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Hockey East hands one-game suspensions to Merrimack’s Bigos, BC’s Silk

USCHO Staff Report
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Hockey East announced Wednesday a pair of one-game suspensions to Merrimack senior defenseman Kyle Bigos and Boston College freshman forward Brendan Silk.

Bigos received his second game misconduct on March 4 against Massachusetts-Lowell and then a third in the form of league supplemental discipline. He is eligible to return to the Warriors’ lineup on Saturday, March 9 at Massachusetts.

Silk will sit after an illegal hit to the head of a Providence player on March 2 and can re-join the Eagles on Saturday, March 9 at Vermont. No penalty was called on the play.

Wentworth uses midseason slump as motivation heading into game with Babson

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The Wentworth Institute of Technology Leopards defeated the visiting Curry College Colonels 3-1 on Sunday, January 20, 2013, at Matthews Arena in Boston, Massachusetts. (Melissa Wade)

R.J. Tolan persevered through a season of ups, downs, and all-arounds for Wentworth.

Easily the preseason pick to win the ECAC Northeast, the ultra-talented Leopards struggled at times for offense, among other things, and there was many a time that their coach struggled to define his team along the way.

“As a coach, I should probably be better with words in these types of situations,” Tolan said. “I just know the kind of team we have, and I know when the time comes to go out and get the job done, my team can do it better than I can talk about it.”

The Leopards, ultimately, made Tolan’s words hold up. A late-season surge, and a dominant ECAC Northeast tournament later, and Wentworth is back in the NCAA tournament, and the early-season inconsistency — from Dec. 6 to Jan. 15, WIT went just 2-4 — is nothing more than a memory now. WIT will meet Babson on the road on Wednesday, as it tries to secure an opening-round win for the second time in as many seasons.

“We learned a lot from last year; we know what it takes to win at this time of year, and at this level,” Tolan said. “For us, it’s always a matter of going out and doing it. Not to think about it so much, as to just go out and play.”

The Leopards will get a chance to do that against the Beavers, who went 17-6-5 overall, but 7-1-1 out of the ECAC East. So, without question, Babson will be unfazed by Wentworth’s momentum, depth, or drive.

“When we have success, it’s about us, and how we perform … how or if we play up to our ability,” Tolan said. “If we do that, then we can live with the results.”

The Leopards have had no problem doing that of late. Dating back to Jan. 30, WIT has not lost a game, and dating back to the regular-season finale, it has won three in a row by a combined count of 12-4. Wentworth is also 8-1-0 when leading after one period, and 13-0-1 when leading after two periods. So if Babson, which was ranked in both polls Feb. 26, wants to rattle the Leopards, they’d be best to jump on them early.

What separated WIT from the rest of the conference at crunch time was the Leopards’ depth this season. Tolan can throw layers and layers of lines at you, and over the course of the season, that luxury wore down the rest of the league. Wentworth had three players reach 20 points, and seven others landed in double digits in scoring.

This is just the third meeting all-time between these two proud Massachusetts programs. Babson won both previous contests.

Wentworth: By the Numbers

Tournament Qualification: ECAC Northeast Champions — automatic bid
NCAA Tournament Profile: Sixth NCAA Tournament appearance
Last Appearance: 2012 (Second round loss to Norwich, 3-0).
Best NCAA Finish: 2012 (Second round loss to Norwich, 3-0).
Road to NCAA Tournament
W, 3-1, vs. Salve Regina (ECAC Northeast Tournament final).
W, 4-1, vs. Johnson and Wales (ECAC Northeast Tournament semifinals).

Team Statistics
ECAC Northeast Regular Season: 10-2-2, (First).
Overall Record: 16-8-3.
SOG: 32.1 per game.
Opponents’ SOG: 26.6 per game.
Power Play: 21.4 percent.
Penalty Kill: 80.8 percent.
Offense: 3.15 goals per game.
Defense: 2.15 goals per game.

Individual Leaders
Shaun Jameson — 5 goals, 22 assists, 27 points
Kevin Crowe — 10 goals, 11 assists, 21 points
Mike Cox — 5 goals, 16 assists, 21 points
Mike Domsodi — 6 goals, 12 assists, 18 points
Joel Miller — 1.83 goals-against average, .930 save percentage
Alex Peck —- 2.56 goals-against average, .902 save percentage

Oswego quietly confident as it readies for Adrian

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Oswego (Dan Hickling)

Most coaches can push buttons. The best coaches know when to keep their hands to themselves. Count Oswego bench boss Ed Gosek among the latter.

Gosek, who has one Frozen Four championship ring on his finger, realized late in the season that whatever emotional tweaks his No. 3 Lakers might have needed could be applied by themselves. His deft touch wasn’t needed.

Little wonder then, that Oswego is roaring into Saturday’s NCAA tournament tilt with No. 6 Adrian on the strength of an 11-1 roll, capped by a convincing 4-0 SUNYAC championship game win over arch-rival Plattsburgh.

“It started in the locker room,” said Gosek, whose 52nd birthday was highlighted Saturday by that decisive win over the Cardinals. “(We have) leadership with (captain Jon) Whitelaw and (assistant captain Chris Brown) ‘Brownie.’  We decided weeks ago to pass the torch to them. We need them to be good leaders, and we need the rest of the team to be good followers. They’re giving the right message, and it’s being received.”

That message, simply put, is “finish the job.”

Oswego, the lone SUNYAC entry in the tournament, and its 14 seniors, has a little bit of unfinished business to attend to after falling in last year’s Frozen Four title game to St. Norbert.

“It was a long summer,” said senior goaltender Andrew Hare, who posted six shutouts this season. “It was definitely the worst feeling ever. We definitely know what it takes to win.”

High-scoring senior winger Luke Moodie (22-19-41) echoed the sentiment.

“A lot of us have been there,” said Moodie, who said the best approach is to stick to the same things that have been so successful for the Lakers. “We’re going to approach (this week) the same way. Practice hard all week. We’re going to prepare the same way we do for every game. If we play our game, we’re going to be successful.”

Senior forward Tyler Leimbrock, whose first-period goal against Plattsburgh proved to be all the scoring the Lakers needed, said that his club has the confidence and talent to compete with anybody.

“We have the tools,” he said. “If we have performance like this (against Plattsburgh), there’s no stopping us. With Andrew Hare playing like that, we’re going to be tough to beat.”

All clubs hope to be at their best at the most crucial moment of the season. The Lakers are more than just hopeful about it. They know it, and can point to their recent success to prove the point.

“That’s the best part,” said Hare. “We had little ups and downs during the year, but we never really got negative about it. We’re getting hot at the right time, and hopefully we’ll keep on doing it.”

Wednesday Women: Round one

By Candace Horgan and Arlan Marttila
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(Tim Brule)

Candace: One round is in the books, and while most of the favorites prevailed, there were some upsets, and there were also a few where the favorite really struggled in advancing. Ohio State upset Minnesota-Duluth, Boston College needed overtime to get past Maine, and Cornell escaped Colgate with two come-from-behind wins. For me, I think that last one is the most surprising. I did pick Minnesota-Duluth, but the Bulldogs and Buckeyes split their season series. Boston College had swept Maine in the regular season, but we all know that Brittany Ott is a fantastic goalie, and a hot goalie can go a long way in evening things in a one-and-done like in Hockey East. For Cornell to need to come from behind in both games was a real surprise. What did you think of the first weekend of postseason action?

Arlan: At various points in the weekend while the games were underway, there were some scores that were shocking. By the end of the weekend, events had normalized, and I don’t think any of the three series that produced upsets were that much of a surprise. Nothing happened that shifted the balance of power. We weren’t expecting any of the teams that lost at home to make a long tournament run.

Your “hot goalie” comment likely applies even outside of Hockey East. Obviously at this point, every round consists of a single game, but even in some of the best-of-three series, a top goaltender can rule. Carmen MacDonald came up huge for St. Lawrence. Lindenwood’s Nicole Hensley gave new meaning to the phrase “standing on her head.” Her NCAA record of 90 saves in Friday’s game may never be topped, and that it came in her third game in four days makes it all the more remarkable.

As for the Cornell series, we had seen during the season that Colgate was a team that had the potential to give someone problems if the Raiders made the playoffs. They had beaten Clarkson and had a tie and one-goal loss versus St. Lawrence. However, Cornell had outscored them 18-2 during the season, so that didn’t seem to be a favorable match-up. On one hand, the Big Red can be encouraged that they managed stirring comebacks both days. That probably gives them an extra boost that they wouldn’t have gained in the momentum column from a pair of lopsided wins. Brianne Jenner continues to spark Cornell and fill the role previously handled by Rebecca Johnston. But it has to be a bit concerning that it came down to needing to pull the goalie in consecutive games. Every week, it is a different set of teams that are playing well in the ECAC, and nobody has really demonstrated that they can string wins together against the top teams.

Candace: Agreed. The ECAC has seemed to have more volatility than in years past. There are several strong teams, but it hasn’t been the case of one or two dominant ones and then the rest, the way it currently seems to be in Hockey East, the CHA, and even the WCHA, where you have three dominant teams. On the other hand, that unpredictability makes things a lot more interesting to watch. Harvard, for instance, had struggled the previous weekend in tying St. Lawrence and losing to Clarkson, and Dartmouth had seemed to be on an upswing, yet Harvard easily handled the Big Green in two games. In fact, the Crimson were the only team in the ECAC to win without a struggle, getting two shutouts. The other three series had at least one overtime game.

