Kathryn Larson transferred to St. Thomas this year from Bethel and has continued her dazzling offensive output for the Tommies (contributed photo).
Even though the Bethel and St. Thomas campuses are separated by mere minutes, Kathryn Larson was looking for a change of scenery.
Larson, now a junior at UST, played the first two years of her college career at Bethel, compiling 36 goals and 65 points in 54 games with the Royals.
Still, it was time for a change.
“After attending Bethel for a couple of years, I knew I was ready for a different atmosphere,” said Larson. “I looked into St. Thomas because I knew their health and human performance program was top of the line, and that their hockey team had a tradition of success. I was fortunate to meet some great people and teammates during my time at Bethel.”
With the Tommies this year, the Shoreview, Minn., native has nine goals and 17 points in 13 games. She actually has scored 20 goals over her past 20 games, dating back to last season with Bethel.
“On a personal level, I believe my year so far is going well,” Larson said. “I am so fortunate to have great teammates and coaches. As a transfer, they were all super welcoming and it was very easy to transition into this team. Our team is a very tight-knit group off the ice, which transfers onto the ice. We are playing very well as a unit because of the confidence and trust we have in each other.”
At UST, Larson has seen her offensive numbers continue to be prevalent, but truth be told, she said she prides herself on playing a solid game at both ends of the rink.
“I’ve played both forward and defense, and in high school (at Mounds View), I had coaches that instilled in me the importance of being a two-way player and to focus on the team’s success rather than individual stats,” explained Larson. “Statistics are a by-product of working hard in every zone. A key to our team’s success so far is the selfless attitude each player has. We all want to see success for our teammates and want to win for each other.”
Might that attitude mean the season gets extended come March? Ranked No. 4 with an 11-1-1 overall record, it’s a distinct possibility.
“The national tournament is an absolute goal for our team, but we are taking every game one at a time to reach that goal,” Larson said. “We know we have to respect every opponent and cannot look past any game.”
In the classroom, Larson is an exercise science major with an emphasis on pre-physical therapy. After graduating from St. Thomas, her plan is to attend grad school and pursue a doctorate of physical therapy.
“Short term, I just want to continue to grow as a player and a person,” said Larson. “I want to be an impact player for UST and be a part of continuing their tradition of success. I want to be a great teammate and when I graduate, leave a positive legacy at UST.”
NOTEBOOK
The USCHO.com Division III Women’s Poll released Monday once again had Plattsburgh garnering all 15 first-place votes. The first eight spots remained unchanged, with just No. 9 Castleton and No. 10 Norwich flip-flopping. … No. 3 Adrian blanked Bethel 3-0 Monday night as Jade Walsh made 22 saves. … On Tuesday, Plattsburgh blanked Norwich 6-0, Camille Leonard stopping all 25 shots for her NCAA-best ninth shutout. Six different players scored for the Cardinals; Leonard is also tops in the country with her .975 save percentage and 0.43 GAA. … Williams scored two third-period goals to beat Manhattanville 2-1 Tuesday. … Plattsburgh’s Kayla Meneghin has D-III lead in scoring with 34 points and is also tied with Canton’s Tess Adams with seven power-play goals apiece.
Back in the day, it seemed that St. Lawrence could never beat Harvard. That was particularly true in games that really mattered, such as back-to-back Frozen Fours in 2004 and 2005.
While not as much of a given in recent years, the Crimson have continued to be problematic for the Saints.
“I don’t know if we’ve ever shut Harvard out,” coach Chris Wells said. “I’m pumped when we hold Harvard to three goals a game.”
I’m spared having to go back to the annals to research if and when St. Lawrence has posted a shutout of the Crimson, because I can remember exactly when it last happened — Friday night.
“We shut them out, that was a big shot in the arm,” Wells said.
Grace Harrison of St. Lawrence (Tara Freeman, St. Lawrence University)
Just as surprising was the goaltender who helped deliver that shot. It’s a safe bet that freshman Grace Harrison was the first goalie from her country to ever shut out a Harvard ice hockey team, women’s or men’s.
“The irony of it is that she’s from New Zealand, but she’s playing 45 minutes away from us at Ontario Hockey Academy in Cornwall,” Wells said. “Unfortunately for Ted [Wisner], our recruiter, he didn’t get a chance to get on the plane to fly over to New Zealand to see her play. He had to drive up to Cornwall all the time to watch her in tournaments.”
Her presence in Ontario certainly made it more likely that she might end up at St. Lawrence, but the bigger question might be how someone from Auckland, New Zealand, became a hockey player in the first place.
“I think she started, maybe, with her dad,” Wells said. “He’s a big hockey fan, and he’s been kind of a team leader for the national program over there, the younger kids, and running some of the younger national tournaments, and that’s how she got started. So, we’re fortunate. We had a spot for her, toward the end of last year and kind of got her late in the recruiting process.”
Harrison, making just her fourth career start, picked an opportune time to record her first shutout.
“The team played well, and she was able to stop a couple of nice chances that they had,” Wells said. “They had some really good chances that just went wide. In a game like that, so many teams are so even, some of the nights you’re just missing the net by an inch, and some of the nights it’s the other team that is just missing the net by an inch. Harvard had a lot of really good chances that Grace was able to stop, and they just missed on a couple, too.”
Fortune smiled on the Saints at the other end of the ice as well in their defeat of the Crimson.
“We got a fantastic bounce on the first goal,” Wells said. “Ricocheted off one of their hips, off our hip, and in the net. [Sophomore Hannah] Miller had a nice slap-shot goal, it was 2-0, and it was an even game from then out.”
St. Lawrence may have first gotten the monkey off its back where Harvard was concerned with an overtime victory in the ECAC semifinal in 2012, the season the Saints went on to win the championship.
“We’ve had some absolutely fantastic games, especially at Appleton, against Harvard,” Wells said. “Right off, last year we won in overtime. [Three] years ago, they won in overtime or they won in the last minute. They scored on a penalty shot with 24 seconds left one year. This year down there, they scored with a minute and a half to go.”
Stylistically, the two are a good match.
“We’ve always had great games,” Wells said. “I think they play very similarly to us in terms of just trying to push the pace as much as possible and play hard. They’re always fun games. Good hard, fun, clean games to play against them.”
St. Lawrence (12-10-2, 6-5-1 ECAC Hockey) didn’t have much time to celebrate its latest win over Harvard, because it had to be back in action less than 24 hours later as it hosted Dartmouth.
“That’s one of the nice things about our league and our league schedule is you don’t play the same team twice, so it does give you a jolt,” Wells said. “It does allow you to have a short memory, because if you lose to one team on Friday night, you’re playing another team on Saturday. It just kind of helps that way.”
The Big Green were the team in that game coming off a loss, after being shutout themselves at Clarkson the night before, 1-0.
“If you were to walk into that rink and said that you’re watching a team that’s two games over .500 and a team that was on a 10-game skid, if I was a fan, you’d have had to knock me over, because what a game,” Wells said. “That was up and down, 34 shots apiece on the cage. It was a fantastic game. They showed no signs of losing 10 games in a row. They showed good poise. They had some great chances, and so did we. That was a fun game.”
Dartmouth broke its 10-game losing streak, five of which were in the league, and the Saints got three points out of their weekend, as they battle in the league standings. To pinpoint just which opponent or for what position St. Lawrence is competing is more difficult in the wide-open ECAC.
“There’s going to be a few teams out of the playoffs this year that are very good hockey teams,” Wells said. “This year, it has been as close to what I experienced on the men’s side when I was coaching there as I’ve seen. It’s going to be a fun race to the finish. Everybody always says, ‘Every night, every night,’ but every year, it has a little bit more of a punctuation behind it than it has in the year previous.”
That’s apparent when you look at SLU’s schedule and see a key weekend is followed by another.
“Heading down to Colgate, they’ve done a fantastic job,” Wells said. “They’ve slapped together a couple of recruiting classes and they have a great team energy about them. They’re doing things that I think they thought they could do. They came up and swept us and Clarkson and have continued on since then. So you head down there, and then Cornell is always Cornell.”
After that, it’s more of the same.
“The next weekend for us is a pair of Clarksons,” Wells said. “It’s the same for every other team. It’s two points Friday and two points Saturday. As you can see, every game is tight. Brown goes in and ties Cornell. It’s great. It’s great for the game, seeing everybody being as competitive as they are.”
With all that competition, a team needs a good goalie. Or two.
“The three kids, actually, have had a chance to play,” Wells said. “Grace just kind of is getting her chance to go here now. I think they’ve given us an idea of what they can do.”
St. Lawrence is crowded at the goaltender position with five on the roster. After getting the nod versus Dartmouth, Harrison has started five times, while sophomore Brooke Wolejko has started nine games, and freshman Sonjia Shelly made nine starts between the pipes.
“Everybody has played well at certain times,” Wells said. “Like all our players, we’re just looking for consistency in the play of everyone. I think goaltending is such a big piece of the puzzle for all teams, especially in these close games that we’re in. Our kids have done a good job keeping us in the games, outside of the two five-goal games, the one at Yale was an empty-netter and the one against Quinnipiac. I think we’ve given up 27 in the league. Take those two games out, we’ve only given up 17 goals in 10 games in our other league games.”
That’s been a big improvement for the first month of the year as SLU embarked on its post Carmen MacDonald era.
“I thought every game was going to be a West Coast, old-style, San Diego Chargers [and] Miami Dolphins, Kellen Winslow type games,” Wells said. “Then we got settled down. We went down and BC scored seven on us both nights, but we scored four one night and three the next. I thought there were going to be a lot of high-scoring affairs, but we’ve been able to settle things down nicely.”
When all of a team’s goaltenders start to show improvement, it’s often a sign that the team in front of them is clamping down.
“I think that one of the most pleasant surprises has been Lydia Grauer, who was put back on defense around Thanksgiving time,” Wells said. “She probably made the mistake of telling me that she played defense before she started playing girls’ high school hockey, and I said, ‘You did?’ So she went back to defense around Thanksgiving. She’s been really steady back there, making good passes out of the zone. She’s got a good stick. So that’s been a surprise here since Thanksgiving, a nice pleasant surprise to have her back there. She’s settled in and gotten quite a bit of ice. As a freshman to crack into our D corps, midway through the season as a forward, that didn’t have anybody graduating says a lot about how she’s played.”
Such contributions are important on a team with a lot of solid players, but no real superstars.
“Everybody has been trying to find a way to chip in,” Wells said.
Sophomore Brooke Webster, with 17 goals and 32 points, leads the team in both categories and is one of four players with double-digit goals and at least 29 points.
“Goals were kind of easy to come by early,” Wells said. “We’ve been just about two goals a game after that. Every game seems to be: two goals, two goals, two goals. I think we’d all like to score a few goals, because I think in our game, first one to three is going to be the winner.”
There have been positive signs.
“We’ve been getting some good scoring here on the power play for the number of chances that we’ve gotten has been good,” Wells said. “Some of the younger kids came back from Christmas having a much better idea of what to expect from college hockey and have really adjusted well the second half. Not that they didn’t have a good first half. I thought they all played really well, all our freshmen skaters, and now, they’ve really had a good second half in terms of the five games that we’ve played. Hoping to get a few more goals from some of the underclassmen, too.”
With the exception of league-leading and fourth-ranked Quinnipiac, which has seemingly been on a roll all year, teams in the playoff hunt have had both highs and lows.
“We’re probably like the NHL,” Wells said. “You’ve just got to get in the top eight, and anybody who gets in the top eight has a chance to win it.”
At the moment, there look to be eight playoff-worthy teams fighting for those eight spots. For sixth-place SLU, the glass can be either half-empty or half-full.
The Saints are just three points behind Clarkson and Colgate, who are tied for third. Thus, home ice in the opening round is seemingly in reach. On the other hand, Cornell and Dartmouth, tied for the eighth and final postseason berth, are just two points back.
Once qualified for the postseason, who knows what could happen?
“So much of it in a two-out-of-three-games series is you get a hot power play, you get a hot goaltender, and the matchups,” Wells said. “Certain teams match up with certain teams a lot better, and I think that is a big piece of it, too.”
Whatever the future brings in the ECAC race, Wells and his team are glad to be a part of it.
“It’s going to be a lot of fun,” he said. “Going to the rink every day this time of year really gives you a boost as to why you do it, reaffirms why you do it, because the kids are excited. Everybody is scoreboard watching. I’ve heard people say that they don’t look at the scoreboard. I don’t know who doesn’t look at the scoreboard. I’m always looking at the scoreboard. I’m always looking to see what everybody else is doing. That’s what makes it fun. I guess I’m just as much a fan of the league and the chase as I am a coach.”
The college hockey season is flying by and it’s time to take a stab at making predictions for some of the games on the schedule this week.
The featured game, of course, is the showdown between top-ranked St. Norbert and No. 2 Adrian.
Concordia (Minn.) and Augsburg square off in a key MIAC battle and Wisconsin-Stevens Point, the favorite in the WIAC, will take on Wisconsin-Eau Claire and Wisconsin-River Falls over the weekend.
St. John’s (6-9-2, 4-4) vs. Bethel (2-10-2, 1-5)
The Johnnies are just 2-5-1 at home and have a golden opportunity to get their third home win of the season this weekend. Huba Sekesi leads the offense with six goals and seven assists, while Sean Lang has come through with five goals and three assists. Saxton Soley is 3-8-2 in 14 starts this year. He owns a 2.61 GAA.
