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Lucia Gets Milestone Victory

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Colorado College head coach Don Lucia earned his 200th career victory Dec. 27 as his Tigers beat the Vermont Catamounts 6-0 at the Badger Hockey Showdown.

The win came in Lucia’s tenth season as a head coach, the last four at Colorado College, where he has won an unprecedented three straight WCHA regular-season crowns. The first of those, in 1993-94, earned Lucia the Spencer Penrose Award as national coach of the year from the American College Hockey Coaches’ Association. Last season, the Tigers were national runners-up at the NCAA Tournament.

Before coming to CC, Lucia headed up the program at Alaska-Fairbanks, where he compiled four winning seasons in six years. His ten-year overall coaching record stands at 200-132-21, a .596 winning percentage. At CC, he is 97-35-11, a .725 pace.

Lucia’s playing background includes two state championships with Grand Rapids (Minn.) High School and four varsity letters with then-WCHA member Notre Dame. He graduated from ND in 1981, having served as team captain his senior year, and was immediately hired at Fairbanks as an assistant coach. He was also an assistant at Alaska-Anchorage for two years before returning to the Nanooks as head coach.

This season, the Tigers are 11-7-1 overall and 10-5-1 in the WCHA, good for third place in the conference and a No. 7 national ranking. CC takes on rival Air Force this Tuesday before returning to league play.

Mistakes, Passion and Commitment

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Shawn Walsh, no stranger to enemies, returned to Maine hockey on Dec. 24 after serving a one-year suspension. Some welcomed him with open arms; of course, others did not.

“Shawn Walsh is the reason I came to Maine,” said assistant captain Dan Shermerhorn.

“The players know they’re getting the best,” said athletic director Suzanne Tyler.

“He should be fired,” said one state legislator and some members of the press.

"When you’re in coaching for a long period of time … especially if you’re high-profile and successful … your friends stay the same and your enemies grow."

— Shawn Walsh

The mixed reaction Walsh drew might have surprised those who were familiar only with his spectacular success, spanking a stillborn program into life 12 years earlier. Walsh transformed a team with an 11-52-0 three-year record in the ECAC into one which, not including forfeits, would win at least 30 games in six of the seven years prior to his suspension.

Not including forfeits … prior to his suspension.

Ay, there’s the rub. Maine forfeited 13 games in 1991-92 and another 14 in 1993-94, both the result of using ineligible players. Player ineligibility also threatened their cherished 1992-93 national championship.

Walsh’s critics combined all the forfeits, penalties and sanctions of the past few years and saw a coach with an impenetrable armor of success but with a soft ethical underbelly.

Walsh, who had remained silent during his suspension, answered his critics on the eve of his return.

“The hardest part personally was not speaking out and just taking the hits from certain individuals in the press,” said Walsh. “But when the same individuals write the same thing ten straight times you begin to wonder whether it’s you or whether it’s that media person.

“They weren’t in the board room when I met with the Committee on Infractions. My president was there. My athletic director was there. That committee knows what really happened. Unless somebody decides to write a book, nobody [else] is going to really know what went on in that boardroom.

“I think it was clear to the committee that there wasn’t any unethical conduct. Certainly there were mistakes made and I’m embarrassed about my part in those mistakes…. But I had faith that they understood that the severity of the infractions did not warrant me losing my job.”

Indeed the list of infractions seemed primarily to nickel and dime the Maine program rather than pinpoint the type of ethical bankruptcy exposed within the NCAA’s bigger-money sports. There weren’t many dollar bills on the evidence table, but the huge mounds of small change still added up.

Free meals here and there for athletes — toss a fistful of nickels on the pile. Three recruits received more than the allowed weekly phone call from Maine coaches — add a penny or two. Free trips to a skybox at a Red Sox game — dimes onto the pile, with an extra nickel for souvenirs.

Tainted money, true. Symbolic of either cutting corners or inexplicable sloppiness, true. But chump change in the ethical big picture. Problematic, but insufficient to sink a coach of Walsh’s stature.

Resting on top of the mountain, however, lay a crisp $100,000 bill.

Walsh’s contact with individuals before the NCAA interviewed them, despite warnings to the contrary, struck at the heart of Walsh’s ethical underpinnings. The Nixonian appearance of a cover-up played into the hands of his critics.

“I told the players and parties [involved] that they should tell the truth,” explained Walsh. “I told [them] to tell the NCAA everything they knew, even to volunteer anything that they suspected might be a violation…. The NCAA felt that I shouldn’t have even told them that.”

When the NCAA released its report, critics looking for a smoking gun found almost its opposite.

“The committee noted that the cooperation of the men’s ice hockey student-athletes greatly contributed to the discovery of many of the violations in this report,” read the NCAA Register report.

It continued, “The committee determined there was no indication that [Walsh] told any individuals to provide false or misleading information, and, in fact, many of the men’s ice hockey student-athletes fully cooperated with the investigators and reported violations.”

The committee meted out no further punishment on Walsh. He could return on Dec. 24 to the team he had built from nothing. The penalties, however, that they levied on Walsh’s team proved devastating. Among other things, they banned the Black Bears from all postseason play this year and stripped them of four scholarships next year and two the year after.

Four potential All-Americans — Blair Allison, Jeff Tory, Tim Lovell, and Brett Clark — chose to leave Maine because of the sanctions, gutting this year’s team.

“We replaced them with the players who were numbers 21, 22, 23 and 24 on our depth chart,” said Walsh. “That, coupled with the loss of scholarships, means that we’re going to be operating at about the same level that Notre Dame has operated under the last few years.” Notre Dame has given less than the full complement of 18 scholarships for years, with predictable results. “As you can see by what’s happened to them, it’s tough to get out of that middle-of-the-ground pack. That will be the challenge for us. I think we’re going to be a middle-of-the-ground team for a couple of years.”

On the positive side, however, the NCAA determined in a separate ruling that Maine could keep their 1992-93 national championship. The championship had been threatened because goaltender Mike Dunham had received, through his mother, a $2,000 stipend from USA Hockey for his Olympic participation. USA Hockey had erroneously told the Dunhams that the stipend would not affect his eligibility.

“When [another school] was able to keep their championship with their use of an ineligible player similar to the Dunham situation, I knew we were going to be fine,” said Walsh. “[Their player] received the same type of stipend from USA Hockey, so we had precedent in that situation.”

Even so, Walsh added with a laugh, “The first thing I’m going to do is go into that rink and make sure that banner is still there.”

*****

When the suspension first hit Walsh, he considered moving on. “Early on I had an offer from a professional team that I was very close to accepting,” he said. “But I would have had to sever my ties with college hockey for five years and I just wasn’t ready to do that. People that I respected said that the best thing I could do was to see this through and to come back with a positive attitude.

“That’s what I’ve tried to do. The year has been grueling but … in a lot of ways it’s been stress-free. The real tough part was not being able to talk to the players.”

In the meantime he entered the business world to support his family.

“I was fortunate to be able to land a marketing position in a new company that we started that’s been very successful,” he said. “I’ve enjoyed the challenge. I don’t have quite the same passion for it that I do for hockey, but I’ve always wondered what business would be like and that’s been a good experience for me.”

Simply being away from college hockey for the first time in roughly twenty years also proved valuable.

“You get a much different perspective on college hockey and its place in the overall scheme of things,” said Walsh. “I also learned a great appreciation for the passion I have for coaching ice hockey. Sometimes you have to have it taken away from you before you appreciate how much you love it.”

*****

“I haven’t seen them play,” said Walsh, whose suspension prohibited any contact with the team. “I’ve listened to a few of the games on the radio [and read the newspapers], but I’m going in blind. Not totally blind, but I don’t really have too many impressions formed about this particular team.”

Probably the most important personnel decision confronting Walsh will be in the nets. Freshman Alfie Michaud started the first 13 games of the season before his struggles put him on the bench in favor of walk-on Javier Gorriti.

“I’ll have to wait and see,” said Walsh. “I’ll give both of them the opportunity to see where they’re at. Things change. I remember Garth Snow as a freshman couldn’t stop a beach ball. He became a pretty good goaltender who went something like 20-0 in his senior year. So I think the key is developing the players and not necessarily making judgments on them right away.”

Walsh pointed to the arrival of 6’5″ Swedish defenseman Robert Ek and the team’s recent play as two reasons for optimism.

“You’ve got to have talent to compete, but we’ve been competitive,” said Walsh. “We have a very difficult second-half schedule because the first six games are on the road, and we’ve got three games in one week against New Hampshire and BU. But right now I’m not thinking too specifically about the short-term.

“I’m making a commitment for coming back in the long term and rebuilding the program in the long term,” he said. Walsh did, however, stop short of a guarantee that he’d be the Maine coach five years from now. “I would think so,” he said. “But you never say never. I wouldn’t have thought five years ago that I’d be having a year off.”

The scholarship limitations will slow his rebuilding effort and require greater ingenuity while recruiting. Even so, the Black Bears have already made a healthy start towards replacing the four departing seniors and improving next year’s team.

“We’ve got two defenseman [Adam Tate and Mike Garrow] who’ll join us next semester,” said Walsh. “Rather than waste a year of eligibility for them, I’ll probably just have them practice. So those two will start our recruiting class.

“The defense will be solid. Alfie will be back and Brian Masotta will be eligible. Masotta is a goaltender who transferred from RPI. He’s a fourth-round pick, so I think in goal we’ll be solid. What we’ve got to find are forwards who can score.”

Walsh has been known to locate a few of those.

“Kids that want to play in a high-profile program and have an impact much like Paul Kariya and Peter and Chris Ferraro had as freshmen are going to enjoy coming to a place like Maine. They know they can be part of turning the program back around.

“Our original torchbearers were guys like Eric Weinrich, Bob Corkum, Mike Golden and the Capuano brothers. Now we’re going to bring in the new generation of torchbearers.”

This Week in the CCHA: December 27, 1996

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CCHA Preview: Dec. 27-31, 1996 by Paula C. Weston

Each team in the CCHA except for the University of Alaska-Fairbanks Nanooks is competing in non-conference tournament play during the holiday break. The University of Michigan is defending the Great Lakes Invitational title for the eighth straight year, while Michigan State, Lake Superior State and Michigan Tech will try to unseat the Wolverines. At the Pepsi College Hockey Tournament, three middle-of-the-pack CCHA teams meet, along with the ECAC’s St. Lawrence. Western Michigan and Ferris State, each with 10 points in the CCHA, compete against Ohio State, a team with eight points. The Dodge Mariucci Classic brings together teams from each college hockey conference. Miami, ranked third nationally in the Around the Rinks/USCHO Poll, represents the CCHA. Clarkson, Boston College and Minnesota will also play in Minneapolis. Bowling Green travels East to the RPI Marine Midland Holiday Hockey Tournament. RPI, the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, and Brown round out that tournament. Notre Dame travels east as well, to take on Princeton. Although these games are meaningless in terms of conference play, each team can gain a second-season boost in confidence by winning a tournament — or at least playing well. There are three games on the docket in addition to tournament play. In a nonconference matchup, Miami meets Mankato State for the first time. In another nonleague tilt, Michigan State and Colorado College meet in East Lansing. The only game with conference implications is the Ferris State-Michigan game on New Year’s Eve. Last week’s record in picks: 2-4 Overall recordin picks: 33-21

The Great Lakes Invitational Tournament Friday, Dec. 27, and Saturday, Dec. 28, Joe Louis Arena, Detroit, MI

Friday: Michigan State (11-5-0, 9-2-0 CCHA) vs. Lake Superior (12-7-1, 9-4-0 CCHA), 4 p.m. Michigan (15-1-1, 8-1-1 CCHA) vs. Michigan Tech (5-11-1, 2-11-1 WCHA), 7:30 p.m. Saturday: Consolation game, 4 p.m; Championship game, 7:30 p.m.

Defending champion Michigan hopes to sweep this tournament for the ninth straight year. Even though these games have no bearing on the CCHA standings, the Wolverines have used their past GLI titles to propel them to success for the rest of the conference year. "When you win that tournament, it helps your team come together and get ready for the second part of the season," says Michigan coach Red Berenson. "I think our team has high expectations for this tournament, since we’ve found a way to win it for the last eight years. It’s become a high point in the season. "It would definitely be bragging rights for the seniors to say they’ve never lost. Every year it’s been something our team points to before the season starts. They talk about the GLI as though it’s important, not just another Christmas tournament." Michigan State is one team that would like to see the Wolverines relinquish the GLI title, but coach Ron Mason says he isn’t looking at the tournament as a whole yet. "All we’re worried about is Lake State. We’ve got the toughest first-round opponent we’ve faced in a long time. The biggest thing we want to try to do is get into the championship game and take it from there." Michigan, Michigan State and Lake Superior each have players who will be absent because of U.S. National Junior Team play. Mason is particularly concerned how the absence of Mike York will affect the team’s play. The sophomore forward has 18 points in 11 CCHA games. Lake Superior State will play without Jason Sessa, who leads the CCHA in scoring with 24 points in 13 league games. The Lakers make their first GLI appearance in many years, and are excited about the prospect. "This should be a great tournament," says Laker coach Scott Borek. "The rivalry is strong. We haven’t been to the GLI since 1977. It’s a great chance to play top league opponents in nonleague games. I’d love to win the tournament, but there’s only one tournament we really care about. "The biggest thing you want take away from the tournament is a confidence level against CCHA opponents. You want to know that you can physically control or compete with them. I want us to play very well, to take us into the second half." Michigan Tech is currently rebuilding its team under first-year head coach Tim Watters. The Huskies are in last place in the WCHA, and have just two league victories. Part of what’s ailing them is a lack of offense. While two players for the Huskies are in double-digit scoring, each is averaging less than a point per game. Kevin Mulligan has 13 points in 16 games, and Andre Savage has 11 points in 16 games. The Huskies are even when goaltender Luciano Caravaggio is in net. Caravaggio’s record is 4-4-1, with a very respectable save percentage of .912. With their consistently more powerful offense and excellent goaltending from Marty Turco, the Wolverines should bag their ninth consecutive GLI tournament title. Lake Superior will win the consolation game. PICKS:Friday, Michigan 7-2, Michigan State 4-3; Saturday, Michigan 4-3, Lake Superior 5-1

Pepsi College Hockey Tournament Friday, Dec. 27, and Saturday, Dec. 28, Van Andel Arena, Grand Rapids, MI

Friday: Ferris State (8-11-1, 5-9-0 CCHA) vs. Ohio State (4-13-0, 4-8-0 CCHA) 5 p.m. St. Lawrence (4-8-1, 3-3-1 ECAC) vs. Western Michigan (7-7-2, 4-6-2 CCHA), 8 p.m. Saturday: Consolation game 5 p.m.; Championship game, 8 p.m. Ferris State comes to the Pepsi College Hockey Tournament with some newly found confidence and very little pressure. "We went three-and-one before the break," says assistant coach Drew Famulak, "so our confidence level is up." The Bulldogs took a weekend series from Notre Dame the last weekend in November, beat Ohio State a week later, and lost to Michigan their last game before the break. The Bulldogs were pleased with the early play of freshman goaltender Mike Szkodzinski. "Our young kids have started to play well," says Famulak, "and we’d like to keep building on the success we had in the past few games." Nonetheless, Bulldog goaltending has been inconsistent. Szkodzinski has a goals-against average of 3.53, with a save percentage of .883. Veteran goaltender Jeff Blashill has improved his GAA to 3.78. His save percentage is .868. Famulak says his team looks forward to playing competitive CCHA teams in nonconference play. "This is a great way to showcase Division I hockey in western Michigan." Joining Ferris State as co-host of the tournament is Western Michigan University. WMU is a team accustomed to loftier CCHA ground, but since the departure of star sophomore goaltender Marc Magliarditi, the Broncos have adjusted their expectations for the season. Still, the Broncos are a team more used to winning than are their CCHA tournament opponents. At 7-7-2 overall, this team seems to be poised to move upward. The Broncos started December by losing to Michigan, then split a series with league-leading Miami. Western Michigan tied with Bowling Green to end the month. Stepping into the net for the Broncos this season, Matt Barnes is a respectable fifth in CCHA goaltending with a GAA of 3.32 and an .880 save percentage. Two Broncos, Justin Cardwell and Mike Melas, each have 21 points in 16 games. The Ohio State University Buckeyes are somewhat of a mystery. They have twice as many wins at this point in the season than they did last year at this time. They’ve taken two out of three from Ferris State, and they started December by beating Bowling Green. But the Buckeyes are inconsistent. They lost to Ferris State one week after beating BGSU, and took only one of three games from Alaska-Fairbanks. The biggest problem for the Buckeyes now is goaltending. The freshman goaltending duo of Ray Aho and Tom Connerty anchors the bottom of the CCHA. Aho has a save percentage of .851, and a GAA of 4.59. Connerty’s save percentage is a dismal .823, and he’s allowed an average of 5.65 goals per league game. Overall defense is a problem for the Buckeyes. Only one player, senior team captain and reformed goon Steve Brent, is on the plus side for OSU, at +3. There are some bright spots for the Buckeyes. The power play is looking better. Pierre Dufour is tied for fourth in power-play scoring among CCHA forwards with 13 points, and Ryan Root has 12 points, for third place among defensemen. St. Lawrence picked up three points in its last ECAC weekend with a 3-3 tie at Harvard, and a 5-4 overtime win at Brown. Saints junior Scott Stevens is second in the ECAC in scoring with five goals and seven assists. Stevens netted the overtime winner against Brown. One of the strong points for the Saints this season is the power play. Ranked first in the ECAC at 27.3 percent, the Saints hold a slight lead over Cornell (27.1 percent). Even though the power play is first in the league, shorthanded goals are a problem. The Saints have allowed four short-handers in 33 power-play opportunities. This may be one of the most evenly matched tournaments in the country. The Ohio State-Ferris game is a toss-up; the outcome depends on which OSU team shows up for the tournament — the one that beat Bowling Green, or the one that lost two of three to Alaska-Fairbanks. Western Michigan should prevail over its initial ECAC competition. PICKS: Friday, Ferris State 3-2, Western Michigan 5-3; Saturday, Ohio State 3-2, Western Michigan 4-1

Dodge Mariucci Classic Friday, Dec. 27, and Saturday, Dec. 28, Mariucci Arena, Minneapolis, MN

Friday, Clarkson (8-5-0, 4-3-0 ECAC) vs. Miami (14-4-0, 10-2-0 CCHA), 5 p.m. Boston College (7-8-1, 4-5-1 HE) vs. Minnesota (10-6-0, 9-5-0 WCHA,), 8 p.m. Saturday: Consolation game, 5 p.m.; Championship game, 8 p.m.

Miami University is off to its best start ever, and there may be little that can stop this team. At first, the key to Miami’s success was defense. Junior goaltenders Trevor Prior and Adam Lord are the stingiest duo in the CCHA. According to coach Mark Mazzoleni, as the team gained confidence in its defense, the team played more confidently overall. Mazzoleni says that each Miami player feels as though he can contribute, which leads to a true team effort. Leading the team in scoring is sophomore forward Randy Robitaille, who has 11 goals and 11 assists in 22 CCHA games. His plus-minus rating stands at +9; in fact, there are only two players on the team in the minus, each at -1, and those two have played just a few games each. Miami leads the CCHA in goaltending. Prior has an .896 save percentage, with a minimal goals-against average of 2.25. Lord’s save percentage is .903, and he is giving up just 2.48 goals per game. In addition, this bunch nearly leads the CCHA in special teams. Miami is third on the power play, and second on the penalty kill. In their last two games, the Clarkson Knights had an 8-4 victory over Brown, and a 5-4 loss to Harvard. Nine players scored the 13 Clarkson goals. Finally, Clarkson is seeing more offensive balance, though they are still just sixth in the ECAC standings. Most notably, senior captain Todd White has been tallying points. The last weekend of play before the break, White scored four times, twice in each game. White leads all ECAC scorers with 16 points, and is second in the overall point standings with 26. Boston College comes to the tournament without three-fifths of its top power-play unit. That unit consists of four 18-year-old freshmen and an 19-year-old sophomore. Unfortunately for the Eagles — at least in the short-term — Jeff Farkas, Blake Bellefeuille and sophomore sensation Marty Reasoner are instead skating for the U.S. Junior National team. Only defenseman Mike Mottau and the Eagles would-be Cam Neely, Kevin Caulfield, remain for the power play. BC coach Jerry York will probably move upperclassmen Brian Callahan, Jamie O’Leary and Ken Hemenway onto his top unit. Callahan leads BC scoring with 14 goals and nine assists. O’Leary is the only true center remaining with Farkas and Reasoner gone. Hemenway led the team in power-play goals last year with eight. On the plus side, Greg Taylor’s broken glove hand is expected to be much closer to 100 percent after extra time off. Taylor, one of the top goalies in Hockey East, missed five games before coming back and playing through pain and a lack of dexterity. The Minnesota Golden Gophers ended the first half of their season on a high note. After beating Michigan State in the consolation game of the College Hockey Showcase, the WCHA’s fourth-place Gophers split a home-home series with second-place St. Cloud State. The Gophers are solid defensively. Goaltender Steve DeBus is among the top five WCHA goaltenders, with a GAA of 2.99 and a save percentage of .896. Offensively, Minnesota could pick up its pace. The Gophers have no scorers among the top ten in the WCHA, but forward Eric Rasmussen is just out of the rankings with 16 points. While this is a competitive tournament, this is Miami’s year. Ranked third in the nation, Miami has a chance to prove to the rest of the country that it’s not a fluke by beating Minnesota (sixth in the ATR/USCHO Poll) for the championship. PICKS:Friday, Miami 4-2, Minnesota 3-1; Saturday, Miami 4-1, Clarkson 3-1

RPI Marine Midland Holiday Hockey Tournament Friday, December 27 and Saturday, December 28, Houston Field House, Troy, NY

