue.” Adams left Miami before his senior season to pursue professional hockey, and not much has been heard from him since. (He’s currently playing with the Grand Rapids Griffins of the IHL.)

On the subject of Miami’s mascot name change, Hauessler suggests “of Ohio.” “Then,” he writes, “when someone says, ‘Miami of Ohio,’ they’d actually be somewhat correct.”

Last season, Hauessler devoted an entire issue of D’Scream to senior Ohio State defenseman Craig Paterson. “Who else can hip-check like that in this league?” quipped Hauessler at the time. The issue rankled the coaching staff at Ohio State, who were heard to refer to Hauessler as “that jerk up in Michigan” as recently as January of this year.

Hauessler’s had tickets in the front row of Section D — er, Section 3 — since 1991-92. He started D’Scream one season ago.

“Section D is great because it’s familiar,” says Hauessler. “It’s largely comprised of veteran season-ticket holders, so you can count on seeing the same people from year to year. It’s geographically blessed in that we get to see the Michigan offense for two periods; that puts us in prime location for heckling the visiting goaltender.

“The Section D regulars would always say ‘hello’ to each other, but I think the inception of D’Scream has increased the chatter in the section. I don’t actually know everyone that sits in the section, but sometimes I feel like I do.”

These longtime fans all agree that the crowd is just as important as the team to their Michigan hockey experience.

“The crowd never gives up,” says Fred. “It could be 18 to nothing, and they’d still want more.”

Of course, the whole reason for the crowd is the Wolverine team, a team that plays good college hockey.

“The best thing,” says Fred, “is college hockey. It’s different than pro hockey. It’s a cleaner game. It’s a faster game to watch.”

Diane says, “The kids are here because they love the game. It’s not because they’re getting paid big bucks.”

While the players don’t see the big bucks, sometimes the fans get to see the evidence of the revenue generated by hockey. During the off-season last year, Yost Ice Arena underwent renovations that cost $5.5 million. Fans can see changes in the pro shop, concessions, rest rooms, locker rooms, and the lobby area. The press box is amazing, spanning the length of the building. With those renovations, all the “obstructed view” seating was swallowed; now every seat at Yost is a good one.

With 75 years of hockey at Michigan, a very recent NCAA Championship, a virtual guarantee of an appearance at this year’s tournament, and an improved Yost Ice Arena, it’s no wonder that Wolverine fans make all the noise they can.

And if you go to Yost, and you don’t like what you hear — well, you might just suck. Just ask them.

Competition And Responsibility

By Adam Wodon
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It’s a long time since St. Lawrence reached the 1988 NCAA final, and seems just as long since its last ECAC tournament title, in 1992.

From 1986-1992, St. Lawrence won 20 games or more every season except 1989-90, including back-to-back 29-win seasons. In that span, St. Lawrence won three ECAC Tournaments and was runner-up in two more.

But the Saints started to decline in 1992-93, finishing sixth, tenth and ninth in succeeding seasons before a third-place finish last year, as shown below. This year, St. Lawrence is struggling to make the playoffs:

                      ECAC                      OVERALL
PL  YEAR        G  W-L-T  PTS    GF-GA   ||  G   W-L-T    GF-GA
 3  1986-87    22 15- 7-0   30  109- 73  || 35  24-11-0   180-114
T1  1987-88    22 18- 4-0   36  124- 70  || 38  29- 9-0   200-112
 2  1988-89    22 18- 4-0   36   99- 56  || 36  29- 7-0   169-96
 5  1989-90    22 12- 8-2   26   87- 74  || 32  13-15-4   113-123
T2  1990-91    22 15- 6-1   31  101- 79  || 35  21-13-1   147-121
T2  1991-92    22 15- 6-1   31  104- 66  || 34  22-10-2   160-111
 6  1992-93    22 12- 8-2   26   89- 77  || 32  17-12-3   133-116
10  1993-94    22  8-14-0   16   75- 95  || 31  10-21-0    99-134
T9  1994-95    22 10-12-0   20   83-110  || 33  15-17-1   116-150
 3  1995-96    22 15- 4-3   33  107- 74  || 35  20-12-3   145-134

Perhaps it can be chalked up to normal cycles, but St. Lawrence, a Division III institution using its one-sport exemption to play Division I men’s ice hockey, has found it more and more difficult to keep up with ECAC counterparts that award scholarships, like RPI, Vermont and North Country neighbor Clarkson.

“The parity now is unbelievable,” said St. Lawrence head coach Joe Marsh, whose arrival at St. Lawrence in 1985-86 marked the transformation of the Saints into a national power.

“If people go back to 10 years ago and all of a sudden step into the present, they’d be like, ‘What the heck is going on?’ The days of Dartmouth, Brown and Princeton being automatics are long gone, and I don’t see them coming back. I think all these teams are good, solid, quality programs.”

To stay competitive, last year the school administration authorized the allotment of 18 scholarships per year for the program. Now, with the first recruiting season as a scholarship school under his belt, Marsh says things went well.

“I think the kids we have are some really good kids,” said Marsh. “They’re young — we’ll be a fairly young team — but I think it’s going well.”

Marsh said he has seen immediate benefits from the ability to award scholarships.

“It’s certainly made us more competitive,” said Marsh. “And we’ve lost some pretty good kids too. We’ve gone after some really good kids academically. We lost some to the Ivies, lost some to BU, and that type of thing. But that’s going to happen, you’re still going to lose players to other schools.

“But I think in the overall mix, we’ve been dealing with some pretty good solid kids.

“I think it’s pretty important with a school like St. Lawrence, where we are (geographically), being a non-Ivy, and so forth, to be able to be as competitive as we can. You look at Vermont, RPI, Clarkson, it’s hurt us.”

But, as Marsh is quick to point out, there are new challenges upon the program now. For example, the administration will be keeping an even closer eye on the type of player that’s recruited. If the school is dedicating $20,000 a year to a player, it wants a top-notch individual.

“I think the trustees and the higher-ups have to look at this, and I know they’re going to look at this through a microscope,” Marsh said. “How we deal with these grants, and more importantly, how we protect the integrity of the grant. I want to bring in the best kids I can.

“(The administration is) going to want to know how I spend it. We can’t bring in a guy that’s a (problem). So what if he gets 75 goals in juniors, if he’s gonna be a pain in the ass downtown, we’re going to hurt our own cause.”

Along with the responsibility to bring in a quality person, Marsh said it’s also the responsibility of the player to live up to his end of the bargain. Marsh says that fact is too often lost these days.

“I want to protect the integrity of the scholarship in every aspect of the scholarship,” said Marsh. “Kids come in today — and every program will tell you — and everyone is well aware of what their rights and privileges are. What we’re trying to say is, ‘You do have some responsibilities that go along with this.'”

Responsibility isn’t exactly a new concept to Marsh, the 1989 and 1996 ECAC Coach of the Year. Marsh is accustomed to ensuring discipline on his team. He’s a stickler for it, and comes down harshly on players who make “mistakes.”

Last year the school suspended Joel Prpic for getting into a fight in March in downtown Canton, the result of which left forward Derek Ladouceur unable to play for a weekend. This year it was sophomore goalie Clint Owen who was suspended for the first month and a half of the season for undisclosed disciplinary reasons, and the team suffered without its 1996 All-Rookie Team member.

“We’re not in the classroom, but we are still in the business of education,” Marsh said. “Obviously, you have to win or you won’t be in education any more, so it’s a double-edged sword, but at the same time, I’m not about to treat my guys like a piece of meat.”

Owen responded well and came back to help St. Lawrence pick up the pace a bit, though an injury to him and others — like Jason Windle, Prpic and Troy Creurer — set him and the team back again. Regardless, Marsh thinks the point was made.

“It’s obviously more than your average (situation),” Marsh said. “It was a pretty stiff suspension. (But Owen) is a good kid, and maybe it’s something that down the road is going to help him. He’s come back, he’s worked hard, he’s humble.

“You can see how things are when things are going tough for a kid. A lot of kids could have blamed somebody else, a lot of kids could’ve gone sour, got real sullen either toward me because I’m the resident (jerk), or whatever. He didn’t do that. To his credit he took it like a man and dealt with it. He did the things we asked him to do, met the conditions, and that was that.”

In fact, Marsh is more upset these days with the local upstate New York media for not just forgetting the incident already.

“The reporters here won’t let it go,” said Marsh. “Every time they mention his name, they bring it up. It’s become part of his name, like some sort of Indian moniker.”