Bethel is coming off a big week after earning a tie against River Falls and beating Superior. The win was the first for the Royals since November. Travis Payne will need to be at his best for the Royals to win. He scored six goals last week and has 10 goals on the season. Payne has also dished out five assists.
St. John’s, 4-2.
Augsburg (9-6, 5-1) vs. Concordia (Minn.) (7-7-1, 5-1)
Augsburg is looking to get back on track after dropping its last two games. The Auggies enter the weekend just three points out of first in the conference standings. Nate Flynn leads the Augsburg attack with 10 goals and 10 assists while Rory Vesel has come through with a goal and 12 assists. Jordyn Kaufer has been solid in goal, winning eight games and making 292 saves.
Concordia is also in second place and needs to take advantage of being on its home ice for this series. The Cobbers are 2-2 at home and are led by Jon Grebosky, who has come through with eight goals and 10 assists. Alex Reichle is 7-7 on the year in goal and has made 385 saves. Goaltending could be the difference in this one.
Concordia, 5-3, Augsburg, 4-3
Adrian (14-1-1, 10-1-1) vs. St. Norbert (13-1-1, 9-1-0)
It doesn’t get any bigger in the regular season than a showdown between the the top teams in the country. There will no doubt be a playoff feel to this one as the Bulldogs and Green Knights square off in a pivotal NCHA battle.
Adrian owns the longest unbeaten streak in the nation at any level of college hockey, getting through its last 15 games without a loss. The stretch includes 11 consecutive wins. Mathew Thompson leads the conference in goals with 14. He has also dished out 14 assists. The Bulldogs have scored 92 goals in all while allowing only 30.
St. Norbert has won five consecutive games and is unbeaten in its last 13 games overall. The Green Knights feature one of the top goaltenders in the country in Tony Kujava, who is 10-0-0 with a conference-best 1.07 GAA. St. Norbert has given up only 19 goals all year while scoring 75.
This series will be a test of wills and while at least one tie is likely, I’m guessing it ends in a split.
St. Norbert, 3-2; Adrian, 5-4.
St. Scholastica (9-4-2, 7-3) vs. Lawrence (6-8-1, 5-4-1)
The Saints head out on the road for two games against the Vikings for a key NCHA series. They have played well away from home this year, fashioning a 4-2-1 record. Brandon Millin is having a solid year, scoring 11 goals and dishing out 10 assists, while Dylan Nowakowski has come through with five goals and 17 assists. If those two are on top of their games, the Saints will be tough to stop.
Lawrence heads into the weekend with momentum, having won its last two games. The Vikings are 4-3 at home and have an opportunity to make a statement against a nationally ranked opponent. Renato Engler is having a great year, tallying seven goals and 10 assists in 15 games. Mattias Soderqvist is 6-6 with a 3.80 GAA.
Lawrence, 3-2; St. Scholastica, 5-2.
Stevens Point (12-3-1, 1-1) vs. Eau Claire (11-4-2, 1-1)
This matchup pits two of the best in the nation as Stevens Point comes in ranked third in the country while Eau Claire is 10th. The Pointers are riding a six-game win streak, scoring four or more goals in each of those wins. Joe Kalisz and Lawrence Cornellier have fueled the attack with 12 and 11 goals, respectively. They have combined for 20 assists as well.
Eau Claire has won four of five, with two of those games being decided by one goal. Adam Knochenmus has been sensational offensively, punching in 16 goals and dishing out eight assists. Garrett Clement has come through with six goals and 14 assists.
Eau Claire, 5-4.
River Falls (11-4-3, 2-0) vs. Stevens Point (12-3-1, 1-1)
The Pointers will be on their home ice for this one. They have lost only once there all season. Goaltending could be the difference in this matchup. Max Milosek has started 12 games and is 9-2-1 on the year. He owns a 1.99 GAA.
River Falls is unbeaten in its last 10, winning eight times during that stretch, and Tanner Milliron has helped lead the way with solid play between the pipes. He is 9-4-3 with a 1.78 GAA. Kyle Gattelaro anchors the offense with seven goals and seven assists.
Louie Belpedio and Miami have slipped from second place last season to seventh this season (photo: Bradley K. Olson).
Each college hockey season, the NCHC seems to put every team through the grinder. For Miami, the experience has been more akin to that of a roller coaster.
After the conference launched at the start of the 2013-14 season, the RedHawks drew the shortest straw and finished the regular season in last place. Miami went 6-17-1 in league play that season and finished four points behind seventh-place Colorado College and 15 behind sixth-place Denver.
Last season went much better for the RedHawks. They finished one spot behind regular season champion North Dakota, but Miami’s 44 points in NCHC play last season indicated a big leap for coach Enrico Blasi’s group.
So far this time around, the relative highs of last season have led to another drop-off. Miami is 2-8-2-2 in league play and is already 22 points behind league leader St. Cloud State.
The NCHC is arguably more top-heavy now than it was last season, when six of the league’s teams qualified for the NCAA tournament. Now, 10 points separate second-place North Dakota from third-place Denver.
That isn’t to say, however, that the NCHC has stopped being cutthroat. As Blasi pointed out earlier this week, there still isn’t an easy game to be won in league play.
“This isn’t anything new,” he said. “Just take a look at the last two years in our conference, and every game is pretty much a one-goal game. The mentality is the same: You’ve got to play every shift like it’s your last. You’ve got to pay attention to detail. You’ve got to execute the game plan. And there’s going to be times where you’ve got to play defense and sometimes you’re not going to touch the puck.
“The mentality has to be that you’re playing for each other and sacrificing for each other, and every play counts. Nothing new for us.
“The mindset is the mindset,” Blasi continued. “A few years ago, we lost a lot of one-goal games. Last year, we won a lot of one-goal games, and we’re kind of in-between right now.”
A top-four finish and home ice in the first round of the NCHC playoffs is still attainable for Blasi’s RedHawks, but a lot of elbow grease would be required to get the job done. Miami’s 10 points puts it nine behind fourth-place Minnesota-Duluth.
This week, Miami hits the road to take on seventh-ranked Omaha. The Mavericks are a somewhat curious case: Despite their national ranking, UNO is in fifth place in the NCHC and 16 points behind St. Cloud.
Still, Blasi knows better than to allow his team to take lightly a UNO group that split a series with the RedHawks earlier this season in Oxford, Ohio.
“We know they have a tremendous amount of speed on offense and their D corps is very mobile and they have pretty good goaltending,” Blasi said. “And their forwards are dynamic and can make plays all over the ice.
“You’ve got to play a good brand of hockey and you have to manage the puck well and play well away from the puck, and when you do have your opportunities, you have to make the most of them.”
Murray encouraged by Broncos’ recent uptick
Western Michigan’s Sheldon Dries scored twice at Denver last Friday (photo: Ryan Coleman, d3photography.com).
Like Miami, Western Michigan is in the less fashionable half of the NCHC standings and looking upward. What are also looking up, however, are the Broncos coach’s hopes.
The Broncos have won four of their last seven games, including a victory in a three-on-three overtime last Saturday at No. 14 Denver. Western’s last four games also include two losses — one each against DU and No. 15 Notre Dame, also on the road, on Jan. 8 — but that hasn’t halted the Broncos’ recent progress.
This weekend, Western is on the road again to take on fifth-ranked St. Cloud State. Broncos coach Andy Murray said that last weekend’s series against Denver served partly as prep work for this week’s set in Minnesota.
“I think playing Denver really helped us in terms of our St. Cloud preparation because they play similar styles,” Murray said. “They [both] get up and down the ice so quick, they’ve got great skill and got defensemen who are very mobile and can move the puck.
“Obviously, we wanted to win both games in Denver, but what we’re liking right now is the way that our team’s playing. Over the last four or five games, we’ve played some solid team hockey.”
Western will hope to keep up what has been good form on the road against the Huskies. The Broncos split a pair of games last January and, two seasons ago, they picked up a shootout win and outright win in St. Cloud.
Those three wins won’t weigh on the Broncos’ minds, however, as much as two losses to St. Cloud State earlier this season will. The then-No. 9 Huskies invaded Kalamazoo, Mich., in November and picked 5-2 and 11-1 victories at Lawson Ice Arena.
“With their talent, if you don’t play hard, you know what can happen and it happened to us [earlier] this year, as we know,” Murray said. “We got beat real bad on the scoreboard in our second game against them in our building, and we pay a lot of respect to St. Cloud for their skill and their ability to do that to anybody, and they did it to us.
“[It’s] a little bit of a realization that you’d better play hard and compete. Otherwise, they can embarrass you.”
Players of the week
Offensive player of the week — Jake Guentzel, Omaha: The junior forward had a hand in all five of UNO’s goals last weekend during a split at North Dakota. Guentzel finished the series with a goal and four assists against the Fighting Hawks.
Defensive player of the week — Troy Stecher, North Dakota: Stecher played excellent two-way hockey for the Hawks last weekend. The junior picked up two goals and as many assists against Omaha while blocking three Mavericks shots.
Rookie of the week — Brock Boeser, North Dakota: The forward picked up two points in both of UND’s games against Omaha. Boeser leads the NCHC’s rookie scoring race with 25 points.
Goaltender of the week — Charlie Lindgren, St. Cloud State: Lindgren led the Huskies to a win and a tie away to in-state rival Minnesota-Duluth. The junior goalie stopped 66 of the 68 shots he faced while also helping SCSU kill all seven of UMD’s power plays on the weekend.
St. John’s senior goalie Saxton Soley is third all-time at the school with 42 victories (photo: Sean Donohue/St. John’s University).
Saxton Soley is destined to go down as one of the top goaltenders in St. John’s history.
He ranks third all-time in wins with 42 and can’t say enough about how much the opportunity has meant to him to play college hockey for the Johnnies.
“It’s meant the world to me to play here,” Soley said. “I was given an opportunity to play my first year and made the most of it. It’s been an amazing ride.”
The ride isn’t over yet.
Soley, in his senior season, is trying to help the Johnnies reach the MIAC postseason. The season didn’t start well. St. John’s was winless in its first six games, but is now 6-9-2 overall and 4-4-0 in the conference.
“It’s taken time to get the right players in the right roles,” Soley said. “We’ve gotten things figured out and we are starting to play a lot better.”
For Soley, this season has been an adjustment period. In his first three years, he was accustomed to playing with a veteran defensive unit.
“We have a freshmen ‘D’ core, so that has taken time to adjust to,” Soley said. “But I’m playing well and I’ve learned to be more of a leader. It’s great to see the progress of our defensemen.”
Soley has been the starting goaltender his entire career.
He set the record for wins in a season for a freshman, winning 15 games, and was named the co-MIAC Player of the Year in 2013.
Soley won 14 games as a sophomore and picked up nine wins a year ago.
He said that first season helped set the tone for his success going forward.
“I didn’t get a chance to test the waters; I was thrown right into it,” Soley said. “It was an eye-opener for me getting used to the competition. It’s remarkable how far I’ve come.”
He admits he was surprised by how well he did that first year.
“Absolutely, I was surprised,” Soley said. “I did not think I was as doing as well as I did and didn’t give myself enough credit. I was just kind of playing in the moment and not worrying about reading the press clippings or looking at the stats.”
Soley is 4-9-2 this season and owns a 2.57 GAA with a .915 save percentage.
“The big improvement for me this year has been my mentality,” Soley said. “With a younger ‘D’ core, I’ve had to be more calm and collected. I’ve done my best to help them along and have gotten used to the way they play as a unit.”
In terms of challenges in the conference, Soley said he always has to be on top of his game.
“It’s a very competitive league,” Soley said. “Every game is close. You always have to be at your best to be a successful goaltender in this conference.”
Soley is hoping to be at his best the rest of the way as the Johnnies take aim at earning a playoff spot. St. John’s is fourth in the league at the moment.
“It’s going to be a challenge but we feel confident,” Soley said. “We have to stay focused each game and be ready to play.”
Payne powers Bethel to win
It hasn’t been an easy year for Bethel, but the Royals’ fortunes changed a bit last week as it played nationally-ranked Wisconsin-River Falls to a 2-2 tie Thursday before ending a victory drought Saturday with a 6-2 win over Wisconsin-Superior. The Royals had lost four consecutive games after a 2-1 win over St. Thomas back on Nov. 21.
Travis Payne played a pivotal role in the success. He scored six goals last week on eight shots, including coming through with a hat trick against Superior. He scored both goals in the game against the Falcons.
Until last week, Payne only scored four goals this season. Thanks to his brilliant performance, he now ranks fourth in the conference in goals scored and his 15 points put him in a tie for 11th in that category.
The Royals are 2-10-2 overall and last week’s effort could very well provide a boost of confidence for the team going forward.
Bethel plays two MIAC games against St. John’s this week in a home-and-home series and closes out the month with a game at River Falls and a two-game series against Hamline. Bethel is 1-5 in the conference.
Blue Devils on a roll
Wisconsin-Stout enters the week on a hot streak, having won its last three games. The Blue Devils are unbeaten in their last six games overall and have scored five or more goals four times during the impressive stretch.
The Blue Devils have already surpassed their win total of a year ago as they sit at 9-4-3 overall. They won only eight games last season and are seeking their first winning campaign since finishing 16-11-0 during the 2010-11 season.
Stout has produced 54 goals on 78 assists and Jake Useldinger leads the way with eight goals and eight assists. Justin Moody, Tyler Cayemberg and Joe Anderson have tallied six goals apiece. Eight other players have come up with at least two goals on the season.