Friday, Brown (1-9-1, 1-7-1 ECAC) vs. Bowling Green (8-8-2, 4-8-2 CCHA), 5:30 p.m. RPI (7-4-2, 4-1-1 ECAC) vs. Mass-Amherst (7-9-0, 4-6-0 HE), 8:30 p.m. Saturday: Consolation game, 5:30 p.m.; Championship game 8:30 p.m. The only reason the Bowling Green State University Falcons will advance to the Championship game in this tournament is because they play Brown in the first round. The Bears can’t seem to get a break this season. The team is suffering through a six-game losing streak and is in last place in the ECAC. Brown is in last place in total defense in the ECAC, giving up an average of 5.00 goals per game. The Bears are eighth in total offense, averaging 3.27 goals per game. They also lead the league in penalty minutes, amassing a whopping 282 minutes in just nine games. During their slump, the Bears have had three one-goal losses, two of them in overtime. There are signs that the Bears are close to turning the season around. Little by little the offense has started to wake up. Adrian Smith and Jade Kerey each recently had two-goal games, but defenseman Jimmy Andersson is still the team’s leading scorer with 13 points. The last time Bowling Green and Brown met was at this same tournament, Dec. 30, 1982. BGSU won 7-4. Much has changed since then. In fact, much has changed this season. Bowling Green is a team in pain. The Falcons were supposed to be a top-ten team this season, according to preseason polls. Instead, Bowling Green has struggled defensively, especially with goaltending, and is tied for fifth place in the CCHA with Western Michigan and Ferris State. The problem for Bowling Green isn’t offense. Curtis Fry has 19 points in 14 games. Mike Johnson has 18 points in 14 games. But the Falcons haven’t been able to lift themselves out of the quagmire. They had a chance on Dec. 14 when they played Western Michigan; the game ended in a 2-2 overtime tie. RPI is a pleasant surprise early in ECAC play this season. The Engineers are fourth in the league, but hold the highest winning percentage. Freshman goaltender Joel Laing is second in the ECAC with a .938 save percentage and a 2.33 GAA. He has been splitting time with another freshman, Scott Prekaski. Prekaski has a 2.92 GAA, and a .917 save percentage. The duo shared ECAC Rookie of the Week honors two weeks ago. Eric Healey leads RPI’s scoring barrage with 17 points (7-10). Centering him is Alain St.-Hilaire with 12 points; the other winger on this line is Matt Garver, also with 12 points. This high-scoring line is one of the reasons RPI has been a surprise. When Garver was out with a separated shoulder, RPI was shut out in three consecutive games. "It’s anybody’s tournament," says UMass head coach Joe Mallen. "RPI is very much improved. I got to see them early in the year and they’ve completely reloaded and look to be a much better team than the squad we saw last year. I also have great respect for Bowling Green and Brown. "But the question is the same as it is with a lot of the holiday tournaments. Everybody takes off for exams and takes a break from practice. All of a sudden you just reassemble everybody and go out and play hockey. It’s a tough way to do it. Obviously the team that has their timing together has the best shot at winning the whole thing." UMass-Amherst opened December with a sweep of Providence, and hoped to use that to launch a winning streak going into exams. But they dropped games to two ECAC teams, losing 7-2 to Princeton and 6-5 to Dartmouth. Goaltender Brian Regan, who suffered a pulled groin against Princeton, is expected to return for tournament play. But Tom Perry is still out with a broken wrist. Lost too is the momentum that seemed to be building at the start of the month. Even so, Mallen hopes that being off for just one week — despite the resulting distractions that exams forced his team to endure against Princeton and Dartmouth — will pay off in better timing and perhaps a tournament win. PICKS:Friday, Bowling Green 4-2, Umass 4-1; Saturday, RPI 4-2, Umass, 5-3

250th Challenge Series Notre Dame (5-10-1, 4-8-1 CCHA) at Princeton (9-3-2, 6-2-1 ECAC) Saturday, Dec. 28, 4 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 29, 2 p.m., Baker Rink, Princeton, NJ To talk to Notre Dame coach Dave Poulin is to believe that his Irish are on their way up in the CCHA. Poulin talks about close games and the rebuilding of the program. The reality is that, despite improvement this season, Notre Dame has yet to pull itself out of the CCHA’s second tier, in spite of some opportunities to do so. Notre Dame has lost five games by just one goal, but with the exception of a 3-0 shutout of Ohio State, the Irish have not won by more than two goals. Offense seems to be the problem. Brian Urick leads the team with 13 points in 13 CCHA games, but no one has double-digit goals for the Irish. Poulin says he’s a little concerned with the two weeks off prior to this match-up, "…but players do seem to be more aware of staying in condition these days." Princeton finished second in the J.C. Penney Classic. After defeating Union, the Tigers dropped a 6-1 decision to Maine. Dominque Auger, the freshman defenseman from Levis, PQ, earned a spot on the All-Tournament Team. He went 2-2-4 in the two games, picking up a goal and an assist against Union. Auger scored the lone goal against Maine in the second period. Senior Jean Verdon was another bright spot for the Tigers. He had two goals against the Dutchmen and assisted on Auger’s power-play goal against the Black Bears. Another peak performer for the Tigers this past weekend was sophomore Jason Given. Given posted three assists against Union, and is now tied for 15th in the ECAC for scoring. The Irish have lost each of the five times these teams have met. That shouldn’t change this series. PICKS:Princeton 3-2 and 4-1

Miami (14-4-0, 10-2-0 CCHA) at Mankato State (7-8-2, independent) Monday, Dec. 30, 7:05 p.m., Mankato Civic Center, Mankato, MN This is the first meeting between Miami and the Mavericks. Mankato State was even for the month of December, splitting a two-game series with Bemidji State just before the break. Miami should come into this game as champions of the Mariucci Classic. Even tired from tournament play just two days before this game, a Miami win will give the Team Formerly Known as the Redskins a nice boost of confidence going into the second half of CCHA play. PICK: Miami 5-2

Ferris State (8-11-1, 5-9-0 CCHA) at Michigan (15-1-1, 8-1-1 CCHA) Tuesday, Dec. 31, 7 p.m., Yost Arena, Ann Arbor, MI In this, the last CCHA league game of 1996, the number-one ranked Wolverines should have no problem at home with Ferris. Both teams will be a bit fatigued from playing in very competitive tournaments. Michigan’s superior offensive power and overall depth will be key in this game. Should Ferris pull off the upset (they won’t), the Bulldogs would have sole possession of fifth place in the CCHA with 12 points. A Wolverine win gives Michigan 19 points, and sole possession of second place in the CCHA. PICK:Michigan 6-2

Colorado College (10-5-1, 10-5-1 WCHA) at Michigan State (11-5-0, 9-2-0 CCHA) Tuesday, Dec. 31, 7 p.m., Munn Ice Arena, East Lansing, MI The Colorado College Tigers have won an unprecedented three consecutive WCHA regular-season titles. Last year, the Tigers lost a heart-wrenching overtime game to Michigan in the NCAA Championship game. This season, CC is struggling a little, in third place in the WCHA, but the Tigers are coming off a two-game sweep of Northern Michigan. To end November, they split two games with Alaska-Anchorage, and tied and lost to league-leading North Dakota before beating Northern. Part of the problem is uneven goaltending. Senior goalie Judd Lambert’s save percentage is .875, while freshman goaltender Jason Cugnet is only slightly better at .879. Michigan State continues to play tough against top-level CCHA opponents. They’ll be ready for the Tigers at home. Colorado College leads the overall series 42-31-1, but the teams haven’t met since the 1980-81 season. PICK:Michigan State 5-3

Special thanks to USCHO Hockey East Correspondent Dave Hendrickson and USCHO ECAC Correspondent Jayson Moy for their help with previews for teams in their respective divisions.

Happy New Year, CCHA fans!

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

Copyright 1996 Paula C. Weston . All Rights Reserved.

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This Week in the WCHA: December 27, 1996

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WCHA Preview: Dec. 27-31, 1996 by Jim Thies

Next to the end-of-the-year league and national playoffs, this time of year is possibly the most exciting for players, coaches and fans alike, since teams leave the rigors of conference play and face new opponents from across the nation.

This leads to some great matchups, and that’s the case this weekend as top teams meet in tournaments and nonconference games which should let any fan enjoy the Holiday Season even more.

Here’s a look at the games this weekend.

Northern Michigan (4-14-2, 4-13-1 WCHA) at Saskatchewan Thursday, 7 CT, Saskatoon, SK

York University and the University of Regina will join Northern Michigan and the University of Saskatchewan in the Saskatchewan Chillout. Additional games will be played Friday and Saturday.

Northern Michigan could see a lot of action at the Chillout, as the Wildcats also play a single game against Saskatchewan on Dec. 29. The good news for coach Rick Comley is that freshman center Bud Smith (four goals, seven assists, 11 points) will be back in the lineup after missing the CC series with a concussion. He is the team’s top scorer. Rich Metro (5-6–11) is one of the team’s top players. The Wildcats would like to sharpen their game in this action, to warm up for the rest of the WCHA season. Any experience this young team can get will help, so expect to see a lot of players hit the ice during these non-conference games.

Colorado College (10-5-1, 10-5-1 WCHA) vs. Vermont (9-4-0, 2-3-0 ECAC) Friday, 5:05 CT, Bradley Center, Milwaukee, WI

Colorado College and Vermont both want to play well against a respected opponent in this game at the Badger Hockey Classic. Three of the participants — Vermont, New Hampshire and Colorado College — are among the top ten teams in the country.

Vermont is led by one of the top players in the nation in Martin St. Louis (10-18–28), a true Hobey Baker Award candidate. But if you concentrate on St. Louis, then Eric Perrin (10-13–23) will hurt you. This is a talented team, and they will give Colorado College a great contest. In goalie will probably be Tim Thomas (9-4-0, 3.11 GAA, .910 SV%) who has been a mainstay in the nets.

Colorado College, currently third in the WCHA and just two points out of first, has played better and better as the season has progressed. The games this weekend are important for coach Don Lucia and his team if they want to keep improving for what lies ahead in the WCHA. Brian Swanson (8-13–21) is third in the league in scoring. Jason Goodmundson (10-8–18) and Darren Clark (7-11–18) are tied for seventh in scoring.

The Tigers have gotten help from a lot of players this year, with 10 different guys netting game-winning goals. Goalie Judd Lambert (8-4-0, 3.40 GAA, .875 SV%) hasn’t had the type of season he wanted so far, and would like to improve his numbers. CC is just 3-3-1 on the road and wants to improve that percentage with a couple of wins.

Wisconsin (7-8-1, 7-6-1 WCHA) vs. New Hampshire (13-2-0, 10-0-0 HE) Friday, 8:05 CT, Bradley Center, Milwaukee, WI

Vermont and New Hampshire join CC and UW in the Badgers’ hockey showdown. Games will also be played on Saturday at 5:00 and 8:05 CT. Wisconsin faces Hockey East power New Hampshire in this game of the Badger Hockey Classic.

The way his team was playing before the break, New Hampshire coach Dick Umile may have petitioned the North Pole for a postponement of Christmas. The second-ranked Wildcats were riding a 12-game win streak, during which they averaged over six goals a game, while giving up a mere 2.75. Recently New Hampshire posted six players among Hockey East’s top ten scorers. Last year’s three All-America candidates — Eric Boguniecki, Mark Mowers and Eric Nickulas — have been joined by Tom Nolan, Derek Bekar and Jason Krog to power the most explosive offense in the East. Nolan and third-liner Greg Dumont return after missing the last month with injuries.

Wisconsin faces one of the top teams in the country, but the Badgers need to play good teams to get better. These games are in Milwaukee, which is as close as the Badgers get to playing at home this weekend.

Speaking of which, the Badgers need to play better at home, where they are 3-3-0 this year. Goalie Kirk Daubenspeck (6-6-1, 3.40 GAA, .883 SV%) will see plenty of action and he will need to be at the top of his game for the Badgers to have a chance. Brad Engelhart (9-5–14) is among Wisconsin’s top scorers, while any time Rick Enrico (4-10–14) is near the puck good things happen for the Badgers. Maybe this is the kiss of death, but the Badgers are 14-0-0 all-time against New Hampshire.

Yale (3-5-2, 3-5-1 ECAC) vs. Denver (8-6-2, 6-6-2 WCHA) Friday, 7:05 MT, McNichols Arena, Denver, CO

Maine and Air Force join Denver and Yale in the Denver Cup. Games will also be played on Saturday, at 4:00 and 7:05 CT.

Yale has hovered near the .500 mark most of the season and will try to get back to that point with a couple of wins at the Denver Cup. Jeff Hamilton (4-7–11) is among the ECAC scoring leaders. Look for the Bulldogs to play the game close to the vest and wait for their opponent to make a mistake. They will try to then capitalize and sneak out a win.

Denver has played well lately, going 5-1-2 over its last eight games. After a poor start, they are starting to climb back into the fight in the WCHA. Antti Laaksonen (8-5–13) has had five multiple-point games and leads the Pioneers in all games with 16 points. Paul Comrie (5-6–11) has points in his last three games and is second on the team overall with 15 points. Warren Smith (2-9–11) has been hot the last six games by scoring nine points. Goalie Stephen Wagner (4-2-0, 2.82 GAA, .906 SV%) is among the top league goalies.

Michigan Tech (5-11-1, 2-11-1 WCHA) vs. Michigan (15-1-1, 8-1-1 CCHA) Friday, 7:30 ET, Joe Louis Arena, Detroit, MI Michigan State and Lake Superior State join Michigan Tech and Michigan in the Great Lakes Invitational. Games will also be played Saturday, at times to be announced. One of the top tourneys at this time of year is the Great Lakes Invitational and this year’s action will be among the best.

Michigan Tech will have its hands full with rival Michigan in this contest. The Huskies need to break out of a nine-game winless streak, the team’s longest since the 1993-94 team did not win in 11 straight games. The Huskies haven’t lost because of defense; they have held their opponents to three or fewer goals in 12 of 17 games this year. But a look at the WCHA scoring leaders list doesn’t show a single MTU player. Tech has scored three or fewer goals in 12 games. Also, the power play has frozen solid, scoring just two times in the past 57 chances.

Defending champion Michigan hopes to sweep this tournament for the ninth straight year. Even though these games have no bearing on the CCHA standings, the Wolverines have used past GLI titles to propel them to success the rest of the season.

"When you win that tournament, it helps your team come together and get ready for the second part of the season," says Michigan coach Red Berenson.

Minnesota (10-6-0, 9-5-0 WCHA) vs. Boston College (7-8-1, 4-5-1 HE) Friday, 7:05 CT, Mariucci Arena, Minneapolis, MN Miami University and Clarkson join Minnesota and Boston College in the Mariucci Classic. Games will also be played Saturday, at 4:00 and 7:05 CT.

BU’s Chris Drury and his four goals sent BC into the break shaking their heads over their 6-4 loss to the Terriers. No one likes to lose to a top rival, but they certainly won’t be the last victim of the Chris Drury Show. Unfortunately for the Eagles — at least in the short term — Jeff Farkas, Blake Bellefeuille and sophomore sensation Marty Reasoner will instead be skating for the U.S. team in the upcoming junior tournament. Only defenseman Mike Mottau and Cam Neely lookalike Kevin Caulfield remain for the power play. BC coach Jerry York will probably move upperclassmen Brian Callahan, Jamie O’Leary and Ken Hemenway onto his top unit. Callahan leads BC scoring with 14 goals and nine assists. O’Leary is the only true center remaining with Farkas and Reasoner gone.

Minnesota, currently fourth in the WCHA and five points behind the leaders, would like to rebound from a 4-3 overtime loss to St. Cloud State in its last game. But that could be tough with three key players missing: defenseman Ben Clymer, and forwards Erik Rasmussen and Wyatt Smith are with the junior team. But Casey Hankinson (7-7–14) is on hand, along with Brian LaFleur (4-7–11) and Ryan Kraft (5-5–10). Goalie Steve DeBus (6-4-0, 2.99 GAA, .896 SV%) is having a steady season.

Boston University (10-3-1, 8-0-1 HE) at North Dakota (11-4-1, 11-4-1 WCHA) Friday-Saturday, 7:35 CT, Engelstad Arena, Grand Forks, ND

This is a great matchup: BU, second in Hockey East, against North Dakota, which sits atop the WCHA.

BU entered exam break on a high after beating arch-rival Boston College 6-4 on the back of Chris Drury’s four goals, two of them short-handed. BU coach Jack Parker looks for a positive carryover effect from the win.

"Winning a BC game, no matter what time of year it is, always has a good psychological effect on our team," said Parker.

Prior to the BC game, the Terriers had only scored two goals in three games while going 0-2-1. Freshman Dan Lacouture’s departure from the team for personal reasons has shifted an unhealthy scoring burden onto Hobey Baker candidate Drury. With Walsh also out of the lineup in the BC game, Drury’s 20 goals matched that of BU’s entire second and third lines combined.

"We’re going to have our hands full with North Dakota. They’re at the top of the WCHA. Dean [Blais] has obviously done a great job turning that situation around, going from the middle of the pack to the top pretty quickly. It’s a great rink and a great place to play … once you get there," Parker added with a laugh. The Terriers will leave BU at 4:30 a.m. on the 26th and arrive at noontime, just in time for an afternoon practice.

North Dakota is 5-1-1 over their last seven games and looks to keep its streak alive against a great opponent. The Fighting Sioux lead the league, but certainly can’t put their play in cruise control since the third-place team is just two points behind. These games should help UND keep at the top of their game for the rest of the WCHA season. Dave Hoogsteen (11-12–23) and Jason Blake (10-13–23) are tied for the league lead in scoring. Ian Kallay (7-11–18) isn’t that far behind.

Goalie Toby Kvalevog (9-3-1, 3.09 GAA, .872 SV%) has been the main man in the nets. UND will need a strong rest-of-the-season push to stay in first place in the league. Playing a team like BU, and playing well, can only help down the road.

Pori Aces Finland at Minnesota-Duluth (11-8-1, 8-7-1 WCHA) Friday, 7:05 CT, DECC, Duluth, MN

The Bulldogs get a chance to play a game before returning to the WCHA rigors on Jan. 10-11 at home against Alaska-Anchorage. Ken Dzikowski (8-13–21) is tied for third in league scoring and just two points behind the leaders. Mike Peluso (12-8–20) is fifth in scoring and has at least one point in 16 of the 19 games he has skated.

Congratulations to coach Mike Sertich, who reached the 300-win plateau when the Bulldogs beat Harvard, 4-2, on Dec. 21.

NOTE: A special thanks to Paula Weston, USCHO CCHA Correspondent, for the preview on Michigan and to Dave Hendrickson, USCHO Hockey East Correspondent, for the previews on Boston College, Boston University and New Hampshire.

Next Week in the WCHA

Friday-Saturday, Jan. 3-4 Minnesota at Alaska-Anchorage St. Cloud State at Denver Michigan Tech at Wisconsin North Dakota at Western Michigan

Saturday, Jan. 4 Laurentian at Northern Michigan

Tuesday, Jan. 7 Colorado College at Air Force

Jim Thies is the WCHA Correspondent for U.S. College Hockey Online.

Copyright 1996 Jim Thies. All Rights Reserved.

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This Week in Hockey East: December 27, 1996

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Hockey East Preview: Dec. 27-31, 1996 by Dave Hendrickson

After two sparse weeks Hockey East rebounds into full-scale action. All but Boston University will be participating in tournaments, while the fourth-ranked Terriers travel to North Dakota to play the fifth-ranked Fighting Sioux.

Look for plenty of upsets this week. After a week or two off, it’s anyone’s guess who’ll be operating on all cylinders and who’ll be sputtering.

Since the number of teams to be discussed explodes at tournament time — 26 this weekend — USCHO correspondents Jayson Moy (ECAC), Jim Thies (WCHA) and Paula Weston (CCHA) have provided their commentaries instead of my own about the teams in their respective conferences.

Last week’s record in picks: 2-1 Season record in picks: 59-33

No. 4 Boston University (10-3-2, 8-0-1 HE) at No. 5 North Dakota (11-4-1, 11-4-1 WCHA) Friday and Saturday, 7 p.m., Ralph Engelstad Arena, Grand Forks, ND

Boston University entered exam break on a high after beating arch-rival Boston College 6-4 on the back of Chris Drury’s four goals, two of them short-handed. BU coach Jack Parker looks for a positive carryover effect from the win. "Winning a BC game, no matter what time of year it is, always has a good psychological effect on our team," said Parker. "Vice versa, if they beat us it has a good effect on their team. So I think that will help us out. We played short-handed, but played really well."

BU played short-handed, in part because of two suspensions. Shane Johnson served the second game of a two-game fighting disqualification. Brendan Walsh did not dress because of breaking team rules. Both players return this weekend, and not a moment too soon.

"Shane’s return is a huge deal because as we add Shane we lose Tom Poti," said Parker. Poti, their flashy freshman defenseman, will miss the next four games — two against fifth-ranked North Dakota and two against second-ranked New Hampshire — while he plays in the World Junior Tournament. "We only played nine forwards against BC because of all our injuries and [other missing players] so we obviously need Brendan back as well. We still will only have 17 skaters out at North Dakota."

Prior to the BC game, the Terriers had only scored two goals in three games while going 0-2-1. Freshman Dan Lacouture’s departure from the team for personal reasons has shifted an unhealthy scoring burden onto Hobey Baker candidate Drury. With Walsh also out of the lineup in the BC game, Drury’s 20 goals matched that of BU’s entire second and third lines combined.

"I’m very concerned about that. We don’t want Chris to stop scoring," said Parker, laughing, "but at the same time we need to have some other players chipping in. Mike Sylvia has to pick up the slack. I truly believe that Shawn Bates will do what he usually does the second half of the year. He usually struggles the first half and then comes on strong. If you look at his stats, he’s done that every year. And we’ve got to get more out of our freshmen and sophomores.

"We’re going to have our hands full with North Dakota. They’re at the top of the WCHA. [North Dakota coach] Dean [Blais] has obviously done a great job turning that situation around, going from the middle of the pack to the top pretty quickly. It’s a great rink and a great place to play. Once you get there," Parker added. The Terriers will leave BU at 4:30 a.m. on the 26th and arrive at noontime, just in time for an afternoon practice.

North Dakota has emerged as a WCHA power after last year posting their first winning record in five seasons. The Fighting Sioux boast four of the top ten scorers in the WCHA. Dave Hoogsteen and Jason Blake lead the league with 23 points in 16 games. Ian Kallay (18 points) and Kevin Hoogsteen (17) aren’t far behind.

Their top defensemen include Curtis Murphy (14 points) Dane Litke (12), Brad Williamson (6), Mitch Vig (6) and Mark Pivetz (5).

Toby Kvalevog tends the nets for the Fighting Sioux. He has posted a 9-3-1 record with a 3.09 goals-against average (good for fifth in the league) and an .872 save percentage.

PICK: A tough road trip for the Terriers. North Dakota sweeps, 5-2 and 4-3.

Bank One Badger Showdown No. 8 Colorado College (10-5-1, 10-5-1 WCHA) vs. No. 9 Vermont (9-4-0, 2-3-0 ECAC) No. 2 New Hampshire (13-2-0, 10-0-0 HE) vs. Wisconsin (7-8-1, 7-6-1 WCHA) Friday, 5 p.m., 8 p.m. Consolation/Championship, Saturday, 5 p.m., 8 p.m. All games Central Time. All games at the Bradley Center, Milwaukee, WI

The way his team was playing before the break, New Hampshire coach Dick Umile may have petitioned the North Pole for a postponement of Christmas. The second-ranked Wildcats were riding a twelve-game win streak, during which they averaged over six goals a game while giving up a mere 2.75.

"We may be surprised that we’re number two, but we knew we were going to have a good team this year," said Umile. "We paid our dues last year with a young team, losing some kids, and a lot of injuries. When you have a losing season it just makes you reevaluate and work harder. The guys have made that commitment."

Recently, New Hampshire posted six players among Hockey East’s top ten scorers. Last year’s three All-America candidates — Eric Boguniecki, Mark Mowers and Eric Nickulas — have been joined by Tom Nolan, Derek Bekar and Jason Krog to power the top scoring offense in the country (5.53 goals per game). Nolan and third-liner Greg Dumont return after missing the last month with injuries.