Without giving away the nature of the transgression, Marsh said he never tried to hide the fact that it was a severe incident worthy of a long punishment. “Owen got suspended and we dealt with it honestly,” he said. “I’m not going to run around and lie to people. He’s got to deal with it like a man, but it’s over.”

What’s not over is the season, and St. Lawrence still believes it can make a run. The talent should be there. But players like Paul DiFrancesco and Derek Ladouceur seemed to take a while to get over the loss of go-to-guy Burke Murphy.

“I don’t think it was a conscious thing without Burke,” Marsh said. “But, sure, losing a player of that ability affects you where over the long period of time you just got to work that much harder for goals. I mean Burke might have been the best shooting-percentage forward I ever saw. He was very selective and really buried his chances.

“We have guys working hard. We’re in the 40-shot range a lot. We’re not a bad team offensively, our special teams is OK.

“What we’ve been guilty of is momentum swings. If a team scores against us … we give up goals in bunches.”

Even if things don’t materialize this year, and the breaks never start going the Saints’ way, and the injuries never stop happening, Marsh can look down his roster and know the tools are there for the makings of another long run at the top of the standings.

And thanks to the ability to offer scholarships, Marsh’s toolbox has gotten that much bigger.

Bois’ Career Over, Declared Ineligible By Princeton

By Adam Wodon
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Princeton senior Mike Bois was declared academically ineligible by the school, thus ending his college hockey career.

Though his grades were well within the generally accepted levels, Bois, 22, fell victim to Princeton’s own higer standards. He has gone back to his home in Longlac, Ontario, but intends to return in the fall to finish his degree.

Bois, the 1994 Baker Trophy winner as team Rookie of the Year, was one of coach Don Cahoon’s favorite players. Other players were more skilled, but Cahoon was always impressed with Bois two-way play, ability to deflect shots, and amazing balance on his skates.

This year, with the Tigers depleted defensively, Bois was moved to the backline for the first time since midgets, and didn’t complain.

In 103 career games, Bois totalled 26 goals and 38 assists for 64 points. His best season statistically came in 1994-95, the year the Tigers made it to the final game of the ECAC Tournament, when he compiled 10 goals and 13 assists.

As a junior, Bois won a Centennial Cup (Junior A national championship) as a member of the Thunder Bay Flyers.

This Week in the ECAC: February 14, 1997

By
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ECAC Preview: Feb. 14-15, 1997 by Jayson Moy

"Every win this time of year is critical." — Cornell head coach Mike Schafer.

"It’s been a crazy year." — Clarkson head coach Mark Morris.

"It just gets a lot tighter in league play." — Colgate head coach Don Vaughn.

"The team you played the first time is certainly different now." — Union head coach Stan Moore.

"With the situation like this (only ECAC games left), there will be a lot of anticipation."– Yale head coach Tim Taylor.

"It will be the typical ECAC season in that nothing will be decided until the last weekend." — Dartmouth head coach Roger Demment.

"It’s crunch time, there’s just six games left." — St. Lawrence head coach Joe Marsh.

"They just get bigger and bigger from here on in." — RPI head coach Dan Fridgen.

They all sound like clicheés, but they all are true. Each win is important, it’s crazy, it’s tight, teams are different, the anticipation is high and the games are big.

What makes it so big is that there are four teams tied for first place in the league, something that has never happened this late in the ECAC season.

It all came about because Clarkson swept, Vermont took three points, and Cornell and RPI each won one game and lost one. All four teams are now in the lead.

That’s not the only battle going on. Princeton leads a four-team pack in places five through eight, three points ahead of Colgate, Harvard and Union, all with 16 points.

Following not far behind are Dartmouth, St. Lawrence, Yale and Brown. Dartmouth picked up a win, St. Lawrence was swept, Yale lost its only game, and Brown got back in the thick of things with an upset of Princeton.

Take a closer look at the ECAC as it stands: ECAC Standings

Each team now has six games to go over the final three weekends.

There is only one game pitting top-four teams against each other this weekend — Vermont travels to Troy to take on RPI. Another battle to watch is Clarkson at Princeton on Friday, and don’t forget the annual grudge match between Harvard and Cornell at Lynah Rink.

No. 6 Vermont (18-6-2, 10-4-2 ECAC, T-1st) and Dartmouth (10-12-1, 5-10-1 ECAC, 9th) at Union (14-10-2, 7-7-2 ECAC, T-6th) Friday-Saturday, 7:30 p.m.-7 p.m., Achilles Rink, Schenectady, N.Y.

Dartmouth (10-12-1, 5-10-1 ECAC, 9th) and No. 6 Vermont (18-6-2, 10-4-2 ECAC, T-1st) at RPI (15-8-3, 10-4-2 ECAC, T-1st) Friday-Saturday, 7:30 p.m.-7 p.m., RPI Fieldhouse, Troy, N.Y.

Vermont tied Colgate, 5-5, and defeated Cornell, 7-5, for its claim to first place after the weekend. Head coach Mike Gilligan was in the middle, because he saw good things and bad things.

"I thought it was a decent weekend," he said. "[But] I wasn’t happy with the amount of goals that were scored on us."

Last week, goalie Tim Thomas was player of the week for his pair of 40-plus save performances in a sweep at St. Lawrence and Clarkson. This week, he looked human.

"Last week we worked on goals for, and this week we have to work on goals against," Gilligan said. "We kind of slipped a little bit in that department.

"We’re also going to the box at the wrong time. We’re not going in there to save goals, and that’s not what we want to do."

Gilligan shuffled his lines a couple of weeks ago, and it has shown some dividends. The reformed second line for the Catamounts has Stephane Piche, Matt Stelljes and J.C. Ruid. Piche made the ECAC Honor Roll this week for his three-goal and two-assist performance last weekend.

"That second line is going well," he said. "The first line will get their share of goals, but if we can get some from the second and third lines, it only helps."

The first time Vermont met RPI and Union, it was number one in the country, and RPI unceremoniously dropped the Cats from the top spot, 4-2. Union played tough, but Tim Thomas shutout the Dutchmen, 1-0.

"Revenge is not a word I use in the locker room," said Gilligan about this week’s RPI game. "They deserved to beat us up here…. [Union] plays good defense, and they have good goaltending."

Dartmouth head coach Roger Demment also notes the defense of the Dutchmen. "Against Union, it will be more of a dig down deep and work-real-hard game," he said. "They just have a great defense and a great goaltender."

But before the Big Green face Union on Saturday, they square off against RPI.

"We have to play great defense against their big offense," said Demment about RPI. "That will be the focus on Friday." Dartmouth lost both games against Union and RPI at home in November, 7-3 and 5-4 respectively.

"That we lost to them is an incentive to get some wins on the road," Demment said. "But you look at those games, and it was a long, long time ago."

David Whitworth broke into the top ten in scoring in the ECAC over the weekend, with two goals and two assists.

"He’s playing well with Ryan Chaytors and Jon Sturgis," said Demment. "We’ve had a number of guys step it up for us this year offensively, him included."

A split in the North Country for the Union Dutchmen lifted them into a sixth place tie with Harvard and Colgate.

"I think we were outplayed most of the game," Union head coach Stan Moore said about the Clarkson game. "In terms of the last few minutes, I’m pleased that we didn’t give up."

Trevor Koenig was spectacular in the nets, making 40 saves on Friday, and 34 saves against St. Lawrence on Saturday. His efforts were rewarded with the ECAC Player of the Week Award.

Union continues to play solid defense, leading the ECAC in goals allowed — a mere 2.42 goals per game.

RPI also split a pair in the North Country this weekend, defeating St. Lawrence 7-2, and falling to Clarkson 5-1. Despite only getting two points, the Engineers have a share of first place.

Head coach Don Fridgen thinks there’s a reason for that. "These guys are really focusing and they’re really preparing themselves mentally well," said Fridgen. "From the drop of the puck to the execution of the game plan."

One area where the Engineers need work on is the penalty-kill, and the taking of penalties. RPI has rocketed to second in the league in taking penalties, averaging 21.9 minutes per game. RPI has also dropped to 9th in the penalty kill statistics, dropping to a 79.5 percent kill ratio. It’s a deadly combination.

"In a situation when you’re trailing by a goal, you want to be expending your energy and your efforts trying to come back 5-on-5, instead of trying to score down 5-on-4," said Fridgen. "You wear down your penalty-killers, and it takes away a little bit of momentum."