Sabres continue to shine
Marian is riding the high of a four-game win streak. The Sabres picked up their latest wins over the weekend in a sweep of Concordia (Wis.).
Devin Stuermer helped Marian cap the sweep with a 4-1 win over Concordia Saturday, coming through with his fourth multi-goal game of the year. Stuermer scored twice in the victory, pushing
his season total to nine goals. He has tallied eight assists as well.
The Sabres are 9-5-3 overall and 7-4-1 in the NCHA. They have lost only twice in their last 11 games.
In addition to the play of Stuermer, Derek Thorogood and Hunter Stewart have risen to the occasion as well. Thorogood has scored five goals and has dished out 15 assists. Stewart has come through with two goals and 17 assists on the year.
Marian has racked up 54 goals in all on 87 assists while holding opponents to 34 goals.
Western Power
Nearly half of the top 15 in this week’s USCHO.com Division III Men’s Poll are from the West region, including the top three in the country.
St. Norbert is still the No. 1 team in the land and Adrian is ranked second. Wisconsin-Stevens Point checks in at No. 3 after being fourth a week ago. Wisconsin-Eau Claire is No. 10 this week. Wisconsin-River Falls, the Milwaukee School of Engineering and St. Scholastica fill out the final three spots in the poll.
A Notre Dame-Michigan first-round matchup could attract more fans in Cincinnati than St. Paul (photo: Jim Rosvold).
It’s time once again to do what we like to call Bracketology, college hockey style. It’s our weekly look at how I believe the NCAA tournament will wind up come selection time.
It’s a look into what are the possible thought processes behind selecting and seeding the NCAA tournament teams.
We’ll keep bringing you a new one every week until we make our final picks before the field is announced on March 20.
Those of you that are veterans of the college hockey scene know that it is all about the PairWise Rankings. This is USCHO’s numerical approach that simulates the way the NCAA Division I men’s ice hockey committee chooses the teams that make the NCAA tournament.
Since USCHO began the PairWise Rankings, we have correctly identified all of the teams that have been selected to the NCAA tournament.
I am the only prognosticator to have correctly predicted the exact brackets for the NCAA tournament in four of the last five years, meaning that I have predicted how the committee thought when putting together the brackets.
This is not a be-all, end-all analysis of the bracket. I am trying to give you, the reader, an idea of what the committee might be thinking and not exactly what they are thinking.
If you want to skip the inner workings and get to the results of the analysis, then click here.
Here are the facts:
• Sixteen teams are selected to participate in the national tournament.
• There are four regional sites (East — Albany, N.Y.; Northeast — Worcester, Mass.; Midwest — Cincinnati; West — St. Paul, Minn.).
• A host institution that is invited to the tournament plays in the regional for which it is the host and cannot be moved. There are four host institutions this year: Union in Albany (This was confirmed this week, as ECAC Hockey was the host but had to choose either Union or Rensselaer to host), Holy Cross in Worcester, Miami in Cincinnati and Minnesota in St. Paul.
• Seedings will not be switched. To avoid undesirable first-round matchups, including intraconference games (see below), teams will be moved among regionals, not reseeded.
In setting up the tournament, the committee begins with a list of priorities to ensure a successful tournament on all fronts, including competitive equity, financial success and the likelihood of a playoff-type atmosphere at each regional site. For this model, the following is a basic set of priorities:
1. Once the six automatic qualifiers and 10 at-large teams are selected, the next step is to develop four groups from the committee’s rankings of 1-16. The top four teams are No. 1 seeds and will be placed in the bracket so that if all four teams advance to the Men’s Frozen Four, the No. 1 seed will play the No. 4 seed and the No. 2 seed will play the No. 3 seed in the semifinals. The next four are targeted as No. 2 seeds. The next four are No. 3 seeds and the last four are No. 4 seeds.
2. Step two is to place the home teams. Host institutions that qualify will be placed at home.
3. Step three is to fill in the bracket so that first-round conference matchups are avoided, unless it corrupts the integrity of the bracket. If five or more teams from one conference are selected to the championship, then the integrity of the bracket will be protected (i.e., maintaining the pairing process according to seed will take priority over avoidance of first-round conference matchups). To complete each regional, the committee assigns one team from each of the remaining seeded groups so there is a No. 1, No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 seed at each regional site.
Given these facts, here is the top 16 of the current PairWise Rankings (PWR), and the conference leaders through all games of Jan. 19:
1 Quinnipiac
2 St. Cloud State
3 North Dakota
4 Providence
5 Omaha
6 Harvard
7 Michigan
8 Cornell
9 Boston College
10 Notre Dame
11 Yale
12 Boston University
13 Massachusetts-Lowell
14 Denver
15 Penn State
16t Minnesota
16t Minnesota-Duluth
19t Minnesota State
23t Holy Cross
Current conference leaders based on winning percentage:
Atlantic Hockey: Holy Cross Big Ten: Penn State ECAC Hockey: Quinnipiac Hockey East: Notre Dame NCHC: North Dakota WCHA: Minnesota State
Notes
• Bracketology assumes that the season has ended and there are no more games to be played — i.e., the NCAA tournament starts tomorrow.
• Because there are an uneven amount of games played inside each conference, I will be using winning percentage, not points accumulated, to determine the current leader in each conference. This team is my assumed conference tournament champion after applying the tiebreakers.
Step one
From the committee’s report, choose the 16 teams in the tournament.
We break ties in the PWR by looking at the individual comparisons among the tied teams, and add in any current league leaders that are not currently in the top 16. The only teams that are not are Minnesota State and Holy Cross.
From there, we can start looking at the ties and bubbles in a more detailed fashion, but there are none that factor in this week.
Therefore, the 16 teams in the tournament, in rank order, are:
1 Quinnipiac
2 St. Cloud State
3 North Dakota
4 Providence
5 Omaha
6 Harvard
7 Michigan
8 Cornell
9 Boston College
10 Notre Dame
11 Yale
12 Boston University
13 Massachusetts-Lowell
14 Penn State
15 Minnesota State
16 Holy Cross
Step two
Now it’s time to assign the seeds.
No. 1 seeds: Quinnipiac, St. Cloud State, North Dakota, Providence
No. 2 seeds: Omaha, Harvard, Michigan, Cornell
No. 3 seeds: Boston College, Notre Dame, Yale, Boston University
No. 4 seeds: Massachusetts-Lowell, Penn State, Minnesota State, Holy Cross
Step three
Place the No. 1 seeds in regionals.
No. 1 Quinnipiac is placed in the Northeast Regional in Worcester.
No. 2 St. Cloud State is placed in the West Regional in St. Paul.
No. 3 North Dakota is placed in the Midwest Regional in Cincinnati.
No. 4 Providence is placed in the East Regional in Albany.
Last week, I started with Quinnipiac going to Albany. This week, I have them going to Worcester for a number of reasons. Proximity is first; last week was a “What If?” The other reason is that if we jump ahead to the 16 seed, it is Holy Cross, which has to be in Worcester. And the No. 1 seed should get the No. 16 seed in the first round unless there is a lot going on with the bracket. Therefore, this week, we have Quinnipiac in Worcester.
Step four
Now we place the other 12 teams so as to avoid intraconference matchups if possible.
Begin by filling in each bracket by banding groups. Remember that teams are not assigned to the regional closest to their campus sites by ranking order within the banding (unless you are a host school, in which case you must be assigned to your home regional).
If this is the case, as it was last year, then the committee should seed so that the quarterfinals are seeded such that the four regional championships would be played by No. 1 vs. No. 8, No. 2 vs. No. 7, No. 3 vs. No. 6 and No. 4 vs. No. 5.
So therefore:
No. 2 seeds
No. 8 Cornell is placed in No. 1 Quinnipiac’s regional, the Northeast Regional.
No. 7 Michigan is placed in No. 2 St. Cloud State’s regional, the West Regional.
No. 6 Harvard is placed in No. 3 North Dakota’s regional, the Midwest Regional.
No. 5 Omaha is placed in No. 4 Providence’s regional, the East Regional.
No. 3 seeds
Our bracketing system has one regional containing seeds 1, 8, 9, and 16; another with 2, 7, 10 and 15; another with 3, 6, 11 and 14; and another with 4, 5, 12 and 13.
No. 9 Boston College is placed in No. 8 Cornell’s regional, the Northeast Regional.
No. 10 Notre Dame is placed in No. 7 Michigan’s regional, the West Regional.
No. 11 Yale is placed in No. 6 Harvard’s regional, the Midwest Regional.
No. 12 Boston University is placed in No. 5 Omaha’s regional, the East Regional.
No. 4 seeds
One more time, taking No. 16 vs. No. 1, No. 15 vs. No. 2, etc.
Since Holy Cross is a host institution, it must be placed in the Northeast Regional in Worcester.
No. 16 Holy Cross is sent to No. 1 Quinnipiac’s regional, the Northeast Regional.
No. 15 Minnesota State is sent to No. 2 St. Cloud State’s regional, the West Regional.
No. 14 Penn State is sent to No. 3 North Dakota’s regional, the Midwest Regional.
No. 13 Massachusetts-Lowell is sent to No. 4 Providence’s regional, the East Regional.
The brackets as we have set them up:
East Regional (Albany):
13 Massachusetts-Lowell vs. 4 Providence
12 Boston University vs. 5 Omaha
Northeast Regional (Worcester):
16 Holy Cross vs. 1 Quinnipiac
9 Boston College vs 8 Cornell
Midwest Regional (Cincinnati):
14 Penn State vs. 3 North Dakota
11 Yale vs. 6 Harvard
West Regional (St. Paul):
15 Minnesota State vs. 2 St. Cloud State
10 Notre Dame vs. 7 Michigan
Our first concern is avoiding intraconference matchups. We have two, so let’s solve them.
We have Yale vs. Harvard and Massachusetts-Lowell vs. Providence.
Let’s look at Massachusetts-Lowell vs. Providence. We can switch Lowell with either Penn State or Minnesota State.
Now, it has to be Penn State, right? Because why would you take Minnesota State out of Minnesota for attendance purposes? Logic says to keep the Mavericks in St. Paul.
So we swap Lowell with Penn State.
East Regional (Albany):
14 Penn State vs. 4 Providence
12 Boston University vs. 5 Omaha
Northeast Regional (Worcester):
16 Holy Cross vs. 1 Quinnipiac
9 Boston College vs 8 Cornell
Midwest Regional (Cincinnati):
13 Massachusetts-Lowell vs. 3 North Dakota
11 Yale vs. 6 Harvard
West Regional (St. Paul):
15 Minnesota State vs. 2 St. Cloud State
10 Notre Dame vs. 7 Michigan
Now we look at Yale and Harvard.
If we move Yale, we can swap with either Boston University or Boston College.
But do we want to do that? How about switching out Harvard with Omaha instead?
East Regional (Albany):
14 Penn State vs. 4 Providence
12 Boston University vs. 6 Harvard
Northeast Regional (Worcester):
16 Holy Cross vs. 1 Quinnipiac
9 Boston College vs 8 Cornell
Midwest Regional (Cincinnati):
13 Massachusetts-Lowell vs. 3 North Dakota
11 Yale vs. 5 Omaha
West Regional (St. Paul):
15 Minnesota State vs. 2 St. Cloud State
10 Notre Dame vs. 7 Michigan
Now we’re looking OK.
Now let’s look at attendance.
Don’t kid yourselves, folks: Attendance is a huge part of where teams go.
How can we make attendance better? I can see movement on all fronts.
What do I mean by that? Wouldn’t you think Notre Dame vs. Michigan would draw better in Cincinnati than in St. Paul?
Wouldn’t you think Boston University vs. Harvard would draw better in Worcester than in Albany?
That’s the kind of thinking that will happen.
So let’s do it. We’ll move matchups to different locations.
East Regional (Albany):
14 Penn State vs. 4 Providence
9 Boston College vs 8 Cornell
Northeast Regional (Worcester):
16 Holy Cross vs. 1 Quinnipiac
12 Boston University vs. 6 Harvard
Midwest Regional (Cincinnati):
13 Massachusetts-Lowell vs. 3 North Dakota
10 Notre Dame vs. 7 Michigan
West Regional (St. Paul):
15 Minnesota State vs. 2 St. Cloud State
11 Yale vs. 5 Omaha
Cincinnati could be hurting a bit on the attendance front, but it is sure better now than it was with the previous matchups.
I think this is about all we can do this week.
So that is it. My bracket for the week.
But remember: There are so many changes between now and the actual bracket announcement.
See you here next week for the next Bracketology.
Here’s a summary of everything that we have covered.
This week’s brackets
East Regional (Albany):
14 Penn State vs. 4 Providence
9 Boston College vs 8 Cornell
Northeast Regional (Worcester):
16 Holy Cross vs. 1 Quinnipiac
12 Boston University vs. 6 Harvard
Midwest Regional (Cincinnati):
13 Massachusetts-Lowell vs. 3 North Dakota
10 Notre Dame vs. 7 Michigan
West Regional (St. Paul):
15 Minnesota State vs. 2 St. Cloud State
11 Yale vs. 5 Omaha
Conference breakdowns
Hockey East — 5
ECAC Hockey — 4
NCHC — 3
Big Ten — 2
WCHA — 1
Atlantic Hockey — 1
On the move
In: Penn State
Out: Denver
Attendance woes?