You talked about Nicole Hensley, and I had picked Lindenwood to possibly upset Robert Morris. For a while Friday night, it looked like my stab in the dark may have proved accurate. I followed the game on a live blog, and not only did Hensley make 90 saves, but several were top notch. Now the Colonials advance to play CHA top dog Mercyhurst, the only conference team Robert Morris had a winning record against besides Penn State. You have to wonder how Mike Sisti and the Lakers feel about that. It’s one of those things were it’s possible to put too much pressure on yourself. Robert Morris can skate freely, and the Colonials may be in the Lakers’ heads. In the other CHA semi, I do wonder if RIT’s experience as last year’s D-III national champion might help them get past Syracuse.

Arlan: The Tigers do have the edge in postseason experience. That was even more true for RIT against Penn State, but the teams wound up playing two one-goal games, the second ending in OT. The RIT and PSU series was another postseason case where a stingy goaltender, Nicole Paniccia, made an outcome closer than dictated by other factors. I doubt that the Tigers will get as many looks against Kallie Billadeau, so they’ll need to finish a little better to advance. Syracuse comes into the semifinals with the best of both worlds — well rested due to having a bye, but not rusty after playing a midweek series.

Mercyhurst may have exorcised a few demons where RMU is concerned when the teams last met and the Lakers dominated, 9-1. I’d say that there is zero chance that they come into this game unprepared for the Colonials. Meanwhile, RMU has won four games over the last two weekends, twice as many victories as it enjoyed in previous weeks in 2013. Yes, those wins were against the bottom teams in the league, but Robert Morris needs to look for positives where it can at this point. Another plus for the Colonials would have to be that as much as this season has been a head-scratcher, at least they are still above .500 at 15-14-3, although they were six games above over the holiday break.

The Lakers are in the strange position of likely reaching the NCAA tournament no matter how they fare this weekend, but they really don’t control their fate to any great extent. They may lose and advance or win the CHA and get left out. In that respect, Mercyhurst is just playing for a trophy this weekend like the other three teams. If that title should escape the Lakers again this year, which team could you envision winning it?

Candace: I could actually envision anybody winning the CHA at this point, but it depends on the match-ups. RIT has had the most difficulty with Mercyhurst, never getting close to beating the Lakers, so if those two are in the final, I’d expect the Lakers to come out on top. If Robert Morris defeats the Lakers, I’d probably favor either Syracuse or RIT to win the final. Regarding the Lakers missing the NCAA tournament, I guess it’s possible, but I think a few things would have to happen that to me seem unlikely. Namely, St. Lawrence would have to repeat as ECAC champ and Northeastern would have to win Hockey East. Otherwise, I don’t see any way for it to happen. I can’t see Ohio State beating Minnesota, and whichever team between Wisconsin and North Dakota wins the WCHA semi, even were they to then go on and beat Minnesota in the WCHA final, I don’t think it would shift either ahead of Mercyhurst in the PairWise, although I guess I could be wrong. Is there something there that I’m not seeing?

Arlan: Only that if anyone other than Minnesota wins the WCHA tournament, then that team holds an automatic bid and no longer needs to pass Mercyhurst in the PairWise to get in over the Lakers. So if Wisconsin and Northeastern won titles, for example, the Mercyhurst bubble likely pops. It definitely helps the Lakers if the higher seeds do well in the conference tournaments, because it most likely would require two winners from outside of the current top eight to ruin Selection Sunday for Sisti’s team and deny them a ninth straight NCAA appearance.

I found it interesting that for all of the parity along the way this season, the composition of the conference tournament fields at this stage looks a lot like it did a year ago. RIT has replaced Niagara in the CHA semis, but the Purple Eagles were doomed months ago. Hockey East has the same four teams that ventured to Hyannis last March. Ohio State replaces UMD in the WCHA field, while Clarkson supplants Quinnipiac. That’s not a lot of turnover. Perhaps we will see a bit more next season in an Olympic year.

In terms of flux in the NCAA field, at least one of Wisconsin or North Dakota will miss out this time, and either Clarkson or Harvard will be added — most likely both. St. Lawrence is the other team most at risk for not being back. I said last week in our discussion that it didn’t look like the Saints had a run in them, but now that they are just two wins away, can MacDonald and company stay on a roll and prove me wrong again?

Candace: At this point, I’m going to say no. I just think it’s too tall an order. The Saints have a horrible record this year against Cornell, Clarkson, and Harvard. I guess they could be Colgate 2.0, as they were outscored 15-3 in three games against the Big Red this year. Perhaps they’ll take Cornell by surprise, but I expect the Big Red to be a little more on their guard this year after losing in the final last season to St. Lawrence on two goals in the final two minutes of the game. Even should St. Lawrence pull off the upset in the semis, I think they would lose to either Harvard or Clarkson in the final.

I think it will be interesting to see how the conference tournaments play out this year with almost the same teams back in it. Last year in Hockey East, Northeastern fell short to Providence, while Boston University crushed Boston College. The pairings are different this year, with the Terriers, who have been quietly chugging along and winning, albeit in uninspiring fashion, facing Providence, while Boston College gets a chance to avenge its Beanpot loss to Northeastern. Since you don’t participate in postseason picks, first, are you thinking St. Lawrence has another run, and how do you think Hockey East might shake out?

Arlan: You mentioned St. Lawrence scoring twice in the final two minutes last year; the Saints are perfecting their technique, scoring twice in the final 32 seconds to force overtime on Saturday, the game they eventually lost. We talked about ECAC teams having difficulty sustaining a strong performance from game to game. I felt that Harvard and SLU played the best hockey in the league in the quarters, so I guess that means they have no chance in the coming round. Anyway, I’m the wrong guy to ask about that league, because I thought Dartmouth was the team most poised to pull an upset, and the Big Green just never fired. All I know is that between Amanda Colin’s triple-overtime game winner and Jamie Lee Rattray’s falling-down goal, the ECAC is home to some of the prettiest goals.

If the Hockey East Tournament was set in a Hollywood movie, then because Providence’s 0-9 mark against the remaining teams must be foreshadowing something, the Friars would be the likely beneficiary of a plot twist and would go on to win. Since this is allegedly real life, I expect the Friars to drop behind by a few goals versus the Terriers, and their latest Zenyata-style comeback will fall just short. Sticking with the horse-racing theme, Northeastern would be the “wise guy” horse that all of the insiders would start to bet. They’ve been the best team since the Beanpot, but a similar plot was unfolding last season, and just like that, the Huskies’ season was kaput.  I think that the Eagles are playing possum. No, that’s a bad metaphor. What’s the bird that pretends to have a broken wing and leads the predator away from the nest? Huskies! It’s a trick, head back to the Eagles’ nest, and not the one in Wisconsin.

The bottom line in Hockey East is that BC should win. They have the most talent. Last year, I thought that goaltending was the Achilles’ heel, but now I can’t fault Corinne Boyles at all. Haley Skarupa looks to be back in form, and I think she and Alex Carpenter form the best one-two tandem in the East. This year, it really will be the most obvious suspect, and Boston College will win the championship, but they’ll need a minimum of one overtime period to do so. Take it to the bank — or one of those check-cashing places. That reminds me that I still owe you a six-pack, so I’ll get right on it while you explain to the readers what will really happen.

Candace: Hah, we’ll see. I think any number of things could happen. While I favor Boston College, the Eagles sometimes get in a rut where they are gripping their sticks too tightly or something, or maybe over-thinking it. For two weeks in a row, the Eagles put up a ton of shots on net, yet struggled to score. Ott made 72 stops. BC still has a potent offense, and if it gets untracked, I like them in a rematch against Northeastern. That Beanpot game was a close one. Regardless of whether the Huskies get another upset or Boston College gets revenge, I expect Boston University to be waiting for them. It will likely be a close game between BU and Providence, as two of the three were during the regular season, but the Terriers are a very solid team. I’ll be interested to see how the final PairWise standings shake out at the top. There’s currently a three-way tie for the final home ice spot, but that will change the moment the final whistle blows on the Harvard-Clarkson game, since those are two of the teams involved. Harvard currently holds a minute edge over the Terriers and Golden Knights. I’m also wondering whether Boston College can overtake Cornell again for second, which doesn’t mean much in terms of home ice, but could in terms of which teams move on to the Frozen Four in Minneapolis.

I mentioned Minnesota still being a favorite in the WCHA earlier. Another place they are a favorite is in the Patty Kazmaier Award race, as four Gophers, Amanda Kessel, Hannah Brandt, Noora Räty, and Megan Bozek, were in the final 10 list. Those four were joined by last year’s winner, Brianna Decker of Wisconsin, last year’s final three nominee Jocelyne Lamoureux of North Dakota, Brianne Jenner of Cornell, Jillian Dempsey of Harvard, and a pair of sophomores, Boston College’s Alex Carpenter and Northeastern’s Kendall Coyne. What’s your initial take on the final 10?

Arlan: There will always be some super players that don’t fit on the list, and I think that is the case again. Goalies like Erica Howe and Alex Rigsby, and skaters like Christine Bestland, Monique Lamoureux, and Kelly Babstock, are no less worthy because they were not named. Awards tend to favor high-scoring forwards in general, and that’s the case this year, with eight of 10 being forwards. But overall, I thought that it was a nice list, and the Committee did a good job. In recent years, the vote has tilted a bit to favor WCHA players, but we may be getting to an end of that cycle, because four of the six finalists from that league are seniors. The ECAC and Hockey East got two apiece, while the CHA was bypassed. One problem for the CHA this year is that it is a challenge for voters to compare the seasons of players from that conference when it has three new teams.