Umile looks forward to opening against host Wisconsin and the fiercely partisan crowd. "We’re going out there with confidence that we’re a good college hockey team playing in one of the premier Christmas tournaments. We’ll probably be playing in front of something like 15,000 people. That’s what you want to do as a college hockey player. We want to go out there, play well, and have an opportunity to win."

Umile feels that his team is playing with the right degree of confidence.

"There’s nothing wrong with being a confident team," he said. "We’re a team that has confidence that we can succeed. [But] overconfidence hasn’t entered our team. We’re realistic. We know that we have a good team but that you have to earn it each week. You’re only as good as your last game."

Although Wisconsin won’t be playing in its own rink, the Badgers should still have the home-ice advantage with fans packing the Bradley Center. Goalie Kirk Daubenspeck (6-6-1, 3.40 GAA, .883 save percentage) will get plenty of action, and he will need to be at the top of his game for the Badgers to have a chance. Brad Engelhart (9-5–14) is among Wisconsin’s top scorers, while any time Rick Enrico (4-10–14) is near the puck good things happen for the Badgers. Maybe this is the kiss of death, but the Badgers are 14-0-0 all-time against New Hampshire.

Colorado College comes into their rematch of last year’s NCAA semifinal against Vermont on a two-game winning streak. The Tigers swept Northern Michigan 7-2 and 7-3 two weeks ago, scoring five times in a span of 4:34 in the first game, a school record against league competition.

CC will be without Toby Petersen and defenseman Dan Peters, who are in the World Junior Tournament.

Brian Swanson (8-13–21) is third in the league in scoring. Jason Goodmundson (10-8–18) and Darren Clark (7-11–18) are tied for seventh. The Tigers have gotten help from a lot of players this year, with 10 different guys netting game-winning goals. Goalie Judd Lambert (8-4-0, 3.40 GAA, .875 SV%) hasn’t had the type of season he wanted so far. CC is just 3-3-1 on the road.

Don Lucia needs one victory to reach the 200-win plateau as a collegiate head coach. Lucia is 199-130-21 (.599) in 10 campaigns, including a 96-33-11 (.725) mark in his four years behind the Colorado College bench. His previous six campaigns were at Alaska-Fairbanks.

One looks at Vermont and wonders how the Catamounts could be in tenth place in the ECAC. There is definitely one answer. They have only played five league games, tied for fewest in the league with travel partner Dartmouth. That would also explain the absence of Catamounts among the league scoring leaders.

But reports of the death of the French Connection have been greatly exaggerated. Factoring in non-league contests, Martin St. Louis leads the ECAC in scoring (10-18–28), and his linemate Eric Perrin is tied for third (10-13–23). The other member, J.C. Ruid, is no slouch either; he is eighth in the league (6-12–18).

What is surprising, though, is the absence of Tim Thomas among goaltending leaders. Thomas earned the Dryden Award for the best ECAC netminder last season with a 2.34 GAA and a .924 save percentage. This season his numbers (3.11 and .909, respectively) are not as impressive.

Also surprisingly, the Catamounts rank 11th overall in the ECAC on the power play, with only a 14.8 percent efficiency. They only have 12 power play goals on 81 attempts, and have allowed four short-handed goals. They allowed only four of those in 38 games last season.

PICKS: New Hampshire 6-3 over Wisconsin and 5-4 over either Colorado College or Vermont.

Dodge Mariucci Classic Clarkson (8-5-0, 4-3-0 ECAC) vs. No. 3 Miami (OH) (14-4-0, 10-2-0 CCHA) Boston College (7-8-1, 4-5-1 HE) vs. No. 6 Minnesota (10-6-0, 9-5-0 WCHA) Friday, 4 p.m., 7 p.m. Consolation/Championship, Saturday, 4 p.m., 7 p.m. All games televised on MSC. Game times Central Time. All games at Mariucci Arena, Minneapolis, MN

BU’s Chris Drury and his four goals sent the Boston College Eagles into the break shaking their heads over their 6-4 loss to the Terriers. No one likes to lose to a top rival, and BC certainly won’t be the last victim of the Chris Drury Show, but two goals in particular had to haunt the Eagles like Scrooge’s bad gruel.

Drury’s first short-handed goal developed on a two-on-none while BC held a five-on-three man advantage. How did that happen? Then when a five-minute major assessed against BU gave the Eagles a chance to get back into the game, Drury scored his second, back-breaking short-handed goal. Perhaps some smart-aleck fan this weekend at Mariucci will suggest that BC decline all penalties.

Especially since they will be missing three-fifths of their top power-play unit. That unit consists of four 18-year old freshmen and an 19-year old sophomore. Unfortunately for the Eagles — at least in the short-term — Jeff Farkas, Blake Bellefeuille and sophomore sensation Marty Reasoner will instead be skating for the U.S. team in the upcoming junior tournament.

Only defenseman Mike Mottau and Cam Neely lookalike Kevin Caulfield remain for the power play. Although BC coach Jerry York hasn’t decided who will fill the roles, look for him to move upperclassmen Brian Callahan, Jamie O’Leary and Ken Hemenway onto his top unit. Callahan leads BC scoring with 14 goals and nine assists. O’Leary is the only true center remaining with Farkas and Reasoner gone. Hemenway led the team in power-play goals last year with eight.

"The field is outstanding," said York, optimistic despite the absences. "You just have to look at Miami’s record. We’ve already played Clarkson so we know how tough they are. And Minnesota is always strong.

"We’ll be without some of our top players, but I view this as an opportunity for other players to get additional ice time and speed up their development. This is their chance to show what they can do." On the plus side, Greg Taylor’s broken glove hand is now 100 per cent. Taylor, one of the top goalies in Hockey East, missed five games before coming back and playing through pain and an inability to completely control shots to that side.

"It should be a tough tournament to figure out," said York. "Everyone is coming back after not being in practices, so teams will be rested but maybe not in top form."

BC will open the tournament against the one other squad that placed three players on the U.S. junior team. Minnesota will be playing without defenseman Ben Clymer and forwards Erik Rasmussen and Wyatt Smith, all key players. Currently fourth in the WCHA and five points behind North Dakota, the Golden Gophers want to rebound from a 4-3 overtime loss to St. Cloud State in its last game. With those three players gone, Minnesota will rely on Casey Hankinson (7-7–14), Brian LaFleur (4-7–11), and Ryan Kraft (5-5–10).

Goalie Steve DeBus (6-4-0, 2.99 GAA, .896 save percentage) is having a steady season. Erik Day (3-1-0, 1.00 GAA, .956 save percentage) backs up DeBus and has also impressed. Day went into the freshman record books earlier this year, gaining a shutout in his first career start.

Two weeks ago ECAC Correspondent Jayson Moy noted that Clarkson has started to see more balanced scoring. Nine different Golden Knights scored ten goals against Boston College and Boston University to key a sweep. In Clarkson’s last two, an 8-4 victory over Brown and a 5-4 loss to Harvard, nine different players scored the 13 goals.

Senior captain Todd White, who scored twice each evening, leads all ECAC scorers with 16 points (10-6), and is second in the league overall (13-13–26).

Miami is off to its best start ever, and there may be little to stop them. At first, the key to success was defense. Junior goaltenders Trevor Prior and Adam Lord were the stingiest duo in the CCHA. According to coach Mark Mazzoleni, as the team gained confidence in its defense, the team played more confidently overall. Mazzoleni says that each Miami player feels as though he can contribute, which leads to a true team effort.

Leading the team in scoring is sophomore forward Randy Robitaille, who has 11 goals and 11 assists in 22 CCHA games. His plus-minus rating is +9; in fact, there are only two players on the team in the minus, and those players have played just a few games each.

Miami leads the CCHA in goaltending. Prior has an .896 save percentage, with a goals against average of 2.25. Lord’s save percentage is .903; he averages 2.48 goals against.

This team nearly leads the CCHA in special teams. They are third on the power play, and second on the penalty kill.

PICKS: Boston College falls twice without Reasoner and company, 5-2 to Minnesota and then 3-1 to either Miami or, more likely, Clarkson.

Syracuse Invitational Merrimack (3-11-1, 2-7-1 HE) vs. Colgate (7-6-1, 4-4-1 ECAC) Providence (6-9-1, 4-5-1 HE) vs. Cornell (6-3-1, 6-2-1 ECAC) Friday, 5:15 p.m., 8:15 p.m.. Consolation/Championship, Saturday, 5:15 p.m., 8:15 p.m. All games at Onondaga War Memorial, Syracuse, NY

Providence took two weeks off for exams and Christmas after suffering a 5-3 and 3-1 sweep at the hands of UMass-Amherst. The back end of the home-and-home took frustration levels to a new high when the Friars had their fourth controversially disallowed goal of the season, each of which has cost them points in the standings. Adding insult to injury, both goals they surrendered prior to UMass-Amherst’s empty-netter seemed to reflect unlucky bounces more than anything. PC coach Paul Pooley still refused to resort to excuses.

"We need to refocus on working hard and deserving to win," said Pooley. "I told my guys that I don’t think we’ve deserved to win because I don’t think we’ve been doing things as well as we should be. We’re not totally paying the price on the ice and off the ice. It was a wake up call for us because I thought we were in a position to win both games but let them get away.

"I always tell our guys that there’s a fine line between winning and losing. Right now we’re just below that line. Last year we were just over. The difference is that we won the close games last year. Hey, I’m excited about the second half because instead of being 6-9-1 we could be 10-5-1 if things would have bounced our way. But they haven’t, so we just have to find a way to win. We have to make sure that we’re consistent throughout the game and get back to what we’re all about as a hockey team."

Merrimack dropped a 5-2 contest to Dartmouth, giving the Warriors only a single tie in their last eight games. Their 3-11-1 record marks their worst start since entering Division I in 1989.

"We were playing all right but once we got behind, the legs let go, we ran out of gas, and lost our composure as well," said Merrimack coach Ron Anderson. Anderson’s reference to composure focused on freshman Jayson Philbin. Philbin, who had just returned from a one-game suspension for running a goalie to touch off a brawl in a 9-0 loss to UNH, flew off the handle in the third period. His actions earned him two five-minute majors and another game disqualification. Since a second game DQ results in a two-game suspension, he will be ineligible for the entire Syracuse tournament.

The Dartmouth power play maneuvered successfully to generate wide-open opportunities against which Merrimack goalie Martin Legault had no chance. "We were trying to be aggressive, but we were slowly aggressive," explained Anderson. "All that does is take you out of position. We had an idea of what we wanted to do but we had to do it with some quickness. We just didn’t do it quickly enough. Early in the game when we had fresh legs, we were fairly effective, but once we started to get tired, we probably should have changed what we were trying to do. We tried to keep doing it and they exploited that."

Merrimack will open against Colgate, who beat the Warriors earlier 7-3. Anderson expects to split Legault and Eric Thibeault in the tournament, since he feels both have played well and the games are on back-to-back nights.

"[Colgate] has already beaten us so we know we have to pick our game up," said Anderson. "We have to get ourselves back into condition and regroup a little mentally and strategically."

John Jakopin is providing one of the bright spots for Merrimack. After battling illness at the beginning of the season, he now provides both offense and defense from the blue line. "He’s obviously a big, strong guy for us who can skate," said Anderson. "He’s got good range, so we’re trying to utilize that. We turn him loose when he sees the opportunity. He’s been an asset for us offensively because he creates some things not only for himself but also for some other people."

Colgate endured a 1-5-0 stretch before turning things around in the last two games. The team earned three hard ECAC points with a 4-1 defeat of Union and a last-minute 3-3 tie against RPI.

Senior Rob Mara starred for the Red Raiders that weekend. He tallied three goals on the weekend, two against Union, and the game-tying goal with 32 seconds left against RPI. His efforts earned him ECAC Player of the Week honors.

Mike Harder is back in the goal-scoring department with two in his last three games. He is tied for third in ECAC scoring with nine goals and fourteen assists. His linemate Dave DeBusschere also has 23 points (10-13).

Cornell headed into the break tied for first in the league despite not faring well in its last two outings. The Big Red were upset by RPI 4-2, and tied Union 3-3.

Jason Elliot is among the ECAC netminding leaders with a .917 save percentage and a 2.50 GAA. He has continued to give the Big Red solid goaltending.

The Cornell power play ranks the best in the league, hitting at 28.8 per cent. The Big Red have only had 52 power play attempts, second lowest in the league, but have converted 15 times.

Cornell uses a balanced attack in its game. This is evidenced by looking at the scoring charts of the Big Red. Despite an ECAC-leading 34 goals in league action, not one member of the Big Red is in the league’s Top 10. Sophomore Kyle Knopp is tied for 11th in the league with nine points (2-7), but does not even make the Top 16 in overall scoring.

PICKS: Colgate 5-1 over Merrimack. Cornell 4-3 over Providence. Providence 4-1 over Merrimack (or 4-2 over Colgate with Merrimack recording the same loss against Cornell).

RPI Marine Midland Holiday Hockey Tournament Brown (1-9-1, 1-7-1 ECAC) vs. Bowling Green (8-8-2, 4-8-2 CCHA) RPI (7-4-2, 4-1-1 ECAC) vs. UMass-Amherst (7-9-0, 4-6-0 HE) Friday, 5:30 p.m., 8:30 p.m.. Consolation/Championship, Saturday, 5:30 p.m., 8:30 p.m. All games at RPI Fieldhouse, Troy, NY

UMass-Amherst opened the month with a sweep of Providence and hoped to use that to launch a winning streak going into exams. But they dropped games to two ECAC teams — where have we heard that before? — losing 7-2 to Princeton and 6-5 to Dartmouth. Although coach Joe Mallen was impressed with both teams, particularly Princeton, he felt that several factors prevented the Minutemen from putting their best foot forward.

"We were pretty banged up with nagging injuries," said Mallen. "We were also one of the few teams playing while heading into exams. I think that took a bigger toll than I thought it might. Also, in the Princeton game [goaltender] Brian Regan pulled his groin about halfway through the game and didn’t let us know. He was struggling a little bit in terms of trying to get across the crease. He made some terrific saves in the game, but I think that hurt us a little."

Regan, who has played most of the UMass-Amherst games, could not go the next night against Dartmouth. But the key wasn’t goaltending; it was the guys in stripes. Mallen chose not to discuss the officiating, but a questionable Dartmouth goal was allowed and the Big Green also used their 10-3 superiority in man-advantage opportunities to score three power-play goals.

Regan will return for this tournament, but Tom Perry is still out with a broken wrist. Lost too is the momentum that seemed to be building at the start of the month. Even so, Mallen thinks his squad has a shot at winning it.

"It’s anybody’s tournament," he said. "RPI is very much improved. I got to see them early in the year and they’ve completely reloaded and look to be a much better team than the squad we saw last year. I also have great respect for Bowling Green and Brown.

"But the question is the same as it is with a lot of the holiday tournaments. Everybody takes off for exams and takes a break from practice. All of a sudden you just reassemble everybody and go out and play hockey. It’s a tough way to do it. Obviously the team that has their timing together has the best shot at winning the whole thing."

Mallen hopes that being off for just one week — despite the resulting distractions that exams forced his team to endure against Princeton and Dartmouth — will pay off in better timing and perhaps a tournament win.

RPI is another of the ECAC’s pleasant surprises. The Engineers are fourth in the league, but hold the highest winning percentage, and also lead in league points per game.

Freshman goaltender Joel Laing ranks second in the ECAC with a .938 save percentage, and a 2.33 GAA. He splits time with another freshman, Scott Prekaski. Prekaski has a 2.92 GAA, and a .917 save percentage. The duo earned ECAC Co-Rookies of the Week honors two weeks ago.

Eric Healey leads the scoring barrage of RPI with 17 points (7-10). Alain St.-Hilaire (6-6–12) centers Heale, and the other winger on the line is Matt Garver (3-9–12). This high-scoring line has proved pivotal to RPI’s surprising season. When Garver was out with a separated shoulder, RPI was shut out in three consecutive games.

Brown can not seem to get many things going for them. The team is suffering through a six-game losing streak and is in last place in the ECAC. The Bears are in last place in total defense in the ECAC, giving up an average of 5.00 goals per game, and eighth in total offense, averaging 3.27 goals per game. The Bears also lead the league in penalty minutes, amassing a whopping 282 in nine games.

During the slump, there have been three one-goal losses, two of them in overtime, so the Bears might be close to turning the season around. Little by little they have seen the offense improve. Adrian Smith and Jade Kerey each recently had two-goal games. Defenseman Jimmy Andersson is the team’s leading scorer (1-12–13).

The power play unit is also second in league efficiency, hitting at 25.4 per cent. Their 16 power-play goals rank third in the league.

The last time Bowling Green and Brown met was at this same tournament on Dec. 30, 1982. BGSU won 7-4. Much has changed since then. In fact, much has changed this season.

Bowling Green is a team in pain. The Falcons were supposed to be a top-ten team this season, according to preseason polls. Instead, Bowling Green has struggled defensively, especially with goaltending, and is tied for fifth place in the CCHA with Western Michigan and Ferris State.

The problem for Bowling Green isn’t offense. Curtis Fry has 19 points in 14 games. Mike Johnson has 18 points in 14 games. But the Falcons haven’t been able to lift themselves out of the quagmire in the middle of the CCHA. They had a chance on Dec. 14 when they played Western Michigan; the game ended in a 2-2 overtime tie.

PICKS: RPI 4-3 over UMass-Amherst. UMass-Amherst 5-1 over Brown or 5-4 over Bowling Green.

Denver Cup Yale (3-5-2, 3-5-1 ECAC) vs. Air Force (4-7-1, 2-4-0 vs. Div I) Maine (9-7-1, 2-5-1 HE) vs. Denver (8-6-2, 6-6-2 WCHA) Friday, 4 p.m., 7 p.m.. Maine game/Denver game, Saturday, 4 p.m., 7 p.m. All game times are Mountain Time. All games at Denver Arena, Denver, CO. Saturday night game televised on FSRM.

The Maine Black Bears are sky-high indeed going into the Mile High City. Maine dominated both Dalhousie 10-2 and ECAC leaders Princeton 6-1 to win the J.C. Penney Classic in their own back yard. Winning that tournament could serve as a launching pad for the second half of the season.

Of potentially even more significance, Shawn Walsh finally has emerged from his year-long suspension. For most Maine freshmen, Walsh is a man they’ve never played for and perhaps never even met. For most upperclassmen, Walsh is The Man.

"I haven’t seen them play," said Walsh, whose suspension forbade any contact with the team. "I’ve listened to a few of the games on the radio [and read the newspapers], but I’m going in blind. Not totally blind, but I don’t really have too many impressions formed about this particular team. I’m looking forward to using the Denver tournament to get an idea about our personnel. It’ll be my training camp."

Probably the most important personnel decision confronting Walsh will be in the nets where Javier Gorriti started both tournament games while Alfie Michaud mopped up.

"I’ll have to wait and see," said Walsh. "I’ll give both of them the opportunity to see where they’re at…. I think that the key is developing the players and not necessarily making judgments on them right away."

Maine will open against the host Denver team. They will then play the early game on Saturday, win or lose, since their NCAA restrictions prohibit them from appearing on TV this year. As an oddity, the afternoon contest could be an untelevised championship game while the cameras broadcast an evening consolation match across the state.

"Denver is a quality team," said Walsh. "They were a top preseason pick in many polls, ranked as highly as fifth in the country. They seem to have righted their own ship when they swept Minnesota-Duluth two weekends ago. They’ll be a very, very good team on their own ice surface."

Denver has played well lately, going 5-1-2 over its last eight games. After a poor start, the Pioneers are starting to climb back into the fight in the WCHA. Antti Laaksonen (8-5–13) has had five multiple-point games and leads the Pioneers in all games with 16 points. Paul Comrie (5-6–11) has points in last three games and is second on the team overall with 15 points. Warren Smith (2-9–11) has been hot the last six games, scoring nine points. Goalie Stephen Wagner (4-2-0, 2.82 GAA, .906 SV%) is third among league goalies.

Teams tumble in a hurry in the ECAC standings with a loss, due to the tightly-packed standings. The Bulldogs of Yale are a great example.

Before ECAC play two weekends ago, they were a surprising third in the league. But a 4-3 loss to Princeton combined with nine other games throughout the league to drop the Bulldogs into a tie for seventh.

Alex Westlund earned honorable mention honors for his performance in a 1-1 tie versus Boston University. Westlund is third among ECAC goalies overall with a .912 save percentage and a 2.66 GAA, a huge improvement over his .859 and 4.95 numbers of a year ago.

The Bulldogs may have found a future star in freshman Jeff Hamilton. Currently tied for sixth in the league in scoring (4-7–11), he was named ECAC Rookie of the Week a few weeks ago.

Yale also has John Chyz and Keith McCullough, both of whom are tied for eleventh in the league in scoring with nine points, three goals and six assists each. Air Force has been inactive since two games against UMass-Amherst the last weekend of November. Air Force dropped the two games, 4-1 and 10-2. In 12 games this season, senior team co-captain Todd Lafortune leads the team with 12 points and nine goals. He leads the team with three power-play goals and has scored at least one point in each series this season and has at least one goal in all but the UMass-Amherst series.

Freshman Aaron Ratfield started the Friday game against UMass. He went the distance and allowed four goals with 33 saves. He has played in six games this season, starting in four. He has a 2.20 goals-against average and has a .926 saves percentage in 299 minutes.

Head Coach Chuck Delich is on the verge of becoming the Academy’s winningest coach. With 154 wins, Delich is tied with the current record holder John Matchefts. Matchefts did it in 11 seasons, while Delich is in the middle of his 12th.

PICK: Maine takes another tournament, squeaking past the hometown team 4-3 and then cakewalking in the final, 5-2 over Yale or 7-2 over Air Force.

Auld Lang Syne Tournament Northeastern (2-11-2, 1-9-1 HE) vs. St. Lawrence (4-8-1, 3-3-1 ECAC) UMass-Lowell (8-6-0, 6-4-0 HE) vs. Dartmouth (6-3-0, 2-3-0 ECAC) Monday, 5 p.m., 8 p.m.. Consolation/Championship, Tuesday, 5 p.m., 8 p.m. All games at Thompson Arena, Hanover, NH

Northeastern has gone 0-8-1 in its last nine games. However, three one-goal games and two two-goal games were among that discouraging stretch, including 5-3 and 2-1 losses to UMass-Lowell before a two-week break. After suffering two lopsided losses in early November, Northeastern coach Bruce Crowder said, "A month from now we’ll eliminate a few of these mistakes and maybe the score is 5-3 instead. Two months from now, maybe it’s 3-3. And three months from now, we’re winning these games. That’s our outlook for this year."

Crowder’s words are proving roughly prophetic. The Huskies are piling up the losses but are showing improvement. They still have a ways to go, though, if they want to move out of the Hockey East basement.