Big games are on the agenda for RPI, and Fridgen hopes his team capitalizes on playing in them.

"We have played big games, but they just get bigger and bigger from here on in," he said. "Hopefully we’ll learn something from [the Clarkson] game. At least I hope we’ll learn something from it."

PICKS:

Dartmouth at RPI: RPI’s offense is a major concern for Dartmouth. But it seems that Dartmouth has been able to keep up with the offense in recent games with RPI. It’s not enough though. RPI 7 Dartmouth 4

Vermont at Union: Union will try to stop the French Connection and bottle up the passing lanes. It’s a lot easier at Achilles, and Union only lost 1-0 the last time at the wide-open Cathouse. At home, it will be more of a defensive game. Vermont 1 Union 1

Vermont at RPI: The Cats want some payback — it has to be in their minds. Can RPI keep up with the offense, or will it be a defensive game? It should be Danny Riva’s line against the French Connection, and the offense must come from elsewhere for both teams. Matt Stelljes will probably be out there whenever Eric Healey is. RPI has to stay out of the penalty box. RPI 4 Vermont 3

Dartmouth at Union: Union had a high goal total against Dartmouth the last time out. It won’t be like that again. Union 4 Dartmouth 2

Brown (6-15-2, 3-12-1 ECAC, 12th) and Harvard (8-12-1, 7-7-2 ECAC, T-6th) at Colgate (13-11-2, 7-7-2 ECAC, T-6th) Friday-Saturday, 7:30 p.m.-7 p.m., Starr Rink, Hamilton, N.Y.

Harvard (8-12-1, 7-7-2 ECAC, T-6th) and Brown (6-15-2, 3-12-1 ECAC, 12th) at Cornell (13-6-4, 10-4-2 ECAC, T-1st) Friday-Saturday, 7:30 p.m.-7 p.m., Lynah Rink, Ithaca, N.Y.

"I feel real good about our guys," said Brown head coach Bob Gaudet a few weeks ago. "Our record doesn’t show it — we just have to keep plugging away."

The plugging was evident as Brown pulled a bit of a shocker over Princeton on Saturday with a 3-2 win. Senior Marty Clapton, who always saves his best for games against Princeton, scored the game-winning goal with 44 seconds remaining in the second period, just moments after Princeton had cut the Brown lead to 2-1.

Last year, Clapton scored the game-winner late in regulation in the ECAC preliminary round playoff game between the two teams in Providence.

The inspiration to play Princeton derives from a playoff series two years ago, when No. 7 Princeton defeated No. 2 Brown in three games that often got rough and chippy. One can debate who the instigator was, though Princeton is regarded as one of the league’s best skating teams, and the Bears are a perennial penalty-minute leader. But those facts don’t sway Clapton’s opinion of the Tigers.

"They’re a cheap team, no skill," said Clapton. "They’re more of a football team. They do (have some fast guys), but we do too. We got the best of them. Hopefully we’ll get another chance at them in the playoffs."

The goal by Clapton capped a three-goal period for the Bears. Bill McKay and Mike Flynn also added goals.

Despite the record of the Bears, people fear them. Most ECAC coaches have mentioned that Brown’s record is not indicative of its strength. Gaudet would agree, and sees the Princeton win as a big boost.

"They’re a good team, they’re well-coached and they have good players," Gaudet said of the Tigers. "So it was a good effort. It’s a confidence-builder because we have played hard, and we just haven’t had the results."

Sophomore Adrian Smith, one of the team’s leaders in both scoring and penalty minutes, resumed skating this week and might play. He stretched ligaments in his knee two Friday’s ago against Union.

"We’ve got a tough stretch," said Gaudet. "We have two road weekends, but if we can play with that grit and that determination, then we’ll be all right, because we’re there in the game, and hopefully we’ll just get a bounce here or there to put us over the top.

"But it makes it interesting, because now we have something to shoot for."

The question once again for Harvard is offense. The Crimson scored three in a win over Yale, but were shutout by Northeastern in the Beanpot consolation game.

"It’s tough to win a hockey game if you don’t score," said head coach Ronn Tomassoni after the loss. "It’s no secret we’ve struggled to score goals all season long."

It’s no secret, either, that you don’t win many games if the team’s goals allowed is more than the team’s goals scored. This is exactly the case for Harvard — 3.36 goals allowed per game, 2.59 scored.

Colgate sits in a three-way tie for sixth place. The Red Raiders gained one point over the weekend in a wild 5-5 tie with Vermont.

"It was disappointing, but we played a good game against Vermont," said head coach Don Vaughn. "It was more disappointing that we lost on Saturday (to Dartmouth) because we played well Friday. We just weren’t able to carry anything over to Saturday night from Friday."

Dartmouth raced out to the lead and never looked back to win 5-3.

"Our focus has to be on us," said Vaughn. "We have to find a way to get our play to the way it was on Saturday.

"We have to get the puck down low. We are also not throwing the puck at the net enough. We’re trying to be a little to cute with the puck instead of just throwing at the net and hope for something to happen. We’ re trying to make too much happen with the puck."

Colgate returns home to face Harvard and Brown, teams that it has defeated once already this season.

"It might be in the back of some of our guys’ minds," said Vaughn of the earlier victories. "But both of those teams have come a long way. We’re expecting two totally different teams."

Cornell gained two points with its win over Dartmouth Friday, but lost to Vermont 7-5 after edging to within 6-5 late in the game.

Head coach Mike Schafer believes that his team is prepared for the stretch run, and just needs a few adjustments week-to-week in order to prepare for the upcoming weekend’s games.

"This is that time of year," he said. "You try to utilize as many players as possible, but the best people play in all of those times. At this point in the season, you’re done experimenting."

Cornell swept Harvard and Brown the last time the teams got together in November, 3-2 and 5-4, respectively.

PICKS:

Brown at Colgate: Can Brown claw its way back to the playoffs after it seemed that all was lost? A two-game winning streak would be great for its playoff hopes, but it won’t happen. Colgate 5 Brown 3

Harvard at Cornell: The annual rivalry continues at Lynah. The Lynah Faithful look forward to this game all year long, and will be ready as the seventh man. Harvard doesn’t stand a chance. Cornell 5 Harvard 1

Harvard at Colgate: Colgate has returned to the high offensive line of Mike Harder, Andy McDonald and Dave DeBusschere. It paid off last weekend, and will again. Colgate 5 Harvard 2

Brown at Cornell: Two defensive teams, but Cornell can play the defense better at home. Cornell 4 Brown 2

No. 7 Clarkson (18-8-0, 11-5-0 ECAC, T-1st) and St. Lawrence (9-17-2, 4-10-2 ECAC, 10th) at Princeton (14-7-2, 9-6-1 ECAC, 5th) Friday-Saturday, 7:30 p.m.-7 p.m., Baker Rink, Princeton, N.J.

St. Lawrence (9-17-2, 4-10-2 ECAC, 10th) and No. 7 Clarkson (18-8-0, 11-5-0 ECAC, T-1st) at Yale (7-14-2, 4-11-1 ECAC, 11th) Friday-Saturday, 7:30 p.m.-7 p.m., Ingalls Rink, New Haven, Conn.

"We made some strides this week," said Clarkson head coach Mark Morris.

The strides the Golden Knights made were two wins over Union and RPI, and a share of first place. The two wins gives Clarkson nine wins in its last ten games, with the only loss being to Vermont.

Todd White continues his Player of the Year campaign, getting support for his bid with three more goals this weekend, bringing his league leading total to 28, 19 of them in league play.

The story of the weekend for Morris was his freshmen, most notably Phillippe Roy, the ECAC Rookie of the Week.

"He’s playing center for the first time in his life," said Morris about the converted defenseman. "We’ve done a good job with our younger guys, and they seem to be forming solid third and fourth lines. It gives us some real depth."

The package seems to be all there for Morris, from the defense to the offense, as the team rounds into shape for its usual January-February run.

"Dan Murphy has been solid," he said. "We’re also happy with our defensive pairs. They seem to be playing in sync. I’m happy with the offense, because outside of Todd White, we don’t have a superstar."

Earlier in the year, the Golden Knights defeated Princeton, but were upset by Yale.

"Don Cahoon has gotten his guys to play hard and he’s maximized their talent," said Morris. "Tim Taylor has surprised a lot of people with his youngsters. They believe in his system."

Clarkson has roared back to top the ECAC standings, and Morris believes being down early has helped his team.