I don’t have any insight into what the committee will do from here. A few weeks ago, I thought that Kessel was in the best position, because she was on pace for a possible 120-point season. Then she got “dinged up,” as Minnesota coach Brad Frost put it, and has skated less than a handful of shifts over her team’s last four games. It’s hard to score from the bench or the stands. Meanwhile, the race has tightened up just among her teammates, as Räty set NCAA records for shutouts in a career and season and Bozek and Brandt set program records for points in a season by a defenseman and rookie, respectively. Both Jenner and Jocelyne Lamoureux have accelerated their production. Jenner pulled Cornell out of the fire against Colgate, and Lamoureux was in the middle of the rout of Minnesota State. If somebody has a huge final weekend at her conference tournament, that could influence the final three and ultimate winner.

Do you have other opinions on the 10 finalists or how the Kazmaier Award is shaping up?

Candace: Well, seeing as I am on the Committee this year, I do have some idea. First, you should know that the Committee doesn’t select the final 10; that is done by the Division I coaches. The coaches nominate players, and if two or more coaches nominate a player, that player is on the ballot. Then the coaches submit their votes for the top 10. After the final 10 are announced, the Committee schedules a call to discuss the finalists, with the idea that it will help with the selection. You should also know that the voting for the final three is done before the conference tournaments are over, and in fact, the final three will be announced this Thursday, March 7. We’ll have a story on USCHO about it, so be sure to look for it.

Mass.-Dartmouth looks to carry momentum against Bowdoin

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Ryan Williams of Mass.-Dartmouth (Tim Brule)

This one is a little bit sweeter.

The Massachusetts-Dartmouth Corsairs have punched their ticket to the NCAA D-III men’s ice hockey tournament after defeating Plymouth State in the MASCAC championship, 2-1, this past Saturday. This is the second title in four year for the Corsairs; however, their first title did not give the program an automatic berth to the tournament, but this one did.

Massachusetts-Dartmouth is coming off a pretty remarkable run this year. After hovering around .500 most of the campaign, the Corsairs turned up the heat and took second place in the regular season standings. With that, they eared an auto-bid to the semifinal game that saw them matched up against last year’s runner up, Salem State. The Corsairs needed three extra periods, as they finally defeated Salem State, 5-4, in triple overtime.

Waiting for Mass.-Dartmouth were the defending champs, the Plymouth State Panthers.  This one was a close one, but the Corsairs didn’t need the extra time to decided it.  It was sophomore defenseman Stephen Ginand netting the eventual game-winner in the third to give the Corsairs the tile and ticket to the dance.

Massachusetts Dartmouth Corsairs vs. Bowdoin Polar Bears
2012-13 NCAA First-Round Game
Wednesday, March 6 at 7:00 p.m.
Sid J Watson Arena, Bowdoin State

Why Mass.-Dartmouth will win: The Corsairs are coming off a run that can see them feed off that heading into the first round of the NCAA tournament. Bowdoin though, handled the NESCAC pretty much the entire season, and has an offense that can find the back of the net like no other (four goals per game average). The Polar Bears are also looking to go far in this tournament, especially with the roster and talent they have. However, the Polar Bears seem to give up some goals time to time, and average just a bit shy of three goals against per game.

For Mass.-Dartmouth, they need to keep this train going, and not be worried or focused on the high-octane offense in Bowdoin.  The Corsairs have to stay out of the box and limit the chances the Polar Bears get on the man-advantage, since they move the puck so well. Going back to the win against Plymouth State, they kept the Panthers off the board and got superb goaltending from senior goalie Ryan Williams, who stopped 37 shots.

Look for Williams to carry this team if they want to go deep into this tournament.

Best of luck to both teams!

Massachusetts-Dartmouth: By the Numbers

Tournament Qualification: MASCAC Champions — automatic qualifier
NCAA Tournament Profile: Fourth NCAA Tournament appearance
Last Appearance: 2008
Road to NCAA Tournament
W, 5-4 (3 OT), vs. Salem State, (MASCAC semifinals game)
W, 2-1 at Plymouth State, (MASCAC championship game)

Team Statistics
ECAC East Regular Season: 9-3-6 (Second)
Overall Record: 12-7-7
Power Play: 21.2 percent
Penalty Kill: 83.1 percent
Offense: 3.05 goals per game
Defense: 2.45 goals per game

Individual Leaders
DaveMcDonald —- 12 goals, 12 assists, 24 points
Phil Bronner —- 15 goals, 6 assists, 21 points
Shaun Walters —- 8 goals, 11 assists, 19 points
Nick Marquis —- 8 goals, 8 assists, 16 points
Zach Helper —- 2 goals, 11 assists, 13 points
Ryan Williams —- 2.48 goals-against average, .923 save percentage

The CCHA is going away, but its history will have a final resting place

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Congratulations to the Miami RedHawks, the last regular season champions of the CCHA! Ever!

After losing 3-0 to Ohio State at home Friday, the RedHawks rebounded with a < a href=”http://www.uscho.com/recaps/2013/03/02/miami-wins-fourth-ccha-title-on-senior-night-doubling-ohio-state-4-2/”>4-2 win over the Buckeyes on Saturday. It was a victory that was never really in question; the RedHawks were ahead 4-0 at the 15:50 mark of the third period.

“I don’t want to be sentimental at this point in the season,” Miami coach Enrico Blasi said after the game, “because there’s still so much hockey to be played, but it’s a big deal. We can say that we won the last one.

“I’m sad that the CCHA’s going away, but everyone had to make a decision for the best interest of their programs, including Ohio State and Miami. It just so happens that we have to put an end to it.”

We have to put an end to it. Indeed, sadly.

My favorite quote of the night was something senior Curtis McKenzie said. “The trophy’s ours forever now,” he said. Technically, no. (See below.)

Metaphorically, I’ll give you that.

McKenzie’s classmate and team captain, Steven Spinell, said what really needed to be said.

“Of course it’s a huge honor to win the league championship,” Spinell said, “but we have bigger aspirations to come here.”

I wouldn’t be surprised if Spinell’s words weren’t a bit prophetic. I hear Pittsburgh is nice in early April.

A tale of three commissioners

It’s only Tuesday as I write this, and already it’s been a long, strange week. I didn’t realize that this week’s column would be all about the commissioners — three of them, anyway — but sometimes the stories unfold in surprising ways.

The current guy at the helm

The last regular-season weekend of play brought us one week closer to the end of the CCHA for good. Commissioner Fred Pletsch said that it’s difficult to think about the eventuality because this is the busiest time of year for the conference.

“March 25,” Pletsch said, “I’ll be looking for a job.”

I caught up with Pletsch as he was driving to Oxford, Ohio, to deliver the regular season trophy to the RedHawks.

“We’ll let them have it for a year,” joked Pletsch, who had read what McKenzie said after Saturday’s win.

That unnamed trophy along with two others eventually will reside permanently at Bowling Green. When the CCHA ends, it’s not just a matter of the league going away; the CCHA is a 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation and as such, its assets must be accounted for when it is dissolved.

To satisfy the state of Michigan’s terms of nonprofit dissolution, some of the corporation’s records must be stored for a period of up to 10 years. That’s where Bowling Green comes in.

“Bowling Green, as an original charter member of the CCHA, has volunteered to do that,” Pletsch said. “Their plan is to create a CCHA display.”

In addition to storing documents that need to hang around for legal reasons, Bowling Green has agreed to take some of the CCHA’s artifacts. While the university hasn’t solidified where it will house the display, some of what will be enshrined already has been identified.

In addition to the regular-season trophy, BGSU will also keep and display the Mason Cup and the Bill Beagan Trophy. The Mason Cup is named after legendary Michigan State coach Ron Mason and is awarded to the CCHA playoff champions; the Bill Beagan Trophy is named after the man who served as league commissioner from 1985 to 1998 and is given to the playoff tournament MVP.

“I’ve also offered them the 45-foot mural of the history of the CCHA,” Pletsch said. Those familiar with the league’s annual Fan Fest in Detroit have probably seen the mural. Pletsch said that the league is getting the final panel for the mural made and that panel will depict where each of the 11 current CCHA teams will go after this season ends.

The Mason Cup that will reside at BGSU — the one that teams have received since 2002 — is a replica of the original. According to Pletsch, that original was “smashed to bits” one night in 2001. The story of the trophy’s undoing is told by Ron Mason himself in the video of the history of the CCHA that the league is making, a video that will be shown at the league’s Celebrate the Legacy party in the COBO Center in Detroit the Saturday night of the CCHA tournament. Said Pletsch of Mason, “He doesn’t admit that there was alcohol involved.”

The original Mason Cup will go to the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. The Hall of Fame has actively pursued CCHA artifacts for a display it intends to build that will include a video of the telecast of the final championship game.

“They’re actually going to have a representative at the championship,” Pletsch said. “They want the stick from the kid who scores the final goal and the game-winning puck.”

The league has more than just paperwork and artifacts with which to contend. The CCHA has a reserve fund that is worth in excess of $1 million. That money is in place to handle unexpected expenses and, once the corporation is dissolved, will be given equally to each of the league’s member schools.

“I’m expecting that’s how it works,” Pletsch said. “All the assets have to be distributed.”

You want a piece of the CCHA for yourself? Don’t worry. There will be plenty available throughout the CCHA championship tournament weekend in Detroit. Pletsch said that the league has everything from a 30-foot banner of former Michigan State goaltender Jeff Lerg to CCHA watches from the mid-1990s.

“We’re always finding things” while going through the offices, Pletsch said.

Me, I hope to find a replacement for my original CCHA sweatshirt, the one that I finally ripped beyond repair and stopped wearing about five years ago. Or another CCHA backpack, since mine is ripped.

I guess coming apart at the seams is another unexpected theme this week.

The gent known as The Commish

One of my favorite CCHA stories ever is one about former Lake Superior State coach Frank Anzalone, told by former commissioner Bill Beagan. Well, it’s not so much the story, but the punch line is worth it.