Cincinnati could be iffy.
Last week’s brackets
East Regional (Albany):
14 Denver vs. 4 Harvard
10 Boston College vs. 5 Cornell
Northeast Regional (Worcester):
16 Holy Cross vs. 1 Quinnipiac
12 Yale vs. 8 Boston University
Midwest Regional (Cincinnati):
13 Massachusetts-Lowell vs. 3 St. Cloud State
9 Michigan vs. 6 Providence
West Regional (St. Paul):
15 Minnesota State vs. 2 North Dakota
11 Notre Dame vs. 7 Omaha
Sam Anas leads Quinnipiac with 14 goals (photo: Shelley M. Szwast).
Quinnipiac coach Rand Pecknold knew his group was due for a good year. He could see it coming. But just how good the Bobcats would be, he wasn’t entirely sure.
They received national recognition on Monday, earning the No. 1 ranking in the USCHO.com Division I Men’s Poll. The team earned 41 first-place votes in jumping past North Dakota.
But for Pecknold, midseason rankings are just numbers on a chalkboard — more a distraction that anything for a team that exceeded his own expectations but still has a whole lot of hockey still left to play.
“Honestly, we don’t worry about the polls,” Pecknold said. “The fans want to talk about it, it’s all part of the buzz. … We have a short-term focus. We want to get better today.”
But for Sam Anas, who leads the Bobcats with 14 points this season, the journey has been surreal.
“I think it’s been pretty amazing what we’ve done so far,” Anas said. “We have so many wins already and it’s only mid-January. Right now, I don’t think we fully appreciate it. Maybe at the end of the season or a couple of years from now, we can look back and say, ‘Wow.'”
Although the past few weeks have produced a much different Quinnipiac team, Pecknold said his team hasn’t been the same since Christmas. Although the Bobcats still possess only one loss and have gone 2-0-2 since the beginning of January, Pecknold said his team hasn’t had the same passion that he saw in its first half.
It culminated in Tuesday’s 3-3 tie at Maine, where Quinnipiac trailed 3-1 heading into the third period and was able to score two late goals to force overtime.
“It’s about passion. You can’t fake passion, and we’ve been faking it since Christmas,” Pecknold said. “We have too many guys who are only bringing it for one period. That isn’t like our first half, where our guys were fired up every night. We’re turning it on and off.”
It hasn’t hurt them so far, though the hype has certainly given Quinnipiac a stigma.
“We’re No. 1,” Pecknold said. “Teams get so fired up to play us. Maine was great [Tuesday] night.”
One of the biggest reasons for the turnaround has been the work of the upperclassmen. Forwards Sam Anas and Travis St. Denis have taken big strides in their development since last year, and the pair are tied for the team lead in points with 28 each.
But Pecknold is still impressed with how far goaltender Michael Garteig, who has grown into what many consider the strongest goaltender in college hockey this season, has come over the last four years.
“His battle mode is his biggest strength,” Pecknold said of Garteig, who has posted a 1.41 GAA and a 19-1-3 record through 23 games. “But he’s extremely accountable. He’s tracking the puck so much better than before. … We’ve put a plan in place, and he goes out and attacks that plan.”
For now, Quinnipiac will turn its attention to Rensselaer on Thursday and a stretch of ECAC Hockey opponents that litter its schedule over the next few months. So far at least, it’s been one heck of a ride.
“It surprised me,” Pecknold said. “I knew we’d be good, but I didn’t know we’d be this good. There are a lot of variables that helped us make the jump from a top-15 team to a top-five team. I think part of it is that so many players, so many returners have put in the extra effort to be better. It’s not just one guy.”
Quinnipiac will take on RPI at home on Thursday and will have eight days off before traveling to Dartmouth on Jan. 29.
Princeton’s young guns illustrate progress
Ryan Kuffner leads Princeton with 13 points (photo: Shelley M. Szwast).
The progress within the last year for Princeton is palpable.
A year ago, Princeton finished the season with four wins and not a single player with more than four goals. It was Ron Fogarty’s first season behind the bench, tasked with the beginning of process of rebuilding the program virtually from scratch.
This season, with 11 regular season games remaining, Princeton already has its four wins. And four players have four goals or more, including freshmen Max Veronneau and Ryan Kuffner. For Fogarty, the numbers speak for themselves.
“It’s a group that’s a year older under our structure and our system,” Fogarty said. “We’re not spending as much time in practice going over things. … Our games have looked a lot better, we’re playing better hockey. Each game, at least, we feel like we have a chance to win.”
It’s a slow process, Fogarty admitted, to change the culture of a hockey program. But the biggest difference in the last year has been the attitude of his players — the sense of direction and purpose in what they’re doing. For Fogarty, it’s given him something to build on.
“We can go into each game now with an opportunity to win. I don’t think we had that last season,” he said. “Last year we’d try to stay close and look for breaks. Now we’re creating those breaks. There are games where we’re down by three or four goals and we’ve come back. That wouldn’t have happened last year. It takes time, and as a staff we believe in being patient.
“Once you get a taste of it, once you believe in the system, things start to fall into place,” he added. “That’s where we’re at. … We need to remain the course and we can’t cut corners. It’s so fragile, it could easily crumble. Our foundation has to be strong before we move forward.”
Princeton has played well against some of the ECAC’s top opponents, including a 4-2 victory over Yale on Dec. 5 and recent ties against RPI and Union. But Fogarty said he is encouraged by his young group of underclassmen and how quickly they’ve been acclimated, something he said is due to his upperclassmen and their commitment to the program.
“It’s a product of the upperclassmen helping them right away,” he said. “Ryan and Max have had a lot of opportunities to succeed. … You don’t expect anything from a freshman. But Max is cool and collected. … The expectations were zero coming in, and his success stems from what he’s been able to do each day.”
For Veronneau, it’s his relationship with Kuffner that has helped him transition into a much more comfortable offensive role.
“A lot more of our games have been one-goal games where we’ve given up a goal in the last five minutes or so,” he said. “But it’s encouraging because we are going in a positive direction. We want to continue this.
“We’re a young team,” Veronneau added. “The more games us young guys play in in the coming years, hopefully we can close out these close games.”
Princeton will host American International on Jan. 26.
Around the ECAC
• Dartmouth senior forward Jack Barre earned ECAC player of the week honors after scoring a goal and four assists last weekend in his team’s sweep of Clarkson and St. Lawrence. The Big Green look like they’ve stabilized themselves, at least for the moment, winning five of their last six since the beginning of January. Barre leads the team with seven goals and eight assists, and looks eager to push the Big Green into ECAC relevancy, but the jury is out on whether that’s even possible with a team that has screamed inconsistency since October.
• Clarkson looked dominant in Saturday’s 5-1 win over No. 9 Harvard, jumping to a 3-0 lead heading into the third period and answering a Crimson goal with two of its own for the victory. The Golden Knights have not exactly been a model of consistency this season, but recent wins against Harvard and St. Lawrence have — perhaps — changed their fortunes. Next up for Clarkson is No. 12 Yale and Brown.
• Rensselaer goaltender Jason Kasdorf earned ECAC goaltender of the week honors with a 1-0-1 split with Cornell and Colgate last weekend. Kasdorf is 2-0-3 in ECAC play, and his RPI team is second behind all-powerful Quinnipiac in the ECAC standings. The Engineers seem ripe for a late-season run, particularly given their list of opponents down the stretch, starting with a Thursday meeting with the Bobcats on the road. Game of the week, for sure.
Clarkson junior defenseman Bryan Sinz has withdrawn from the school and transferred to Wisconsin-Eau Claire for the second semester.
“On behalf of the Clarkson hockey community, I would like to wish Bryan all the best in his athletic and academic pursuits at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire,” read a Clarkson statement. “I enjoyed working with Bryan and would like to thank him for his contribution to the Golden Knights.”
Sinz skated in 50 career games with Clarkson, recording seven points on one goal and six assists. He played in 11 of Clarkson’s 22 games this season and scored his first collegiate goal in Clarkson’s 4-1 victory over Arizona State on Nov. 28.
Senior Brandon Bete is among the nation’s leading goal-scorers with 16 on the season and is leading his Assumption team in pursuit of a NE-10 playoff run (photo: Gil Talbot Photography).
Going into and coming out of the semester break, one of the hottest teams in New England has been Assumption.
A 2-6-2 start to the season has been eclipsed by a recent five-game winning streak that moved the Greyhounds above .500 for the season and significantly increased the confidence level of the team. A recent loss at Cortland and tie with Wentworth over the weekend sees the Greyhounds at 5-1-1 in their last seven games. During the win streak, Assumption outscored their opponents by a 27-13 margin scored over five goals a game in that stretch.
Leading the way has been senior Brandon Bete and his 16 goals in just 17 games played.
The breakout year for the senior has not been a surprise to his coach, Lance Brady, but the high output has been a very welcome contributor to Assumption’s on-ice success.
“Winning five in a row was great and it’s been a combination of balanced scoring and [Nick] Comesso keeping pucks out of our net,” stated Brady. “We are rolling four lines, which also has been a big part of our success lately, but without question, our first line has been outstanding and Brandon leads the way for us scoring.”
During the win streak, the Greyhounds are scoring more than five goals a game and have key wins over St. Michael’s in NE-10 play and Endicott in nonconference action where Bete’s hat trick led the way for the offense. Bete’s 26 points already surpass his point total from last season as do the 16 goals with still 10 regular-season games on the schedule entering Wednesday night’s game with Daniel Webster.
“I think Brandon would have had more points last year if the injury bug didn’t get him during the season,” said Brady. “He worked very hard in the offseason on getting his body and his shoulder ready to go and I think our opponents are seeing the results of all his hard work. I have been involved in the D-II/III level of hockey for the last nine years and I don’t think I have seen such a clean and quick shooting release on any player as what Brandon does shooting the puck. He really does know how to finish and has been more dangerous in five-on-five play than when we have the power play.”
That being dangerous comes from the tight relationship he has with his best friend on and off the ice in linemate Ryan Gomez. The pair finished one and two in scoring for Assumption last season and it’s no surprise this year they are again atop the stat sheet having already topped the 20-point plateau.
“That first line is special,” noted Brady. “Knock on wood that no one figures out how to defend them, but there is just a great chemistry with all of them, but especially with Ryan and Brandon. They are best friends away from the rink and spend a lot of time together, which translates to great awareness of each other on the ice. I think they are tape-to-tape about 95 percent of the time passing the puck with each other and they just get the puck to each other in good places to create and finish opportunities.
“It’s fun to watch.”
Last season, Assumption had a similar mid-season run of wins, but fell on hard times down the stretch finishing 2-9 over their last 11 games in the 2014-15 season. The remaining schedule for the Ice Dogs is unfriendly with two-thirds of the last 12 games coming on the road where Assumption is just 2-4-1 this season. Key road games on the horizon include Amherst and critical conference games with St. Anselm and Franklin Pierce may go a long way in determining if Assumption qualifies for the four-team NE-10 tournament next month.
“We really want to keep a good thing going and if we continue to focus and play hard, score the way we can and keep pucks out of our net, it won’t matter if we are home or away, we should continue to get results,” Brady said. “The league situation is very much up in the air and in that final week we have a home-and-home with Franklin Pierce and play St. Anselm, so it very well could come down to the last weekend of the season for us to qualify for the playoffs. We got two big points with the win over St. Michael’s, but dropped games to Southern New Hampshire, so they got the two points on us. That makes the games remaining with Stonehill, Franklin Pierce and St. Anselm very important, so we want to be playing our best when it matters most. It looks like it is going to matter right up to the end of the season.”
There is still a lot of hockey to be played and Assumption hopes its recent success is an indicator its best hockey is still in front of them – playing to the “Bete” of their leading scorer!
Michigan State’s Jake Hildebrand has allowed 19 goals in his last four games (photo: Jim Rosvold).
There are some strange happenings in Big Ten hockey this season, happenings that don’t appear to bode well for the league in the NCAA tournament.
While three B1G teams are in the top 16 of the PairWise Rankings, only Michigan is in the top 10. Penn State has dropped to No. 15 and Minnesota has risen to a tie for No. 16, but we know that those bubble positions mean very little come tournament time, given the upsets that may occur and the awarding of six separate autobids for conference playoff championships.
Last season, the Big Ten had one representative in the NCAA tournament, Minnesota, and the Golden Gophers folded in their first game to Minnesota-Duluth 4-1. Last season, the Big Ten was perceived as having a down year.
So what’s going on in 2015-16? Some interesting scores, for one.
“More so than other years for sure,” Wisconsin’s Mike Eaves said in his news conference this week. “You don’t know if that’s a reflection on goaltending, play away from the puck, offensive people that we have in the league now, but … there’s been a lot of high scores.”
How high? In the past two weeks — 12 conference games in six conference series — Big Ten teams have scored 90 goals for a league average of 7.5 goals per game. Let’s compare that with three leagues that clearly have an edge on the Big Ten: Hockey East, the NCHC and ECAC Hockey.
Just this past weekend (Jan. 15-16), Hockey East played its first full weekend of conference-only action. There were 65 goals scored in those dozen games for an average of 5.42.
In NCHC conference-only play in the past two weeks — since Jan. 8 — NCHC teams scored 60 goals in 12 games for an average of 5.0, and in that same span in league ECAC teams scored 66 goals in a dozen conference games for 5.5 goals per game on average.