"It may be a blessing in disguise," he said. "That we lost a lot of those games early and we’ve had to fight to get back to where we are at."

St. Lawrence remains in the bottom third of the ECAC after getting swept at home by RPI and Union.

"We didn’t play very well against RPI," said head coach Joe Marsh. "We broke down defensively and all over the place. We weren’t ready to play.

"Against Union, it was an up-and-down kind of game. It was a good one. They got a power-play goal, and we didn’t. That was the difference."

With six games to go, Marsh is trying to evoke other things from his club as the season winds down.

"We’re concentrating on quality," he said. "It’s not a matter of a lot of adjustments, it’s a mental thing. We don’t want practice to be drudgery, practice will be more of the mental aspect of the game."

Marsh points to Friday’s game against Yale as a large one.

"It’s the biggest game of the weekend," he said. "We’re fighting for a playoff position with them, and we just have to take it one shift at a time."

Yale is fighting for playoff position with St. Lawrence, as mentioned above, and it got tougher after a 3-2 loss to Harvard.

The bright spot for the Bulldogs was freshman Jeff Brow, who tallied the two goals in the loss, but head coach Tim Taylor is still concerned with his team and its consistency.

"We’ve been inconsistent all year long," he said. "We’re a team that can’t afford a few mistakes if we’re to be successful. If any side of our game, offense or defense, suffers."

After a 2-2-1 start in the ECAC, and an upset of Cornell, the Elis have gone 2-9-0 since in the league.

Princeton’s two losses in three ECAC games over two weekends dropped the Tigers from first to fifth in the standings — that’s how quickly things can change this year.

A 3-2 loss to Brown was perhaps the Tigers’ worst performance of the year, though the 4-2 loss to Cornell the week before, just off the 20-day break, was probably worse.

Early in the season, Princeton got standout performances from its young defense, and the top line of Jeff Halpern-Scott Bertoli-Casson Masters led the way on offense. The offense seems to be more spread out now, but the top line is slumping, and the defense is starting to make those rookie kind of mistakes it wasn’t making earlier.

Goalie Erasmo Saltarelli, after a 5-1 start, has lost four straight decisions, and Princeton is 3-4 in the last seven games.

Still, at the start of the season, if you told Don Cahoon he’d be fifth, three points out of first, going into the last six games, he’d probably have taken it.

This week will be the real test for Princeton, with home games against Clarkson and St. Lawrence. Three points would prove to everyone else, and especially itself, that the Tigers are indeed a force to be reckoned with, and aren’t just going to go away quietly.

PICKS:

Clarkson at Princeton: Clarkson is the team on the roll, and Princeton has cooled off following its 20-day break. This does not bode well for the Tigers. But Princeton is home for the first time in a month, and Baker Rink should help, but Clarkson is on fire. Clarkson 3 Princeton 2

St. Lawrence at Yale: A battle for 10th place here. These games are overlooked because they’re at the bottom of the league, but they nonetheless are important for both teams. The Saints have a little more experience, and it helps. St. Lawrence 5 Yale 2

St. Lawrence at Princeton: Princeton will get back on its feet after this game, but the Saints will make it close. Princeton 4 St. Lawrence 3

Clarkson at Yale: This is a revenge game for Clarkson. No matter what anyone says, when you lose the first game of the series, you want to destroy the team the next time around. Clarkson 8 Yale 2

It just gets tighter and tighter next week. The matchups to watch are Cornell-RPI and Princeton-Vermont.

Friday, February 21: Colgate at RPI Cornell at Union Princeton at Dartmouth Yale at Vermont Harvard at Clarkson Brown at St. Lawrence

Saturday, February 22: Colgate at Union Cornell at RPI Princeton at Vermont Yale at Dartmouth Harvard at St. Lawrence Brown at Clarkson

Jayson Moy is the ECAC Correspondent for US College Hockey Online.

Copyright 1996 Jayson Moy . All Rights Reserved.

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This Week in the CCHA: February 14, 1997

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CCHA PREVIEW: Feb. 13-16, 1997 CCHA Preview: Feb. 13-16, 1997 by Paula C. Weston

With just a few weeks left in the CCHA regular season, the question of which team will finish eighth is as interesting as which will finish first.

"With only four games to go," says Michigan State head coach Ron Mason, "every game is important. It’s all going to come down to the last weekend of play this year, just as I thought in the beginning of the season."

"Right now we’re at the point of the season where every game is big," says Western Michigan head coach Bill Wilkinson.

"I would say that at this point of the year, everything is big," agrees Miami head coach Mark Mazzoleni.

Can there be any doubt?

A rare thing happened to the No. 1 Michigan Wolverines last weekend — they lost a game. The Wolverines beat the Lakers on Friday, but lost the rubber game of the Michigan State series on Saturday. Nevertheless, the Wolverines are still in first place with 36 points. This weekend, they host two games against Notre Dame.

Lake Superior remains in second place in spite of the loss to Michigan. With 31 points, this weekend’s road games against third-place Michigan State and Ferris State will be big for the Lakers.

Miami had last weekend off. They remain in third place with 29 points. Miami travels to Michigan State and Ferris State.

Michigan State is tied with Miami for third place. Last weekend the Spartans lost to Western Michigan, but won that series with the Wolverines. This weekend, it’s a battle for second place as the Spartans host both Miami and Lake Superior.

The "second tier" in the CCHA is just as interesting as the battle of the Titans. Western Michigan is the hottest team in the CCHA. With 22 points, the Broncos are in fifth place, just a point ahead of Bowling Green. The Broncos are 4-1-2 in their last seven games; they’ve won four in a row, and that loss was to Michigan. The Broncos meet the Buckeyes in Columbus on Thursday, then travel to Bowling Green for a mid-field match-up.

Given the way the Falcons slumped in the early part of the season, it’s mildly surprising to see them in sixth place, just behind Western Michigan. The Falcons split a pair of games at home last weekend to the UAF Nanooks. Thus, their single conference game this weekend — against visiting Western Michigan on Saturday — matters. The Falcons also play a non-conference game at Ohio State on Sunday.

Nothing is guaranteed for the remaining four teams, including Ferris State. The Bulldogs are playing good hockey lately, but other teams have managed to gain some ground at the bottom of the standings; for instance, via their loss to Western last weekend. This weekend, the Bulldogs (in seventh place with 15 points) host Lake Superior and Miami.

At the moment, Ohio State hangs on to that all-important eighth spot, just a point behind the Bulldogs. The Buckeyes have won three of their last six games, including back-to-back wins over Notre Dame last weekend, and a rare road win at Munn Arena against the Spartans. Thursday, the Buckeyes host Western Michigan; Sunday, the Falcons come to Columbus for a non-conference game.

Notre Dame sits uncomfortably in ninth place with 12 points. Last weekend the Irish lost a pair to Ohio State — including another one-goal defeat. This weekend, Notre Dame travels to Yost to play Michigan for two.

With 11 points, the University of Alaska-Fairbanks Nanooks anchor the bottom of the conference, but have shown recent improvement. Before splitting a pair of road games in Bowling Green last weekend, the Nanooks took four consecutive nonconference matches at home. UAF’s only remaining CCHA contests are a three-game series at home with Ferris State

This weekend, however, UAF hosts two games with the St. Norbert College Green Knights, a Division III school from Wisconsin that just clinched its first-ever regular season title in the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association.

Don’t blink, CCHA fans. You don’t want to miss a moment of this weekend’s action.

Last week’s record in picks: 5-3 Overall record in picks: 80-58

Western Michigan (13-12-4, 9-8-4 CCHA) at Ohio State (9-22-0, 7-15-0 CCHA) Thursday, 7 p.m., Ohio Expo Center, Columbus, OH

This game pits the two shortest CCHA goaltenders against each other. At 5′ 4" and 5′ 6", respectively, Western Michigan’s Matt Barnes and Ohio State’s Ray Aho have been showing some of the taller guys on the ice the way a net should be minded.

Both Barnes and Aho have been the goaltenders of record for their teams’ recent winning ways.

"Ray Aho is playing extremely well in goal," says Western Michigan head coach Bill Wilkinson. "We’ve played Ohio State up here twice, and both of them were great games. They took us to overtime."

Wilkinson is not taken in by Ohio State’s position near the bottom of the CCHA. "They beat Michigan state in Munn, and not too many teams can do that. It’s a pretty big accomplishment for John’s [OSU head coach Markell] team."