The CCHA coaches were at an annual meeting in Ann Arbor, when the league offices were located there. The specifics of the discussion are irrelevant. In the meeting, though, coaches from around the league were offering assistance to Anzalone, whose reputation for being difficult is widespread. I prefer to think of Anzalone as misunderstood. Incidentally, so does Anzalone.

Anyway, coaches were offering assistance and Anzalone was stubbornly refusing it. The punch line comes from Beagan himself, who in frustration told Anzalone, “Frank, you’re the only man I know who’d like to die in his own arms.”

I don’t know if that line is a completely accurate portrait of Anzalone, but I do know that it’s pure, vintage Beagan.

This week, The Commish emailed me a letter that he’d previously emailed to John Tuohey of FSN Detroit. To be honest, I’d received the letter last week via a third party, but this time Beagan it emailed to me as well.

It is not a happy letter. Not at all.

In it, Beagan likened the CCHA to the RMS Titanic and its commissioner at the time of the announcement of the formation of the Big Ten hockey conference, Michigan State coach Tom Anastos, to Captain Edward Smith. Beagan’s take on the end of the league is that it didn’t have to happen, that had some planning and foresight occurred the CCHA would remain intact — much like the Titanic could have avoided disaster had Smith heeded warnings about icebergs.

Beagan ended his letter with this: “Sadly, and unlike the RMS Titanic, there will be no movies, books, folk songs or memorials established to memorialize the once-proud CCHA, only an obituary which should read: ‘It didn’t have to happen.'”

I can understand Beagan’s disappointment, certainly. As commissioner of the CCHA, Beagan did much to heighten the profile of college hockey during his tenure from 1985 to 1998, especially in terms of recognizing the importance of televising the game. He did a lot, too, to promote college hockey as a legitimate path to the NHL.

As I have written repeatedly, I am saddened by the end of the CCHA. Unlike Beagan, however, I do not see Anastos as someone to be vilified. While I said at the time that I was a bit jolted by the timing of Anastos’ resignation as CCHA commissioner, I cannot fault the man for doing what he thought was best for himself, his family and even his alma mater. Tom Anastos is not the villain in the story of the ending of the CCHA.

In fact, there is no villain. I hate to disagree with my old friend The Commish — a man of whom I am personally very fond and one who has earned my unending respect — but sometimes things just happen. When Penn State announced its decision to join the ranks of Division I hockey, that forced Big Ten hockey into existence. While I wasn’t happy with the speed of Miami’s departure from the CCHA nor with Western Michigan’s immediate solicitation of other conferences, I did then and do still respect each program’s right to be self determining, as much as any Division I team can be.

During the months following the announcement of Big Ten hockey, Pletsch was criticized for what people perceived to be his inaction in regard to keeping the CCHA together. I talked with Pletsch several times during that period, and from our discussions, it was clear that the fate of the league lay with its member teams. Not to pile on the RedHawks, but once Miami decided to leave the conference, the conference was destabilized; people associated with individual programs needed to make decisions best for those individual programs. From what I can tell, every program did what it could to make the best of the situation.

Most of Beagan’s letter is about how planning could have saved the CCHA in some form, but I’m not sure at all that anything could have done so. The league doesn’t exist in hockey vacuum and there are factors beyond what the average fan can see that affected everything about the break-up of the CCHA — and everything about its decision to deny Alabama-Huntsville admission prior to that, and I do not see the two as unrelated.

Beagan isn’t the average fan. His disappointment is understandable. The CCHA was his baby for a long time and he helped it grow into something formidable in the world of hockey.

Beagan was the commissioner of the CCHA, but he wasn’t the commissioner of the CCHA when Big Ten hockey arrived. As mighty a man as he is, I don’t believe that even the great Bill Beagan could have saved the CCHA.

That other guy in between

While covering the Western Michigan-Michigan State game Saturday night, my good friend and hockey writer extraordinaire, Neil Koepke, told me about an interesting rumor that was making the rounds in East Lansing. As many as 20 fans, Koepke said, approached him while he was on the concourse during the game and asked him if it was true that Anastos intended to step down as coach at Michigan State to become the new commissioner of Big Ten hockey.

Um, what?

Koepke brought this up in the postgame news conference, which gave everyone a big laugh. First of all, there will be no commissioner of Big Ten hockey. The Big Ten itself has a commissioner, Jim Delany. He will have someone working under him, I’m sure, who oversees hockey, but there will be no Big Ten hockey commissioner.

Second … um, what? There is no earthly reason for Anastos to leave his job. When he heard the rumor, he jokingly asked, “How much does it pay?” He also mused about the greater control over scheduling he’d have.

Anastos isn’t going anywhere. As for that rumor, Koepke said that the concerned MSU fans who brought this to his attention claimed they’d heard it on the radio.

Officially speaking

There were some interesting doings regarding officiating around the CCHA last weekend. In the overtime period of the 1-1 tie between Ferris State and Michigan Saturday night, the Bulldogs had seven men on the ice at one point, the extra attacker in place of goaltender CJ Motte and, well, an extra extra attacker.

The officials missed the too-many-men call, but there was no harm done — and there would have been no harm done even if FSU had “scored.” Pletsch told me that director of officials Steve Piotrowski assured him that a goal in that situation would’ve been disallowed after review.

Yes, Michigan’s chance of securing home ice in the first round of the CCHA playoffs was on the line in that overtime. Yes, Michigan should have earned more points earlier in the season so as not to have to depend on the last regular season game for the points it needed to secure home ice in the first round of the CCHA playoffs.

Down the road on Saturday night, late in the third period of Michigan State’s gritty 1-0 win over Western Michigan, the Broncos were fighting for position among the top three teams in the league. Before the last game of the season, WMU was two points behind first-place Miami. Every point mattered, without question.

With 1:40 remaining in regulation, Dennis Brown fired from near the MSU blue line and the puck went into the net. His teammate, Dane Walters, was in the crease as the puck crossed the line. I watched this video repeatedly. Walters was in the crease. He was not pushed there by a Spartans player. The goal was disallowed and it was the right call.

Yes, the Broncos had a beef about the fact that the call wasn’t reviewed. Yes, the Broncos should have scored more goals earlier in the game so as not to have to rely on the power play with goaltender Frank Slubowski pulled for a two-man advantage to score on the league’s last-place team. And — yes, like the Wolverines — the Broncos had opportunities earlier in the season to earn more points.

When officiating is an issue, complain. When it’s a non-issue — and when your team hasn’t done enough itself to steer its own destiny — don’t.

And speaking of officials, one of the lingering questions I have as the CCHA prepares to dissolve is about the on-ice officials. What’s going to happen to them? No one has been contacted about officiating anywhere next season, which in a way is understandable because the realignment requires some rethinking about geography and officials’ league affiliations.

I did talk to Pletsch about this during our chat on his drive to Oxford. Piotrowski has been tabbed by the Big Ten to be the coordinator of men’s ice hockey officials for the conference, but Piotrowski can take only so many guys with him. “With six teams in the Big Ten,” Pletsch said, “he’s not going to need as big a staff.”

So what about the rest of the guys? Well, there’s great overlap of conference territory in Michigan and Ohio, states in which many of the CCHA’s on-ice officials live. There are rules regulating how many games an official can work within a given league before he becomes affiliated with that league. I wonder how college hockey will adapt to its new landscape regarding on-ice officials.

The officials wonder too, I’m sure. These are guys with lives. I do hope that decisions are made quickly after the current season ends so that the CCHA guys in stripes know where they’ll be skating next season.

Players of the week

This week’s honors are dominated by the young.

Rookie of the week: Michigan goaltender Steve Racine, who had 46 saves in a series against Ferris State, a 4-1 win and 1-1 tie. Racine also stopped all three shots he faced in the shootout, helping the Wolverines earn that extra point. Racine’s season-long numbers are not an indication of how well he’s playing lately; he’s 3-0-1 in his last four contests with a .926 save percentage in that span. It’s the first POTW award for Racine.

Offensive player of the week: Notre Dame freshman forward Mario Lucia. Lucia had two goals an assist in the Irish’s sweep of Bowling Green. Friday night’s marker was the winner, his first of the season. Lucia has 12 goals in 27 games.

Defenseman of the week: Ohio State freshman Craig Dalrymple, who had a goal and two assists in the Buckeyes’ split with Miami. He also blocked six shots against the RedHawks in the series.

Goaltender of the week: Northern Michigan’s Jared Coreau, a junior and the only non-rookie in this week’s honors. Coreau stopped 82 shots in NMU’s split with Lake Superior State, including 50 in Friday’s 3-1 win.

My ballot

1. Minnesota
2. Boston College
3. St. Cloud State
4. Miami
5. New Hampshire
6. Quinnipiac
7. North Dakota
8. Western Michigan
9. Yale
10. Minnesota State
11. Denver
12. Nebraska-Omaha
13. Notre Dame
14. Massachusetts-Lowell
15. Niagara
16. Wisconsin
17. Rensselaer
18. Dartmouth
19. Providence
20. Alaska

More hardware next week

There are more Girl Reporter Awards coming. I’m still researching.

Dartmouth gets veteran play out of a young roster

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In what had been predicted to be a stop-and-start kind of campaign for Dartmouth, all lights appear to be Green entering the postseason.

“Our team is playing really, really hard, and I think this is going to be the healthiest we’ve been in a while,” coach Bob Gaudet said. “For a young, young team — probably not a younger team in the country — to be picked 10th in our league [by the media], to be picked seventh in our league [by the coaches] and to finish in fifth, barely out of a bye, I’m pleased with the way the team is playing.”

Pundits couldn’t be blamed for tabbing Dartmouth so low before the season began. Even now, if you saw only class year and games played, you probably would imagine the Big Green to be a big mess: Only four seniors have suited up for Gaudet this season, and they have summed just 67 games.