There are some leagues around the country that are paying at least adequate attention to defense. An argument can be made that the Big Ten isn’t among them.
The Big Ten team with the best scoring defense nationally is Penn State, which gives up on average 2.59 goals per game and ranks No. 21. After that, it’s No. 31 Minnesota (2.81), No. 43 Michigan (3.10), No. 47 Ohio State (3.30), No. 49 Wisconsin (3.35), and finally No. 56 Michigan State (3.62).
Some of this can be traced to goaltending, which is middling at best — for the most part — throughout the league. Eight goaltenders have played at least 33 percent of their teams’ minutes in the Big Ten this season, and the lot of them has a combined overall save percentage of .907. There are two with significantly better save percentages — Penn State’s Eamon McAdam (.932) and Ohio State’s Christian Frey (.925) — but each splits time in net with another goalie, and Frey is injured.
Two goaltenders — Michigan State’s Jake Hildebrand (.894) and Ohio State’s Matt Tomkins (.892) — are below .900. (And, no, I don’t know why Hildebrand is having the season he’s having after combining for a save percentage of .927 in his first three years.)
In conference-only play, five of the league’s eight goaltenders who have played have save percentages below .900.
The overall numbers are slightly better than last season, when seven goalies had a combined .905 save percentage for the league, but at least there was more consistency in 2014-15, with the five middle goaltenders posting averages from .902 to .909.
The league cannot rely on offense alone in national play — even if it sometimes works within the confines of Big Ten hockey.
The curious case of the Wolverines
Michigan’s Tyler Motte had his first collegiate hat trick in last Sunday’s win over Ohio State (photo: Melissa Wade).
Michigan baffles me. I’ve seen the Wolverines play tight team defense maybe two or three times this season, and if I were a goalie in the Michigan net, I’d be feeling very, very lonely for stretches — not because of the lack of action, but because of the lack of support.
In six of Michigan’s wins this season, the Wolverines have had to make a significant effort to come from behind, and in two ties they’ve had to do the same. The Wolverines are outscoring opponents 40-14 in the third periods of games this season, and mostly because they have to.
Last Friday, Michigan scored three third-period goals to lead Ohio State 5-4 in Columbus until the Buckeyes’ Anthony Greco scored the tying goal with the goalie pulled and seven seconds left in regulation. That game ended in a 5-5 tie with the Buckeyes taking the extra point in the ninth round of the shootout.
Then on Sunday in Ann Arbor, the Wolverines beat the Buckeyes 8-6, scoring five unanswered goals in the third period to bring the score to 8-5 until Kevin Miller scored with the extra attacker at 19:41 to give the Buckeyes six goals. In the second period of Sunday’s game, Ohio State outshot the Wolverines 27-16. It was as though there were no Michigan defensemen on the ice.
“We’re trying to play better defensively, but that’s what you get tonight,” Michigan coach Red Berenson said after Sunday’s contest. “They had too many shots and too many chances. We had 40 shots against after two periods tonight and that’s unacceptable, but that’s the way the game was played so you’ve got to play it the way it’s played.”
In addition to having to come from behind in the third period, the Wolverines relied nearly exclusively on their top line of Kyle Connor, JT Compher and Tyler Motte to accomplish the task. Motte, a senior, netted his first career hat trick with a goal in the first and two in the third; Connor had a goal in the second and third and Compher had one in the third. The trio is responsible for 43 of Michigan’s 102 overall goals.
“They’re playing the right way. They’ve got confidence, they’ve got chemistry, and they’re leading our team,” said Berenson. “And good for them. You need somebody or a group to really lead your team, particularly when you get behind. We were behind again tonight like we were on Friday but we found a way to dig ourselves out again.”
Berenson said that while he’s glad to see the line producing, it’s a bit of a concern to see the offense limited to mostly one line. Connor, Compher and Motte each had a goal in the 5-5 tie against Ohio State as well.
“On the other hand, we have other guys that have to pick up the pace, too,” Berenson said. “It’s not just a scoring race. It’s playing good defense and playing the right way as well.”
Michigan may be a team that has become too reliant on its offense — especially its ability to score in the third period — and that will surely sink the Wolverines somewhere, most likely in postseason play.
“The third period, it’s not something you can just turn a switch on,” said Berenson, “but I think our team has some confidence in the third. They know they can come back, but we just don’t like the fact that we’re putting ourselves in that spot.
“Defensively, we want to get better. I think all of our defense will tell you. You know, we can’t give up six goals or five goals in a game and expect to win.”
And poor Ohio State. The Buckeyes scored 11 goals against the top team in the league but still came out of the series with just two points. When you score 11 goals in a given weekend, I think it’s fair to say that you expect to win one.
“Disappointing weekend,” Buckeyes coach Steve Rohlik said. “We played well. We stuck to what we needed to do there.”
And just when I thought old-fashioned rivalries were a dying thing …
I joked in my picks blog last Friday that the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry isn’t what it was back in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when the Buckeyes were more competitive consistently and the games between the squads produced passionate exchanges.
I guess I should be careful what I wish for.
The brawl at the end of the Ohio State-Michigan game was ridiculous. For two periods, the teams played hard, fast, physical hockey with a handful of penalties in both periods. At the end of the second, two overlapping Ohio State penalties gave the Wolverines an extended five-on-three advantage to begin the third period, and Michigan used that time to score twice and tie the game 5-5.
I didn’t think the play got any chippier in the third, but when the buzzer sounded at the end of the game, the Buckeyes’ Dakota Joshua shoved the Wolverines’ Tony Calderone from behind in front of the Michigan net — a shove, not a vicious check — and things deteriorated from there quickly.
For being the initial instigator, Joshua received a game disqualification, as did his teammate Brendon Kearney. The Wolverines’ Dexter Dancs and Cutler Martin also received DQs, Dancs for his part in escalating the fight and Martin for some nasty punches he threw at Kearney when Kearney was on the ice.
Let me say that there was nothing the officials could have done to prevent this, and they did everything they could to prevent things from getting worse, throwing themselves right into the mix to attempt to break things up. It took forever for the crew to sort out the penalties after the game — and that’s not a criticism, but a reflection of how widespread and nasty the fighting was.
I do have a favorite moment from what transpired, though. When so many were jumping into the fray, Ohio State senior defenseman and captain Craig Dalrymple was physically separating Michigan freshman forward Cooper Marody from the mix, clearly keeping the rookie from making a big mistake.
It’s interesting to me that in the aftermath of my lament about a lack of passion in today’s rivalries, not only did the Buckeyes and Wolverines attempt to prove me wrong but Wisconsin’s Eaves said something this week that may explain why Sunday’s fight is such an anomaly.
This coming weekend, Wisconsin hosts longtime rival Minnesota for two, and Eaves gave some good perspective about modern rivalries in the college hockey world.
“I think the rivalry thing has been, I don’t want to say watered down, but some form of that verbiage in that these kids know each other so much better than they used to,” said Eaves. “They play all summer and they discover, ‘Hey, he’s not a bad guy.’ Before, when you didn’t play against each other in the summertime, he was an unknown factor and the things you heard you kind of got a distaste for them. It’s not at the level that it once was, but it’s still Minnesota and the history still dictates that to some degree.”
Eaves — whose Badgers were swept for the first time this season in a pair of games against Penn State last weekend — anticipates that the series will have its moments, no matter how well the players know each other.
“I think having a handful of guys from that state and the history, this weekend is always a little bit more fun,” said Eaves. “No matter what their records are, everyone always gets a little excited about this weekend and it always produces some really fun hockey.”
But not too much fun. OK?
Three stars of the week
There is one newcomer this week.
First star — Michigan junior forward Tyler Motte: Motte scored four goals in Michigan’s series against Ohio State, a goal in Friday’s 5-5 tie and a hat trick in Sunday’s 8-6 win. He also added three assists in the series, with a career-high five points in Sunday’s game. Motte has 18 goals and 10 assists in 21 games; he had 18 goals total in the 69 games he played in two previous seasons. This is his fourth career weekly Big Ten award and his first of the season.
Second star — Penn State junior goaltender Eamon McAdam: McAdam had a .975 save percentage and 1.00 GAA in Penn State’s 4-1 win over Wisconsin on Saturday, improving his record to 9-2 on the season. He leads the Big Ten in goaltending with a .932 save percentage and 2.18 GAA. This is his third career weekly Big Ten award and his second of the season.
Third star — Ohio State freshman forward Mason Jobst: Jobst tied the NCAA lead with seven points in Ohio State’s series against Michigan, registering a goal and three assists in the 5-5 tie Friday and a goal and two helpers in Sunday’s 8-6 game. This is his first career weekly Big Ten award.
My ballot
1. Quinnipiac
2. North Dakota
3. Boston College
4. St. Cloud State
5. Providence
6. Omaha
7. Michigan
8. Boston University
9. Notre Dame
10. UMass-Lowell
11. Harvard
12. Cornell
13. Yale
14. Denver
15. Penn State
16. Minnesota State
17. Michigan Tech
18. Minnesota
19. Robert Morris
20. Holy Cross
Mary Parker’s leadership and scoring is missed by Harvard. (Candace Horgan)
Arlan: It seemed to me like there was an abundance of close games this week. At the Under-18 World Championships, the United States defeated Canada in overtime for the gold medal for the second year in a row. Last year, it was Ohio State’s Jincy Dunne who was the hero, and this time, Connecticut recruit Natalie Snodgrass came through for the Americans.
As if inspired by that drama, the next day, six of our games went to OT. Seven of the eight WCHA contests this weekend were one-goal games. Although Colgate was able to pull away from Brown, the Raiders always seem to be in a back-and-forth battle with someone. Highly ranked teams like Minnesota and Quinnipiac found themselves in tight games against unranked opponents. Even Boston College let upstart Merrimack hang around in their first-ever meeting.
In terms of impact, Mercyhurst bouncing back to get a split at Syracuse was likely as big as anything. That keeps the Lakers on top of the CHA, with the knowledge that the second series with the Orange will be in Erie.
Close behind would be Harvard’s trip to the North Country. After coming home without a point, the Crimson sit fifth, eight points behind Quinnipiac with only one game in hand. I’d picked them to win the league, but they have work to do just to host a quarterfinal. There continues to be a jumble lower in the standings, and right now, Dartmouth and Yale are positioned to be the teams in the hunt that would fall short of the playoffs.
Earlier in the season, we discussed whether I was expecting too much of Harvard. I guess so. Its biggest problem has been scoring consistently, and the offense disappeared entirely in Canton on Friday as it was shut out by St. Lawrence. The next day in Potsdam, the usually dependable defense had an off day, and allowed Clarkson 33 shots and five goals. Emerance Maschmeyer is one of the top goaltenders in the country, but her personal record sits at just 6-7 after last night’s loss to Boston College. For The Crimson as currently configured, they likely need Maschmeyer to be close to perfect against teams like BC. She made big saves, but the second goal allowed can’t happen for her team to have a chance. I expect that the defense will eventually come together, but Miye D’Oench is the only point-a-game contributor offensively. Does Harvard miss Mary Parker that much when she’s out?
Candace: I think they miss her scoring and her leadership, but I think there’s more at play. Parker led the Crimson in scoring last year, a year when she was the only Crimson player averaging over a point a game. D’Oench was second in scoring, averaging .942 points a game, and Samantha Reber was third, averaging .888 points a game. Compare that to this year, where D’Oench leads the team in scoring with 1.29 points a game, Sydney Daniels is second with .812 points a game, and Lexie Laing is third with .75 points a game. It’s not that much difference.
However, there was a lot more secondary scoring last year for Harvard, which averaged 3.64 goals per game, versus this year’s 2.59 goals per game. Last year’s team had role players like Lyndsey Fry and Hillary Crowe who played well both offensively and defensively, and averaged over half a point a game. If you compare the top six scorers from last season to this season, the points per game averages are similar, but the points per game from 6-12 were higher last year, so I think there was more depth.
The Crimson also had more depth on defense with players like seniors Sarah Edney, Marissa Gedman, and Josephine Pucci, and then Michelle Picard, who is a senior on this year’s team. I think that senior leadership on the blue line is one thing the Crimson really miss, and accounts for the increased goals allowed by Maschmeyer, from 1.47 last season to 1.73 this year.
I still think Harvard will at least get home ice for the playoffs. Yes, they are in fifth right now. However, they are only one point behind Clarkson and Colgate, though those two have a game in hand, and they trail second-place Princeton by four points, but have a game in hand. After this weekend, the games will be even. Harvard hosts Dartmouth, a team that hasn’t won a game since December, so I think the Crimson will keep pace. How Harvard does in the last weekend in January when it hosts the Quinnipiac/Princeton travel pair will tell us a lot more.
Out west, North Dakota posted an impressive road sweep of Minnesota-Duluth and moved into third place in the WCHA, three points ahead of Bemidji State. This weekend, North Dakota travels to Madison for a rematch against the Badgers, whom they got a series win over in December. I’m sure the Badgers are highly motivated, but it seems like North Dakota might finally be developing some consistency to go with some of its earlier good results, such as beating Minnesota and Wisconsin. What do you make of the Fighting Hawks so far in the second half?