Team strength — physical strength, that is — is an area of weakness, according to Crowder. A strong believer in the value of weight training, Crowder was appalled at the lack of attention given it on past Husky squads. Although the weight training facilities were upgraded after Crowder’s arrival, improving team strength will require long-term attention before seeing dividends.

"I believe that you have to lift to compete at this level," said Crowder. "Right now, when our team goes into the corners, we lose more battles than we win. We’re just not strong enough to win our share. That’s not going to get fixed overnight."

Goaltender Marc Robitaille continues to give Huskie fans reason to hope for the future. The freshman may not be submitting league-leading statistics because of the weakness of his team, but he remains one of the league’s better rookies.

UMass-Lowell ranks as one of the top surprises in Hockey East. Picked for last in the league’s preseason poll, they remain two games above .500 and sit in third place in the league standings.

Two major icebergs lurk in the Lowell waters, however. The River Hawks have not yet faced BU or UNH, the runaway top teams in the league. All other teams, except the two powers themselves, have taken at least two lumps from the Hockey East bullies. This scheduling anomaly may indicate that although UML may be the overachievers of the league, they may not be long for third place.

Before the break Lowell swept two close ones from Northeastern, 5-3 and 2-1. Leading the River Hawks are goaltender Martin Fillion (3.29 GAA and a .910 save percentage) and forward Neil Donovan (16 points in 10 league games, 23 points overall). Greg Koehler has proven to be one of the top rookies in the league. He is one of nine or 10 freshmen that see action.

St. Lawrence picked up three points in its last ECAC weekend with a 3-3 tie at Harvard, and a 5-4 overtime win at Brown.

Scott Stevens netted the overtime winner against Brown. Paul DiFrancesco scored two goals against Harvard, and another against Brown. The junior is second in the league in scoring with five goals and seven assists. Stevens is also among the league leaders with nine points.

One of the strong points for the Saints is their power play, which is ranked first in the league at 27.3 percent. At the same time, however, short-handed goals are a problem. The Saints have allowed four short-handers during 33 opportunities on the power play.

Eric Heffler, the junior walk-on, got both starts between the pipes because Jon Bracco was not 100 percent. Both Heffler and Bracco are expected to be in the nets for this tournament.

Dartmouth is riding a wave of success as well. The Big Green are on a four-game winning streak, due in large part to freshmen goaltenders Jason Wong and Eric Almon. Dartmouth started its streak when Wong took over in the nets. He leads the ECAC with a 1.88 goals against average and a .926 save percentage in league play.

The other freshman goaltender, Eric Almon, received his first varsity start last Saturday and stopped 42 of 44 shots in a 5-2 victory over Merrimack in North Andover. He earned ECAC Rookie of the Week honors for his efforts.

PICKS: St. Lawrence 4-2 over Northeastern. Dartmouth 4-3 over UMass-Lowell. On New Year’s Eve UMass-Lowell 4-2 over Northeastern (otherwise the ECAC takes both games).

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

Copyright 1996 Dave Hendrickson . All Rights Reserved.

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This Week in the ECAC: December 27, 1996

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ECAC PREVIEW: Dec. 13-14, 1996 ECAC Preview: Dec. 27-31, 1996 by Jayson Moy

There are things that go hand in hand with the holiday season: presents, family, laughs, tradition, shopping, and college hockey.

Yes, college hockey is a huge part of the holidays. There are a total of nine tournaments involving a total of 32 of the 44 Division I teams. Nothing goes with the holidays like some great college hockey holiday tournaments.

Nine of the twelve ECAC teams are involved in seven of the tournaments this year. The nine ECAC teams play in tournaments involving eight Hockey East, five CCHA, and four WCHA teams.

The holiday tournaments are also a chance for leagues to assert themselves in the so-called "Who’s the Better Conference" debate.

In this young season, the ECAC has been blasting Hockey East, 19-9-2, but have not fared as well against its western counterparts. The ECAC is 4-6-0 against the CCHA, and 0-6-0 against the WCHA.

There are five ECAC-HE determined matchups, with the possibility of 13 games between the two leagues. There are four ECAC-CCHA matchups, with one more possibly occurring, and two ECAC-WCHA matchups, with two more possible meetings.

The following tournament previews were a collaborative effort on the parts of USCHO’s correspondents. The proceeding information could not have been accomplished without the help of Dave Hendrickson and Paula Weston.

Syracuse Invitational Merrimack (3-10-1, 2-7-1 HE, T-7th) vs. Colgate (7-6-1, 4-4-1 ECAC, T-4th), Providence (6-9-1, 4-5-1 HE, T-4th) vs. Cornell (6-3-1, 6-2-1 ECAC, T-1st), Friday, 5:15 p.m., 8:15 p.m., Onondaga War Memorial, Syracuse, NY Consolation/Championship, Saturday, 5:15 p.m., 8:15 p.m., Onondaga War Memorial, Syracuse, NY

The Warriors of Merrimack are off to a 3-11-1 record after dropping a 5-2 contest to Dartmouth. This marks Merrimack’s worst start since entering Division I in 1989.

Merrimack will be without freshman Jayson Philbin for this tournament. Philbin, who had just returned from a one-game suspension for running a goalie in a 9-0 loss to UNH, flew off the handle in the third period. His actions earned him two five-minute majors and another game disqualification. Since a second game DQ results in a two-game suspension, he will be ineligible for the entire Syracuse tournament.

Merrimack will open against Colgate, which beat the Warriors earlier 7-3. Captain Rob Beck scored two first period goals in the previous matchup.

Warrior head coach Ron Anderson expects to split Legault and Eric Thibeault in the tournament, and they will expect to see more of Mike Harder, Dave DeBusschere, and Rob Mara. Each had two goals in the previous game.

In its previous six games, the Red Raiders of Colgate were 1-5-0. Colgate turned things around with the last two games that they played. The team earned three hard points in ECAC action with a 4-1 defeat of Union, and a last minute 3-3 tie against RPI.

The star for the Red Raiders that weekend was senior Rob Mara. He tallied three goals on the weekend, two against Union, and the game tying goal with 32 seconds left against RPI. His efforts earned him ECAC Player of the Week honors.

Mike Harder is back in the goal-scoring department with two in his last three games. He is tied for third in the ECAC in scoring with nine goals and fourteen assists. His linemate Dave DeBusschere also has 23 points (10-13).

Providence comes back to action after suffering a 5-3 and 3-1 sweep at the hands of Mass.-Amherst.

Each game ended with an empty net goal. That means that the Friars have had three one-goal losses, and two one-goal deficits that were extended because of empty net goals.

Those one goal games have made a difference.

"I always tell our guys that there’s a fine line between winning and losing," said head coach Paul Pooley. "Right now we’re just below that line. Last year we were just over. The difference is that we won the close games last year."

There is optimism with Pooley, though.

"Hey, I’m excited about the second half because instead of being 6-9-1 we could be 10-5-1 if things would have bounced our way. But they haven’t, so we just have to find a way to win. We have to make sure that we’re consistent throughout the game and get back to what we’re all about as a hockey team."

Cornell heads into the break tied for first in the league. Cornell did not fare too well in its last two outings. The Big Red were upset by RPI 4-2, and tied Union 3-3.

Jason Elliot is among the ECAC goaltending leaders with a .917 save percentage and a 2.50 GAA. He has continued to give the Big Red a solid person to turn to in the nets.

For the second straight year, the Cornell power play is the best in the league, hitting at 28.8 percent. The Big Red have only had 52 power play attempts, second lowest in the league, but have converted 15 times.

Cornell uses a balanced attack in its game. With an ECAC-leading 34 goals in league action, not one member of the Big Red is in the Top 10 in league scoring. Sophomore Kyle Knopp is tied for 11th in the league with nine points (2-7). Knopp does not even make the Top 16 overall in the league.

PICKS: Here is a chance for the ECAC to flex its muscle once again against Hockey East.

Merrimack vs. Colgate: Colgate will once again roll over Merrimack with the scoring power that it has. Merrimack does not seem to have it together at all. Colgate 8 Merrimack 2

Providence vs. Cornell: Mike Schafer’s club has had a long time to think about its one-point weekend its last time out. The Big Red should be ready for this matchup. Providence needs to get some bounces going its way. The Big Red do not give many extra bounces. Cornell 5 Providence 2

(Projected matchups) Merrimack vs. Providence: Merrimack continues its disappointing season, and Providence rebounds. Providence 6 Merrimack 3

Colgate vs. Cornell: In a rematch of a game earlier this month, Colgate should be back in the groove of it on offense. Cornell wants badly to beat its rival. Cornell makes it another defensive game and wins the crown. Cornell 5 Colgate 3

Pepsi College Hockey Tournament Ferris St. (8-11-1, 5-9-0 CCHA, T-5th) vs. Ohio St. (4-13-0, 4-8-0 CCHA, T-9th), St. Lawrence (4-8-1, 3-3-1 ECAC, T-7th) vs. Western Michigan (7-7-2, 4-6-2 CCHA, T-5th), Friday, 5 p.m., 8 p.m., Van Andel Arena, Grand Rapids, MI Consolation/Championship, Saturday, 5 p.m., 8 p.m., Van Andel Arena, Grand Rapids, MI

The Ferris State Bulldogs come into the tournament with some newly found confidence and very little pressure after taking a weekend series from Notre Dame the last weekend in November, beat Ohio State a week later, and lost to Michigan their last game before the break.

The Bulldogs are relying on a lot of youngsters to carry them, and have been pleased by the effort.

"Our young kids have started to play well," said assistant coach Drew Famulak, "and we’d like to keep building on the success we had in the past few games."

Freshman goaltender Mike Szkodzinski has caught some eyes, but the Bulldog goaltending has been inconsistent. Szkodzinski has a goals against average of 3.53, with a save percentage of 88.3. Veteran goaltender Jeff Blashill has improved his GAA to 3.78. His save percentage is 86.8.

The Ohio State Buckeyes are somewhat of a mystery this season. The Buckeyes have twice as many wins at this point in the season than they did last year at this time.

The mystery lies in the fact that the Buckeyes are inconsistent. The team has won two out of three from Ferris State, and started December by beating Bowling Green. By the same token, a loss to Ferris State one week after beating Bowling Green, and only one win out of three games from Alaska-Fairbanks is indicative of how the Buckeye season is going.

While some freshman goaltending tandems have had success (most notably RPI), the freshman goaltending duo of Ray Aho and Tom Connerty anchors the bottom of the CCHA. Aho has a save percentage of .851, and a GAA of 4.59. Connerty’s save percentage is a dismal .823, and he’s allowed an average of 5.65 goals per game.

Another area of weakness if overall defense. Just one Buckeye, team captain Steve Brent, is on the plus side for OSU with a rating of +3.

St. Lawrence was another team that picked up three points in its last ECAC weekend with a 3-3 tie at Harvard, and a 5-4 overtime win at Brown.

Scott Stevens netted the overtime winner against Brown and Paul DiFrancesco scored two goals against Harvard, and another against Brown. The junior is second in the league in scoring with five goals and seven assists. Stevens is also among the league leaders with nine points (3-6).

One of the strong points for the Saints is the power play (27.3%). But even though the power play is doing well, shorthanded goals are a problem. The Saints have allowed four shorthanders in its 33 opportunities on the power play.

Joining Ferris State as co-host of the tournament is Western Michigan University. The departure of star sophomore goaltender Marc Magliarditi for the major junior ranks has had the Broncos adjusted its expectations for the season.

The Bronco record of 7-7-2 overall, seems to indicate that this team seems to be poised to move upward. The Broncos started December by losing to Michigan, then split a series with Miami. Western Michigan tied with Bowling Green to end the month.

Replacing a star is very hard to do, but stepping into the net for the Broncos this season, Matt Barnes is a respectable fifth in CCHA goaltending, with a GAA of 3.32 and a .880 save percentage.

On the offensive side of the ledger, two Broncos, Justin Cardwell and Mike Melas, have 21 points in 16 games.

PICKS: This is the inaugural tournament and the first large college hockey games in the site of this year’s NCAA West Regional.

Ferris St. vs. Ohio St.: Ferris is on a roll, and Ohio St. can’t seem to get off its inconsistency. Ferris is the hotter team, you have to go with them. Ferris St. 6 Ohio St. 5

St. Lawrence vs. Western Michigan: St. Lawrence has turned things around after starting the season without a win for six games. Western is still in the inconsistent phase. St. Lawrence 5 WMU 3

(projected matchups) Ohio St. vs. Western Michigan: Western gets the win. Western Michigan 4 Ohio St. 1

St. Lawrence vs. Ferris St.: A title for the Saints. St. Lawrence 4 Ferris St. 2

Bank One Badger Showdown Colorado College (10-5-1, 10-5-1 WCHA, 2nd) vs. Vermont (9-4-0, 2-3-0 ECAC, T-10th), New Hampshire (13-2-0, 10-0-0 HE, 1st) vs. Wisconsin (7-8-1, 7-6-1 WCHA, 6th), Friday, 6 p.m., 9 p.m., Bradley Center, Milwaukee, WI Consolation/Championship, Saturday, 6 p.m., 9 p.m., Bradley Center, Milwaukee, WI

Colorado College comes into this rematch of the NCAA semi-final from last year on a two-game winning streak. The Tigers swept Northern Michigan, 7-2 and 7-3, in a Saturday-Sunday series two weeks ago.

Freshman center Toby Petersen and sophomore center Brian Swanson each scored twice and collected an assist in Sunday’s 7-3 victory. Freshman left wing Cam Kryway notched a pair of goals to fuel Saturday’s 7-2 triumph when Petersen kicked off a five-point weekend with a goal and an assist.

Including a pair of power-play tallies early in the third frame, CC scored five times in a span of 4:34, a school record against league competition.

CC will be without Toby Petersen and defenseman Dan Peters, who will be in the World Junior Tournament.

Senior goalie Judd Lambert backstopped both victories, making 16 saves on Saturday and a season-high 35 on Sunday.

Fourth-year coach Don Lucia needs one victory to reach the 200-win plateau as a collegiate head coach. Lucia is 199-130-21 (.599) in 10 seasons overall, including a 96-33-11 (.725) mark in 140 games behind the Colorado College bench. His previous six campaigns were at Alaska-Fairbanks.

One looks at Vermont and one wonders how the Catamounts could be in tenth place in the ECAC. There is definitely one answer: It has only played five league games, the least amount of games in the league along with its travel partner Dartmouth.

That would also explain the absence of a single Catamount in the Top 16 of scoring in the league and reports of the death of the French Connection have been greatly exaggerated.

Martin St. Louis leads the league overall in scoring (10-18-28), and his linemate Eric Perrin is tied for third (10-13-23). The other member J.C. Ruid is no slouch either, he is eighth in the league (6-12-18).

What is surprising though is the absence of goaltender Tim Thomas on the goaltender charts. Thomas earned the Dryden Award for the best goaltender in the ECAC last season with a 2.34 GAA and a .924 save percentage. This season his numbers are slightly higher. His GAA is 3.11 and his save percentage is .909. Not to shabby, but not Thomas-like.

Here is another telling stat for the Catamounts: Overall in the ECAC, the Cats rank 11th on the power play with a 14.8 percent efficiency. The Cats only have 12 power play goals on 81 attempts, and have allowed four shorthanded goals. The Cats allowed only four shorthanded goals in 38 games last season.

The second-ranked New Hampshire Wildcats are riding a twelve-game win streak, and are still undefeated in Hockey East play. During the streak, the Wildcats have averaged over six goals a game while giving up a mere 2.75.

There are six Wildcats are among Hockey East’s top ten scorers. Last year’s three All-America candidates Eric Boguniecki, Mark Mowers, and Eric Nickulas have been joined by Tom Nolan, Derek Bekar, and Jason Krog to power the most explosive offense in the east. Nolan and third-liner Greg Dumont return after missing the last month with injuries.

Head coach Dick Umile knows that despite a twelve game winning streak and a number two ranking, any team can win at any given time.

"We know that we have a good team but that you have to earn it each week. You’re only as good as your last game."

Wisconsin picked up three WCHA points against Alaska-Anchorage with a 6-2 victory and a 5-5 tie.

The Badgers have three juniors leading the scoring charts. Brad Englehart has 18 points (10-8), Rick Enrico has 16 points (4-12), and Joe Bianchi has 14 points (6-8).

Senior Kirk Daubenspeck is the main Badger goaltender, but he is having a subpar season thus far with a record of 6-8-1, 3.71 GAA and .876 save percentage. There is one shutout on his resume, though.

PICKS: In perhaps the best matchups that are on paper, we should see action to match those numbers.

Colorado College vs. Vermont: In a rematch of last year’s national semi-final, we should see another close game. The loss of Peters and Petersen will be felt by CC as the ECAC gets its first win versus the WCHA. Vermont 5 Colorado 4

UNH vs. Wisconsin: The winning streak of UNH will continue if Daubenspeck can not stop the high scoring forwards of UNH. He will not. UNH 7 Wisconsin 3

(projected matchups) Wisconsin vs. Colorado College: Colorado 5 Wisconsin 1

Vermont vs. UNH: Game number three between these two with the series tied at one. After this one the next matchup could be in the NCAA tournament. In the last matchup at Gutterson Fieldhouse for the Governor’s Cup Tournament, the goaltending was shaky on each side, and UNH matched Vermont’s top lines by throwing swarms of four lines at the Catamounts. Better defense from the lower-production secondary forward lines will be the key for Vermont, while New Hampshire may want to be careful about letting St. Louis and Perrin freewheel like last game and hope they can just be outscored. Vermont gets revenge and takes the series with the win in an offensive shootout. Vermont 8 UNH 6

RPI Marine Midland Holiday Hockey Tournament Brown (1-9-1, 1-7-1 ECAC 12th) vs. Bowling Green (8-8-2, 4-8-2 CCHA, T-5th), RPI (7-4-2, 4-1-1 ECAC, T-4th) vs. UMass-Amherst (7-9-0, 4-6-0 HE, 6th), Friday, 5:30 p.m., 8:30 p.m., RPI Fieldhouse, Troy, NY Consolation/Championship, Saturday, 5:30 p.m., 8:30 p.m., RPI Fieldhouse, Troy, NY

The Bears can not seem to get many things going for them. The team is suffering through a six game losing streak and is in last place in the ECAC.

Brown is in last place in total defense in the ECAC, giving up an average of 5.00 goals per game, and eighth in total offense, averaging 3.27 goals per game. The Bears also lead the league in penalty minutes once again, amassing a whopping 282 in nine games.

During the slump, there have been three one-goal losses, two of them in overtime. There might be signs that the Bears are close to turning the season around.

Little by little the Bears have seen the offense start to come around. Adrian Smith and Jade Kersey each recently had two goal games, and defenseman Jimmy Andersson is the team’s leading scorer (1-12-13).

The power play unit is also second in the league, hitting at 25.4 percent. The 16 power play goals that have been amassed are third highest in the league.

The last time Bowling Green and Brown met was at this same tournament, December 30, 1982. BGSU won 7-4. Much has changed since then.

In fact, much has changed this season. Bowling Green is a team in pain. The Falcons were supposed to be a top-ten team this season, according to preseason polls. Instead, Bowling Green has struggled defensively, especially with goaltending, and is tied for fifth place in the CCHA with Western Michigan and Ferris State.

After starting the season 6-0-0, the Falcons have tumbled in a dramatic fashion. Losers of eight of its last twelve, the Falcons only have two wins and two ties to show for its efforts. Ohio State and Alaska-Fairbanks were its victims, and Michigan and Western Michigan tied the Falcons.

As stated earlier, the problem for Bowling Green isn’t offense. Curtis Fry has 19 points in 14 games. Mike Johnson has 18 points in 14 games, but the Falcons haven’t been able to lift themselves out of the quagmire of middle CCHA ground.

Goaltending is the Achilles heel thus far for the Falcons. In CCHA play, goaltenders Mike Savard and Bob Petrie have not fared well at all. In league competition, Savard has a GAA of 3.84 and a save percentage of .860. Petrie’s numbers are worse: a GAA of 4.42 and a save percentage of .843.

UMass-Amherst opened the month with a sweep of Providence and hoped to use that to catapult into the right direction, but they dropped two games, losing 7-2 to Princeton and 6-5 to Dartmouth.

The Big Green used a 10-3 superiority in man-advantage opportunities to score three power-play goals. The Minutemen need to stay out of the penalty box.

Goaltender Brian Regan will return for this tournament after sitting out a game because of a slight groin pull, but forward Tom Perry is still out with a broken wrist.

Head coach Joe Mallen hopes that being off for just one week will pay off in better timing and perhaps a tournament win. The Minutemen are the only one of the four teams involved to have played two weeks ago.

RPI is also another of the league’s pleasant surprises early in this season. The Engineers are fourth in the league, but hold the highest winning percentage.

Freshman goaltender Joel Laing is second in the ECAC with a .938 save percentage (first in the league), and a 2.33 GAA. He has been splitting time with another freshman, Scott Prekaski. Prekaski has a 2.92 GAA, and a .917 save percentage. The duo were named ECAC Co-Rookies of the Week two weeks ago. Prekaski and Laing are ranked 3rd and 4th in the nation in save percentage respectively.

Eric Healey leads the scoring barrage of RPI with 17 points (7-10). Centering him is Alain St. Hilaire (6-6-12) and the other winger on the line is Matt Garver (3-9-12). This high scoring line is one of the reasons RPI has been a surprise. When Garver was out with a separated shoulder, RPI was shut out in three consecutive games.

PICKS: Once the prohibitive favorites in the tournament, Bowling Green now has come back to the pack in this tournament. There should be close games, and a tight finish for the crown.

Brown vs. Bowling Green: Buddy Powers returns to the Fieldhouse against an old nemesis, the Brown Bears. Can the Bears put together offense in groups, or do the Falcons continue its climb out of its slump are questions to be answered. Bowling Green in a close one. Bowling Green 5 Brown 3

UMass-Amherst vs. RPI: The defense of the Minutemen must play like it did against Providence. If UMass can do so, then it can stop the skating Engineers. RPI must continue to play its defense as well. RPI is in good form, and will win this one. RPI 6 UMass-Amherst 2

(projected matchups) Brown vs. UMass-Amherst: Brown gets off the losing skid in a tight defensive game. Brown 3 UMass-Amherst 2

Bowling Green vs. RPI: The Engineers almost had the Falcons number last year before a third period comeback defeated RPI. This year’s RPI team has shown itself to be better, and this years Falcon team has shown itself to be weaker. RPI reclaims its own tournament crown. RPI 7 Bowling Green 4

Denver Cup Maine (9-7-1, 2-5-1 HE, T-7th) vs. Denver (8-6-2, 6-6-2 WCHA, 7th), Yale (3-5-2, 3-5-1 ECAC, T-7th) vs. United States Air Force Academy (4-7-1, 2-4-0 Div I), Friday, 6 p.m., 9 p.m., Denver Arena, Denver, CO Consolation/Championship, Saturday, 6 p.m., 9 p.m., Denver Arena, Denver, CO

The Falcons have been inactive since two games against Mass.-Amherst the last weekend of November. Air Force dropped two games, 4-1 and 10-2.