Fortunately, the kids came up big this year. Junior Eric Robinson and sophomore Tyler Sikura shared the team lead with 10 goals apiece; Sikura also chipped in 18 helpers to lead the team in scoring. Rookies have accounted for 14 of Dartmouth’s 80 goals to date, and sophomores 34. It’s a youth movement, for sure.

“There’s times I look on the ice and we have four freshmen and a sophomore,” Gaudet said. “I like this team a lot, and I have a lot of faith in this hockey team.”

The Green stumbled in their final weekend of the season, tying Princeton and falling to Quinnipiac in Hanover. The team had been 10-3 (7-2 in ECAC) at Thompson Arena entering Friday’s action, but the results cost the squad a shot at an always-desirable bye week.

“I thought we played a really good game against Princeton, and I thought they played really well,” Gaudet said. “Then we’re in a 2-1 game with Quinnipiac halfway through the third, they made a couple plays. They’re a really good team.”

The Green were outshot both nights, and though much credit is due to the Tigers and Bobcats, Gaudet is confident that his side can do better.

“Sometimes you’ll have the shot totals go your way and sometimes you won’t, and a big part of that is that some of your best defense is your offense,” Gaudet said. “We have to be a little bit more willing to shoot the puck ourselves. That creates a little bit of a frenzy in the offensive zone, which gives you zone time, which boosts your shot totals and keeps the opposition shot totals a little further down.”

Gaudet was mum on this weekend’s starting goalie, but is excited at the prospects of getting a number of players back in the lineup after missing time with injuries.

Senior Dustin Walsh is one of the recently healed, and Gaudet said the Green’s leading active goal-scorer was “feeling pretty good” last weekend. The coach has his fingers crossed for the return of freshman forward Tim O’Brien as well, though he did note that freshman Jack Barre and sophomore Brandon McNally are “out indefinitely.”

With Ivy archrival, travel partner, and spring chicken Harvard making the haul to Hanover this weekend, Gaudet and the Green are looking forward to another opportunity to prove the doubters wrong.

Evolution of the Tigers

When center Andrew Calof’s extra-attacker, overtime winner blew by Harvard’s Raphael Girard last Saturday, Calof became the first Princeton junior since 1991 to earn 100 points. That’s a long time.

The win also secured the Tigers a home-ice spot for the sixth time in seven years. That’s a long time, too.

The opponent — Cornell — is on the road in the first round for the first time since 1998-99. That’s a long time. And Cornell’s opponent in that series 14 years ago? Princeton.

There’s a lot of history here, and plenty more unmentioned. The Ivies love their illustrious pasts, and Princeton is no different. But the one piece of history the Tigers would love to revisit is the outcome of that first-round series in the late winter of 1999: Princeton beats Cornell 10-9 on aggregate.

What was an historic but half-empty Hobey Baker Rink not so long ago is now the third-toughest ticket in the country, by capacity. The Tigers are drawing 105 more fans per game than they have seats, packing the venue in support of the Garden State’s only D-I men’s hockey program. With attendance steadily climbing over the past half-decade, Baker is now a premier attraction in central Jersey.

“Anyone would tell you they’d rather play at home than on the road, so it means a lot,” coach Bob Prier said. “Baker Rink was [filled] beyond capacity all year, so it’s a nice home-ice advantage for us. It’s one of the largest advantages you can have in college hockey.”

The Tigers swept the Big Red for the first time in five years this season, and Prier likes the look of his squad going forward.

“We’ve played well in our last three games — we’ve come out of them 1-1-1 … and we’ve controlled most of the play here in our last three games,” Prier said. “We’re starting to play with a lot more confidence, controlling the puck a little bit more. We’ve got some good depth now so things are looking good for us.”

Last weekend’s gritty 2-2 tie at Dartmouth and 2-1 OT win at Harvard continued to set the postseason tone for Princeton, which has played six one-goal games (or ties) in its last seven outings.

“We’re fortunate that we played well this weekend on the road, and we’ll just have to continue playing that way,” Prier said. “We are in playoff mode, certainly. Last weekend, those were important games for us to try to attain home ice. We played playoff-type hockey, I believe the other teams played playoff-type hockey as well, so it was a nice test for us.

“They were low-scoring games, which is probably what we’re going to see throughout the playoffs. They were three really hard-fought points. Guys are certainly in the right mind-set. I think we have just as good a chance as anyone to go the distance.”

A big reason why the Tigers will sleep in familiar dens this weekend is the play of senior goalie Mike Condon. The keeper boasts a .925 save percentage and a 2.42 goals against average in 22 games this season, and is saving nearly 94 percent of shots faced since mid-November, 16 games ago.

“Mike’s certainly taken over that starting position. Throughout the second part of the season he’s played really, really well, so yes, he’s certainly our No. 1 goalie right now,” Prier said. “He’s playing as well as he has in [my two years here], right now.”

In fact, Condon has put up career bests in minutes, save percentage, goals against average and wins. If he could lead the Tigers to their first series win in four years, too? Now that’s the kind of history Princeton likes to see.

More to come

Be on the lookout for our comprehensive series predictions in the ECAC Blog on Friday morning, as Nate Owen and I gear up for our own prodigious postseason run.

Amherst’s Lloyd repeats as NESCAC’s top women’s player

USCHO Staff Report
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Amherst senior defenseman Geneva Lloyd has been named the NESCAC player of the year for the second straight season after a 13-goal, 27-point season to lead the Lord Jeffs in scoring.

Also, Bowdoin forward Rachel Kennedy earned top rookie honors with 15 goals and 14 assists for 29 points, while Bowdoin coach Marissa O’Neil was named the top coach in the NESCAC.

2012-13 First Team All-NESCAC

Player's NamePositionClassSchool
Kayte HoltzFSr.Bowdoin
Rachel KennedyFFr.Bowdoin
Tori SalmonFSo.Amherst
Geneva LloydDSr.Amherst
Madison StyrbickiDSr.Middlebury
Alexa PujolGJr.Trinity

2012-13 Second Team All-NESCAC

Player's NamePositionClassSchool
Hannah BielawskiFSo.Middlebury
Lauren GreerFSr.Middlebury
Jordan SchildhausFSo.Wesleyan
Katie ZimmermanFSr.Hamilton
Ashley SalernoDJr.Amherst
Samantha WeinsteinDSr.Williams
Kayla LessardGSr.Bowdoin

Wesleyan’s Buehler named NESCAC men’s player of the year

USCHO Staff Report
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With 20 goals and 20 assists this season to lead all NESCAC scorers, Keith Buehler was named the conference’s player of the year.

Buehler was also named First Team All-NESCAC, the only First Team selection from 2012 to earn the honor again in 2013.

In addition, Middlebury forward Matt Silcoff earned rookie of the year after tying for the team lead with 11 goals and 23 points, including 15 multi-point games.

Trinity coach Matt Greason took home coach of the year laurels.

2012-13 First Team All-NESCAC

Player's NamePositionClassSchool
Keith BuehlerFJr.Wesleyan
Nick CravenFSr.Wesleyan
Daniel WeinigerFSr.Bowdoin
Brandon HewDSr.Amherst
Timothy McGarryDSr.Bowdoin
Ben CoulthardGJr.Trinity

2012-13 Second Team All-NESCAC

Player's NamePositionClassSchool
Johnny Van SiclenFSr.Amherst
Ollie KooFJr.Bowdoin
Nick LanzaFJr.Colby
Marko BrelihDFr.Hamilton
Robbie DonahoeDJr.Middlebury
Sean DoughertyGSo.Williams

St. Cloud’s Motzko, Lowell’s Bazin join the March 5 edition of USCHO Live!

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Our guests on the March 5 edition of USCHO Live! will be two coaches looking to clinch a regular season title: St. Cloud State coach Bob Motzko, whose WCHA first-place Huskies will try to nail down the MacNaughton Cup this weekend at Wisconsin, and Massachusetts-Lowell coach Norm Bazin, whose River Hawks stand atop Hockey East after seven straight wins.
Join us for the conversation and information, Tuesday, March 5, from 8 to 9 p.m. ET at blogtalkradio.com/uscholive. If you can’t listen live, check out the podcast of USCHO Live! available on the player at the right (click through if you’re reading this via RSS.)

Be part of the conversation! We’ll take your calls at (646) 200-4305, your tweets to @USCHO, and 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, 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 now as RIT’s play-by-play voice for the last several seasons. Ed is based in Rochester, N.Y.

Walters’ biggest impact? Nebraska-Omaha forward ‘gets the job done’

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On a Nebraska-Omaha team tied with Canisius for having the tallest average height in Division I hockey, it isn’t the 6-foot Ryan Walters’ tallness that makes him stand out.

It isn’t his flair as a player, either. In a league featuring goal-scoring dynamos like North Dakota’s Danny Kristo, Wisconsin’s Michael Mersch and Minnesota State’s Eriah Hayes, Walters’ isn’t always the first name that springs to national college hockey pundits’ minds.

Instead, what has set the UNO junior forward apart this season has been his intelligence as a hockey player and a new training regimen that has helped him transform into the Mavericks’ first serious Hobey Baker Award candidate since Scott Parse in both 2005-06 and 2006-07.

“I don’t think casual fans would notice Ryan Walters,” UNO coach Dean Blais said. “He’s not the sort of flashy player like some we have now and have had, but Walt gets the job done.

“He’s got a lot of hockey sense, he’s strong and he’s always had a pretty good shot, but he’s been more consistent this season in his day-to-day work ethic on the ice.”

“I just put my focus on the team, and I’ve told everybody that even though everybody says the Hobey Baker is an individual award, I like to classify it as more of a team award. If the team’s not winning, you’re not going to win the award, so I give a lot of credit to my teammates in helping me this season.”