Arlan: We basically have just the one series to go by, because North Dakota was missing a lot of people from its roster for the exhibition series the week before. That was UND’s first sweep ever in Duluth. They’ve won series there in recent years, but the Bulldogs have been able to at least get a tie. This weekend was heading in that direction as well until Gracen Hirschy scored with 35 seconds left in overtime. In terms of the people that both teams really rely upon, the Fighting Hawks are a bit deeper with more veterans. This is a big season for them, with Meghan Dufault, Becca Kohler, Tanja Eisenschmid, and goaltender Shelby Amsley-Benzie included in their senior class. UND and Bemidji State are going to be younger next year, so this is a season of opportunity for both.
Duluth, on the other hand, isn’t going to graduate as much. UMD will miss Michela Cava next year, and this is goalie Kayla Black’s final year, but she has yet to play in 2016, although she did dress after being out for the Wisconsin series.
So subconsciously, there may be a touch more urgency for the Fighting Hawks. The Bulldogs are either going to finish fifth or sixth, and there won’t be a monumental difference between the two. I guess they could still get to fourth, but that is looking like a stretch. Coach Maura Crowell was on the U.S. staff at the U-18 World’s in St. Catharines, Ont., so she likely barely made it back for the Saturday game. Thus, one can’t expect too much from UMD so far in January, and it is hard to measure any team against the Bulldogs only.
UND is the only WCHA team that I haven’t seen in person as of yet. Amsley-Benzie’s numbers aren’t as gaudy as they were during her junior season, but Brian Idalski says she is playing well. At the other end, the Fighting Hawks scored six goals on the weekend, and that is as good production as they’ve had in quite a while. They’ve crept back to just below the PairWise bubble, but now they face a vital stretch. Two of their next three weekends are in Madison and Minneapolis, and UND can’t afford to lose all of those games. Wisconsin promises to be very ready when the North Dakota bus rolls up to LaBahn Arena, so it’s going to be tough for UND to get points out of that series. If UND gets too focused on the Badgers and Gophers, then there is a potential trap series in between when an improving Minnesota State goes to Grand Forks.
North Dakota’s task is made all the harder because Northeastern has been riding a hot streak. The Huskies have rattled off nine straight wins, and at this rate, they could move into the home-ice picture for the NCAAs. Kendall Coyne is the leading scorer in the country, and has teamed with Hayley Scamurra and Denisa Krížová to form a formidable top line. I realize there is somewhat of a soft underbelly in Hockey East with five of the bottom 10 scoring defenses, but are you surprised at just how explosive that trio has become?
Candace: A little. The increased point production from all of them over last year is substantial. We’ve always known what a talent Coyne was, and she did play on the Olympic team in 2014. I hadn’t realized her point production last year was down until I looked it up. She averaged two points a game in her sophomore season, and slipped last year to 1.68. This year’s mark is currently at 2.42, up again after being down from her high mark earlier in the year. She’s been particularly hot in the last few games against some of Hockey East’s poorer squads, with 15 points in four games against New Hampshire, Providence, and two against Maine.
What’s impressive is how she’s also elevated the production of her linemates. Both are scoring at .700 points per game more than last season. We saw flashes of what Krížová could do with Coyne last year when they teamed up in the second half of the season and she had at least a point in each of her last eight games, as well as four multi-point games, but she’s still putting to lie any sign of a sophomore slump, Scamurra has never been as prolific as she is this year.
Of course, as you pointed out, many of the Hockey East squads are poor defensively. In that same stretch of four games in which Coyne has 15 points, Scamurra has 11 points and Krížová has 10. Northeastern also has more balanced scoring than some other teams, with Paige Savage and Jordan Krause both averaging around .80 points a game and Shelby Herington at .72.
That point production will likely continue through January. Northeastern has a home-and-home against Connecticut this weekend and closes with New Hampshire. Normally, I’d saw Elaine Chuli of Connecticut might be able to slow Northeastern’s top line, but she couldn’t do much when they played a couple of weeks ago, losing 5-1. After January though, Northeastern has a tougher schedule, and can that top line and the supporting players continue at that pace? They didn’t produce much in the two games against Boston College and one against Harvard in the first half, so they’ll have to be sharper down the stretch.
As for home ice in the NCAA tournament, I’m not sure that Northeastern can get it. Harvard has dropped to 11 in the PairWise, so Northeastern’s only shot at gaining on Clarkson and Quinnipiac is to beat BC and hope that those ECAC squads falter a little. I think Northeastern has to be more concerned with making the NCAA tournament. The Huskies are currently sixth in the PairWise. There are only seven spots, since the CHA has an auto-bid and no CHA team is in the top seven in the PairWise. If there are two upset winners in the conference tournaments, Northeastern would be on the outside looking in, which would be a shame, because I’d really like to see Coyne make the NCAA tournament, especially since I think she’s having a good enough season to be a Patty Kazmaier Award top three finalist.
Speaking of the Kazmaier, have you given any thought to who might be announced in the initial list? I’d say Alex Carpenter, last year’s winner, is a lock, as is her teammate, Haley Skarupa, who was a top 10 finalist last year. Krížová is a strong possibility, and I like Hannah Brandt and Dani Cameranesi to make it again, and Taylar Cianfarano might as well. As good as Annie Pankowski is playing, I think Ann-Renée Desbiens is a more fitting choice, though I’m not sure her season at this point is good enough to become only the third goaltender, after Wisconsin’s Jesse Vetter and Brown’s Ali Brewer, to win.
Do you think Carpenter could become the first to win back-to-back Kazmaier’s? Jennifer Botteril won twice, in 2001 and 2003, but not consecutive awards.
Arlan: In terms of winning back-to-back awards, Wisconsin’s Sara Bauer likely came the closest. She won in 2006 while leading the Badgers to the NCAA title. In 2007, the Badgers were more dominant, but Bauer, who was battling injury, lost out to Julie Chu of Harvard.
That could serve as a precedent for this season. In addition to being the returning Kazmaier winner, Carpenter is the best player on the most successful team, just as Bauer was then. Coyne is more vital to her team’s success. We wouldn’t be using Northeastern and NCAA tournament in the same sentence if the Huskies didn’t have Coyne, while BC still reached the tournament two years ago when Carpenter was away. Coyne would get a boost from getting the Huskies to their first NCAA tournament.
On the other hand, if the Eagles remain perfect, then Carpenter will be tough to beat. We saw a trio of Minnesota players as finalists the year the Gophers had their perfect season, and I’d expect a similar voting boon for BC as long as all the news is good news in Chestnut Hill. Carpenter’s play certainly hasn’t dipped this year, and she’ll get to pile up points against those vulnerable defenses just as the Northeastern players did. For Coyne to move past Carpenter in the voting, her performances versus BC would need to be more heroic than we’ve seen to date.
Earlier in the year, it looked like the top three would come down to Carpenter, Coyne, and Brandt, but the latter has battled injuries, and it is hard to win awards wearing street clothes. If she doesn’t make the top three, then I expect that Desbiens will. You questioned whether her season has been good enough, but to date, she’s stopping 96 percent of the shots she faces and allows fewer than seven goals for every 10 games played with a .932 winning percentage and 11 shutouts. If that isn’t a good enough season, then I doubt any goalie will ever win again.
As for the initial list, I don’t think they even made it public last year. That has often been an uneven group, because some leagues have more strong candidates than others, so some top performers don’t even get a nomination. The 10 finalists make for better speculation. I could see both Pankowski and Desbiens being on that list from Wisconsin. Pankowski had a monster series against Minnesota, and performance in the clutch is one of the considerations. Beyond that, I think too much can still change in the coming weeks before the coaches pick the 10 finalists.
Turning back to teams, Mercyhurst got the split it needed at Syracuse. The Orange haven’t gotten the strongest goaltending, and they won on Friday by limiting the Lakers to 16 shots and earning a 2-0 decision. On Saturday, Mercyhurst had 10 shots in the first period and two of them found the net. The Lakers added a third goal early in the second period, and wound up with a 3-1 win despite being outshot, 40-14. If freshman Sarah McDonnell can stop 39 of 40 shots, then Mercyhurst is going to be tough for any CHA team to beat. As far as star power goes, or more accurately, lack of star power, this Lakers team stands out, but they still look like they are on their way to yet another CHA season title. Michael Sisti always says that every team has its own way to win hockey games, and it looks like he’s found what this team needs to do to win, not with the frequency that we’ve come to expect from Mercyhurst, but often enough that it is positioned as the team to beat.
Did anything stand out to you about that series in Syracuse?
Candace: The shot differential is the first thing that really stands out. Prior to the weekend, Mercyhurst hadn’t been held under 20 shots all year. They had piled up 38 against Rensselaer in their previous game. The Lakers have actually been averaging 27.4 shots a game, and got 32 and 30 against Northeastern and 30 and 28 against Princeton. To be held to 16 and 14 in two games by Syracuse shows the Orange are committed to defense. Syracuse has given up on average 21 shots a game, a stat that is very impressive given that they gave up 37 and 34 to Clarkson and 38 to Boston College, so they are committed to working their own end, or trying to dominate puck possession, or some combination of the two.
I guess the other thing that stands out is the old cliche about how important special teams are. Syracuse got its game-winning goal on a power play from Nicole Ferrara in the second period of Friday’s 2-0 win, while Mercyhurst’s first two goals in Saturday’s 3-1 win were on power plays, so both teams were good at shutting the other down in even-strength situations. Given that Ferrara scored Syracuse’s lone goal Saturday at even-strength, Syracuse actually beat Mercyhurst in even-strength play 2-1 on the weekend.
It will be interesting to see how the CHA plays out. Mercyhurst leads the league with 16 points, and Syracuse is right behind the Lakers with 14 points, while Robert Morris is in third with 11. Penn State missed a golden chance to move into sole possession fourth place and a home ice spot for the first round of the CHA tournament when it lost to RIT Friday, 3-0. The Nittany Lions and Lindenwood are tied with eight points, but Lindenwood is ahead by virtue of a series win against the Nittany Lions in October. The two play again on the second-to-last weekend of league play, and that might determine the home ice slate right there.
Robert Morris faces Penn State this weekend, but I still think the Colonials, despite having the best overall winning percentage in the league, are behind Syracuse and Mercyhurst as far as likelihood to win the CHA tournament. The Colonials got swept this weekend by Quinnipiac, and despite losing by only a goal Friday, were really overmatched.
One team that posted an impressive result to me was Minnesota State, losing two one-goal games to Minnesota. What did you make of that series? Is it cause for alarm in Minneapolis that they couldn’t score much? You questioned earlier about Harvard missing Mary Parker; is the same true for the Gophers missing Brandt, who hasn’t played since Dec. 11 against St. Cloud? In its four games without her, Minnesota has been held to three or less goals three times, down from its season average of 5.39 goals per game.
Arlan: In 141 career games, Brandt has 110 goals and 152 assists, so yeah, I think it might be safe to say that her absence is felt. To accomplish anything notable this year, Minnesota is going to need her in some capacity. Even if she is limited in what she can do as she was through much of the first half, she has that ability to make other people better. Brad Frost was talking about how the team missed her on the power play, and this was after a series where it converted on three of six opportunities. Compounding Brandt’s absence, third-line center Taylor Williamson also was out this weekend. While it obviously isn’t the same type of hit to the offense, it does mean that the team was missing two of its regular three centers. Sophomore Cara Piazza played in the middle for half of her freshman season, so she moved back there with Brandt out. Sophie Skarzynski moved up from defense to fill Williamson’s spot, so there may have been some continuity problems as people adjust to each other. Also, the Gophers just played four defensemen for much of Sunday’s game, although that may have helped them offensively, given those four are able to create many of the team’s chances.
The two MSMU at Minnesota games were quite different. I’ve watched the Mavericks play four times this season, and all four have been one-goal games. Despite their record, I don’t think they are one of the worst teams in the country. They’re just very young, and as for many teams, scoring is a struggle. I didn’t think either team played that well on Saturday. Minnesota didn’t have a lot of spark, and they didn’t get on the scoreboard until a five-on-three power play in the second period led to three quick goals. At that point, they seemed to lose interest, and the Mavericks got a couple of late goals to make the final score interesting. I thought Sunday’s game was very well-played both ways. The Gophers came out determined from the opening faceoff, and controlled play, with the exception of when MSMU went on a power play and scored on their first shot of the game 6:26 in. For the next 40 minutes, the game was basically Minnesota trying to score and Minnesota State trying to stop it.
The Mavericks approach was a little like Bemidji State, only a far less-experienced version. A lot of blocked shots, and even more tying up sticks and clearing pucks. Frost said after the game that even if Minnesota had lost, he’d have been proud of his team, and he didn’t know if they could have played much better. So if there is cause for concern, that would likely be it, that even their best almost wasn’t enough, although Amanda Leveille didn’t play yesterday, and the Gophers obviously need her as well to be at their best. To their credit, they didn’t panic, and eventually they got a couple of goals from defensemen to pull out the win.
So my conclusions are that Minnesota isn’t a championship-caliber team as currently configured, but the big story of the weekend was the improvement of Minnesota State from the 11-1 debacle the first time these teams played. If the Mavericks continue to play as hard as they did yesterday, they’re going to win some games in the league.
On the topic of improved teams, Colgate continues to make strides. After what could have been a crushing 6-2 loss at Harvard, the Raiders have bounced back with three straight wins. All were at home and all against teams from the lower half of the conference, but with the way the ECAC is this season, it is vital to win the games that you’re supposed to win. Six of their remaining 10 games are at home, including all of the games against the top teams. They’ve already settled for ties hosting Union and Rensselaer, so nothing is a sure thing, but I’m starting to believe. When I talked to captain Katelyn Parker early in the year and she said the team’s goal was to get home ice, I thought good luck with that, but Colgate might prove the doubters wrong. Do you think the Raiders will hold on to a top-four spot?