The Buckeyes are coming off their first back-to-back wins of the season, and Markell says it’s given the team welcome confidence.

"We needed both of those wins," says Markell. "Western is the hottest team in the CCHA. We have to realize that the team we play this weekend is better than the team we just beat. We have to prepare our team. If you prepare, there’s no room to panic."

The key to the Ohio State’s steady progress, says Markell, is a combination of good work from freshmen — such as Aho — and greater leadership from two of the team’s three seniors.

"Seniors have to take a leadership role," Markell asserted, complimenting the way that co-captain Chad Power and Pierre Dufour have stepped up. Power had two goals in the Buckeyes’ Friday win over Notre Dame, while Dufour had the game-winning goal in each game.

The leadership comes at a crucial time for the Buckeyes, who are fighting to hold on to that last playoff spot without the help of three-year senior captain Steve Brent, who is out with a knee injury.

Wilkinson says that as big as this game is for both teams, his Broncos are more concerned with bettering themselves than with outdoing their opponents. "We’re concerned [about] the Buckeyes, but you have to prepare yourself, focus on yourself."

Matt Barnes may be shorter than Ray Aho, but he has the edge in a couple of key hockey-related categories. Barnes’ save percentage is a healthy .886, and he’s allowing just 3.19 goals per game.

By contrast, Aho’s save percentage is .857, although that figure has risen during the last couple of months. His goals-against average is 4.61, down nearly a full goal from the first half of the season. Both Barnes and Aho have been playing consistently well lately, so this goaltending match-up should be something to watch.

PICK: Western 4-3

No. 8 Miami (20-9-1, 14-6-1 CCHA) at No. 9 Michigan State (17-9-3, 13-5-3 CCHA) Friday, 7 p.m., Munn Ice Arena, East Lansing, MI

"This is a crucial weekend," says Michigan State head coach Ron Mason. "We have the best shot at second place this weekend."

Michigan State is hosting both Miami and Lake Superior this weekend. The first game in the battle for the title of "The Team That Finished First Behind Michigan" is this one, on Friday night.

The Spartans are coming off a mixed weekend, but one that definitely ended on a high note. After dropping a game Friday night to Western Michigan, the Spartans defeated the Wolverines in front of more than 19,000 screaming fans in Joe Louis Arena in Detroit on Saturday. The win gives the Spartans the season series over their arch-rivals.

Mason was characteristically understated about the game and series over Michigan. "It was another good game with Michigan. During the game down at their place we didn’t play well. They won that one pretty easily.

"This game was a sell-out. Being at the rubber match, winning two out of three, it means something."

The Spartans hope to use that momentum to get the edge on Miami, who had last weekend off. Miami head coach Mark Mazzoleni knows that Michigan State’s win over Michigan could motivate the Spartans, especially at home.

"I would say that’s given them a bit of boost in confidence," he remarked.

Like Mason, Mazzoleni is aware of the importance of this weekend’s games. "The biggest thing we have to do is take each game for itself." Mazzoleni says his team just wants to play in Munn before thinking about the rest of the weekend, or even the rest of the season.

This is the second game between these two teams this season — Michigan State won the first, 4-3, in Oxford. "Miami, of course, has been solid all year," says Mason. "They’re playing with real good poise; they’re just a really good team. Of course, we came down and beat them at home earlier this year. That took them a little bit by surprise, I think. But that game was so long ago that I don’t even remember it."

Even though Miami will be looking to return the favor, few teams beat the Spartans in Munn.

PICK: Michigan State 3-2

No. 10 Lake Superior (18-10-4, 14-6-3 CCHA) at Ferris State (11-19-2, 7-14-1 CCHA) Friday, 7 p.m., Ewigleben Ice Arena, Big Rapids, MI

Both the Lakers and the Bulldogs are looking for some points as they approach the final games of the season. The Lakers are playing for position in the top tier of the CCHA; it’s almost a given that they’ll have home ice in the first round of the playoffs.

The Bulldogs, on the other hand, still need to clinch a playoff spot. Points are important to the them for another reason; the team in eighth place in the CCHA plays the team in first place, and no one wants the likely-champion Wolverines in the first round.

The Lakers own this series, having beaten the Bulldogs twice by the score of 3-2 earlier this season at the Soo. Laker head coach Scott Borek says that the Bulldogs always play his team tough.

"When we have success against them, it’s only because historically we have the edge on them." Borek says that Bulldog hockey is similar to Laker hockey in fundamental ways. "I think they’re a model of our program."

Borek is another coach who is not fooled by the difference in points between his team and the one he’s playing Friday night. The game is no given, says Borek. "When Ferris plays as defensively as they do, it’s going to be hard to beat them. When we play there, it’s extremely loud, extremely exciting, and it’s a great hockey barn."

The Lakers couldn’t capitalize on an opportunity to gain on first-place Michigan last weekend. The Wolverines beat them, 5-2, at the Joe Louis Arena last Friday night. The Lakers allowed five goals in the second period of that game.

"Frankly, I think what we did going into the Michigan game was look ahead at what that game could do for us, instead of looking at the game we had to play. As a team, that left us flat, and we were looking at the post-game before we even played the game."

Don’t expect the Lakers to make that mistake again on Friday night. This should be a good defensive battle. Ferris State has the home edge, the Lakers have the experience.

PICK: Lake Superior 3-2

No. 10 Lake Superior (18-10-4, 14-6-3 CCHA) at No. 9 Michigan State (17-9-3, 13-5-3 CCHA) Saturday, 7 p.m., Munn Ice Arena, East Lansing, MI

The second game of the weekend for the Spartans pits third-place Michigan State against second-place Lake Superior. "These games this weekend will be very highly contested," says Michigan State head coach Ron Mason. "All three of these teams [including Miami, the Spartans’ Friday opponents] are relatively equal in the standings."

Lake Superior head coach Scott Borek is well aware of this implications of this weekend’s little round-robin between the second- and third-place teams. "Both State and Miami have two games in hand on us . There’s points to be had for them. If one of them stumbles, however, we could end up higher than we were picked to finish in pre-season."

Mason said early in the week leading up to this game that he couldn’t even think about Lake Superior until his team had played Miami. He wasn’t kidding. The only comments Mason made about Lake Superior were general ones; he acknowledged the Lakers’ physical style of play, tough defense, and overall competence.

Borek knows what he’s up against in his second road game of the weekend. "These are two very difficult buildings to play in. Michigan State is playing very well. They were slumping a little bit, but they’re coming out of it; they’ve played us three times, so we’re familiar with them."

This series couldn’t be more even. In conference play, the teams skated to a 4-4 tie, two nights in a row in Sault St. Marie. The Lakers beat the Spartans in the first round of the non-conference Great Lakes Invitational Tournament.

The edge in this game may be Munn Ice Arena.

PICK: Michigan State 3-2

Western Michigan (13-12-4, 9-8-4 CCHA) at Bowling Green (14-13-3, 9-11-3 CCHA) Saturday, 7 p.m., BGSU Ice Arena, Bowling Green, OH

Bowling Green head coach Buddy Powers no longer has any illusions about gaining ground on the upper tier for home-ice advantage in the CCHA.

"Our situation for big games has gone by the board here until the playoffs," says Powers. "I don’t think we can get fourth place, so we’ll be on the road. If we’re going to win all of our games, are we going to catch western? Our focus is going to be on ourselves."

The Falcons were surprised by last-place Alaska-Fairbanks in Bowling Green last weekend. The Falcons won Friday, but lost Saturday. Powers says that his players need to reexamine what they’re doing on the ice. He says needless mistakes contributed to the loss, and calls the loss a team effort.

"We have execute in our end of the rink, and we have to do it consistently. It was different guys on every goal in that loss," Powers says.

Much of the resurgence of the Falcons can be traced to the improvement in net by goaltender Bob Petrie. "He’s played pretty well since coming back from Christmas," says Powers. The Falcons are 6-2-2 so far in 1997.

Western Michigan’s tour through Ohio is crucial for the Broncos. "Both of them are key games," says Bill Wilkinson.

"If you focus on the far, you lose sight of what you have to do right now. We’re looking at Ohio State first, then we’ll think about Bowling Green."

This should be one of the better games of the season. It’s tough to play at Bowling Green, but Western may have an attitude edge.