In 12 games this season, senior team co-captain Todd Lafortune leads the team with 12 points and nine goals. He leads the team with three power play goals and has scored at least one point in each series this season and has at least one goal in all but one series (Massachusetts).

Freshman Aaron Ratfield started the Friday game against Massachusetts. He went the distance and allowed four goals with 33 saves. He has played in six games this season, starting in four. He has a 2.20 goals-against average and has a .926 saves percentage in 299 minutes.

A significant event may happen if Air Force gets a win in the Denver Cup. Head Coach Chuck Delich is on the verge of becoming the Academy’s winningest coach. With 154 wins, Delich is tied with the current record holder John Matchefts. Matchefts did it in 11 seasons, while Delich is in the middle of his 12th season.

Teams tumble in a hurry in the ECAC standings with a loss. This is due mainly to the narrow margin between places in the standings. The Bulldogs of Yale are a great example.

Before ECAC play two weekends ago, they were a surprising third in the ECAC. After a loss to Princeton, 4-3, and nine other ECAC games, the Bulldogs are now in a tie for seventh.

Alex Westlund was named to the honorable mention role for his performance in a 1-1 tie versus Boston University. Westlund is second among ECAC goalies overall with a .912 save percentage and he has kept his GAA to 2.66. He is allowing two plus goals less per game than last year when his GAA was 4.95. His save percentage last year was .856.

The Bulldogs may have found a future star in freshman Jeff Hamilton. Currently tied for sixth in the league in scoring (4-7-11), he was named ECAC Rookie of the Week a few weeks ago.

Yale also has John Chyz and Keith McCullough, both of whom are tied for eleventh in the league in scoring with nine points, three goals and six assists each.

Maine dominated both Dalhousie 10-2 and ECAC-leader Princeton 6-1 to win the J.C. Penny Classic in their own back yard. Winning that tournament could serve as a launching pad for the second half of the season.

Another potential for launching the Black Bears into the second half of the season is the return of head coach Shawn Walsh. There could be one problem for Walsh though – he hasn’t seen his team.

"Other than reading the newspaper, I haven’t done anything," said Walsh, whose suspension forbade any contact with the team. "I haven’t seen them play. I’ve listened to a few of the games on the radio, but I’m going in blind. Not totally blind, but I don’t really have too many impressions formed about this particular team. I’m looking forward to using the Denver tournament to get an idea about our personnel. It’ll be my training camp."

Javier Gorriti started both J.C. Penney tournament games, making it four straight starts, while Alfie Michaud mopped up, after playing in all of Maine’s previous games.

There is an odd aura surrounding this tournament for Maine. The Black Bears will play the early game on Saturday, win or lose, since their NCAA restrictions prohibit them from appearing on TV this year. In what is truly an oddity, the afternoon contest could be an untelevised championship game while the cameras broadcast an evening consolation match across the state.

The Pioneers of Denver last played two weekends ago, and swept Minnesota-Duluth 6-3 and 5-1.

In those two games, the Pioneers had six different scorers on Friday, and five different scorers on Saturday. Of the eleven goals, there were nine different Pioneers scoring.

Of those that scored, Anti Laaksonen and Mike Dairon had two goals each. Others putting goals on the scoreboard were Warren Smith, Paul Comrie, Jon Newman, Charlie Host, Gavin Morgan, Garnett Buzan, and Joe Murphy.

In goal the Pioneers have used a pair of freshmen. Jim Mullin and Stephen Wagner.Mullin recorded 27 saves in Saturday’s win and Wagner made 26 saves on Friday.

Wagner currently has a record of 4-2-0, his GAA of 2.82 is the lowest in the WCHA, and he has a save percentage of .906.

PICKS: The Cup moves to the DU Arena this year from the McNichols Arena. The smaller venue might help some of the teams.

Maine vs. Denver: After Maine won its own Cup, it seems back on track. Shawn Walsh is back, and that could be the difference, even though Denver enjoys the home crowd. Maine 4 Denver 2

Yale vs. Air Force: Yale picks up the offense it needs, and the freshmen play a large role. Yale 6 Air Force 1

(projected matchups) Denver vs. Air Force: Denver picks up the consolation win. Denver 7 Air Force 1

Maine vs. Yale: Chalk up another win for Shawn Walsh. Maine 4 Yale 2

Dodge Mariucci Classic Clarkson (8-5-0, 4-3-0 ECAC, 6th) vs. Miami (OH) (14-4-0, 10-2-0 CCHA, 1st), Boston College (7-8-1, 4-5-1 HE, T-4th) vs. Minnesota (10-6-0, 9-5-0 WCHA, T-3rd), Friday, 5 p.m., 8 p.m., Mariucci Arena, Minneapolis, MN Consolation/Championship, Saturday, 5:00 p.m., 8:00 p.m., Mariucci Arena, Minneapolis, MN

Two weeks ago it was mentioned that the Golden Knights of Clarkson started to see the balanced scoring that it possessed. Nine different Knights that scored ten goals against Boston College and Boston University.

In its last two games, an 8-4 victory over Brown and a 5-4 loss to Harvard, nine different players scored the 13 goals.

Most notably it was senior captain Todd White tallying points. He scored four times, twice each evening. White leads all ECAC scorers with 16 points (10-16), and is second in the league in overall scoring (13-13-26).

Joining him in scoring, each getting one goal, were Matt Pagnutti, Dana Mulvihill, JF Houle, Mike Bushaw, Karl Drakensjo, Guillaume Beese, Jordan Grant, and Buddy Wallace.

Miami University is off to its best hockey start ever, and there may be little to stop this Miami team. At first, the key to Miami’s success was defense. Junior goaltenders Trevor Prior and Adam Lord were the stingiest duo in the CCHA.

Miami leads the CCHA in goaltending. Prior has an 89.6 save percentage, with a goals against average of 2.25. Lord’s save percentage is 90.3, and he gives up 2.48 goals per game on average.

Leading the team in scoring is sophomore forward Randy Robitaille, who has 11 goals and 11 assists in 22 CCHA games. His +/- ratio is 9; in fact, there are only two players on the team in the minus, and those players have played just a few games each.

Boston College lost to Boston University 6-4 in a midweek contest in its last outing.

Even though this is an Eagle preview, one has to mention Chris Drury’s performance against BC on the penalty kill. Drury’s first short-handed goal developed on a two-on-none while BC held a five-on-three man advantage. And when a five-minute major assessed to BU gave the Eagles a chance to get back into the game, Drury scored his second back-breaking short-handed goal. This is obviously an area which has head coach Jerry York concerned.

Another area of concern for York will be that he is missing three-fifths of their top power-play unit for this tournament. That unit consists of four 18-year old freshmen and an 19-year old sophomore. Unfortunately for the Eagles, freshmen Jeff Farkas, Blake Bellefeuille, and sophomore Marty Reasoner will instead be skating for the U.S. team in the upcoming world junior tournament.

On the plus side, Greg Taylor’s broken glove hand is expected to be much closer to 100 per cent after the extra time off. Taylor, one of the top goalies in Hockey East, missed five games before coming back and playing through pain and a lack of dexterity.

Minnesota split a home and home with St. Cloud. Both teams won on the road. The loss to St. Cloud at Mariucci was the Gophers first ever loss to the Huskies at home.

NHL first round draft pick (Buffalo) Erik Rasmussen leads the Gophers in scoring. He has eleven goals and five assists. He also leads the team in penalty minutes with 60. But he, along with Ben Clymer and Wyatt Smith will be gone with the US World Junior team, as well.

Senior defenseman Brian LaFleur and junior forward Casey Hankinson are the next leading scorers for the Gophers. They both have 15 points, LaFleur has six goals and nine assists and Hankinson has seven goals and eight assists.

In goal, Steve DeBus has seen the majority of the action. With a 7-5-0 record, he has a 3.08 GAA and a .892 save percentage. Erik Day has also impressed in his four games. With a record of 3-1-0, a 1.00 GAA and a .956 save percentage, he went into the record books as a freshman gaining his first career shutout in his first start, and followed it up with another the next night.

PICKS: This is another tournament with some strong matchups, and some potential heavyweight games.

Clarkson vs. Miami(OH): Miami is proving that its the real thing. Clarkson has started to assert itself. Clarkson is traditionally a second-half team. It’s tough to go against Miami with its success so far, but I will. It’s a close one though. Clarkson 3 Miami 2

Boston College vs. Minnesota: BC is without Reasoner, Farkas, and Bellefeuille. Minnesota is missing Rasmussen, Smith and Clymer. Who does it hurt worse? Boston College. Minnesota 4 BC 2

(projected matchups) Miami(OH) vs. Boston College: Miami 7 BC 3

Clarkson vs. Minnesota: Another chance for the ECAC to get a win over the WCHA. This is where the ECAC gets the WCHA. Clarkson takes home its second holiday tourney title in two years. Clarkson 5 Minnesota 4(OT)

Auld Lang Syne Tournament Northeastern (2-11-2, 1-9-1 HE, 9th) vs. St. Lawrence (4-8-1, 3-3-1 ECAC, T-7th), UMass-Lowell (8-6-0, 6-4-0 HE, 3rd) vs. Dartmouth (6-3-0, 2-3-0 ECAC, T-10th), Monday, 5 p.m., 8 p.m., Thompson Arena, Hanover, NH Consolation/Championship, Tuesday, 5:00 p.m., 8:00 p.m., Thompson Arena, Hanover, NH

Northeastern has gone 0-8-1 in their last nine games. However, during that discouraging stretch, they’ve lost three one-goal games and two two-goal games, including 5-3 and 2-1 losses to UMass-Lowell before a two-week break.

Similar to Paul Pooley at Providence, head coach Bruce Crowder believes that the close games are a concern for his Husky squad.

On offense, Scott Campbell, Eric Petersen, and Todd Barclay will provide continued spark as the Huskies hope to start the second half on a good offensive note.

Goaltender Marc Robitaille continues to give Huskie fans reason to hope for the future. The freshman may not be submitting league-leading statistics because of the weakness of his team, but he remains one of the league’s better rookies.

St. Lawrence is previewed above.

Mass.-Lowell ranks as one of the top surprises in Hockey East. Picked for last in the league’s preseason poll, the River Hawks remain two games above .500 and sit in third place in the league standings.

Two major icebergs lurk in the Lowell waters, however. The River Hawks have not yet faced BU or UNH, the two Hockey East teams nationally ranked. This could indicate that, although UML may be the over-achievers of the league, they may not be long for third place.

Before the break, Lowell swept two close ones from Northeastern 5-3 and 2-1.

Leading the River Hawks are goaltender Martin Fillion (3.29 goals GAA and a .910 save percentage) and forward Neil Donovan (16 points in 10 league games, 23 points overall). Greg Koehler has proven to be one of the top rookies in the league. He is one of nine or 10 freshmen that see action in the lineup.

Dartmouth is riding a wave of success as well. The Big Green are on a four-game winning streak (victories over Merrimack (2), Vermont, and Mass.-Amherst), and have won five of its last six. Dartmouth won its first game over Army, and then dropped three of he next four.

Dartmouth’s streak is due in large part to the success of freshmen goaltenders. Since freshman Jason Wong took over in the nets, Dartmouth has started its streak. Wong leads the ECAC in GAA with a 1.88 mark in the ECAC. He holds a .926 save percentage, and has only allowed five goals in three league games.

The other freshman goaltender, Eric Almon, received his first varsity start last Saturday and stopped 42 of 44 shots in a 5-2 victory over Merrimack in North Andover. The Falmouth, MA native was named the ECAC Rookie of the Week for his efforts.

PICKS: The Auld Lang Syne is without some of its familiar participants in Vermont and New Hampshire. Dartmouth is the lone remaining participant of the usual three.

Northeastern vs. St. Lawrence: There could be a major fatigue factor with the Saints as they will play four games in five nights. This is game three, and Northeastern can take advantage of the situation. St. Lawrence is a stronger team. St. Lawrence 4 Northeastern 2

Mass.-Lowell vs. Dartmouth: The freshmen goaltending seems to be doing just fine for head coach Roger Demment, and he will use them in the tournament. Lowell is a surprising third in HE, and they are getting scoring from different places. This should be a well played game, and a squeaker. Dartmouth 4 Lowell 3

(projected matchups) UMass-Lowell vs. Northeastern: Lowell again. Lowell 5 Northeastern 3

St. Lawrence vs. Dartmouth: Here is where the fatigue really sets in for the Saints. Dartmouth 5 St. Lawrence 2

There are also two other ECAC teams in action against non-conference foes.

Mankato St. (6-7-2, 4-4-1 Div I) at Union (6-7-1, 2-4-1 ECAC, 9th), Friday-Saturday, 7:30 p.m.-7:00 p.m., Achilles Rink, Schenectady, NY

Mankato State is doing just fine against Division I teams in its first year of play at the level. A 4-4-1 record is nothing to sneeze at for a first-year Division I program.

The Mavericks are 2-1-1 against Ferris State, 0-2-0 against Michigan Tech, 1-1-0 against Army, and 1-0 against Notre Dame.

This is the very first meeting that the Mavericks have ever had versus an ECAC opponent.

On offense the Mavericks are led by returning high scorers junior Ryan Rintoul and sophomore Tyler Deis. Juniors Mark Zacharias and Jason Krug are also leading offensive returners.

Don Brose leads the Maverick team as it continues its first year of Division I play.

Union placed third in the J.C. Penney Classic this past weekend, defeating Dalhousie in the consolation game.

After starting 11 of the first 12 games Union played, goalie Trevor Koenig did not receive a starting nod last weekend, giving way to Leeor Shtrom. Maybe taking a two-minute slash and 10-minute misconduct during Friday’s pre-game skate had something to do with head coach Stan Moore’s decision. Princeton scored on the resulting power play to start Friday’s game.

Koenig has moved to first place in ECAC goaltending overall (2.18), despite not playing. That’s because Princeton’s Nick Rankin allowed six goals to Maine.

Sophomore Brent Ozarowski was named to the All-Tournament team during the tourney. He tallied two goals against Princeton, and added an assist against Dalhousie. On the season Ozarowski, a member of last year’s ECAC All-Rookie Team, has four goals and seven assists for eleven points.

His linemates are also among Union’s scoring leaders. Sophomore Mark Szucs had three assists this weekend to run his total to six assists and three goals. Freshman Ryan Campbell had two assists on Friday, and has six points on the season (2-4).

Senior John Sicinski is tied for Union’s scoring lead with Ozarowski. Sicinski scored two against Dalhousie, and now has 10 goals on the season.

PICK: Union in a sweep, but close games will be played. 4-2 and 4-1

Notre Dame (5-10-1, 4-8-1 CCHA, 8th) at Princeton (9-3-2, 6-2-1 ECAC, T-1st), Saturday-Sunday, 4 p.m.-2 p.m., Baker Rink, Princeton, NJ

The Fighting Irish have lost eight of its last ten games. Notre Dame comes into the break on a winning note though, a 3-1 victory over Alaska-Fairbanks.

Offense is a problem for the Irish. There are only five players over 10 points on the entire team. Brian Urick (8-6-14), Joe Dusbabek (7-6-13), Lyle Andrusiak (4-9-13), Aniket Dhadphale (3-10-13), and Benoit Cotnoir (4-7-11) have provided much of the offense this season.

The goaltending department has mainly fallen into Matt Eisler’s hands. Eisler has a 3.43 GAA and a .887 save percentage. The Irish goaltenders (Eisler and Forrest Karr) have given up more then half a goal more than the Irish have scored.

Princeton finished second in the J.C. Penney Classic. After defeating Union, the Tigers dropped a 6-1 decision to Maine.

Dominique Auger, the freshman defenseman from Levis, Quebec, earned a spot on the All-Tournament Team. He went 3-2-5 in the two games, picking two goals and an assist against Union, and the lone goal against Maine in the second period.

Senior Jean Verdon was another bright spot for the Tigers. He had two goals against the Dutchmen and assisted on Auger’s power play goal against the Black Bears.

Another peak performer for the Tiger’s this past weekend was sophomore Jason Given. Given posted three assists against Union, and is now tied for 15th in the ECAC for scoring.

Sophomore goalie Nick Rankin was leading the nation in goals against average until allowed six goals in the loss to Maine. Rankin has been playing every other games, but has played more of the league games than fellow goalie Erasmo Saltarelli.

PICK: Princeton sweeps, 4-1 and 5-3

After the holidays are over, the first action of the New Year sees a full slate of ECAC league action.

Friday, January 3 Saturday, January 4

Princeton at RPI Princeton at Union Yale at Union Yale at RPI Colgate at Clarkson Colgate at St. Lawrence Cornell at St. Lawrence Cornell at Clarkson Brown at Dartmouth Brown at Vermont Harvard at Vermont Harvard at Dartmouth

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

Copyright 1996 Jayson Moy . All Rights Reserved.

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Walsh Returns to Maine Bench

By Deron Treadwell with Dave Hendrickson
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Maine head coach Shawn Walsh returns to the bench Friday, December 27, as Maine takes on Denver in a first-round matchup of the Denver Cup tournament.

Walsh was suspended in December, 1995 by Maine after many NCAA violations were uncovered in which Walsh was either directly or indirectly involved. Walsh’s suspension ended December 24.

“I’m making a commitment for coming back in the long-term and rebuilding the program in the long-term,” said Walsh.

Walsh ran his first practice of the season on Christmas evening, and since his suspension did not allow contact with the team at all, including attending games, Walsh has a lot of work to do.

“I haven’t seen [Maine] play,” said Walsh. “I’ve listened to a few of the games on the radio [and read the newspapers], but I’m going in blind. I’m looking forward to using the Denver tournament to get an idea about our personnel. It’ll be my training camp.

“Denver is a quality team. They were a top preseason pick in many polls, ranked as highly as fifth in the country. They seem to have righted their own ship when they swept Minnesota-Duluth two weekends ago. They’ll be a very, very good team on their own ice surface.”

Walsh has a 289-171-26 record in 12 years at Maine.

Greg Cronin Speaks Out

By
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“Last July when I was entertaining some other opportunities, people were trying to keep me at Maine,” said Greg Cronin, who served a year as Maine’s interim head coach before recently taking a position with USA Hockey. “They were very disappointed that I might leave. Now a lot of people have opened the door and let me leave because we’re 7-7-1 and as far as they’re concerned, I haven’t done a very good job.”

"Greg Cronin saved Maine hockey."

— Maine Sports Information Director Matt Bourque

The dichotomy between Cronin’s supporters — like Bourque and athletic director Suzanne Tyler — and his detractors speaks volumes. Those who choose to look only at the surface see the Black Bears’ .500 record under Cronin this year and their even worse standing in Hockey East (2-5-1 for seventh place). Then they look at Shawn Walsh’s legendary track record. To them, the difference in results tells all they need to know.

“He did a fabulous job here,” countered Walsh, who returned Dec. 24. “You can get an idea for how highly he’s respected in the hockey community by [the fact that USA Hockey hired him.] I don’t think it’s coincidental that USA Hockey opened up the position for him right when he left here. They obviously held onto that position for him because they wanted him on their staff.”

“I’m not sure if people who haven’t been around our program understand the adversity and challenges that Greg went through,” said Bourque. “It would have been easy for things to fall apart so badly that we couldn’t put it all back together. If we’re successful ten years down the road, a lot of people will have forgotten about him, but he’s the guy who will have held it all together. Greg Cronin saved Maine hockey.”

“No paycheck at the end of the season”

Cronin inherited a team last December that had just seen its head coach exiled for a year and had banned itself from the NCAA tournament. “When I first took over, I was concerned that the players would feel sorry for themselves and go into a martyr mentality,” said Cronin. “So I yelled quite a bit and I was very intense around the players. I don’t know if it got them motivated out of fear or out of respect for me, but it worked.”

“I respected the man,” said co-captain Dan Shermerhorn. “He has a lot of emotion and a large will to win. He has a fire and intensity that I haven’t seen in many people. It’s second to none.”

Although the Black Bears lost 3-2 to Providence in the title game, Cronin considered going to the championship game as a head coach one of the highlights of his career. “We would have been the second seed in the East. I think that’s a real tribute to the way we handled things last year.”

In the off-season, however, the roof caved in. The NCAA ruled that the self-imposed penalties were insufficient. In addition to severe scholarship restrictions, the NCAA banned this year’s squad from not only the NCAA tournament but the Hockey East playoffs as well. This opened the door for four potential All-Americans — Blair Allison, Jeff Tory, Brett Clark, and Tim Lovell — to leave the team, defections that would gut what would have been one of the top teams in the country. It also shattered the dreams of the players who stayed.

Cronin was left to pick up the pieces while Maine filed an appeal. He chose not to emphasize the long-shot possibility of the postseason ban being overturned, instead telling his team to assume that there would be no playoffs.

“If you go to work every week and don’t pick up a paycheck, all of a sudden you’ll say what’s the use of going to work every week?” said Cronin. “People just don’t understand this, but there is certainly something to be said about a group of players that continued to compete game in and game out even though there’s no paycheck at the end of the season.”

“The way they evaluate hockey is pathetic…. Their evaluation of the amateur rule is a joke”

Cronin pulled no punches when discussing the NCAA, hardly surprising given its effect on his team.

“I’ve seen its sharp teeth,” he said. “It’s a faceless bureaucracy that seems to control an awful lot of your life and your success as a coach. After going through an investigation and a hearing, I have a lot of respect for the responsibility of those people to police college athletics. I was impressed with the way they conducted the investigation. They were very thorough and indiscriminate in what they did.

“But if I were to group them with the Clearinghouse, which is independent of the NCAA, I would say that college athletics in the nineties is a rapidly changing environment that at this point the NCAA is not equipped to deal with.

“Three things concern me about the NCAA,” he said. “One is their stance on increasing academic standards. It cripples potential players who were not given the educational resources to achieve a high grade or SAT score. There are too many cultural differences to ensure a kid’s success in an urban environment or even in a rural environment. The NCAA is not sensitive to that.

“Two, the way that they evaluate hockey is pathetic. They look at it the same way they look at football. But we’re not playing in the same arena that football and basketball coaches recruit in. We’re dealing with a different monster called major junior that can influence a kid at fourteen and fifteen years old. We can’t even get in the kid’s mailbox with a letter. We have to wait until the kid’s a junior [in high school] before we can send him a letter, and by that time he’s already been influenced. [The NCAA] has refused to make an adaptation to that. Consequently, college hockey, in my estimation, is going down. The level is not what it used to be. We continue to lose kids to major junior.

“Three, their evaluation of the amateur rule is a joke. They’re too hung up on trivial rules that they feel violate amateur status and qualify conveniently as excessive benefits. That’s a concern because it not only affects the school, it impacts the kid as well.”

“You may … have ten guys that are nailheads. They can’t add four and four”

The NCAA certainly couldn’t criticize Maine’s academic performance this year. The Black Bears posted their highest team grade point average (GPA) in many years. Cronin downplayed his role in that achievement.

“There are a couple factors that influence GPA,” he said. “Number one is the quality of students you have on your team. You may be an NCAA champion and have ten guys that are nailheads. They can’t add four and four. That impacts GPA.