— Ryan Walters

An undrafted 21-year-old, Walters has become one of college hockey’s best NHL free agent prospects this season, nearly doubling his offensive output from the 2011-12 campaign. Having posted 10 goals and 15 assists in 38 games as a sophomore, his 21 goals and 28 assists this season have him one ahead of St. Lawrence’s Greg Carey as Division I’s points leader with 49.

UNO’s strength and conditioning program worked with Walters in his first two seasons in Omaha to bulk up the now-196-pound Rosemount, Minn., native. Things changed last summer for the better, though, when Walters switched his training focus from strength to agility.

He continued to lift weights to add more muscle to his frame, but between new workouts at UNO and help from Twin Cities-area skating coach Jesse Sampair, Walters has become a much more dynamic player within UNO’s system.

“In my freshman and sophomore year, we were doing a lot of heavy lifting and heavy squats and things like that,” Walters said. “But this year they’ve really had me focus on agility, quickness, light weight and quick reps.

“That’s helped my speed a little bit this year, and I got to go home for a couple weeks and got a skating coach who’s helped me to even out my stride on both legs, and that was the difference for me in my training this past summer.”

Walters’ hockey IQ and skill set were always sufficient — there’s a reason he’s been left out of only five of UNO’s games in his nearly three years on the team — but the tweaks to his game this season have taken him to dizzying heights by the Mavericks’ standards.

“I think he had a good summer, one of the best of any of our guys that we had returning,” Blais said about the alterations to Walters’ offseason regimen. “He worked out and trimmed his body and obviously gained some muscle, and he’s always had the [on-ice] skill, but he’s been really more consistent this season.

“He’s been better defensively all over the ice and playing a more honest game, and he’s been working for the offensive contributions he’s making.”

Blais said he thinks Walters has also matured mentally, although the intelligence was always there.

“He’s always been a good student, too, and even had good grades back when he was [in high school in Minnesota] at St. Thomas Academy, and he’s a 3.0 student here every semester,” Blais said.

“I think that’s the one thing that also carries over into his game: He’s a smart player, and a lot of the time you find players’ smarts in the classroom not equating to being smart on the ice, but, in Ryan’s case, he is.”

Since UNO launched its hockey program in 1997, only two Mavericks players — Parse twice and Bill Thomas in 2005-06 — have ever reached the 50-point plateau in a single season. Walters is on pace to join them, and could do it this weekend when the Mavericks visit Minnesota-Duluth for the final weekend of WCHA regular season play.

Walters was more modest than Blais in assessing his game this season compared to his last two in Omaha. He does, however, relish the leadership role he has started to step into as one of the team’s upperclassmen.

“I don’t think I’m really a different player this year compared to last,” Walters said.

“We had a lot of good upperclassmen players in my freshman and sophomore years that were the leaders then, but now it’s our opportunity to take their roles, and I’ve gained some confidence just in being one of the older guys, and the style of my play has really fallen into place this year.”

Walters also has done his best to keep the Hobey buzz surrounding him from becoming a distraction by avoiding UNO’s fans’ Internet message board and anywhere else that might be building him up for national honors.

“I just try not to go onto the Internet and other places where I could look at stuff like that,” Walters said. “I never go on those sites and Mavpuck and places like that.

“I just put my focus on the team, and I’ve told everybody that even though everybody says the Hobey Baker is an individual award, I like to classify it as more of a team award. If the team’s not winning, you’re not going to win the award, so I give a lot of credit to my teammates in helping me this season.”

The Mavericks entered the final week of the regular season tied for 25th place in the PairWise Rankings, which might serve as a red flag for Hobey Baker voters who haven’t seen much of Walters this season. He is, however, perhaps the biggest reason UNO (18-14-2, 14-10-2 WCHA) is on pace to record 20 wins one season removed from an underwhelming 14-18-6 season.

Although UNO also has three other players that have reached 30 points this season, Blais said he felt that Walters has been the only reliable high-powered weapon UNO’s had at certain stages, and that should warrant consideration for Walters for the award for Division I’s top player.

“There have been times that Ryan’s been the only thing that we’ve had,” Blais said. “You look at [North Dakota] with Corban Knight, Rocco Grimaldi and some of their others scoring for them, but Walters has been the difference in a lot of our games.

“I think he’s one of the top 10 players in the country, but whether he’s the best or not, there’s still a lot of hockey to be played, and he’s got to prove that he is the best and is worthy of winning the Hobey Baker.”

Babson hopes to skate on Thursday

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Babson goalie Zeke Testa (Tim Brule)

Playing in their third conference championship game in the past four seasons was the charm for coach Jamie Rice and his Babson men’s ice hockey team. A hard-fought, 2-1 win, backstopped by resurgent senior goaltender Zeke Testa, earned the Beavers the automatic bid into the NCAA tournament and a first-round game at home against the ECAC Northeast champion, Wentworth.

“Pick Wentworth,” repeated coach Rice. “Pick Wentworth! They are a very good team and haven’t lost since January. They repeated as conference champions, and won their NCAA first round game last year — pick Wentworth! Seriously, the only thing we are focused on is playing Wednesday night, and I hope we play well and that we get to practice on Thursday.”

The Beavers have been playing well themselves of late, and much has to do with the outstanding goaltending of senior Zeke Testa, who has been virtually bulletproof down the stretch while going 9-2-4 this season. In the championship game win over Norwich, Testa stopped 39 of 40 shots, including 20 in the third period alone.

“It is great to see Zeke playing well,” stated Rice. “It is really great to see good things happen to good people, and Zeke certainly falls into that category. The great thing about the weekend was that our seniors who have provided great leadership all season came up so big when we needed it. PT [Donato] is the only one who wasn’t on the score sheet, but he has led us every year he has been here. Trevor [Hines] ties the game with Norwich from Matt [Leer], and Jay [Haseley] sets up the game-winner.  In the semifinal game, Jay ties the game and Ryan Smith scores in overtime to win it. Zeke was great in both games, but it was terrific to see the leadership on the ice and the contributions of these seniors when everything was on the line.

“I will tell you a funny story. [Former player] Brad Baldelli called me while we were on the bus up to Norwich to wish the team luck. I said we could use number 23 to score another overtime winner like the one that beat Massachusetts-Boston for the title a few years ago. It was a huge goal and his 100th point — you can’t script that stuff. Brad said, ‘Coach, someone else will create their memory of a lifetime.’ So after fighting back to tie the game in the third period, I told the guys in the locker room what Brad said. They didn’t know him from playing with him, but knew who he was. Then Ryan goes out and scores to win it — you really can’t script this stuff.”

Babson’s top two scorers, Donato and Connor Berto, didn’t factor into the mix in terms of points this past weekend, and that may be a huge plus for the Beavers heading into Wednesday’s game with Wentworth. Other players are stepping up and making significant contributions to wins, and it is a different guy each and every time out there. So coach, what is the strategy for the game on Wednesday?

“We are going to go out and play the best we can.” Said Rice. “We really can’t dissect an opponent at this point in the season, and certainly not during a game, so we will just focus on doing what we do best. There isn’t anything I can say or repeat to these guys that they haven’t heard a million times this season. There are no new revelations. We are just going to keep things normal, and really hope that we play well enough to practice on Thursday.”

So Jamie, that’s it?

“No, pick Wentworth! I am not above using anything as a motivational tool, and that would certainly help me out with some stuff for our next practices and the game on Wednesday night. The kids all have computers, and they all read this stuff and the predictions. Help me out here — pick Wentworth.”

I guess you will just have to see which team I pick for the first round game on Wednesday, but rest assured, the Beavers will be ready to go on their home ice, because they certainly don’t want to miss practice on Thursday.

Babson: By the Numbers

Tournament Qualification: ECAC East Champions – automatic qualifier
NCAA Tournament Profile: 15th NCAA Tournament appearance
Last Appearance: 2009 (preliminary round loss to Amherst, 4-2,)
Best NCAA Finish: Champion — 1984
Road to NCAA Tournament
W, 2-1, vs. Norwich, (ECAC East championship game)
W, 4-3 (OT), vs. Massachusetts-Boston, (ECAC East semifinals)
W, 7-1, vs. Skidmore, (ECAC East quarterfinals)

Team Statistics
ECAC East Regular Season: 10-5-3, (Third)
Overall Record: 17-6-5
SOG: 31.1 per game
Opponents’ SOG: 29.1 per game
Power Play: 29.1 percent
Penalty Kill: 89.0 percent
Offense: 3.36 goals per game
Defense: 2.21 goals per game

Individual Leaders
PT Donato — 3 goals, 23 assists, 26 points
Connor Berto — 16 goals, 6 assists, 22 points
Mike Driscoll — 11 goals, 9 assists, 20 points
Nik Tasiopoulos — 5 goals, 13 assists, 18 points
Zeke Testa — 1.90 goals-against average, .934 save percentage
Jamie Murray — 2.24 goals-against average, .922 save percentage

Norwich seniors on a mission

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(Dan Hickling)

Norwich’s four-for-four conference tournament bid went awry when Babson and goaltender Zeke Testa eked out a 2-1 victory in Northfield in a game where the Cadets outshot their opponents by a 40-13 margin. Sometimes having the better of the play isn’t enough against a hot goaltender and a team that has had Norwich’s number this season.

“The kids were extremely disappointed,” said Norwich coach Mike McShane. “They thought the season was over. They don’t know how the NCAA seeding works, and I hoped that our season overall was good enough to get us in the tournament. We got a new life this week, and last Saturday’s loss has brought a new focus to the team this week. Sometimes, you can play a really good game and it just isn’t good enough. Babson played hard and well last week. We will learn from that what we can do better and bring it the game on Saturday regardless of who we play.”