PICK: Western 4-3

No. 8 Miami (20-9-1, 14-6-1 CCHA) at Ferris State (11-19-2, 7-14-1 CCHA) Saturday, 7 p.m., Ewigleben Ice Arena, Big Rapids, MI

"Ferris is a good team," says Miami head coach Mark Mazzoleni. "I watched them play the other night. They only gave up 17 shots. They play with tremendous heart and intensity. They’re capable of beating any team at any time."

That’s something that Mazzoleni knows firsthand. This series is tied. Each team has a win by two goals at home; the most recent game went to Ferris, just a few weeks ago.

"The core of their team is their sophomore class," says Mazzoleni. "They’re going to be someone to reckon with in the future." Or, perhaps, right now.

It’s unlikely that Ferris will repeat against Miami — not because the Bulldogs aren’t good enough, but because Miami is hard to surprise twice. Add to that the outstanding goaltending of Trevor Prior, the offensive power of Randy Robitaille, and the offense and defense of Dan Boyle, and Miami is just a hard team to beat on any given night.

This will both teams’ second game of the weekend, but Miami had a full weekend off. "We’ve got a couple of players who were banged up, so the rest is good," says Mazzoleni.

PICK: Miami 4-2

Notre Dame (8-21-1, 5-16-1 CCHA) at No. 1 Michigan (26-2-3, 17-2-2 CCHA) Friday and Saturday, 7 p.m., Yost Arena, Ann Arbor, MI

The University of Michigan Wolverines have lost just two games this season. Both of those are to Michigan State, the most recent being last Saturday.

Early in January, the Wolverines tied Cornell in Yost, a game the Wolverines fully expected to win. The Wolverines don’t take such games well. Just ask the Alaska-Fairbanks Nanooks, who were the next team to play at Yost. To make themselves feel better about the Cornell tie, the Wolverines pummeled the Nanooks 13-1.

Should the Irish be a little concerned? Perhaps.

In many ways, these games — these points — mean more to the Irish than to the Wolverines. It’s true that Michigan’s pride is a little wounded, but with just a handful of games left in this season, few people doubt that Michigan will tumble from the top of the CCHA. Conversely, few people believe Notre Dame can make the playoffs. Notre

Dame had a great opportunity to put the Buckeyes away last weekend in South Bend. Two wins over the Buckeyes would have meant a season sweep of the Bucks — important in the playoff picture — as well as four crucial points, and an eighth-place spot in the CCHA.

Instead, Notre Dame lost two games at home, practically handing the Buckeyes the privilege of losing in the first round of the CCHA playoffs to … the Wolverines.

It’s starting to sound a bit like a soap opera. At any rate, it feels personal enough to all parties involved.

One single point taken from the Wolverines in Yost this weekend would be an upset.

PICKS: Michigan 7-2, 5-2

Bowling Green (14-13-3, 9-11-3 CCHA) at Ohio State (9-22-0, 7-15-0 CCHA) Sunday, 3 p.m., Ohio Expo Center, Columbus, OH

This non-conference game probably means more to Ohio State than it does to Bowling Green. The teams play again next weekend in a conference game in Columbus, and the Buckeyes need those points more than the Falcons do. The Buckeyes have yet to secure a playoff spot, and they’ll be looking for anything that will give them an edge over the Falcons next week.

They may not have a lot to look at. Each coach has said that he’ll play some guys who haven’t seen much action lately, so it’s unlikely that either goaltender who will appear in the conference match-up will see action in this game.

"We’ll get the kids in there who haven’t been playing very much," says Buckeye head coach John Markell. This means that freshman goaltender Tom Connerty will probably start in net for the Buckeyes. Connerty hasn’t seen action since being pulled from an 8-2 loss to Miami in Columbus several weeks ago. Since then, Ray Aho has earned the starting job for the Buckeyes, and was named CCHA Defense Player of the Week for two consecutive weeks.

Connerty’s league save percentage is .812, and he’s allowed 6.06 goals per league game. A Connerty-Mike Savard match-up may be a high-scoring game for each team. Savard’s league GAA is 4.02, while his league save percentage is .848.

Markell is a little concerned about playing men who haven’t seen much time this season. "We intend to do well on Thursday, and we don’t want to stop any momentum Sunday," says Markell.

Powers acknowledges that the Falcons’ place in the standings affects how little this game actually means for his team. "It’s a different scenario at other times in the season, even in other seasons. At other times, we’d be concerned about the NCAA and power rankings…" Powers doesn’t finish his sentence. If the Falcons were doing better in CCHA play, this game could be a prime opportunity for the Falcons to show the NCAA why they should be invited to the tournament.

Expect a high-scoring game. You may even call this by the number of goals each netminder allows on average.

PICK: Bowling Green 6-4

St. Norbert (20-4-1, 16-4-0 NCHA) at Alaska-Fairbanks (10-20-0, 6-18-0 CCHA) Friday and Saturday, 7 p.m., Carlson Center, Fairbanks, AK

The Nanooks won four consecutive home non-conference games before traveling to Bowling Green last weekend, where they split with the Falcons. The non-conference wins and the important road win bolster the Nanooks’ spirits, but with just three games left in CCHA play, moral victories have to be wearing a little thin.

Still, a win is a win to the heart of team. Several weeks ago, a discouraged-sounding Nanook head coach Dave Laurion said before the scheduled four home non-conference games that wins in those games could help his team salvage some dignity for the season

The Nanooks don’t need to salvage their dignity — they are a team whose dignity in the face of hardship can be an inspiration to others. But they’ll take a couple more non-conference wins, no matter how you package them.

They’ll have a chance this weekend against the St. Norbert College (WI) Green Knights, but it won’t be easy. This Division III team just finished first in its conference, the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association, in regular-season play for the first time ever, and is currently tied for first place with St. John’s University in the NCAA Division III ice hockey poll.

The Green Knights have one of the best goaltenders in the NCHA. Junior Roby Gropp has a save percentage of .919 and a GAA of 2.56.

This should be a very good series. Teams from the NCHA have played D-I teams well this season, so Nanook fans shouldn’t expect easy wins. In fact, good games against the Green Knights will prepare the Nanooks for their final series of the year, three home games against Ferris State next weekend.

PICKS: Alaska-Fairbanks 4-3, 5-3

Paula C. Weston is the CCHA Correspondent for US College Hockey Online.

Copyright 1996 Paula C. Weston . All Rights Reserved.

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This Week in the WCHA: February 14, 1997

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WCHA Preview: Feb. 14-15, 1997 by Scott Brown

North Dakota refused to yield ground to its pursuers over the weekend. The first-place Fighting Sioux, edging ever closer to the MacNaughton Cup, swept last-place Michigan Tech to maintain a three-point lead in the standings over Minnesota. The Gophers, for their part, took four points against ninth-place Northern Michigan to take over sole possession of second place in the WCHA.

Colorado College and Wisconsin are on the Gophers’ tail, followed by St. Cloud, Denver and Minnesota-Duluth. At this moment, all of these teams still have a shot at a top-five finish in the conference, and hence home-ice advantage for the first round of the playoffs.

Alaska-Anchorage, Michigan Tech and Northern Michigan bring up the rear of the WCHA; their games will now decide who gets the honor of taking on the regular-season champions in the first round.

WCHA Standings

Games this weekend include a home-and-home between in-state rivals and an intraschool conflict in Minneapolis. The nominations, please:

Denver (16-10-4, 12-10-4 WCHA) vs. Colorado College (17-11-2, 15-9-2 WCHA) Friday, 7:35 p.m. MT, AFA Cadet Ice Arena, Colorado Springs, CO Saturday, 7:05 p.m. MT, DU Arena, Denver, CO

The Pioneers’ meteoric rise through the ranks of the WCHA came to a halt last weekend. Denver, which had been 10-2-2 in its last 14 games, was swept in Duluth, 7-4 and 3-2.

The losses were doubly surprising in that they came at the hands of the Bulldogs, who had not been performing well of late. But Denver goalie Jim Mullin (6-5-4, 2.89 GAA .891 SV% WCHA), who took the loss on Friday, allowed six goals on 29 shots before emptying the DU net with a minute to go in the game. The defeat was the first in 11 games for Mullin, who still leads the WCHA in goals-against average.

DU’s other goalie, Stephen Wagner (6-5-0, 3.29 GAA, .890 SV% WCHA) fared somewhat better on Saturday, but the Pioneers lost again. On the plus side for Denver, defenseman Joe Ritson had an assist on Friday and a goal on Saturday to extend his point-scoring streak to six games.