Candace: I think it’s possible, but it will probably depend on how the Raiders do in the next four games. After this weekend, Colgate and Harvard will have played the same number of games. It would help Colgate’s cause immensely if the Raiders can beat St. Lawrence this Friday, and even more if they can at least tie or beat Clarkson on Saturday. The Raiders made a North Country trip at the beginning of December and swept, beating Clarkson in OT and using that momentum to scratch out a win over St. Lawrence. If Colgate can at least get a win this weekend, they will still have a one-point lead over Harvard with the same number of games played. Sweep, and they are up at least three points, possibly five if Dartmouth beats Harvard.
Looking at their remaining games, both Colgate and Harvard have games against the Princeton/Quinnipiac travel pair, and both are at home, both play Brown and Yale, and both play Rensselaer and Union. Whether Colgate can claim home ice may come down to the final weekend of the year, when the Raiders host Harvard on Friday and close their season on Saturday against Dartmouth.
By the by, as important as it is for Colgate to get points this weekend, it’s equally important for Harvard to beat Dartmouth. Even a tie could be crushing for the Crimson right now.
There are a couple of other interesting ponderables in the ECAC. Can Princeton stay in second? The Tigers have a three-point lead on Clarkson and Colgate, but the latter two have two games in hand, so it’s possible both could pass Princeton at some point. The Tigers beat Colgate in their first game 3-2, and got blanked by Clarkson 3-0, so I’d think that Clarkson still has an edge, but Princeton has now won 10 games in a row, even if most of those games are against teams they should beat.
Can anyone displace Quinnipiac at the top? It’s looking less and less likely. The Bobcats were impressive in their sweep of Robert Morris last weekend. They are off this weekend, before closing January on the road at Harvard and Dartmouth. Another win over Harvard would probably secure the Bobcats the top spot in the ECAC, barring an epic collapse in February.
At the other end of the spectrum, Cornell has moved into a playoff spot, just as I thought the Big Red might. They are currently tied with Dartmouth with 11 points, but have played one less game and the Big Green are in free fall. Can Yale move up? That is also looking less and less likely. I think one question is whether Cornell can move past Rensselaer into seventh, or even pass St. Lawrence for sixth.
It certainly seems to me to be the league with the most question marks. Do you agree? What’s your take on the positioning races?
Arlan: No. No. Maybe. Yes. My apologies if those were all rhetorical questions. As for positioning, the race is so wide open that it almost makes me wonder if it even matters that much beyond the four teams that get left out. For the eight that advance, each team likely believes that it has a shot against any of the other seven.
I think it is safe to conclude that two of those that will miss the postseason will be Union and Brown. Dartmouth’s 10-game losing streak included five conference losses, and that radically changed the complexion of the race for the Big Green. Despite that, they have 11 points and some very winnable games remaining, particularly in February, so it isn’t out of the question that they could wind up with about 19 points if they can remember how to win hockey games. At first glance, that would seem to be more than enough points to get Dartmouth into the playoffs, at least going by recent history. In the last four years, the team that finished ninth never had more than 14 points. But if we look back farther, the ninth-place team in the ECAC had 18, 19, 17, and 16 points looking back five to eight years. When you have a season where the bottom two teams are very weak and no team dominates, there is a large field with a good number of points, and that’s what we see now. Only four games separate second place from Dartmouth, the team tied for eighth, and thus, effectively ninth, and the Big Green have a game in hand. That suggests that the picture can change in a hurry, and a good or bad weekend can shift a team two or three places accordingly.
A poster in the RPI Engineers thread runs a simulation projecting the final ECAC standings, and right now, Rensselaer would finish eighth with Yale and Dartmouth as the two teams coming up short. That certainly is believable with Dartmouth’s long skid, but they didn’t look that bad at Clarkson on Friday. If the Big Green can get moving in a positive direction, it wouldn’t surprise me if they move back into the field, likely at RPI’s expense. The Engineers have scored only 18 goals in conference, which is considerably less than any of the other contenders. Conversely, they’ve allowed fewer goals than anybody but Quinnipiac and Clarkson, so goalie Lovisa Selander’s impact on the program is being felt. I just wonder if they can keep it up. RPI’s games at Yale this week and versus Dartmouth in February figure to be huge in determining its fortune.
As for the top of the league, my best guess is that Quinnipiac and Clarkson will finish first and second, likely in that order. Princeton has the Golden Knights on its home ice, but I’d still favor Clarkson. Quinnipiac’s defense looks to give it the edge most days, it’s already done with Princeton, and I haven’t seen anyone else string together enough wins to make a rush to the top from too far back.
But overall, I agree that just about everything in the ECAC comes down to some sort of a guess. It’s like trying to forecast the CHA postseason, but with more teams. At least in Hockey East it is only in the bottom half where chaos reigns. Speaking of which, has 2016 provided any more clarity as to who winds up where once we look outside of Boston?
Candace: They way it’s looking right now, I feel fairly comfortable predicting that Connecticut will wind up fourth. The Huskies have three points more than fifth-place New Hampshire and sixth-place Vermont, and have a game in hand on both. As for the bottom four teams though, I don’t know. I’m beginning to wonder if Merrimack can move past Maine into the final playoff spot. New Hampshire and Vermont both have 10 points, but since New Hampshire beat the Catamounts back in October, the Wildcats are ahead. Those two have a weekend series in Durham, New Hampshire, in the first weekend of February that will likely decide who finishes sixth and who seventh.
That same weekend, Maine hosts Merrimack, and the Black Bears would really solidify their playoff hopes if they can at least get a series win. Conversely, if Merrimack gets a series win, it sets the Warriors up for a possible playoff berth.
Having said that, this weekend presents a huge opportunity for New Hampshire to put some distance between it and Vermont. The Wildcats play two in Orono against Maine, while the Catamounts are in Boston against the first-place Eagles. It’s entirely likely that New Hampshire will at least split in Maine, and possibly get a series win or sweep.
Overall, I think Vermont and New Hampshire’s schedules are a wash. Vermont has all three games left against BC, but New Hampshire has one left against Northeastern and a home-and-home against Boston University. They both host Connecticut for a pair. New Hampshire beat Connecticut in their first game, while Vermont lost, which says to me that the Wildcats might at least get points out of that weekend.
The question then becomes can Providence move up into sixth place, ahead of Vermont? Providence currently has nine points, and has a game in hand on New Hampshire and Vermont. However, I don’t think Providence has a favorable schedule. They still have two against BU and BC, plus a single game against Northeastern, and are also on the road for a one-off against Connecticut. Even if Providence sweeps its series against Maine and Merrimack, the Friars may not win any other games down the stretch, and that likely means they might pass Vermont, but not New Hampshire, so sixth or seventh.
Freshman Dylan McLaughlin has seven points in his last four games for Canisius (photo: Omar Phillips).
Canisius has undergone some growing pains this season, as is to be expected with 11 freshmen and nine sophomores on the roster. On any given night, the Golden Griffins will dress only three or four upperclassmen.
That means ups and downs. Canisius (7-14-3) has yet to string together consecutive wins but has taken at least one point in all nine league series so far this season.
Dave Smith’s team has beaten the top five teams in the Atlantic Hockey standings: Robert Morris, Holy Cross, Rochester Institute of Technology, Air Force and Mercyhurst. But the Golden Griffins have captured only five points in eight games against the bottom three teams, including a win and a tie with last-place Niagara last weekend.
That puts Canisius right in the mix, in sole possession of seventh place, four points out of third but also five points away from 10th.
For Smith, it’s been a balance between using his proven top line of senior Ralph Cuddemi (28 points), junior Shane Conacher (33) and sophomore Ryan Schmelzer (20), and giving valuable minutes to his crop of rookies.
Through the Griffs’ first 20 games, the Schmelzer line produced 75 percent of the offense, with the large freshman class contributing just 20 points total in those 20 games.
But the last four contests, series with RIT and Niagara, have seen the rookies start to contribute more. Led by Dylan McLaughlin’s seven points, freshmen have chipped in 16 points total in those four games, including six goals.
“We monitor every player’s minutes,” Smith said in describing the balance between youth and experience. “There are expectations for each player that, if they live up to them, will result in more playing time. That goes for established players as well as the new guys.
“If they keep producing, we’ll put them out there.”
That’s meant more opportunities for McLaughlin, who has seven points in his last four games, including three goals.
“We challenged Dylan to make those around him better,” said Smith. “He was putting in the effort early in the season but the points weren’t coming. But when he focused on making everyone around him better, the goals started to come and he got rolling.”
Rookie goaltender Simon Hofley has shared duties with sophomore Reilly Turner, and Hofley has seen the majority of time in net lately. He’s started the Griffs’ last five games, posting a 2-2-1 record.
“We don’t have a starter and we don’t have a backup,” Smith said of his goaltending situation. “Right now, Simon is playing well and has gotten the opportunity. But Monday at practice it’s right back to seeing who can help us the most and taking it from there.”
Smith said all of his players are coming up to speed on what it takes to be successful in the league: consistency.
“The players these days spend time watching the standings and the rankings, maybe more than even the coaches do,” said Smith. “And one thing they’ve observed is that in this league, anybody can beat anybody.”
The next challenge for Canisius is a weekend series at Holy Cross, which split an earlier series with the Golden Griffins in Buffalo, and is 7-1 in league play at the Hart Center.
“They play hard and they’re well-coached,” said Smith. “We’re going to prepare like we prepare for every game. We know we’re going to have to be at our best to be successful. We’re going to go in guns blazing and give it our best shot.”
Offensive
Brandon Denham has seven power-play goals for Robert Morris (photo: Omar Phillips).
Nothing was settled in last weekend’s showdown between Robert Morris and Holy Cross, who occupy the top two spots in the standings.
The teams split in their only meetings of the regular season, leaving the Colonials ahead of the Crusaders by two points, with Holy Cross holding two games in hand.
But Robert Morris is clearly head and shoulders above the rest of the league in one category: offense. The Colonials are averaging 4.29 goals scored per game, second in the nation and ahead of the next closest conference opponents by almost a full goal per game.
If the Colonials can keep up the pace, it will be the best offensive season for a team in conference history. Mercyhurst’s 4.17 goals per game average in 2005-06 is the all-time best.
The key to the Colonials’ offense is their power play, which is also on record pace. Robert Morris has been able to maintain a success rate with the man advantage of over 30 percent this season, currently clicking at 33.98 percent, best in the nation and over 5 percentage points better than anyone else.
Robert Morris has four players with at least five power-play goals, led by senior Brandon Denham with seven.
The Colonials’ top four scorers are seniors, including Zac Lynch, who leads the team and the conference in points (35), and linemate Greg Gibson, whose 18 goals leads the conference.
Hobey hopefuls
Lynch, Gibson, and Conacher have all put up impressive statistics so far this season, but how do those numbers stand up nationally? Are there any legitimate Hobey Baker Award contenders in the league this season?
In the 11-year history of the conference, there have been nine Hobey finalists, including one Hobey Hat Trick member.
Here’s the list along with their season statistics:
• 2015: Matt Garbowsky (forward, RIT) — 26 goals, 28 assists for 54 points in 40 games (1.25 PPG).
• 2015: Cody Wydo (forward, Robert Morris) — 20 goals, 23 assists for 43 points in 37 games (1.16 PPG).
• 2013: Carsen Chubak (goalie, Niagara) — 1.91 GAA, .939 save percentage in 35 games.
• 2012: Tim Kirby (defenseman, Air Force) — 12 goals, 16 assists for 28 points in 39 games (0.72 PPG).
• 2011: Paul Zanette (forward, Niagara) — 29 goals, 25 assists for 54 points in 35 games (1.57 PPG).
• 2009: Jacques Lamoureux (forward, Air Force) — 33 goals, 20 assists for 53 points in 41 games (1.29 PPG).
• 2008: Simon Lambert (forward, RIT) — 21 goals, 30 assists in 37 games (1.38 PPG).
• 2007: Eric Ehn (forward, Air Force) — 24 goals, 40 assists in 40 games (1.60 PPG).
• 2005: Reid Cashman (defenseman, Quinnipiac) — 13 goals, 32 assists in 37 games (1.22 PPG).
Lynch is averaging 1.50 points per game; Gibson and Conacher are at 1.38. Dark horse Max French of Bentley has 27 points in 19 contests (1.42 PPG) after missing the first five games of the season due to injury.
All four are certainly in the ballpark in terms of numbers for a forward.
There isn’t a goaltender in the league near the top nationally in either GAA or save percentage — Sacred Heart’s Brett Magnus is 24th in GAA (2.25) and the top save percentage belongs to Robert Morris senior Terry Shafer (.926), good for 20th nationally.
With no defenseman standing out in terms of national numbers or recognition, it looks like Lynch, Gibson, Conacher and French are the leading candidates at this point.
Weekly awards
Player of the week — Justin Danforth, Sacred Heart: The junior had a hat trick last Saturday in a 6-4 win over Mercyhurst. He had two short-handed goals as well as a power-play tally. His 12 goals this season are already a career high.