Ironically, depending on the outcome of Wednesday’s game between Wentworth and Babson, a fourth straight trip to the Frozen Four might challenge the Cadets with beating an opponent they haven’t solved this season, and more importantly have lost to twice on home ice this year.

“We played Wentworth in the quarterfinals last year, and they have a good team,” said McShane. “I am not counting them out on Wednesday night. This is really a great time of the year. Finding out who is in the tournament and what the match-ups are, along with seeing the great hockey and level of play from all the teams left playing. The Frozen Four is in Lake Placid again — this is all just great stuff.”

This group of seniors at Norwich has an illustrious record. As freshmen, they won the national championship at Lake Placid against St. Norbert in overtime. Earning a trip back to upstate New York would bring this group full circle and provide them a chance to bookend their careers with a national title.

“I met with the seniors yesterday, and they have been great,” noted McShane. “They have provided great leadership for us all season, and will continue to do so this week and as far as we go in this thing. They feel like we got a second chance after losing last Saturday night, so I know they are motivated to play well and help our team do the same.”

While Colin Mulvey has been a fixture with juniors Travis Janke and Tory Allan, Blake Forkey, Kyle Thomas and Pier-Olvier Cotnoir have been spread out among the remaining offensive lines, giving any opponent pause in looking at line match-ups or opportunities to stem the offensive onslaught the Cadets are noted for. All three had big roles in Friday’s semifinal win over Castleton in the ECAC East Conference tournament, and as time winds down, both on the season and their careers, the focus and intensity have become more acute for a distinct group that has so much experience in games that matter.

While the upfront talent is well-defined and the defensive pairings are pretty solid, the Cadets have played any one of three goaltenders with favorable results all season, and in fact all three saw playing time in the two games last weekend. Some may think that you need to go with the hot hand, or just one come tournament time, but don’t count McShane among those who put a lot of credence in that tenet.

“We really are sticking to our routine on everything,” stated McShane. “We are setting our daily goals in practice and working on things to be better. All season, we have looked at the goalies in practice and made a decision by Thursday on who will be playing. Sometimes on a Saturday game, I have let them know that morning. We got all three in action last week, and it was good to see Parker play well in less than great circumstances. We are staying focused on our goals for the week in practice, and based on how they play will make our decision on who goes on Saturday against whoever we play.”

Regardless of the opponent or the outcome of the game in Northfield on Saturday night, the seniors wearing maroon and gold should be the highlight of the evening. Not for what they are likely to do in 60 minutes of hockey, but for what they have brought to a top-flight D-III program during their four years at Norwich. They leave a legacy that will be difficult for other classes to match, and hope to set the bar very high on the way out the door by achieving success on one last mission on a rink in Lake Placid, New York.

Norwich: By the Numbers

Tournament Qualification: at-large bid
NCAA Tournament Profile: 14th NCAA Tournament appearance
Last Appearance: 2012 (semifinal loss to St. Norbert, 4-2,)
Best NCAA Finish: Champions — 2000, 2003, 2010
Road to NCAA Tournament
L, 2-1, vs. Babson, (ECAC East championship game)
W, 6-2, vs. Castleton, (ECAC East semifinals)
W, 2-0, vs. Southern Maine, (ECAC East quarterfinals)

Team Statistics
ECAC East Regular Season: 16-1-1, (First)
Overall Record: 23-3-1
SOG: 31.0 per game
Opponents’ SOG: 17.8 per game
Power Play: 17.8 percent
Penalty Kill: 84.0 percent
Offense: 4.04 goals per game
Defense: 1.63 goals per game

Individual Leaders
Colin Mulvey — 19 goals, 18 assists, 37 points
Travis Janke — 15 goals, 22 assists, 37 points
Tory Allan — 10 goals, 21 assists, 31 points
Kyle Thomas — 10 goals, 15 assists, 25 points
Chris Czarnota — 1.57 goals-against average, .915 save percentage
Matic Marinsek — 1.97 goals-against average, .896 save percentage
Parker Carroll — 0.58 goals-against average, .950 save percentage

St. John’s hopes for different result against Wisconsin-Eau Claire

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Justin Hochsprung of St. John's (Tim Brule)

Progress for St. John’s men’s hockey team has been more of a grind than a smooth ride.

Senior forward Michael Palmiscno, a two-time team captain, will tell you as much. In his first three seasons, the Johnnies won a total of 26 games and made one appearance in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference playoffs. That was last year, when the Johnnies finished 11-13-2 and were knocked out of the postseason in a 3-1 semifinal loss to eventual champion Gustavus.

Like all losses, that one hurt, maybe more than others, but the Johnnies came into this season determined to not only return to the playoffs, but to compete for a MIAC championship.

The agony of defeat was no longer a burden, but rather the ultimate motivation.

“Our goals were a lot different this year,” Palmiscno said. “We wanted to win the conference and get to the NCAA tournament. We have gotten better each year I’ve been here, and we felt like we could be a really good team this season.”

Not all dreams come true in sports, but this one did. On Saturday afternoon inside the National Hockey and Events Center in St. Cloud, St. John’s made their dream a reality.

The Johnnies (16-7-4) celebrated a hard-fought 3-2 win over Gustavus Adolphus, a riveting game they won on a goal by Justin Hochsprung with just over three minutes to play in regulation. They savored the program’s first MIAC tourney title since 2003, and relished the fact that they were taking St. John’s back to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2005.

Hochsprung tallied an assist as well, while junior forward Jason Johnson and sophomore defenseman Nick Senta also scored goals. Sophomore forward John Haeg dished out three assists, and sophomore defenseman Nick Vatnsdal racked up two assists. Freshman goalie Saxton Soley racked up 19 saves and improved to 10-1-1 in his last 12 starts.

“It feels great to win the conference and get a chance to play in the NCAA tournament,” Palmiscno said. “We’ve come a long way during my career here, making a lot of changes, and it feels awesome to have this experience.”

Doug Schueller began coaching this team in 2008, and the former Bowling Green State University hockey star guided the Johnnies to 10 wins overall and a seventh-place finish in the conference in his first year.

St. John’s was eighth in the conference a year later, and tied for seventh in 2011. The Johnnies won 15 games in that two-year stretch, and were still so far away from being a contender.

The struggles are what made Saturday even more enjoyable, as St. John’s won a MIAC tourney title for the fifth time in program history.

“It’s a well-deserved championship,” Schueller said. “Our players have bought into our system and have phenomenal character. They have worked hard, and have been a great group to coach. We’re very excited about still playing hockey this week.”

Schueller had a feeling back in November that this team was good enough to compete for a conference crown. Granted, he knew it wouldn’t be easy in a conference filled with parity, but as the season progressed, his hunch began to feel more real.

The Johnnies closed the season on a five-game win streak, and won eight of their final 10 while losing only once during that stretch. The co-champions of the MIAC blasted Concordia, 5-1, in the semifinal round of the tournament and survived a grueling title game against a Gusties team that they had tied twice during the regular season.

“We had some question marks going into the season, but I thought we were good enough to compete for a championship,” Schueller said. “We played really well in the second half of the season, and that is when it really began to click that we had a chance to do something special.”

St. John’s will continue its special season this week when it makes a trip to Wisconsin to take on nationally-ranked Wisconsin-Eau Claire in an NCAA tournament opener.

Interestingly enough, the Johnnies and Blugolds have played once this season. It was back on Jan. 4, when the Johnnies were dropped 5-1 on the road. It was one of only three losses St. John’s suffered in the 2013 portion of its season.

Both teams have made strides since, but having a little familiarity with an opponent at this time of the year never hurts.

“It definitely helps, because we know what kind of team they are,” Palmiscno said. “They are one of the best teams in the country, and have a lot of skilled players. We have to play our best.”

Schueller said his team won’t change much to its approach against the Blugolds (20-5-2).

“It seems like such a long time ago since we’ve played them, and both teams are different than they were in January,” Schueller said. “It does help that we have played them, but we aren’t going to change much now. We’ll stick to what got us here.”

St. John’s doesn’t have much time to enjoy its MIAC title, as it is hitting the ice on Wednesday for a 7 p.m. game at the Hobbs Ice Center.

Both teams have endured the wear and tear of a long season, and the way Palmiscno sees it, being ready to roll shouldn’t be an issue. The winner plays two-time defending national champion St. Norbert on Saturday.

“We’ve worked hard all year to get to this point,” Palmiscno said. “We will try to get rested as much as possible, but if you don’t have the energy to play an NCAA tournament game, you probably shouldn’t be out there. We’re excited about our opportunity.”

One of the keys to success for St. John’s has been its ability to be more consistent, something that will be of the utmost importance against Eau Claire.

“We have learned to play a full 60 minutes, rather than take 10 minutes off here or there, and that has been huge for us,” Schueller said. “We know that if we aren’t consistent for three periods, Eau Claire will capitalize. We can’t afford to let up at all.”

In a tournament setting, where the pressure is a little higher and the only options are win the game or call it a day, the Johnnies know that nailing down a win in the tourney opener is not out of their reach.

“It’s the playoffs now, and we know that anything is possible,” Palmiscno said. “We know that if we play our best and give it everything we have, we can come out of here with a win.”

Utica earns first-ever NCAA tournament bid as lone conference representative

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Evan Chlanda of Utica (Tim Brule)

The 2012-13 ECAC West campaign will continue for at least one more contest.

Seventh-ranked Utica (20-5-1 overall) will represent the conference in this year’s national tournament, in the Pioneers’ first-ever NCAA appearance. They will host a second-round game on Saturday night at the Utica Memorial Auditorium against the winner of Bowdoin and Massachusetts-Dartmouth, who will face each other on Wednesday in a first-round match-up.