“The one common denominator among the four seniors that stayed here is that all four have an agenda academically. Shermerhorn’s got a 3.6, Trevor [Roenick] has a 3.2, [Jason] Mansoff’s got a 3.3 in mechanical engineering, and Reggie Cardinal is going to graduate with a business degree which is very important to him and his family as a native American.”

That academic orientation certainly helped the team’s GPA. Even so, coaches who care about academics must instill discipline not only on the ice but in the classroom as well.

“The other factor is that I made them go to class,” said Cronin. “If they didn’t go to class or if they missed study hall, I made them run at six in the morning in the springtime, because I didn’t want to see the academics erode. I think that had an impact on their diligence in the classroom because they had to be there. But you know,” Cronin added wryly, “maybe they were just taking easy classes.”

“I give myself a D, a B and an A”

According to Cronin, there are three components to judging a college coach.

“Number one is wins and losses,” he said. “That’s the most visible thing. I would give myself a D on that because we’re 7-7-1. Now did my coaching impact those games? To some degree it probably did. Would Shawn have had a better record? Maybe he would have had one or two more wins. I don’t know.

“The second thing you judge yourself by is what you do to prepare your team, in terms of the practices you run, the preparation you do for opponents, and the post-game breakdowns [you use] to educate your players. And I’d give my staff and myself a B in that.

“The third thing you’ve got to do in a college environment to judge yourself is ask how have the players responded to you, not only as a coach but also as a person. Have they gone to class? Have they done work in the weight room? Have they handled themselves with class and dignity? Have they been socially responsible? I give myself and my staff an A for that.”

Fundamental to everything Cronin tried to accomplish was his relationship with his players.

“Not to brag,” Cronin said, “but we’ve got maybe 30 guys and I would say that anywhere between 28 and 30 guys would say, ‘Hey, that guy was fair, he was honest, and he taught me lessons about life.’ And that’s what this vocation is all about.

“The proudest moment I had in my tenure as interim head coach was at my press conference [when I was leaving]. Every single kid came up to that room and listened to me talk to the media for about half an hour. They waited for me to get done, and they all shook my hand and gave me a hug. That to me is why you’re in college athletics, to be able to have that relationship with players.”

Afterwards, Bourque said to Cronin, “I’ve never seen kids so devastated by somebody leaving. They may not say it because they want to make sure that they’re respectful of Shawn, but those kids are crushed.”

“From a human perspective,” said Cronin, “I think it’s great. When you have that kind of impact on kids, you’ve obviously done something very well to influence them in a healthy way.”

“I’m the media’s dream and an athletic director’s nightmare”

It didn’t always seem to the media and fans that Cronin’s players felt that way about him. When the colorful Cronin got talking, it made for lively reading. Sometimes, though, the reading seemed to be at the expense of his players, who might be expected to resent his comments.

“Matt Bourque says that I’m the media’s dream and an athletic director’s nightmare,” said Cronin ruefully.

Cronin’s athletic director for the past year, Suzanne Tyler, wouldn’t go quite that far but — while applauding Cronin for performing a great job during trying circumstances — did add, “He sometimes said things that I felt were private things for the men on the team. It’s not that I wished he hadn’t said some of the things. I think he wished he hadn’t said some of the things that came blurting out.”

“He wears his heart on his sleeve,” explained Shermerhorn. If Cronin said after a game that “the forwards stunk — they didn’t do anything out there,” he was echoing comments the players were making in the locker room. “He said things that a lot of us players felt but were afraid to say,” said Shermerhorn.

“I think you have a responsibility to the sports fans,” said Cronin. “If you have people who are curious about what happened to your team, why give them a bunch of scenery? Tell them where it’s at.”

Although it probably surprises some people to hear it, Cronin did have limits to what he intended to say.

“I would never criticize a specific skater like a particular forward or defenseman because that to me is way too visible and that can cripple a kid,” said Cronin. “But what people don’t understand is that the most important position is the goaltender. There aren’t three guys playing goal, there’s one guy. So it’s obvious who you’re talking about when you say you had poor goaltending.

“But when I look at our scoring chances and our grade A opportunities over the last 15 games, we were averaging 27 per game and our opponents were getting 16. If someone told me that was going to happen over 15 games, I’d figure we were going to win at least two-thirds of those games. Well, those are great stats, but if your guy isn’t stopping the puck, I don’t care how good you are, you’re going to be in a dogfight every game.”

And Cronin’s guy wasn’t stopping the puck. Alfie Michaud, recruited to back up All-American Blair Allison for a year and gradually ease into the number-one role, instead was thrown to the wolves when Allison left in the wake of the NCAA sanctions. With only walk-ons in reserve, Michaud was on his own. The original plan for Maine’s renowned goalie coach Grant Standbrook to change Michaud from a flopper to a more stand-up style during his transition year instead became a crash course conducted in front of thousands of fans. Between the high-profile pressure that comes with playing for Maine and the confusion over the style change, Michaud’s performances suffered.

Aside from a solid game or two, Michaud played poorly (3.84 goals-against average and .832 save percentage). The same has happened to many freshman goaltenders who eventually came back to perform well, some like Garth Snow and Martin Fillion even earning All-Hockey East honors. But as freshmen most were allowed to shrink back into the shadows to soothe their battered psyches or at least share the blame with another netminder instead of continuing to take their lumps in the limelight. Michaud did not have that luxury.

At times, Cronin’s blunt remarks seemed likely to exacerbate the problem. From “he looked like a fish flopping around there” to “I don’t know what Alfie’s problem is,” Cronin’s candor reached near-painful levels.

“But I tell you I took Alfie aside,” said Cronin, “and said to him, ‘Now listen, Alfie. I’m going to tell you something as a friend. I made a comment about our goaltending in the paper. I don’t regret doing it because I want to make sure people understand what’s going on with this team.

“You’re a part of this team. Publicly, maybe it’s not very good. I’m not necessarily proud of the fact that I said it. But the bottom line is that I care about you as a person. I want to see you succeed. And those comments are independent of the way I’m going to coach you and the way that I’m going to deal with you as a player. I’m going to put you back in the net and I’m going to let you get out of your rut.’

“Now I can say that [other stuff] in the paper, but he knows when I shut my door and tell him that to his face that I’ve got confidence in him and that gives him a lift.”

Unfortunately, a lift eventually proved not to be enough. In Cronin’s last two games as a Maine coach, he was forced to switch to walk-on Javier Gorriti, with mixed results.

Without question, Allison’s departure opened the biggest of many cans of worms for Cronin. Arguably, in his absence the Black Bears endured the weakest goaltending in the league. That dubious honor had fallen to New Hampshire the previous year and UMass-Lowell the year before that. Neither team could keep its head above .500, despite the All-Americans on their rosters. Not even Bruce Crowder, who earned Coach of the Year honors in two of the last three years, could coach past deficiencies between the pipes. Maine, at 7-7-1, was not alone.

Some fans recognized these problems and absolved Cronin. Others laid the blame at his feet.

“I’m more laid back than Shawn”

In many ways, Cronin inherited an impossible task. Replacing Shawn Walsh in Maine is like replacing Vince Lombardi in Green Bay, Billy Martin in New York or Red Auerbach in Boston. For many Black Bear followers, if Cronin turned water into wine, then Shawn Walsh would have produced a better vintage.

“He had big shoes to fill,” said Shermerhorn. “He wasn’t given a lot of credit for the things he did because of the allegiance to Shawn Walsh that is alive here in Maine. Everything he did was always compared to how Shawn Walsh would have dealt with it. I don’t think he had the opportunity to develop himself as an individual coach here because he was always in that shadow. It was a tough situation, but I think he dealt with it more than adequately. It was almost unfair to him that this happened, but that’s just the way the situation was.”

It was a comparison Cronin made himself.

“I was always privately comparing myself to how Shawn would handle situations,” said Cronin. “I would react to things the way I felt was appropriate, but with a certain degree of Shawn’s influence. I obviously learned a lot from him. I’ve taken as much from him as possible to shape my future as a head coach. I don’t think there’s a better coach in the country in terms of his management of his time and his schedule and his pro-activity during the week.

“In terms of systems, I didn’t do anything differently. The biggest change that I’m sure the kids felt is that I’m more laid back than Shawn is. That may sound strange since you hear stories about me breaking sticks and punching things.”

True, there have been more than a few stories.

Cronin on a regular basis littered his locker rooms with sticks broken in his fiery attempt to make a point. Cronin’s lone failure occurred in his final game when he tried to break a Jason Price composite. Cronin emerged from the locker room muttering to reporters that he’d almost broken his leg on “a stick that must have been made of kryptonite.”

Although no fracture occurred that evening, Cronin broke bones in his hand during last year’s Hockey East semifinals when he smashed it emphatically on a locker room table between the second and third periods. When his team promptly rallied from a deficit to win 5-2, this year’s trail of fractured Sherwoods and Eastons probably became inevitable, not to mention the locker room challenge that became his trademark: “Do I have to break my hand again?”

So … more laid back?

“I give the players a lot more latitude than Shawn does,” explained Cronin. “I would say that he puts them on a two-foot leash and I maybe give them six feet. Sometimes that comes back to haunt you because kids are kids and they’ll try to expand it from six to eight. Then you’ve got some erosion of little things that are critical to the program’s success. But obviously I was able to pull them in a little bit when I felt that was happening.

“[What I’m talking about is] off-ice team behavior. Whether it’s the length of somebody’s hair, whether someone is wearing an earring, or whether sweatsuits are being tucked in properly. Shawn’s a real stickler for little things. I just tend to say, hey, if a kid wants to wear his hair a little bit longer than what I feel is appropriate then I feel that’s his prerogative. The bottom line is that as long as they go to class everyday, compete academically, and show up for games and compete in hockey, I really don’t care what they do as long as it’s not too much of an eyesore for the program.”

Realistically, though, the on-ice performance, not earrings or length of hair or tucked-in sweat suits, formed the bottom line of comparisons between Cronin and Walsh.

“A lot of people think that Shawn is going to come in and turn this thing around,” said Cronin. Clearly Cronin has heard the phrase, with its obvious implication of who’s to blame, a few more times than he’d like. Although he sees Maine as no better than .500 this year without better goaltending, Cronin said, “I hope Shawn does [turn it around] for his sake, and even more importantly, for the players’ sake. If Shawn does well and the program does well, then the players are happy and that’s the most important thing in college athletics.”

“I started looking over both my shoulders”

“Coach Cro was in a tough situation,” said Shermerhorn. “There was a lot of praise for the seniors who came back this year. But with our commitment, we knew we’d be back for the full year. He didn’t. He had December 24th written on his calendar. He didn’t know what was going to happen after that. He fulfilled his commitment to us by sticking around until now.”

“The closer I got to the conclusion of my interim tenure,” said Cronin, “to be very honest, I started looking over both my shoulders because I could feel Shawn coming on. I’ve said all along that I’m humble enough to go back and be an assistant coach, but I think it would have been difficult for everybody if I stayed. Shawn is probably relieved to some degree that I’m not going to be there. Not because he doesn’t like me but just because it makes his job easier. He can take control without having to worry about relationships with players and what they might think about me.”

Even more importantly, Cronin considered the opportunity too good to pass up. He will be working with Jeff Jackson and Bob Mancini, former head coaches at Lake Superior State and Michigan Tech, to build USA Hockey’s Elite Development Program for 17- and 18-year-olds.

“This is an opportunity to enhance my professional career,” said Cronin, who sees himself eventually going to the NHL or becoming a head coach either in college or major junior. “How many coaches can go from college to pro hockey? It’s not going to happen. But this is an organization that literally stands between college and the NHL. I’m really excited about it.”

Cronin felt he profited from the last year, despite all the difficulties.

“I think I’ve actually learned more about myself as a human being than I have as a coach. As a head coach you feel a lot more responsible for the success of the team. There were times during the year when I’d get real dejected and frustrated with the way things were going because there were a lot of things out of my control. Clearinghouse issues, NCAA issues, injuries and things like that. I think the biggest challenge for any human being is when you get down like that to motivate yourself and find the energy to stay positive and have a healthy outlook.

“I’m going to miss college hockey. I’ve been quoted as saying that I’m sick of the NCAA and it’s too inhibiting and I’m glad I’m getting out of it, but I’m going to miss the excitement, the BU rivalry, the New Hampshire rivalry and certainly the fans at the Alfond Arena…. But most importantly I’m going to miss the kids in the Maine locker room. The relationship I had with them will last forever.

“You can’t put a price on that.”

Sertich Gains 300th Win

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Minnesota-Duluth coach Mike Sertich won his 300th career game on December 21, as the Bulldogs defeated visiting Harvard, 4-2, in a non-conference game.

The win is a milestone for the 14-year coach Sertich, but far from the only one. Not only has he won 300 games, but he has also been named the WCHA Coach of the Year four times, only the second to do so; has compiled a .539 winning percentage (300-254-35); guided his team to three WCHA championships (1983-84, 1984-85, 1992-93); four NCAA appearances (including a classic four-overtime championship game against Bowling Green); and he won the Spencer-Penrose Award as Division I National Coach of the Year in 1983-84.

Sertich is the winningest coach in the history of Minnesota-Duluth hockey, after taking over in 1982 for Gus Hendrickson. The win also places Sertich 36th on the all-time NCAA win list.

A native of Virginia, Minn., Sertich played with Minnesota-Duluth three seasons from 1966-69, accumulating nine points in 64 games as a defenseman. He went on to coach at Grand Rapids high school with Gus Hendrickson, and in 1975 the two joined the UMD hockey program, Hendrickson as head coach and Sertich as associate in charge of recruiting.

His current season has the Bulldogs at 11-8-1, good for fifth place in the WCHA. The team’s next WCHA action comes when they host Alaska-Anchorage on January 10-11, 1997, after an exhibition game against an international team.

This Week in the WCHA: December 20, 1996

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WCHA PREVIEW: Dec. 13-15, 1996

WCHA Preview: Dec. 20-21, 1996 by Jim Thies

Although most of the WCHA is off this weekend, Minnesota-Duluth stays in action, hosting ECAC member Harvard in a weekend series in Duluth, Minn. The rest of the teams take a break from play, but will be in action again soon, with several clubs involved in tournaments against strong competition. Those games are always fun for fans, because they can see how their favorite teams matchup against competition from Hockey East, the ECAC and the CCHA. Bragging rights are on the line.

But for now, back to this weekend’s games.

Alaska-Anchorage (5-7-2, 3-7-2 WCHA) at St. Cloud State (10-4-2, 8-4-2 WCHA) Friday-Saturday, 7:05 CT, National Hockey Center, St. Cloud, MN

St. Cloud State has a lot to gain from this series. For Alaska-Anchorage, it’s another chance to beat a top team and gain some respect.

Alaska-Anchorage did not play last weekend and hopes to improve on its 2-2-1 road record. David Vallieres (5 goals, 7 assists, 12 points) is 4-5–9 over his last five games and is a fine leader for a young UAA team. Goalie Doug Tesky (3-4-2, 3.39 GAA, .892 save percentage) has started the last seven games and has given the Seawolves the chance to win by making the big save. UAA must remain disciplined this weekend. They average just 7.58 penalty minutes a game, but they are ninth in the league in penalty killing (75.8 percent).

If St. Cloud State can win twice, the team jumps to second place, just one point behind leader North Dakota. The Huskies lost to Minnesota at home last Saturday, but came up with their first-ever win in Mariucci Arena on Sunday in a thrilling 4-3 overtime victory. Maybe Sunday’s win will propel them to better things this weekend at home where SCSU is 5-1-1 this year. Mark Parrish (10-7–17) is second in the league in goals and had the hat trick in Sunday’s win. He has had points in 11 of his last 13 games. If Dave Paradise (6-10–16) can get three points, he will reach 100 in his career. He enters the series 54-43–97.

ELMO Picks: SCSU gets two wins, 5-2, 4-1.

Harvard (5-5-2, 4-4-2 ECAC) at Minnesota-Duluth (9-8-1, 8-7-1 WCHA) Friday-Saturday, 7:05 CT, DECC, Duluth, MN

This should be an interesting matchup of two solid programs from two great leagues. Neither team will be able to slide through this series since both teams are capable of big games if the opponent falters.

Harvard is on a small unbeaten streak, going 3-0-1 in its last four games. Before that the Crimson were 2-5-1. One reason for the resurgence is more goal production. Harvard has scored three or more goals in each game during the run, while it scored three goals only once during the previous eight-game stretch. Another reason is the improved power play. The Crimson had a 2-for-57 stretch at one point of the season, but go to Duluth on a 5-for-13 streak. A key player for Harvard has been freshman goalie J. R. Prestifilippo, who posted a 3-0 shutout win over Union in his last outing.

Minnesota-Duluth lost twice to Denver last weekend, and wants to get back on the winning track. The Bulldogs are 8-0-1 in their last nine non-conference games and 6-6-0 at home this year. Mike Peluso (12-8–20) is fifth in scoring in the league and has at least one point in 13 of 15 league games he’s played. Ken Dzikowski has personal season highs in goals (8), assists (13) and points (21) this year already. He had his first career hat trick in the 6-3 loss to Denver.

ELMO Picks: UMD wins twice: 5-3, 4-3.

Next Week in the WCHA:

Thursday, Dec. 26 Northern Michigan at Saskatchewan

Friday, Dec. 27 Colorado College vs. Vermont Denver vs. Yale Michigan Tech vs. Michigan Minnesota vs. Boston College Wisconsin vs. New Hampshire Boston University at North Dakota Northern Michigan at York University or Regina Finland at Minnesota-Duluth (exh)

Saturday, Dec. 28 Colorado College vs. Wisconsin or New Hampshire Denver vs. Maine or Air Force Michigan Tech vs. Michigan State or Lake Superior State Minnesota vs. Miami or Clarkson Wisconsin vs. Colorado College or Vermont Boston University at North Dakota Northern Michigan vs. Regina or York

Sunday, Dec. 29 Northern Michigan at Saskatchewan

Monday, Dec. 30 Finland at Minnesota (exh)

Tuesday, Dec. 31 Colorado College at Michigan State Finland at Wisconsin (exh)

Jim Thies is the WCHA Correspondent for U.S. College Hockey Online.

Copyright 1996 Jim Thies. All Rights Reserved. Return to Feature Articles Return to News and Recaps Return to US College Hockey Online

This Week in Hockey East: December 20, 1996

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Hockey East Preview: Dec. 20-21, 1996 by Dave Hendrickson

Will Hockey East ever beat the ECAC again?

Since November 26 — Hockey East’s last victorious date on the calendar — the two leagues have faced each other in 14 games played on seven calendar days. Hockey East has won only two of the games and none of the dates. Over the season the league has posted a dismal 8-18-2 record against its allegedly perennial weak sister. Even second-ranked New Hampshire (2-2-0 against the ECAC) and fourth-ranked Boston University (2-3-1) have stumbled against the senior circuit.

"Hockey (L)East" — this column’s preseason catch phrase — is proving prophetic with a vengeance.

This week offers two more chances for either redemption or more bloodied noses. Maine will face either Princeton or Union in the second round of the J.C. Penny Classic while Merrimack entertains Dartmouth.

After last week’s 1-2 record in picks, may the hockey gods strike this writer dead if he goes against the ECAC again. Said writer is tempted to predict landslide wins for all ECAC teams in an attempt to appease the powers above. Rumor has it, however, that they are offended by shameless acts of sucking up, so this week’s Hockey East-ECAC picks only nod subtly in the ECAC’s direction.

Last week’s record in picks: 1-2 Season record in picks: 57-32

J.C. Penney Classic Maine (7-7-1, 2-5-1 HE) vs. Dalhousie (record unavailable), Friday, 8 p.m. Princeton (8-2-2, 6-2-1 ECAC) vs. Union (5-6-1, 2-4-1 ECAC), Friday, 5 p.m. Consolation Game: Saturday, 4 p.m. Championship Game: Saturday, 7 p.m. All games at Alfond Arena, Orono, ME

Grant Standbrook assumes the Black Bear reins for one week before the much-anticipated return of Shawn Walsh on December 24th. Maine opens the J.C. Penney Classic against Dalhousie, a perennial CIAU (Canada’s NCAA) power from Halifax, Nova Scotia. They will then face either Princeton or Union in a tournament final or consolation match.

"It’s difficult to assess Dalhousie," said Standbrook, "because we don’t see them and we’re not really aware of the calibre of talent that they play against. That varies greatly from year to year. They’ve come in here in the past, a Canadian team from the Maritimes, and won the tournament. Other years we’ve handled them relatively easily."

Last year Dalhousie went 1-2 against Division I opponents, beating Alaska-Anchorage before losing to weak Dartmouth and Yale squads. The two years preceding, however, they swept both Ohio State and Merrimack, so they remain a dangerous wild card.

Although information about this year’s squad has proven elusive, they should once again feature Dany Bousquet, who at one point was projected to be a top Black Bear recruit out of the British Columbia Junior Hockey League.

"The one team that’s the favorite would be Princeton," said Standbrook. "They’re nationally ranked, they’re playing very well, and they have the best record to date."

Playing very well, indeed. They’re 6-1-1 in their last eight games, are tied for first place in the ECAC, and thumped UMass-Amherst 7-2 last Friday, outshooting them almost 2-to-1 in every period. "They were a very good offensive transition team," said Minuteman coach Joe Mallen. "They outworked us and out-quicked us, and that hasn’t happened in a lot of Hockey East games. They seem to have put all the pieces back together after a down year last year and look like they can do some damage."

Standbrook isn’t sure exactly what to expect from Princeton. "They won the tournament against us a couple years ago and played well using a neutral zone trap which gave us difficulty. I don’t know whether we’ll see that again." The two leagues do not swap tapes so Standbrook hasn’t seen the Tigers play, but he intends to prepare for the trap anyways. "We’ll have to be ready for anything. Obviously, we’ll have a chance to see them play their first round game against Union. It will be very helpful to see them. We know we’re in for a fight."

If instead the Black Bears face Union on Saturday night, they’ll be facing another unknown. The Flying Dutchmen have been riding the goaltending of Trevor Koenig for much of their success. Earlier this month Koenig was ranked third in the nation, compiling a 1.89 goals against average and a .940 save percentage in eight games. Those sizzling stats have cooled slightly in the last few games, dropping to 2.10 and .930, but still add up to some of the best in either league.

Union has yet to give up more than four goals in any game and have only given up that many twice, both losses. Their problem is scoring, which reached a head when Harvard shut them out last week. Except for a 7-3 win over Dartmouth early in the year, the Dutchmen have averaged less than two goals a game this season.

"We’ve got to be doing things well ourselves," said Standbrook. "We’ve got to be better at both ends. Right now we’ve got a horrendous goals against average [3.63 and a .842 save percentage] and we’re not scoring like we should. We’re getting all kinds of opportunities. If we weren’t getting the opportunities I’d be really concerned, but we’ve had the opportunities but just haven’t been putting the puck away. Right now there are more goals going in in our end than in the other end. So we’ve got to shore up our team defense and prevent the high-percentage shot and the second shot."