The sweep dropped Denver into a tie for sixth with UMD, making this weekend’s series with Colorado College critical to the Pioneers’ home-ice hopes. Friday’s game will be played at the Air Force Academy, CC’s home-away-from-home this season, where the Tigers are 9-4-0.

For their part, the three-time defending champions fared somewhat better last weekend against Wisconsin. Playing at the raucous Dane County Coliseum, the Tigers managed a split, winning the recap 6-2 after being soundly defeated, 5-2, in the opener.

The Saturday win meant that CC has now gone 59 straight series without being swept, going all the way back to 1994. Brian Swanson (14-28–42), who leads the WCHA in scoring, assisted on the game-winner, the fifth consecutive CC win in which he has done that. Jason Cugnet (4-2-1, 3.27 GAA, .867 SV%), installed in net after a shaky performance by number-one goaltender Judd Lambert (13-9-1, 3.29 GAA, .881 SV%) in Friday’s game, faced only 14 shots in earning the win.

The Tiger penalty-kill continued to click, as Wisconsin went 0-for-5 on the power play during the weekend. CC has now gone six games since allowing a power-play goal, and is third in the WCHA (81.7 percent) for the season.

Picks: Colorado College swept this series earlier in the year, but the Pioneers are playing better now, last weekend notwithstanding. Denver has a ten-game unbeaten streak at home (7-0-3). CC 4-2, DU 4-3

Minnesota-Duluth (16-12-2, 13-11-2 WCHA) at No. 5 Minnesota (20-10-0, 17-9-0 WCHA) Friday-Saturday, 7:05 p.m. CT, Mariucci Arena, Minneapolis, MN

The Bulldogs, as mentioned above, came into last weekend hoping to stay alive for home ice. They ended the weekend four points richer, with a vastly improved position for the stretch run.

UMD can thank WCHA Defensive Player of the Week Brant Nicklin (13-11-2, 3.20 GAA, .898 SV% WCHA) for its good fortune. Nicklin, a top candidate for the Rookie of the Year award, made 62 saves on 66 shots over the course of the series.

Playing in front of him, Ken Dzikowski (13-18–31) had two goals and an assist, while Jason Haakstad scored his second and third goals of the year, including the game-winner Saturday. UMD therefore split the season series with Denver, 2-2, a statistic which may become relevant in the WCHA’s tiebreaker system.

This Friday, for head coach Mike Sertich’s 600th game behind the Duluth bench, the Bulldogs will try to accomplish what they have not been able to do since 1994 — win at Mariucci Arena. And despite Minnesota’s sweep of Northern Michigan last weekend, the Bulldogs might be catching the Gophers at the right time to do just that.

Yes, Minnesota beat the ninth-place Wildcats, but they weren’t very happy about it. Both victories came by one goal against a team the Gophers felt they should have beaten handily.

"By no means are we satisfied with our effort tonight," said co-captain Mike Crowley (5-31–36) after Friday’s game, in which the Gophers stormed out to a three-goal lead before letting Northern Michigan back in with penalties and sloppy play.

Crowley had little reason to fault his own play, as he scored a goal and added three assists on the weekend. The Gophers were also bolstered by the return of defenseman Brian LaFleur and the scoring of WCHA Offensive Player of the Week Ryan Kraft. Kraft scored three goals against NMU, including both Gopher goals on Saturday, and added two assists to claim the honor.

Freshman winger Dave Spehar scored the game-winner Friday for Minnesota, but was shut out Saturday, ending his point-scoring streak at 14 games.

Pick: So, are the Gophers vulnerable, or just angry? UMD has to hope for the former, but the latter seems at least as likely. UM 4-2, 6-3

Wisconsin (15-13-2, 15-9-2 WCHA) at St. Cloud (17-10-3, 14-9-3 WCHA) Friday-Saturday, 8:35-8:05 p.m. CT, National Hockey Center, St. Cloud, MN

Much like the Bulldogs vs. Minnesota, Wisconsin has something to prove this weekend. The Badgers, who were picked to finish eighth in the conference in the preseason coaches’ poll, have instead climbed all the way into a tie for third, just five points off the lead.

Now they face a road series at the National Hockey Center, where the Badgers have not won since early 1993. Now seems an apropos time for Wisconsin to break that streak. Center Joe Bianchi (14-15–29), who has been on a tear lately, was slowed by CC’s defense, but the team made up for that with balance: seven goals, seven scorers during the two-game series.

Goalie Kirk Daubenspeck (13-11-2, 3.66 GAA, .869 SV%) became Wisconsin’s all-time leader in career saves in the Friday win, but was pulled after the second period Saturday, having allowed five goals on 30 shots. His replacement, Mike Valley, allowed one goal on seven shots to finish the game.

St. Cloud also split a series last weekend, against the eighth-place Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves. Their loss Saturday left the Huskies in fifth place, two points behind Wiscosin and Colorado College and three ahead of Denver and Minnesota-Duluth.

Obviously, SCSU would prefer to improve its playoff position, but there’s probably more to fear from falling back than there is to gain by moving up. Unless the Huskies can get into third place or better, they face a contending team in the first round no matter what, while dropping below fifth costs them the comforts of home for that series.

Speaking of which, it was definitely an up-and-down weekend for the Huskies. Case in point: goaltender Brian Leitza (11-5-0, 3.38 GAA, .882 SV% WCHA), who has been seeing the lion’s share of playing time lately, made 16 saves both Friday and Saturday. Friday, he allowed two goals en route to a 4-2 victory, but Saturday, five pucks got by him in the loss.

The St. Cloud scorers were equally inconsistent. Matt Cullen (12-18–30) had two goals Friday and no points at all Saturday; likewise, team scoring leader Sacha Molin (15-21–36) had both his weekend points in the first game. The principal exception to this rule was Mark Parrish (14-12–26), who tallied two assists on each day.

Picks: These are two strong teams, both with an awful lot at stake. The games are in St. Cloud, but Wisconsin has yet to lose to a WCHA rival on Friday this season (11-0-1). UW 3-2, SCSU 5-3

No. 2 North Dakota (21-7-2, 18-7-1 WCHA) at Northern Michigan (9-21-2, 5-20-1 WCHA) Friday-Saturday, 7:05 p.m. ET, Lakeview Arena, Marquette, MI

The conference-leading Fighting Sioux hold their fates in their collective hand. With six games remaining in the regular season, North Dakota is a strong favorite to hold on to its lead and claim the title.

North Dakota has everything going for it right now — a favorable schedule, an offense hitting on all cylinders and sharp coaching from Dean Blais and his staff. The Sioux have six players with 30 points or more already, led by young scorers Jason Blake (18-25–43) and David Hoogsteen (19-22–41).

On D, the Sioux feature Curtis Murphy (9-22–31) and Dane Litke (3-18–21), both capable two-way players. And in goal, Aaron Schweitzer (7-0-0, 2.77 GAA, .896 SV%) has won all of his starts this season, including the Sioux’ last four games: two against Minnesota, and two last weekend against Michigan Tech.

And, as if all that weren’t enough, the Sioux also have the reigning WCHA Rookie of the Week. Brad DeFauw won that award for his two-goal weekend vs. MTU.

However, they play the games for a reason. Its easy to win on paper, but as the Golden Gophers found out, even a ninth-place team like the Wildcats is capable of making things hot for a contender.

Curtis Sheptak (two goals and an assist), team-leading scorer Bud Smith (9-15–24) (one goal, one assist), defenseman Darcy Dallas (one goal, one assist) and freshman John Coyle (two assists) carried most of the offensive load for the Wildcats last weekend. When the games had ended, the Wildcats had lost two close ones.

Head coach Rick Comley, a two-time national coach of the year, found it hard to be too upset. "We were overmanned early on," he said, adding that he was pleased with his team’s ability to hang in after going down three goals on Friday.

Now the Wildcats face a team which swept the Gophers just two weeks ago. Despite a seven-game losing streak against the Sioux, Northern Michigan holds an all-time home record of 13-5-2 against UND.

Picks: Northern Michigan can be dangerous at Lakeview, but the Sioux are still on that mission mentioned last week. It’s going to be tough for the Wildcats to slow them up. UND 4-1, 4-2

Alaska-Anchorage (9-16-3, 7-16-3 WCHA) at Michigan Tech (6-21-4, 3-19-4 WCHA) Friday-Saturday, 7:35-7:05 p.m. ET, MacInnes Student Ice Arena, Houghton, MI

The Seawolves head for Houghton a week after turning in a credible performance against the St. Cloud State Huskies in Anchorage. This series is about pride more than anything else, since both UAA and MTU are among the bottom three teams in the WCHA, neither with a chance of climbing out of that group.