Goalie of the week — Shane Starrett, Air Force: This is the fourth time this season that Starrett has been honored. He was previously named rookie of the week (Oct. 20), goalie of the week (Nov. 24), and goalie of the month (November). This time out, the freshman made 49 saves on 50 shots to help the Falcons to a win and tie at rival Army West Point.
Rookie of the week — Mark Logan, RIT: Logan scored his first two collegiate goals, one each night, in a Tigers sweep at Bentley.
Defensive player of the week — Alexander Kuqali, RIT: The senior captain had a goal and was plus-4 on the weekend in the pair of RIT wins.
If you’ve followed Bracketology for a while, you probably know that a team that hosts a regional has to be placed there if it’s selected for the NCAA tournament.
But what if there are multiple hosts? That has come into play this season.
The 2016 NCAA East Regional at the Times Union Center in Albany, N.Y., is being hosted by ECAC Hockey, Union and Rensselaer. Only one of the teams, however, can be designated as the host for selection purposes.
ECAC Hockey had to make the call for this situation, and it gave the nod to Union.
Assistant commissioner Ed Krajewski said it was Union’s turn to be the primary host at an Albany regional, which means it takes the lead on staffing the event.
So in the event that both Union and Rensselaer make the field of 16 (an unlikely scenario at the moment, but you never know) and are on the same seeding band, Union will get to stay in Albany and Rensselaer will have to go elsewhere.
Wisconsin freshman forward Luke Kunin is ranked 16th on NHL Central Scouting’s mid-term rankings for the 2016 NHL Draft (photo: Bradley K. Olson).
NHL Central Scouting’s mid-term ranking of the top prospects for the 2016 NHL Draft was released on Tuesday and a slew of current and prospective NCAA players are ranked.
The draft will be held June 24-25 at the First Niagara Center in Buffalo, N.Y.
The highest-ranked player with NCAA ties is Boston University recruit and forward Clayton Keller, who currently plays for the U.S. NTDP’s Under-18 Team, at No. 8.
BU freshman defenseman Charlie McAvoy is ranked ninth.
Here are the rankings of college-committed players or those from leagues that traditionally produce college players:
Penn State announced Tuesday that junior defenseman Mike Williamson has decided to end his playing career due to chronic injuries.
“Unfortunately and sadly, Mike Williamson informed us that, due to his health, he will not play hockey anymore,” PSU coach Guy Gadowsky said at Tuesday’s press conference. “He’s been struggling with injuries for over a year now and the episodes get worse and worse. After talking with his family and the physicians, he’s come up with this decision.
“It’s unfortunate because the guys on the team love him. He’s an extremely popular player in the locker room. I think the whole team is really sad to hear this news. He will remain a part of us doing whatever he can. He’s hungry to do that. He loves Penn State and is staying here to get his degree and help the program.”
Williamson, a finance major, appeared in six games this season and 49 for his three-year career at Penn State after being a 2013 NHL draft pick of the Vancouver Canucks (sixth round, 175th overall).
The 6-foot-4, 209-pound Williamson made 27 appearances as a freshman in 2013-14, tallying six points on two goals and four assists, while posting a minus-4 rating. Williamson also blocked 57 shots. In his sophomore season, Williamson had two points on a goal and an assist in 16 appearances with a minus-1 rating. This season, Williamson had one assist and a minus-2 rating.
Williamson will remain enrolled through the duration of his degree-earning curriculum.
Our guests on the Jan. 19 edition of USCHO Live! are Massachusetts-Lowell head coach Norm Bazin, whose River Hawks are atop the Hockey East standings with a three-game winning streak, and Jess Myers, who covers college hockey for 1500ESPN.com and 1500ESPN Twin Cities.
Please note our new live streaming host: Join us for the conversation and information, Tues., Jan. 19, at 8 p.m. EST using the player below or listen using the Spreaker Radio app for iOS, Android or Windows phone.
Be part of the conversation! Send your tweets to @USCHO or your emails to [email protected]. Each episode of USCHO Live! features a look at news around NCAA hockey, a look ahead at upcoming games and events, and conversation with people who coach, administer and play college hockey, and journalists who cover the sport.
About the hosts
Jim Connelly is a senior writer at USCHO.com and has been with the site since 1999. He is based in Boston and regularly covers Hockey East. He began with USCHO.com as the correspondent covering the MAAC, which nowadays is known as Atlantic Hockey. Each week during the season, he co-writes “Tuesday Morning Quarterback.” Jim is the winner of the 2012 Joe Concannon award. He is the color analyst for UMass-Lowell hockey’s radio network, and is a studio analyst for NESN.
Ed Trefzger has been part of USCHO since 1999 and now serves as a senior writer and director of technology. He has been a part of the radio broadcasts of Rochester Institute of Technology hockey since their inception — serving as a producer, studio host, color commentator and as RIT’s play-by-play voice for nine seasons. Ed is general manager of CBS Sports Radio affiliate 105.5 The Team in Rochester, N.Y., and COO of its parent company, Genesee Media Corporation.
Immediately following the conclusion of the game, four players each were issued a major penalty and a game disqualification by the on-ice officials. Game disqualification penalties are accompanied by an automatic one-game suspension to be served in the team’s next game against an NCAA member institution.
Michigan’s Dexter Dancs and Cutler Martin and Ohio State’s Brendon Kearney each received a major penalty for fighting and a game disqualification, while Ohio State’s Dakota Joshua received a major penalty for facemasking and a game disqualification. As a result of these penalties, Joshua and Kearney are ineligible to play in Ohio State’s Jan. 22 contest against Penn State, while Dancs and Martin are ineligible to play in Michigan’s Jan. 28 game at Penn State.
Following a review of the incident by the conference, the Big Ten imposed additional suspensions and issued public reprimands of Michigan’s Dancs and Martin for violating the Big Ten sportsmanship policy. Dancs has been suspended for one additional game and will be ineligible to play on Jan. 21 against the United States National Team Development Program Under-18 Team. Martin has been suspended for two additional games and will be ineligible to play on Jan. 21 against the United States National Team Development Program Under-18 Team and Jan. 30 against Penn State.
The Big Ten determined that the actions of Dancs and Martin were in violation of Big Ten Conference Agreement 10.01, which states in part that “The Big Ten Conference expects all contests involving a member institution to be conducted without compromise to any fundamental element of sportsmanship. Such fundamental elements include integrity of competition, civility toward all, and respect, particularly toward opponents and officials.”
Babson goaltender Jamie Murray was a BNY Mellon Wealth Management Hockey Humanitarian Award finalist in 2015 (photo: Babson Athletics)
Eighteen nominees have been named for the 2016 BNY Mellon Wealth Management Hockey Humanitarian Award.
They include three repeat nominees and 2015 finalist Jamie Murray of Babson.
The award recognizes college hockey’s finest citizen — a student-athlete who makes significant contributions not only to his or her team, but also to the community-at-large through leadership in volunteerism.
The 2016 finalists will be announced in February, with the recipient named on Friday, April 8 at the Frozen Four in Tampa, Fla.
Tommy Olczyk played four years of USHL hockey before joining Penn State as a 21-year-old freshman (photo: Omar Phillips).
RALSTON, Neb. — Tanner Laczynski has needed two years in the USHL to feel confident enough in his development to move onto college hockey.
The 18-year-old Laczynski knows, though, the progression he had as a player isn’t the same for everyone. It’s one of the reasons why he and many others at the recent USHL Top Prospects Game had concerns about the Big Ten’s college hockey age-restriction proposal, which would require freshmen to enroll in college within two years of their graduating class or they would forfeit a year of eligibility for each year they enroll after the deadline.
“It’s different with every kid,” said Laczynski, who plays for the USHL’s Chicago Steel and has signed a letter of intent to Ohio State. “You could have a kid that comes into the USHL and has a lights-out year, but the colleges still think they’re not ready. Listening to all the people I’ve talked to, they said it’s not the first year in the USHL you develop, it’s the second year that you develop the most. I feel like kids develop at different rates. Some guys take longer; some guys take a year or two.”
Former NHL player and current TV analyst Eddie Olczyk has witnessed the variations of development. His own son Tommy Olczyk was one of those youth players who needed more time in the USHL before going onto college. Tommy played four years in the USHL and is now a 25-year-old senior playing at Penn State.
“They’re kind of risking a lot, and I don’t know what the reward is.”
— John Vanbiesbrouck
Eddie Olczyk said he understood the Big Ten’s reasoning for the proposal to even the playing field when the current system can have an 18-year-old playing against a 25-year-old. He just wasn’t sure it what was best for the sport of hockey.
“I think there’s all different philosophies for it; reasons why you would change and why wouldn’t,” said Olczyk, who was a guest speaker for the USHL. “It just depends on what college hockey wants. The important thing is this is going to have an effect on the lower levels without a doubt — USHL, North American league. If college gets younger, so will the USHL. They’ll get younger players. It’s a domino effect.
“I understand. Do you want 24- or 25-year-old kids with 18- or 19-year-old freshmen? That’s what it comes down to. But as far as development in hockey, look, the longer kids can play the greatest game in the world and go to school, I’m all for it.”
USHL commissioner and president Bob Fallen said he recently had a meeting with the Big Ten to discuss the proposal. He thought the conference had some fair points.
“A lot of what they said makes a lot of sense especially when you look at what was originally on the table, which was essentially elimination of any gap, which doesn’t make sense, especially for college hockey,” Fallen said. “I think it’ll be interesting. I know there’s going to be a lot of continued dialogue with it with the college coaches. We just said, ‘Listen, we’ll do whatever we need to do, but the bottom line is if you were to talk to college coaches in basketball and football, if they could, they would take our model.
“Am I in support of eliminating a kid’s chance to develop in junior hockey? Absolutely not, for obvious reasons. I also see the merit in some argument that at some point the kids need to make a decision. I can understand what the Big Ten is trying to do. I can also understand why it hasn’t gotten a lot of support from their peers in college hockey. I think what you’re going to see is a little bit of a compromise where maybe the ages of incoming freshman will be impacted somewhat by the fact when the kids start to play junior hockey.”
One of Fallen’s concerns with the proposal was the possibility that the college graduation rate of men’s hockey would decline. According to a report by the NCAA in October 2015, the Graduation Success Rate of men’s hockey between freshman classes entering between 2005 and 2008 was at 87 percent, which was higher than 12 other men’s sports.
“A lot of that has to do with the fact you have 19- and 20-year-old freshmen,” Fallen said of the graduation rate. “These guys are more physically prepared, mentally prepared, emotionally prepared to be a student-athlete.”
Former college coach Jason Lammers says he was disappointed with the Big Ten’s proposal (photo: Melissa Wade).
Muskegon Lumberjacks general manager and director of hockey operations John Vanbiesbrouck also voiced his issues with the proposal. He said he believed the development process would be altered.
“If that’s what they think they need to do in order to find the best players, I don’t think they’re going to put them in a development process that is going to match their need and what’s going to be successful for them,” Vanbiesbrouck said. “Because the enterprise of the NHL would say that players shouldn’t go into college, even though there are true freshmen at 18, shouldn’t enter until they are 20. That’s the NHL saying that. That’s not me saying that. Why would they say that? Because they want men.
“I think the NCAA group has had some frustrations, and the frustrations a lot of times have to do with players coming in, playing two years and leaving them. That’s nothing anybody else can do. They just become fantastic hockey players. It’s a credit to everyone involved. It’s a credit to the Big Ten. It’s a credit to junior hockey. What the NHL, I believe, is trying to influence is just more of a how can we get more people involved in the greatest game and get them working longer to where they have more to choose from, there are more U.S. hockey players to choose from?
“I think the USHL, we only have 425 players in the league, if the Big Ten makes that decision, I don’t think it’ll have a great impact. I think it’ll have some impact. But they’re kind of risking a lot, and I don’t know what the reward is.”
Jason Lammers has coached in college and the USHL, and he also questioned the proposal. Before being hired by the USHL’s Dubuque Fighting Saints before this season, he was on Division I coaching staffs at UMass-Lowell, Colorado College, Ohio State, Clarkson and Alaska.
“I think the Big Ten is reacting to some of the success that non-Big Ten teams have had,” Lammers said. “I’m hopeful that doesn’t pass. And I don’t know the numbers, and I can’t give you the names right now of the players who have been in that category that have gone to have great careers in college or even some of those Big Ten schools. I would hate to see those kids go by the wayside. I don’t think that’s fair.
“The other thing I think in the big, grand picture of things, as they enter school at 21 and graduate at 25 they have a leg up on getting hired outside of the hockey world because you’re getting a college graduate at 25 or 26 versus a 22-year-old. If I’m running a business, I’m always going to hire the more mature person if my livelihood is on the line. So, I’m really hopeful that doesn’t go through. I don’t agree with it. It’s disappointing, in my opinion.”
The WCHA announced on Tuesday a two-game suspension for Alabama-Huntsville sophomore forward Brennan Saulnier.
The suspension came after a review of Saulnier’s game misconduct infraction, which was assessed following a hit with contact to the head of an opposing player, at the 14:29 mark of the first period in Huntsville’s game Jan. 16 at Ferris State.
Alabama-Huntsville’s next scheduled games are Jan. 29 and 30 at Alaska-Anchorage. Saulnier is eligible to return for the Chargers’ contest against Minnesota State on Feb. 12.
Our guests on the Jan. 19 edition of USCHO Live! are Massachusetts-Lowell head coach Norm Bazin, whose River Hawks are atop the Hockey East standings with a three-game winning streak, and Jess Myers, who covers college hockey for 