A major reason for the poor goals against average lies between the pipes where Alfie Michaud struggled through the first thirteen games before giving way to walk-on Javier Gorriti the last two. Gorriti played well in his first full game, earning a win against Boston College, but returned to earth in the final game before exam break.

"Right now Javier Gorriti is our first goaltender," said Standbrook. "We’ll have to watch practices this week to determine whether Alfie Michaud plays or not."

The Maine players will also have to deal with the strange transition from Greg Cronin, their fiery interim coach for the last year, to Standbrook for this weekend, to Walsh.

"Emotionally it was difficult for [the team to see Cronin leave]," said Standbrook. "The team had grown close to him. He’s a very emotional coach. He’s a player’s coach…. Our incoming players have never played for Coach Walsh, have never really met Coach Walsh, so they don’t know what to expect. For the veterans, it will be an easy transition.

"Coach Cronin has made it easier by not varying any of the team tactics, so the transition [in that respect] should be very, very smooth."

PICKS: Maine beats Dalhousie 5-2 but loses in the finals to either Princeton (6-3) or Union (3-1).

Dartmouth (5-3-0, 2-3-0 ECAC) at Merrimack (3-10-1, 2-7-1 HE) Saturday, 7 p.m., Volpe Complex, North Andover, MA

Dartmouth has become one of the quietest surprises in college hockey this year. After years of being mired either in the ECAC basement or frightfully close to it, their winning record now includes three straight wins: 4-1 over Vermont, 6-4 over Merrimack, and 6-5 over UMass-Amherst.

Freshman Jason Wong has been a discovery in the Big Green nets. Going into last weekend’s win over UMass-Amherst, Wong led ECAC netminders with a 1.88 goals against average in league games (2.46 overall) and a .926 save percentage (.904 overall). Many observers consider him the leading candidate for ECAC Rookie of the Year.

Dartmouth beat UMass-Amherst 6-5 last weekend on the strength of three power-play goals, picking up 10 man-advantage situations to UMass’s three. David Whitworth, Ryan Chaytors, and Bill Kelleher — while not ranking among league scoring leaders — have combined to lead the Big Green to an average of four goals a game and more than five in their three straight wins.

Merrimack, on the other hand, is a team going in the opposite direction. They are now 0-6-1 in their last seven. Although they bounced back from a 9-0 drubbing by New Hampshire to play them to a spirited 4-1 loss in the UNH barn, Merrimack desperately needs to put some W’s onto their record, if for no other reason than to keep spirits high.

"Our morale is fine," said coach Ron Anderson. "That’s part of being an athlete — dealing with the peaks of winning and the valleys of defeat. This isn’t something new for us.

"Even though we don’t like where we are, we’re not discouraged. Out of our ten league games so far, we’ve played four of the six games we’ll have to play against BU and UNH. There aren’t a lot of teams that are going to beat those two this year. I like that we can come off the break, play three non-league games, and then take a run at the teams near us in the standings. We’re only four points out of fourth.

"The freshmen have come along really well and the upperclassmen are finally getting it going. That’s really important for us."

Anderson figures that the injured players who have returned will not only be 100 per cent physically, but will also have their full game legs by the return of league play. Before then, however, they must face the Big Green this weekend and avoid a repeat of their 6-4 loss three weeks ago.

"We didn’t play with energy and aggressiveness up there," said Anderson. "We didn’t work hard enough. It was a bad night; we just didn’t play well. I expect us to play much better this weekend back at home."

PICK: Dartmouth 5-3 (although if the hockey gods would just look the other way…)

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

Copyright 1996 Dave Hendrickson . All Rights Reserved.

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Northern Lights

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University of Alaska-Fairbanks hockey coach Dave Laurion sighs. “The first five games of the year, soon after Erik got hurt, we weren’t very good. All of our returning players who knew Erik didn’t play well. Right away, we’re oh-and-seven at home against good teams, when we’re not playing our best hockey.”

He pauses. In his voice are sadness and frustration — for his team, the Nanooks, and for one player in particular. “That first Lake State game has got us behind the eight-ball now. We should have won that one.”

Another pause. “I’m surprised we haven’t won a game at home, but we’ve been beat by some good hockey teams.”

There’s more to the Nanooks’ shaky start than a tough early CCHA schedule. Sophomore defenseman and Fairbanks native Erik Drygas lost his skate edge and went head-first into the boards during a preseason, non-contact drill on Oct. 7. Drygas severely fractured his fifth cervical vertebra and remains partially paralyzed, with only limited movement in his extremities. His prognosis is uncertain. For a team whose roster boasts seven Fairbanks natives and 11 native Alaskans overall, and in a city of just 31,655, Drygas’ injury is even more personal, closer to home, than it might otherwise be.

“The UAF hockey program is more a community program, in some ways right now, than a school program,” says Eric Carlson, keeper of the Nanooks’ Web site and board member of the UAF Hockey Face Off Club. “I have a feeling that makes it somewhat different than some of the other CCHA programs.”

Officially in its second year of CCHA play, the UAF hockey program is, indeed, different from other programs in its league. For one thing, this member of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association is just a two-hour drive from Mt. McKinley, and a mere 200 miles south of the Arctic Circle.

At this time of year, the sun rises at about 10:45 a.m. and sets at roughly 2:45 p.m. The school is literally a thousand miles from its nearest CCHA opponent. According to the Fairbanks Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, Fairbanks is “an easy gateway into the Alaskan wilderness.” The Bureau also claims that Fairbanks is the “dog mush capital of the world.”

This isn’t South Bend. It isn’t even Sault Ste. Marie.

This remote location shapes the way in which the Nanooks recruit, and therefore the personality of the team. The Nanooks are the second-oldest team in Division I men’s ice hockey, with an average age of 21.67. Two Nanooks, goaltender Ian Perkins and forward Sean Fraser, are married; Fraser is a father.

In a recent article in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, assistant coach Tavis MacMillan theorized that the Fairbanks location attracts more mature players, players who can handle living in the frontier of the Alaskan Interior. Said MacMillan, “It’s a tough transition to move from western Canada or wherever to anywhere…but from the prairies to Alaska, it’s tough for any kid to handle.”

Another factor that separates UAF from its more established and centrally located counterparts in the CCHA is its lack of history as a hockey powerhouse. While Michigan and Lake Superior State compete for and attract the hottest 18-year-old recruits, UAF tends to recruit older players who are at the peak of their play, players who don’t sign with the glossier programs.

These players bring a maturity to the program that manifests itself on and off the ice. According to Carlson, on a recent flight back to Fairbanks after a “road” trip, the flight crew made a point of telling Dave Laurion what a pleasure it was to have the Nanooks on the flight, and that they were the best team with which the crew had ever traveled.

Mature players, native Alaskans and hometown boys, a remote location…it all adds up to a unique hockey program. “We’re a small community a long ways away,” says Laurion. “We’re a tight group. We work hard to get the best Alaskans who want to play for us.”

In addition to the other challenges of recruiting players from “The Outside” to come to Fairbanks, UAF competes with sister school Alaska-Anchorage for in-state talent. “Our drawing area is very small,” says Laurion. “The population of the areas surrounding and between Fairbanks and Anchorage is roughly 300,000 people, which is a lot smaller than, say, the Toledo, Ohio, area.”

The number of hometown players has a positive effect on the community. When Eric Carlson was growing up in the sixties and early seventies in Fairbanks, he says he never dreamed of playing any sport at the Division I level.

“Now,” says Carlson, “kids from Fairbanks see local players like Erik Drygas, Fred Scott, Greg Milles, Kirk Patton, and now Brian Upesleja and Kerry Hafele. They see that things can happen for them, too, whether it’s in sports or any other field.

“To look at the number of kids involved in local youth hockey now is amazing. When I grew up there were maybe a couple dozen die-hard hockey players hitting the ice outdoors in very cold temperatures.” Now, according to Carlson, the local youth hockey programs are flourishing, thanks in part to Barb and Chuck Milles, the parents of former Nanook Greg Milles.

The UAF fan base is made up primarily of Fairbanks residents. “We are constantly talking about how to get students more involved,” says Carlson, “but we don’t have the long tradition of a school like Michigan State. The injury to Erik kind of dampened a lot of [fan] enthusiasm, because he is always in the back of our minds.” Carlson says that the team’s current struggles on the ice are affecting fan reaction as well. “But we are still trying to stay behind them, nonetheless. You know, you just hope they realize it.”

Immediately after Drygas’ injury, before he was moved for treatment to Craig Hospital in Colorado, his proximity was difficult for his teammates. Visiting Drygas daily exacted an emotional toll on the players, which of course had an impact on the Nanooks’ game. “Every day that goes by we still keep in touch with Erik,” says Laurion, his voice low. “But now the constant reminder isn’t there.”

At the Nanook season opener on Friday, Oct. 11, Drygas was introduced as an honorary member of the starting lineup. His jersey will be placed on the bench for every game, until he is able to come back and wear it himself.

The feeling among Nanook fans and the coaching staff is that it’s time for the healing to begin, for everyone on the team. “It’s been a frustrating year for us,” says Laurion. “We need to play well, to win some games, to get some confidence back.”

Where Do They Come From?

By Jim Thies
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Teams from the WCHA are among the best in the country, year after year. As a unit, the league has won 29 NCAA titles, as well as claiming runner-up honors 25 times. WCHA teams have appeared a total of 77 times on the national stage.

Obviously, players and coaches of member schools take pride in such success over the years. But where do the players come from, and where do they get their game experience?

Let’s take a look.

According to the 1996-97 WCHA Yearbook, there are 278 players among the 10 WCHA teams. There are 14 states and seven Canadian provinces represented, as well as five European nations.

The top geographic location for players? By a landslide, it’s Minnesota with 94. Next, but well behind the Land of 10,000 Lakes, are two Canadian provinces: Alberta with 31, and Ontario with 24. A full breakdown looks like this:

British Columbia — 20
Saskatchewan — 20
Manitoba — 15
Michigan — 15
Alaska — 11
Wisconsin — 11
Colorado — 6
Illinois — 5
North Dakota — 5
Finland — 5
Sweden — 4
Pennsylvania — 3
New York — 2
Missouri — 2
Slovakia — 2

The nations of Russia and Latvia, the provinces of Quebec and New Brunswick and the states of New Jersey, California, Washington and Massachusetts each have one player currently in the WCHA.

The state of Minnesota, which far-and-away provides the most talent to the WCHA, also permeates the conference most fully. Each of the 10 WCHA teams has at least one Minnesotan; in particular, all 26 players on the Golden Gopher roster are natives, followed by St. Cloud State, where 18 of the 26 players are from the North Star State.

As for playing experience, the United States Hockey League has 92 players currently in the conference. The USHL thus outdistances high schools — all of them combined — which collectively have provided 63 current WCHA players. Several Canadian leagues are also prime sources, as follows (note: in what follows, the abbreviation “JHL” denotes “Junior Hockey League”).

Saskatchewan JHL — 25 British Columbia JHL — 24 Alberta JHL — 17 Manitoba JHL — 13 Several other Canadian leagues feature players on current WCHA teams, bringing the total for Canadian junior hockey to around 95, pretty much even with the USHL. Also, 31 players can trace their roots to other, smaller sources — transfers, European leagues, and so forth.

As noted above, the USHL leads the conference in terms of playing experience; all 10 WCHA teams have at least one player who has played in the USHL.

Team by team, Alaska-Anchorage features 16 members with USHL experience, followed by St. Cloud State with 14; North Dakota and Colorado College, 12; Minnesota-Duluth and Denver, 8; Wisconsin and Michigan Tech, 7; Northern Michigan, 6; and Minnesota, 2.

Eight of the 10 (Northern Michigan and Alaska-Anchorage being the exceptions) have players whose previous playing time came in high school.

Also, all but two teams (St. Cloud State and Minnesota) have players who last played in the British Columbia JHL. Alaska-Anchorage has the most of these, with seven players sporting experience in that league.

This Week in the WCHA: December 13, 1996

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WCHA PREVIEW: Dec. 13-15, 1996 WCHA Preview: Dec. 13-15, 1996 by Jim Thies

North Dakota won three of four points from Colorado College last weekend, increasing its lead to six in the race for first place in the WCHA.

The Fighting Sioux are off this weekend, but would probably rather be playing to keep their hot streak going. But no matter what any of the other teams do this weekend, UND will still be in first place on Monday. And that’s just fine with Coach Dean Blais and his crew.

After the Sioux, a tight race is on for second. Colorado College and Minnesota-Duluth are tied with 17 points, Minnesota and St. Cloud State have 16 apiece and Wisconsin has 15. In all, just two points separate the second- through sixth-place teams.

Here’s a look at this (short-stocked) weekend’s games.

Minnesota (9-5-0, 8-4-0 WCHA) vs. St. Cloud State (9-3-2, 7-3-2 WCHA) Saturday, 7:05 CT, National Hockey Center, St. Cloud, MN Sunday, 7:05 CT, Mariucci Arena, Minneapolis, MN

Minnesota and St. Cloud State are tied for fourth place in the league with 16 points, and the in-state rivals will see who can get the advantage in this home-and-home series.

Minnesota had last weekend off, and should be well-rested. Sunday’s game is in Minneapolis, where the Gophers have never lost to St. Cloud (12-0-0). Saturday, the teams play in St. Cloud, where the Huskies have won four of the last six contests. Casey Hankinson (7 goals, 7 assists, 14 points) is the Gophers’ top scorer, while Erik Rasmussen (8-5–13) leads not only in goals, but also penalties (20 for 56 minutes). Erik Day (3-1-0, 1.00 GAA, .956 SV%) is at the top of the WCHA goalie charts as a fill-in for proven player Steve DeBus (5-3-0, 3.14 GAA, .895 SV%)

St. Cloud State won four points last weekend with a sweep of Northern Michigan, which puts the Huskies in a solid position at this point. The Huskies have a four-game unbeaten streak together and are 5-0-1 at home. SCSU has been making the move with solid special teams play; they are No. 1 in the league on the power play (24.6 percent) and No. 3 in penalty killing (84.9 percent). Dave Paradise (6-10–16) and Sacha Molin (9-6–15) are the two top scorers. Molin had three goals and three assists last weekend, including two power-play goals and Friday’s game winner. Goalie Brian Leitza (5-1-0, 2.68 GAA, .922 SV%) is second in the league in goals-against average.

ELMO Picks: A split. SCSU 4-3, UM 6-3.

Minnesota-Duluth (9-6-1, 8-5-1 WCHA) at Denver (6-6-2, 4-6-2 WCHA) Friday-Saturday, 7:05 MT, Denver University Arena, Denver, CO

Minnesota-Duluth gained four points with a sweep of Michigan Tech last weekend, while Denver was idle. A big weekend by Denver could push them right back into the mainstream while a sweep by UMD will solidify their standing.

Minnesota-Duluth coach Mike Sertich needs two wins to reach 300 in his career, and his team would like nothing better than to get that accomplished this weekend. Mike Peluso (12-7–19) reached the 100-point mark for his career last weekend, and is third in the league in scoring. His seven power-play goals also lead the WCHA in that category. Ken Dzikowski (5-13–18) is tied for first in the league (with UND’s Jason Blake) in assists. Brant Nicklin (8-5-1, 2.91 GAA, .905 SV%) keeps getting the job done in goal.

Denver has hovered around the .500 mark most of the year, so now would be a good time for the Pioneers to take that step forward. Lately the DU penalty killing has been great (one power-play goal in the last 20 opportunities). But the Pioneers need to stay out of the penalty box against UMD; DU is sixth in penalty killing (80.0 percent) while UMD is third (22.1 percent) on the power play. Anders Bjork (2-9–11) is the leading scorer with Antti Laaksonen (6-4–10) next. Stephen Wagner (3-2-0, 2.79 GAA, .907 SV%) is the Pioneers’ top goalie even after allowing a season-high four goals to NMU on Nov. 29.

ELMO Picks: UMD gets two, 4-2, 5-3.

Northern Michigan (4-12-2, 4-11-1 WCHA) at Colorado College (8-5-1, 8-5-1 WCHA) Saturday-Sunday, 2:05 MT, Cadet Ice Arena, Air Force Academy, CO

A young Northern Michigan team has played solid hockey this year, but Colorado College hasn’t been a disappointment either. It will be fun to see which team gets the best of this series.

Northern Michigan doesn’t like to play on the road, as evidenced by their 1-7-0 record. That may be because of a young team that is not familiar with opponents’ arenas. But NMU could make a strong statement this weekend with a good showing. Bud Smith (4-7–11) is the top scorer with Rich Metro (4-5–9) second. NMU’s top three goal scorers are freshmen and that’s a great sign for the future. Dieter Kochan (4-8-1, 4.13 GAA, .880 SV%) will need a big weekend in goal.

Colorado College took only one point against North Dakota last weekend, but that’s not too bad considering how well UND has played this year. Brian Swanson (6-11–17) is the leading scorer while Darren Clark (6-10–16) is a close second. Jason Gudmundson (9-5–14) had two goals and two assists last weekend and has scored in six of the last seven contests. The Tigers are second in the league in scoring (4.07), but eighth in goals against (3.71).

ELMO Picks: CC wins twice, 5-2, 5-3.

Next Week in the WCHA Friday, Dec. 20 Alaska-Anchorage at St. Cloud State Harvard at Minnesota-Duluth Saturday, Dec. 21 Alaska-Anchorage at St. Cloud State Harvard at Minnesota-Duluth

Jim Thies is the WCHA Correspondent for U.S. College Hockey Online.

Copyright 1996 Jim Thies. All Rights Reserved. Return to Feature Articles Return to News and Recaps Return to US College Hockey Online

This Week in the CCHA: December 13, 1996

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CCHA PREVIEW: Dec. 13-15, 1996

CCHA Preview: Dec. 13-15, 1996 by Paula C. Weston

The teams atop the CCHA standings remain constant, as Lake Superior State and Michigan State (each with 18 points) hold on to their one-point lead over Michigan, while Miami stands one point behind the Wolverines. The potential for change in the pecking order exists this weekend when Miami hosts Lake Superior for two games.

While it’s too early to tell if the CCHA is losing its "two-tier" structure in favor of a three-tier design, it’s clear where the line is drawn between teams with realistic hopes of finishing in the top four and teams that simply won’t get there. Ferris State moves into fifth place this week, but they need six points to catch up with Miami. There are three teams with nine points each — Western Michigan, Notre Dame and Bowling Green — all tied for sixth place. In a middle-tier matchup, Bowling Green travels to Western Michigan for one game.

The second line drawn in the CCHA sand is the one that separates those middle teams from the remaining two, Ohio State and Alaska-Fairbanks. These two teams meet this week for what could be the battle of the basement, or the beginning of either team’s climb up the standings.

These imaginary lines could shift if a team gets hot or turns cold. When CCHA play resumes in 1997, it could seem like the start of a brand-new season.

Michigan State, Michigan, Ferris State and Notre Dame are idle this week. This weekend’s games are the last games involving CCHA teams until Dec. 27, and CCHA conference play begins again after the first of the year.

Last week’s record in picks: 6-2 Overall record in picks: 31-17

Lake Superior (12-5-1, 9-2-0 CCHA) at Miami (12-4-0, 8-2-0 CCHA) Friday & Saturday, 7 p.m., Goggin Arena, Oxford, OH

For the first time this season, Miami gave up more than five goals in a game, in a 7-6 OT loss to Western Michigan last weekend. For the first time this season, another team has bettered Miami in total goals against (Miami has now allowed 43 goals, Michigan 41). Is this reason to panic?

Miami coach Mark Mazzoleni doesn’t think so. "We played hard last week [at Western]. We played six good periods of hockey. Every time they went ahead, we came back."

This Miami team, which has been so good at stopping teams with high-octane offenses, will have to play tough defensive hockey this weekend to beat Lake Superior. Even with recent coaching changes, Mazzoleni knows that the Lakers have been consistent. "Lake Superior’s program has experienced so much success that [Lakers coach Scott Borek] doesn’t need to change anything. We expect a very typical Lake State team — good offense."

Unofficially, Lake Superior has two of the top ten scorers in the nation. Jason Sessa has 28 overall points, and Joe Blaznek 25. In the official CCHA tallies, Sessa has 10 goals and 12 assists, and is second in CCHA scoring.

Each team brings good goaltending to the games. Trevor Prior will start for Miami, and John Grahame for Lake Superior.

Lake Superior’s biggest weakness is special teams. The Lakers are last in the CCHA in the power play, and sixth on the penalty kill. Miami can exploit those weaknesses, with a third-ranked power play and second-ranked penalty kill in the CCHA.

This series is almost too close to call.

PICKS: Miami 4-3 Friday, Lake Superior 5-4 Saturday Ohio State (3-11-0, 3-6-0 CCHA) at Alaska-Fairbanks (2-14-0, 2-12-0 CCHA) Friday, Saturday & Sunday, 7 p.m., Carlson Center, Fairbanks, AK

Talk about your evenly matched teams. This three-game series could be the beginning, or the end, for either the Nanooks or the Buckeyes.

According to Nanook coach Dave Laurion, the key to this series is Friday’s game. "If we win the first game, I think we’ll be that much better the next two nights. I don’t know how hungry our guys are going to be. I expect both teams are very hungry. We haven’t won a game at home. The first game’s critical for us. It may give us momentum for the rest of the weekend. We need to have success early in the weekend."

The lack of success early in the weekend is what cost Alaska-Fairbanks three games at the hands of the Lakers Thanksgiving weekend. Laurion points to the 4-3 loss on Friday, Nov. 29, as determining that weekend’s outcome for the Nanooks. They lost the remaining games 4-2 and 7-5.

Both the Nanooks and the Buckeyes are frustrated for having lost close games, but Buckeye coach John Markell remains optimistic. After all, his team is doing better now than they were at this point last season. "We’re probably sitting exactly where we could be, if I were to map out the season from the beginning. Now it’s time to step up and do something about it.

"Every game for us is important. We’re looking up at most teams. Hopefully we can get a few points before Christmas."

Many teams in the CCHA are relying heavily on rookies this season, but none more so than the Buckeyes. Two of the Buckeyes’ rookies are among their top scorers, and the Buckeyes are waiting for their two freshman goaltenders to adjust to play in the CCHA. Markell says he’s asking his freshmen to play like upperclassmen, something they’ll have to do to win this weekend.

In every aspect but one, these teams are nearly identical. Goaltending, special teams, defense — that’s all a wash. What Alaska-Fairbanks has that Ohio State lacks is a powerful offensive leader. Nanook Cody Bowtell will be instrumental in this series. If Bowtell and the Nanooks can pepper the weak Ohio State goaltending with shots, it will be a long plane ride home for Christmas break for the Buckeyes.

Whichever team calls the basement home after this series will do so for the rest of the season.