That does not mean that good hockey isn’t being played in Anchorage this year. The Seawolves have established themselves as an opponent to be wary of. Leading scorer David Vallieres (6-17–23 WCHA) and Eric Silverman (10-10–20 WCHA) head up the Seawolf offense, while Doug Teskey (7-10-3, 3.15 GAA, .898 SV% WCHA) provides a stable presence between the pipes.

UAA showed its resilience on Saturday, when the Seawolves came back from a 3-1 deficit in the third period to defeat SCSU. Eric Tuott got the game-winner for Anchorage with just five minutes left in the contest, and Teskey made 14 saves after replacing a shaky Chris Davis in net.

Michigan Tech rests at the bottom of the WCHA, having been swept last weekend in Grand Forks by the Fighting Sioux of UND. Andre Savage (12-13–25 WCHA) leads the team in scoring, totaled two goals and an assist in the losing effort against North Dakota and has 18 points in his last 13 games.

In nets, Luciano Caravaggio (3-9-4, 3.41 GAA, .907 SV% WCHA) saved 42 shots on Friday, but lost 4-2. Saturday, Caravaggio replaced David Weninger after one period and made 21 more stops for a total of 63 on the weekend. Caravaggio allowed only six goals to the ferocious UND offense in that span, and showed why he leads the WCHA in save percentage, despite his very modes goals-against average.

On the down side for MTU, senior defenseman Travis VanTighem will be out several weeks — probably the rest of the regular season — with an injury to his right knee.

Picks: Michigan Tech, as the home team, gets the edge here, but don’t be surprised to see the Seawolves take some points. MTU 3-2, UAA 2-1

Next Week in the WCHA:

Friday, Feb. 21 Minnesota at Colorado College St. Cloud at Minnesota-Duluth Alaska-Anchorage at North Dakota Michigan Tech at Northern Michigan Denver at Wisconsin

Saturday, Feb. 22 Minnesota at Colorado College St. Cloud at Minnesota-Duluth Alaska-Anchorage at North Dakota Michigan Tech at Northern Michigan Denver at Wisconsin

Scott Brown is Features Editor for U.S. College Hockey Online.

Copyright 1996 Scott Brown. All Rights Reserved.

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Face Off: Week 6

USCHO Staff Report
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Welcome to U.S. College Hockey Online’s roundtable discussion. We’ll be debating a college hockey topic each week in this space, where various members of our staff meet to argue. Sometimes serious, sometimes silly — but either way, watch the feathers fly: no punches will be pulled, and no quarter given, when these people face off.

Who Should/Will Win Rookie of the Year in the Four Major Conferences?

Dave Hendrickson, Hockey East Correspondent: Ask Hockey East coaches which one rookie they’d most want for the next three years and it would be near-unanimous. Hands down, they’d take BU’s Tom Poti.

After a game early this season, one coach said that the Terriers had three game-breakers: Chris Drury, Shawn Bates and Poti. Pretty nice company for a freshman defenseman. Poti has earned such accolades with his skillful offensive play as well as his generally dependable work in his own end.

But Poti won’t win it. Defensemen, even flashy ones like Poti, rarely get a fair shake at awards time. It’s easier to check scoring totals and pick the high man, or determine which goaltender stood on his head most often, such as Marc Robitaille and Sean Matile this year.

Hockey East will instead honor the second-best rookie in the league, BC’s Jeff Farkas. At the halfway point, he deserved minimal consideration. Lesser-known recruits like UMass-Lowell’s Greg Koehler and Maine’s Corey Larose — not to mention teammate Blake Bellefeuille — regularly outscored Farkas.

But since the World Junior Tournament, Farkas has been on a rampage; his play down the stretch puts him head and shoulders above other rookie forwards. So, with apologies to Poti, his forward brethren, and Robitaille and Matile, Farkas will carry home the hardware.

Lee Urton, Media Relations: For the WCHA, Dave Spehar, F, Minnesota.

I love this guy! Someone once described him as not necessarily fast, but quick. At the time, I thought that was ridiculous, but after watching him play I see that it’s completely true.

It took Spehar some time to adjust to the college game, but after a half-season, he really took off — he just had a 14-game scoring streak snapped. This guy has a great nose for the net and excellent passing abilities. He also draws a lot of penalties with his talent and size (a modest 5-foot-7, 172 lbs).

He’s already a good player — in future years look for him to become a great one.

Mike Machnik, Special Projects: In Hockey East, the decision will be as tough as it ever has been. One can make a case for about a half-dozen different players, so instead, here’s a look at the leading candidates for the All-Rookie Team.

At forward, Boston College’s Jeff Farkas (9-17–26) has garnered the most accolades, but right behind him are Mass Lowell’s Greg Koehler (11-18–29) and Maine’s Cory Larose (8-20–28). Also deserving of votes are BC’s Blake Bellefeuille (10-15–25) and New Hampshire’s Mike Souza (13-7–20).

Defense is a little clearer, as Boston University’s Tom Poti and BC’s Mike Mottau have distanced themselves from the pack as superb two-way players.

In goal, there is again a logjam, with three freshman netminders playing key roles on their teams. UNH’s Sean Matile and Northeastern’s Marc Robitaille may fight it out for the honor, with Matile having the better numbers, including a Hockey East-record three shutouts. But Robitaille has been an impressive workhorse for a Husky squad that has often depended solely on him to keep them in games. Also, Maine’s Alfie Michaud has rebounded from a slow start to have a strong second semester, and has been a key to his team’s turnaround.

When the voting is tabulated, chances are that Farkas, Koehler and Matile will receive the strongest support for Rookie of the Year, but whatever happens, Hockey East’s bumper crop of freshmen promises to be a class to keep an eye on in the upcoming years.

Jayson Moy, ECAC Correspondent: I think it’s down to just a few players right now in the ECAC, three of which are goaltenders: J.R Prestifilippo of Harvard and Scott Prekaski and Joel Laing of RPI.

Prestifilippo has embarked on a huge streak of consecutive games played. He is the future of Harvard goaltending, but is playing for a team currently in sixth place. Prekaski and Laing play for a team tied for first, which automatically gives them higher consideration.

Prekaski has been Rookie of the Week twice, Laing once. Preakski gets the nod over Laing here because of his record (6-1-1 ECAC vs. 4-3-1 ECAC).

Others in consideration: At forward, Jeff Hamilton of Yale and Pete Gardiner of RPI. Hamilton was a rocket in the first half of the season, but has tailed off (three points since the Denver Cup). Gardiner has quietly become the leading rookie scorer in the ECAC. He has 24 points on the season (8-16) and is tied for 12th in the league in scoring (5-11-16).

On defense, there’s Dominique Auger of Princeton. He has six goals and 12 assists on the season, and is clearly one of the finest offensive defensemen to step into the ECAC in recent years. The other would have to be Brian Pothier of RPI — one goal and 10 assists. His numbers are not those of Auger, so Auger gets the nod here.

If I had to make a choice, I’d go with the offense and Pete Gardiner of RPI.

Scott Brown, Features Editor: The CCHA has not had a bumper crop of rookies this season, but a few guys do come to mind.

The overall leader among CCHA freshmen is Ohio State’s Hugo Boisvert (10-23–33), the only rookie among the top 20 overall scorers in the conference. Boisvert’s club has languished in the basement most of the season, but the Buckeyes have now moved into seventh place, which may improve his prospects.

Also at forward, Adam Edinger (11-14–25) of Bowling Green and Joe Dusbabek (12-12–24) of Notre Dame have made significant contributions. However, the award just might end up in the hands of a defenseman: Daryl Andrews (4-18–22) of Western Michigan, who leads all CCHA blueliners in points. However, the Broncos have not performed up to expectations this year, despite a solid recent run. That may handicap Andrews’ chances.

BGSU also has a defensive candidate in Peter Ratchuk (8-9–17), who scored goals in both games against Fairbanks last weekend. Between the pipes, no goalies are viable candidates this year, though Ray Aho (5-14-0, 4.47 GAA, .866 SV%) has been improving while soaking up most of the minutes for OSU.

All things being equal, Andrews might be the most deserving candidate — a scoring defenseman in a year when rookie point totals are down. However, he probably won’t get it, as the league will honor either Boisvert or Edinger, who has the advantage of playing for a team which has really turned it on lately.

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