PICKS: Alaska-Fairbanks Friday 5-2, Saturday 4-3; Ohio State 4-3 Sunday Bowling Green (8-8-1, 4-8-1 CCHA) at Western Michigan (7-7-1, 4-6-1 CCHA) Saturday, 7 p.m., Lawson Center, Kalamazoo, MI

This game is much bigger for Bowling Green than it is for Western Michigan. Bowling Green was ranked in the top ten in every preseason poll, and had huge expectations for this season. Now the fans are disappointed, the players are discouraged, and coach Buddy Powers is left wondering what to do to make it all better again.

"For a while, our scorers stopped scoring," says Powers. "We’ve made defensive mistakes. There are nights when we need more help in front of the net and don’t get it.

"We’re playing a lot of young guys, and they take these losses in different ways. The fans have a right to expect us to beat certain clubs, and they’re anxious for us to get back into the top of the league. The losses don’t sit too well with anyone."

Western Michigan coach Bill Wilkinson knows about dashed expectations. "We lost six forwards and six seniors in the off-season. And losing [sophomore goaltender] Marc Magliarditi threw us.

"It’s put pressure on [goaltender] Matt Barnes. He’s played pretty solid, and he’s given us enough goaltending opportunities to win games."

Goaltending is a big concern for Bowling Green, whose goaltending duo of Mike Savard and Bob Petrie has given up 66 goals on the season. "We’re giving up four goals a game, and when you give up four goals in college hockey, it’s hard to ask your offense to come up with more goals," said Powers. "You want to keep opponents under four goals.

"Five to eight times in every game there are going to be breakdowns [on defense] and you need your goalie to make those saves, and we haven’t been getting those saves. Both these guys have the ability to play at this level; both have the ability to succeed at this level."

Wilkinson says he’s glad the Broncos are home for this game. "Bowling Green is a formidable opponent, no matter what their record. Any time you play at home, you’re better off. I just wish the students weren’t gone for Christmas."

The Broncos are struggling offensively, and the Falcons are struggling defensively. Interesting pairing. Look for Bowling Green’s defense to give the Broncos an early Christmas present.

PICK: Western Michigan 4-3

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

Copyright 1996 Paula C. Weston . All Rights Reserved.

Return to Feature Articles Return to News and Recaps Return to US College Hockey Online

This Week in Hockey East: December 13, 1996

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Hockey East Preview: Dec. 11-14, 1996 by Dave Hendrickson

Exam week sidelines six of the nine Hockey East teams this weekend. What the league lacks in quantity, however, they’ll try to make up in quality.

First, Boston University hosts Boston College in one of the top rivalries in the sport. Although both teams are far from peak form, this contest could be one of the most spirited of the year. UMass-Amherst, the only other active league squad, plays two surprising ECAC teams, Princeton and Dartmouth.

Last week’s record in picks: 6-4 Season record in picks: 56-30

Boston College (7-7-1, 4-4-1 HE) at No. 4 Boston University (9-3-2, 7-0-1 HE) Wednesday, 7 p.m., Walter Brown Arena, Boston, MA NESN

Outside the Boston College locker room hangs a board showing the Hockey East standings, the tags for all nine teams displayed in their proper places. All, that is, except one — which is hung upside down. Yes, Boston University holds a very special place in the hearts of Boston College.

"I think somebody from the team just did that," said a laughing Marty Reasoner after BC’s win over Maine. "It’s usually on the bottom."

Fans from the West may recognize this battle as Hockey East’s version of Minnesota-Wisconsin or Michigan-Michigan State. Whether the two teams are good or bad, passion always fills the contests.

"Historically, BU has always been our rival," said BC coach Jerry York. "We just haven’t kept our end of the bargain the last six or seven years. They’ve been beating us on a continual basis. Late last year we secured a win from them, but their program has just been better than ours since ’91-’92.

"We don’t want them to drop their standards at all. We just want to bring our standards up so that when we do play, it’s for first place and for a pivotal place in the national rankings. That’s the charge we’ve accepted, and what we want.

"Our teams are getting closer," York continued. "My first year here, we were light-years away from them. This will be a good test for us to see if we are in fact closing the gap."

The Eagles, to a man, are looking forward to the contest.

"These games are played on pure emotion," said Marty Reasoner. "We proved last year that we could play with them (when BC beat BU at season’s end). We’re excited about the challenge. They’re one of the top teams in the league, and a top team in the country, so we look forward to it."

"The guys are really positive right now," added Greg Taylor. "Everyone has a great attitude and I think it’s going to be a great game on Wednesday."

Taylor may hold the result in his hands — his glove hand, to be specific. He broke that hand during an off-ice workout, and missed five games before returning to play twice this past weekend. After appearing rusty in a 6-3 loss Friday, he looked sharp the next night, winning 5-3. Even so, his hand is not fully healed.

"If I get a good, hard shot on my glove side it’s pretty painful there still," said Taylor. "But it’s to the point where I know I can’t hurt it any more, so all I’m doing is just playing through the pain out there, and that’s fine by me.

"It definitely had an effect on me this weekend. In [Friday night’s] game I was pretty timid. I would try to cover up the puck and I had no strength in my hand. I don’t think I caught one puck all weekend. I could get my glove in front of it, but I couldn’t catch anything. It definitely was a distraction. It was tough on me mentally to fight through that and just concentrate on the game."

Special teams are likely to prove pivotal, as they did in BC’s weekend series with Maine. After giving up three power-play goals and getting none of their own on Friday, they turned the tables on the Black Bears and enjoyed an identical 3-0 advantage in their Saturday win.

"We’ve gotten progressively better on our power-play," said York. "What’s concerned us is our penalty killing. Going into the weekend we were first in the league in power plays and last in penalty killing."

Another concern is containing BU’s Chris Drury, the league’s leading scorer. "We’ll certainly be conscious of when he’s on the ice," said York. "He’s had an unbelievable start, but he’s been a good player for a couple years. This is his third year and he’s a little more battle-tested. He’s a key to their game, so we’ll have to be conscious of him."

Boston University enters the game at the low point of their season, having gone 0-2-1 in their last three games, during which they’ve only scored twice. One frustrated BU fan who made the trip to Clarkson and St. Lawrence was heard to mutter, "I drove 1000 miles to see one goal?"

"[Our problem is] goal scoring," said BU coach Jack Parker. "Our power play has suffered a major shortage and our overall goal scoring has really fallen off. With guys like Lacouture dropping out and John Hynes unavailable because of injury, all of a sudden we’re very, very thin up front.

"We’re just not putting the puck in the net. We’re getting opportunities. We’ve outshot our opponents by a two-to-one margin in our last four games, and only won one of them. In our last three we’ve had over 120 shots and only gotten two goals. That’s been a major problem for us. We need to finish better and play a little bit harder around their net.

"We’ve gotten so uptight about not scoring that we’re messing up really good opportunities, shooting it right into the kid or shooting it wide," said Parker. "Other times the shot totals are deceiving. There’s not a lot of grade A chances each period."

The Terrier power play, which devastated teams last year, shoulders much of the blame.

"We’ve tried a lot of different combinations," said Parker. "We’ll try another one for BC. We’re changing the power play around and we’re changing the people around because we just haven’t found the right combinations."

After picking up just one point in their three road games, the Terriers will happily trade their recent bus rides and hostile rinks for Walter Brown Arena and rabid BU fans.

"I don’t think that there’s any question that being on the road has a lot to do with [our lack of success]," said Parker. "We took a four and a half hour bus ride in the snow down to Yale that should have been two hours or two and a half hours.

"We also had the Clarkson and St. Lawrence trip. There’s no question that playing on the road this time of year is pretty tough. Certainly two out of those three games we should have won, but we didn’t. But you’ve got to win on the road if you’re going to be successful."

Despite his team’s recent troubles, Parker expects a well-played game. "This is always a big rivalry that brings out the best in both teams. I think we’ll both play up to our capabilities and then some on Wednesday night."

Parker listed three keys to the game.

"Goaltending is always a key," he said. "BC gets opportunities. They’re a good offensive team. Tommy Noble will play and he’s been playing really well. So our overall team defense and Tommy’s ability to focus and play well against them will be important.

"Special teams are big in any big game. We’ll try to get our power play on track and we’d like to keep killing penalties as well as we have. We’re doing a really good job with that.

"We also have to just keep from getting tired. We have so few [bodies] up front that we have to be real careful how we play everybody, getting everybody off and on with quick shifts."

Parker plans to dress 11 forwards because of the Hynes injury. Defenseman Shane Johnson will also not be available, serving the second game of a fighting suspension.

PICK: BU responds to the comfortable confines of Walter Brown Arena, winning 4-2.

Princeton (7-2-2, 6-2-1 ECAC) at UMass-Amherst (7-7-0, 4-6-0 HE) UMass-Amherst (7-7-0, 4-6-0 HE) at Dartmouth (4-3-0, 2-3-0 ECAC) Friday (Princeton), 7 p.m., Mullins Center, Amherst, MA Saturday (Dartmouth), 7 p.m., Thompson Arena, Hanover, New Hampshire

Joe Mallen scored a hat trick of sorts this week. Mid-week, UMass-Amherst announced that they had extended his contract by three years. Mallen has guided the Minutemen from their rebirth in 1993-94, when they played a Division II and III schedule, to the present day.

"When you coach an expansion club, you don’t get all those wins and people don’t understand," said Mallen. "It’s been a lot of work and we’re starting to see some dividends now. I was really grateful that the university extended me the opportunity to build the program."

His team then gave him the personal hat trick with a 5-3 and 3-1 sweep over Providence. "They were two very well-played games by both teams," he said. "We got a lucky bounce in the second game to help us win it, but they were very evenly-played games and we were very satisfied with the results."

Gerry Cahill, a senior who had only scored 11 goals in his first three years, has emerged as a significant contributor for the Minutemen. In the five games leading into last weekend, he had scored eight goals and added two assists.

"He’s a self-made player," said Mallen. "He was heading to (Division III) Salem State and wound up coming with us as we started the program. Right now he’s simply doing what we ask our guys to do, and that’s just to play at a high tempo, shoot the puck quick and hard, and put it on the net. When you do that, good things will happen.

"He’s also killed penalties for the first time for us this year. Although, if you look at his results, you might think we should have done that earlier. But he’s got real good speed and he’s got real good chemistry working with Rob Bonneau on the penalty kill."

Mallen’s penalty-killing unit now totals six short-handed goals and is red-hot. They entered the weekend having stopped their opponents in 24 of their last 26 power-play opportunities, while scoring four short-handed goals. They added to that total with a pivotal Warren Norris short-handed goal on Friday.

"Our first year here (against Division III opponents) we got a lot of short-handed goals," said Mallen. "It was a philosophy where we were trying to capitalize on the other team’s mistakes. But the last two years (against Division I) we were just so young and inexperienced that our chances were slim and none. Now we’re at the point where we’re capable of capitalizing on some of these mistakes and as a result we’ve been fortunate to get six short-handed goals."

Brian Regan has also stepped up his play in the nets. "I think we’re playing better team defense," said Mallen, "but [this past weekend] Brian Regan took it as a personal challenge going head-to-head with Dan Dennis who is an All-America and Hobey Baker candidate. I think Brian really played up to that level."

This week the Minutemen face Princeton and Dartmouth. Most observers expected the two teams to again be weak sisters of the ECAC, but the Tigers and Big Green have so far stood the experts on their heads. Princeton is tied for first place and Dartmouth is over .500 for what seems like the first time since the Hoover administration.

"I’ve got a great deal of respect for both Princeton and Dartmouth," said Mallen. "Both teams seem to be playing great hockey at this time of year. We think that these are going to be two very difficult non-league matchups for us."

Princeton comes in as one of the biggest eye-openers in the ECAC. A week ago the Tigers accomplished something they’d never done in the thirty-five year history of the league: they earned a first-place standing all to themselves.

Cornell caught them this week for a share of the top spot by playing three conference games to the Tigers’ one. However, Princeton remains one of the biggest surprises in the nation.

Skeptics will point out that Princeton has yet to beat anyone significant and they’ll have a point. Although sweeps over rivals Harvard and Yale may delight their followers, they won’t go a far in establishing just how strong the Tigers are.

Unlike UMass-Amherst, which has played seven games against teams with winning records and five against top-ten teams, Princeton has played only two against teams above .500 and none nationally ranked. In those two games they lost, 5-2, to Clarkson and beat Colgate 4-3.

Princeton coach Don Cahoon dresses only five defensemen and uses only four in the regular rotation. Those four — Steve Shirreffs, Michael Acosta, Dominique Auger and Darren Yopyk — may all be freshmen and sophomores, but they are playing at a level that belies their youth.

Scott Bertoli, with six goals and five assists in league games, ranks among ECAC leaders in league scoring, followed by Jason Given (6-3–9). Goaltender Nick Rankin has also posted numbers among the ECAC elite: a 2.26 goals against average with a .928 save percentage going into last weekend.

Princeton comes off a 4-4 tie against Army and a 4-3 win over Yale. Cahoon seemed to treat the Army game as little more than an exhibition, leaving home five regulars to rest, including Acosta, Rankin, and Given. They then rode three power-play goals to beat the Bulldogs and retain a share of the ECAC lead.

"To get off to the start we’ve gotten off to, we shouldn’t be unappreciative of that," said Tigers coach Don Cahoon. "But obviously we’re going to have to play a whole lot better than that if we’re going to stay in the fray here."

Dartmouth, the ECAC’s perennial 97-pound weakling, has flexed its muscles in recent weeks. In their last four games they’ve beaten Colgate (3-2), Vermont (4-1), and Merrimack (6-4).

Leading the Big Green scoring are David Whitworth (9 points), Ryan Chaytors (8), Jon Sturgis (6) and Bill Kelleher (6). Their lone ECAC statistical leader is goaltender Jason Wong, who has posted a 2.25 goals against average and .913 save percentage in three league games.

Their surprising performance has not been based on a significant difference in play at home (a 3-2-0 record) versus on the road (1-1-0).

PICK: UMass-Amherst sweeps, beating Princeton 5-3 at home and Dartmouth 4-3 on the road.

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

Copyright 1996 Dave Hendrickson . All Rights Reserved.

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State Legislator Wants Walsh Fired

USCHO Staff Report
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A state representative to the Maine legislature plans to introduce a resolution asking the University of Maine to fire suspended ice hockey coach Shawn Walsh, according to the Associated Press.

Walsh, who was suspended for one year without pay for his role in NCAA violations, is slated to return as coach Dec. 24.

Rep. Art Mayo, a University of Maine graduate and financial backer, has reportedly been disturbed ever since the university chose to suspend Walsh, rather than fire him in December of 1995.

According to the AP, Mayo’s resolution states that the NCAA described Walsh’s role as “a violation of the provisions of ethical conduct”. Mayo’s resolution goes on to state that it does not “reflect well on the integrity of the university’s athletic programs or the overall mission of the University of Maine.”

Mayo reportedly has also told the AP that it is unclear whether or not his resolution will be debated.

University of Maine officials, and Rep. Mayo could not be reached for comment.

‘Lacrosse Goal’ Up for Awards

USCHO Staff Report
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The “lacrosse” goal by University of Michigan center Mike Legg is under consideration for two major awards this year: Canada’s sporting network TSN’s “Play of the Year,” and an ESPY awards from the American equivalent, ESPN, the University of Michigan announced this week.

Legg’s goal, which came in a quarterfinal game of the 1996 NCAA Tournament against Minnesota, featured a swinging move to flip the puck onto the blade of the stick, which Legg then threw, lacrosse style, into the goal over the shoulder of Gopher netminder Steve DeBus. The goal tied the game at two, and the Wolverines went on to win the game 4-3, and eventually the national championship.

TSN is featuring five plays for the “Play of the Year”, and Legg’s goal is the only college hockey play. Voting for the play over the internet can be done at http://www.tsn.ca/ under the “interactive” section. Voting ends Monday, December 16.

In January, Legg’s goal will be considered by ESPN for an ESPY award for “Outrageous Play of the Year”. Voting details will be announced later.

Fans Will Be Treated to Two All-Star Games

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There will be two postseason all-star games this year in the college hockey world: one featuring the top U.S. born NCAA players against the top talent from the Canadian equivalent,the CIAU; the other featuring the best of the best from Hockey East and the ECAC, as well as players drawn from the best in NCAA Divisions II and III from schools on the east coast.

Players participating in either contest will be seniors who have used up their collegiate eligibility, to avoid regulations prohibiting them from exceeding a maximum number of games.

The World University Hockey Championship will be held on April 4, 1997, at 7:30 p.m. EST at the Joe Louis Arena, in Detroit, Michigan. Team USA will face off with Team Canada in a game televised by Prime Sports Network in the United States and by TSN in Canada.

At a press conference held November 26, Michigan State’s Ron Mason was named head coach of Team USA, while Tom Watt was named the leader of the Canadian coaching staff. These two hold the record in their respective countries for most collegiate wins. Mason sports a 31-year record of 752-330-54 entering the 1996-97 season, while Watt holds a 410-106-35 record.

Joining Mason will be Jerry York of Boston College, who just collected his 500th win, Don Lucia of Colorado College, and Joe Marsh from St. Lawrence University. Watt’s staff consists of Dalhousie coach Darell Young and assistant coaches Marlin Muylaert of the University of Guelph and Tim Bothwell of the University of Calgary.

Team USA will be missing some of the marquee players in the likes of Brendan Morrison of Michigan and the French Connection of Martin St. Louis and Eric Perrin of Vermont, due to their Canadian heritage. Only U.S. born players are eligible for the team, while only Canadian players will be asked to play for Team Canada.

Some players from the east will be asked to participate in both games, like All-American goaltender Tim Thomas of Vermont, who is from Michigan. A preliminary list of players from the four major conferences is available. This list is almost certain to change.

Organizers of the event, which include CCHA commissioner Bill Beagan and ECAC commissioner Joe Bertagna, among others, expect that next year will feature a two game home-and-home series, and by the year 2000 other teams will join to make this a true World Collegiate Championship.

The second annual Eastern Senior All-Star Game will be held Sunday afternoon April 6, 1997, at the University of Vermont’s Gutterson Fieldhouse in Burlington, Vermont.

This is a continuation of the event that began last year at New Hampshire’s new facility, the Whittemore Center. New Hampshire is expected to host next year’s event, which is expected to become an annual tradition on the east coast, alternating between Hockey East and ECAC sites.

This year, organization of the event has switched hands. “We are pleased that the American Hockey Coaches Association has relinquished the rights to this game and it is now a joint venture of ECAC Hockey and Hockey East,” said ECAC commissioner Joe Bertagna.

It is expected that Vermont’s three All-Americans, Eric Perrin, Martin St. Louis, and goalie Tim Thomas, will be involved in the game, and give a lucky audience one last chance to watch them play together.

Coaching staff, game format, and any experimental rules will be released in the upcoming weeks.

This Week in the ECAC: December 13, 1996

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ECAC PREVIEW: Dec. 13-14, 1996 ECAC Preview: Dec. 13-14, 1996 by Jayson Moy

The holiday season is upon us, and as usual, that means a light schedule of games. There are only two on the ECAC docket this week, and both involve a Hockey East foe — UMass-Amherst.

The ECAC is currently overwhelming HEA opponents, posting a 16-8-2 record thus far. The ECAC has never had a winning record against Hockey East, dating back to the conferences’ split in 1984.

The ECAC had its best chance in 1994-95. That year, the record stood at 23-23 (excluding ties) going into the Beanpot, but Harvard lost both games and Hockey East won the series again.

Of the teams in action this weekend, Princeton has yet to face Hockey East, while Dartmouth was a winner in its only game, 6-4 over Merrimack. UMass-Amherst is 0-1-1 against the ECAC, including a 4-1 loss to Vermont.

The battle for the Whitelaw Trophy intensified this past weekend as well, in nine conference games. Not one team gained four points, but several earned three, including Rensselaer, Colgate, St. Lawrence, and Harvard.

The Engineers pulled off a last-minute win against ECAC leader Cornell, and then settled for a tie with Colgate when the Red Raiders scored a late goal to tie the game. The Red Raiders had defeated Union the night before.

St. Lawrence (3-3-1) and Harvard (3-4-2) tied on Friday night and then beat Brown and Clarkson, respectively, in one-goal games.

Princeton (6-2-1) moved into a tie for first place with Cornell with its win over Yale. The Tigers were also tied for first going into the holidays in 1990, but finished 11-10-1, their only over-.500 ECAC season.

The Big Red (6-2-1) was one of the teams on the wrong end of the weekend; they took only one point from two home games. Ahead this week:

Princeton (7-2-2, 6-2-1 ECAC) at UMass-Amherst (7-7-0, 4-6-0 Hockey East) Friday, 7:00 p.m., Mullins Center, Amherst, MA

The Tigers are in first place in the ECAC, along with Cornell. They played a tough game against Yale on Saturday, and despite Princeton’s lofty standing, head coach Don Cahoon senses that work still has to be done.

"To get off to the start we’ve gotten off to, we shouldn’t be unappreciative of that," he said. "But obviously we’re going to have to play a whole lot better than that if we’re going to stay in the fray here."

The experiment with Mike Bois on defense should continue in this game for the Tigers. The non-league game provides Princeton a chance to get some rest for its short-staffed defensive unit, though the young group has performed admirably so far.

The Minutemen come off of a weekend sweep of Providence, 5-3 and 3-1. Those wins moved UMass-Amherst into sixth place in Hockey East. Warren Norris and Rob Bonneau scored two goals apiece in Friday’s win over the Friars.

Head coach Joe Mallen just received a three-year extension on his contract; he has brought the program respectability in just its fourth year.

PICK: Princeton is flying high, and UMass-Amherst is finding themselves. This one will be a struggle, but the Minutemen use the home ice to their advantage. UMass-Amherst 4, Princeton 3

UMass-Amherst (7-7-0, 4-6-0 Hockey East) at Dartmouth (4-3-0, 2-3-0 ECAC) Saturday, 7:30 p.m., Thompson Arena, Hanover, NH

UMass-Amherst is previewed above.

The Big Green are winners of two straight, including a 4-1 upset of Vermont. Additionally, Dartmouth is 3-1-0 in its last four games.

"We got off to a disappointing start," said head coach Roger Demmet. "We played below our potential."

It doesn’t hurt that the Big Green have turned to freshman goaltender Jason Wong. He currently possesses a 3-1-0 record, 2.73 GAA, and .895 save percentage, and is the early favorite for ECAC Rookie of the Year.

PICK: After a two-week layoff, one has to wonder how ready Dartmouth is, but the advantage might be in the rest. UMass-Amherst will have played the night before against a relentless Princeton team — fatigue does play a factor, but not that much. UMass-Amherst 5, Dartmouth 3

Also as usual during the holidays, many ECAC teams are involved in tournament action. There’s another light schedule next week, as the first of the holiday tournaments hits.

Friday and Saturday, December 20 & 21 Harvard at Minnesota-Duluth

Friday and Saturday, December 20 & 21 J.C. Penney Classic: Princeton vs. Union Dalhousie vs. Maine

Saturday, December 21 Dartmouth at Merrimack

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

Copyright 1996 Jayson Moy . All Rights Reserved.

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