Utica, which also won the ECAC West regular-season title over Hobart via a tiebreaker, but was eliminated in the league semifinals by Manhattanville in overtime, gained an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, along with Norwich and Wisconsin Eau-Claire.

The only coach the Pioneers program has known since its debut in 2001-02, Gary Heenan has led Utica to eight winning seasons, including a record 20 wins this year, along with the league title and subsequent NCAA berth.

“It has been a long road,” said Heenan. “It feels great, and I’m happy for our guys.”

“We’ve worked hard all four years, and we have a lot of great guys,” said Utica captain and four-year letterman Evan Chlanda. “We came together this year to make it a reality, and our goal was to get to a point like this. It’s a great opportunity.”

“It’s pretty much one of the main reasons I came here,” said Utica sophomore forward and leading scorer Louie Educate, who has collected 17 goals and 18 assists for 35 points this year after transferring from Nichols College in the offseason.

“Our team had a good opportunity to go to nationals, and now that we’re there, we’re excited,” added Educate, who was also named ECAC West Player of the Year.

Heenan mentioned that players and coaches have their dreams, even when playing in such a tough league as the ECAC West, where there is no automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, and where the six schools face one another at least three times a year.

“To represent our league right now is certainly satisfying,” he said. “It’s exciting, and I think everybody (in the NCAAs this year) has been in except us.”

He also admitted it would be nice to scout different opponents, and try to get a handle on their abilities and tendencies.

Chlanda said he and his teammates were excited to see the Utica name appear on screen during Sunday night’s NCAA tournament selection show.

“The guys were pretty pumped,” he said. “They’re amped up for sure.”

“We weren’t sure if we were going to get a bid or not,” admitted Educate. “It was a pretty cool moment.”

Having one more home game will only make this first Utica foray into the NCAAs even better.

“Our fans come out each and every home game, and it’s exciting for us,” said Chlanda, a business management major at Utica. “They were lining up for tickets this (Monday) morning. There’s a buzz around town for sure, and hopefully we’ll come out and play well on Saturday.”

“Playing at the Aud is one of the biggest home ice advantages,” said Educate, who also spoke of how Utica fans regularly sell the building out, and should do so again on Saturday. “It gets really loud in there.”

Heenan concurred that there had been instant anticipation in Utica since the Pioneers NCAA selection was announced on Sunday, especially since they haven’t played a game since Feb. 23.

“The lines around the building (for tickets) have been overwhelming,” he said. “It’s a thrill to be at home, and after a couple of weeks off, we hope to come out of the gate and play the way we’re capable of.”

Saturday’s contest will also mark the final home game of Chlanda’s Utica career, which has seen the 6-foot-4-inch, 216-pound native of Islip, N.Y., tally 39 goals and 49 assists for 88 points through 96 games.

“It’s been a quick four years for me, but I wouldn’t want it to end any other way,” he admitted. “We have a great opportunity to take advantage of, and we’ll see what happens in the next three games or so.”

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Neumann wins ECAC West Championship
Steve Gervais, Casey Rogers, and Jake Krantz broke open a scoreless tie with goals in the last 14 minutes of regulation to lift third-seeded Neumann University to its second ECAC West Tournament title in five years with a 3-0 win over fourth-seeded Manhattanville on Saturday night in Aston, Pa.

It was Neumann’s first ECAC West Tournament title since 2009, when the Knights also went on to win their first NCAA Division III national championship. Manhattanville finished the season at 15-10-3 overall, while Neumann concluded the campaign at 19-6-3 after winning its last seven games, and 15 of its final 18 outings.

Braely Torris made 22 saves against the Valiants in picking up his seventh straight win and fourth shutout of the season to earn Most Outstanding Player accolades. Gervais, Scott Farrell, and Harley Garrioch were all selected to the ECAC West All-Tournament Team for the Knights.

“It felt great,” said Neumann coach Dominick Dawes of the victory. “The guys deserved every single bit. They worked hard, and we beat every team we played against.”

He also pointed out that the Knights, who moved up to No. 11 in this week’s USCHO.com poll, had gone 14-2-1 since Christmas. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough to push them into the national tournament, as there is no an automatic bid for winning the ECAC West playoff crown. Eighth-ranked Hobart, which lost to Neumann in the conference semifinals, was also shut out of an NCAA bid despite finishing 19-5-2 overall.

“It’s disappointing,” said Dawes. “We’re one of the hottest teams in the country, but the process is what it is, and we knew that going in.”

He added there were plenty of teams that deserved to play in the nationals and could compete at that level, but realized there were only 11 spots in the tournament. He also felt for his 10 seniors, whose collegiate careers came to an end in the title game win over Manhattanville.

“That’s a hard pill to swallow,” he said. “They deserved that (NCAA) opportunity.”

Replacing those 10 players, including eight forwards and two defensemen, won’t be a simple task, but it may not be as daunting as it might look.

“We’ll see what happens,” said Dawes. “We’ve been down that road before, and we’ve gotten back to where we needed to be quickly, and that’s the goal.”

The memories of this Neumann season though, will last a lifetime, especially for the Class of 2013.

“I’m proud of all our guys this year, and the 10 guys who played all four years,” beamed Dawes. “Not many people can say they won a championship in their last college game.”

Bowdoin Polar Bears enjoying it all

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Bowdoin Mens Hockey vs Middlebury (Brian Beard/Creative Images Photography)

The smiles that one sees on the faces of Bowdoin hockey players, even after the most grueling of workouts, really aren’t much different than those of elation seen after Sunday’s 2-1 win over Williams College for the NESCAC Conference championship. If it involves playing hockey, this Bowdoin team knows how to have fun playing the game, and it shows on the ice.

“I don’t know that I have had such a group here that just goes out and has fun every day,” noted Bowdoin coach Terry Meagher. “If the ice melted in the arena and we had to skate on a pond, they would be volunteering to dig pucks out of snow banks or scraping the ice so we could play. They are always smiling, even in practice, and just have fun playing the game. So this game this week is another chance to go out and keep smiling.”

The Polar Bears have already tied the school record for wins in a season, and have an opportunity to break new ground in Wednesday’s match-up with MASCAC champion Massachusetts-Dartmouth. The Corsairs knocked off defending champion Plymouth State over the weekend to earn their way into the NCAA tournament, and now must travel to Brunswick, Maine, to take on Bowdoin on the big sheet.

“We have exchanged films,” stated Meagher. “They have obviously been playing well. They have a very hot goaltender and an iconic coach in John Rolli. We know they will come here and be ready to play, and our guys wouldn’t want it any other way.”

The “go-to” guys for the Polar Bears all season made their presence felt in the conference tournament during both wins over Middlebury and Williams. Ollie Koo, Daniel Weiniger, and Harry Matheson all factored in on the score sheet, and were directly involved in producing the game-winning goals in both games.

“What can I say about these guys, really?” said Meagher. “Daniel [Weiniger] has been just a terrific player who totally supports his teammates, even when things aren’t always going great for him on the ice. He has such great leadership. Harry has been very productive, and is just so  smart out there on the ice. Against Williams, he sees something and goes to a spot and scores a huge goal, ends up the game-winning goal with just four seconds left in the first period. That gave us a two-goal lead going into the locker room, and gave us just an emotional lift.

“I can’t tell you how proud I am of all of them, but especially Ollie [Koo]. He has just taken his game to the next level this season, and really has done it on his own and with his teammates. We, the coaches, aren’t worrying about Ollie much in terms of spending a lot of time to get him to where he needs to be. He has done it, and has been a very big part of our success this season.”

Back in the crease, the Polar Bears have received great goaltending from both Steve Messina and Max Fenkell. At 10-0-1 this season, Fenkell remains unbeaten in goal for the Polar Bears, and earned both wins in the final two games of the NESCAC tournament that earned the automatic bid for Bowdoin to the NCAA tournament.

“Both guys have played well this season,” stated Meagher. “It gets really difficult at this time of the year, because you can only play one. Max had a very good weekend, and we will go through the next couple of days and reassess before we make a decision on who goes on Wednesday. We have confidence in both guys, but we will use the time in practice to see who might have a little edge for Wednesday.”

Bowdoin last hosted a NCAA tournament game in the 2010-11 season, when they beat Neumann in the first round prior to bowing out to Oswego in the quarterfinals. This year’s edition of the Polar Bears is thrilled to again give their home fans a taste of the big tournament, for which they will be the institutional host in 2014 in nearby Lewiston, Maine.

Home or away, this team is having fun anytime they lace up the skates, so whether it is practice early in the week or the game on Wednesday, the players are smiling at the joy of just playing. With the results they have had this season, there is no reason for the team and their coach not to be.

Bowdoin: By the Numbers

Tournament Qualification: NESCAC Champion – automatic qualifier
NCAA Tournament Profile: Fourth NCAA Tournament appearance
Last Appearance: 2011 (quarterfinal round loss to Oswego, 7-5)
Best NCAA Finish: Quarterfinalists — 2000, 2010, 2011
Road to NCAA Tournament
W, 2-1, vs. Williams, (NESCAC championship game)
W, 4-2, vs. Middlebury, (NESCAC semifinals)
W, 5-3, vs. Hamilton, (NESCAC quarterfinals)

Team Statistics
NESCAC Regular Season: 13-3-2, (First)
Overall Record: 22-3-2
SOG: 36.3 per game
Opponents’ SOG: 29.4 per game
Power Play: 26.7 percent
Penalty Kill: 82.2 percent
Offense: 4.30 goals per game
Defense: 2.52 goals per game

Individual Leaders
Ollie Koo — 15 goals, 17 assists, 32 points
Daniel Weiniger — 17 goals, 12 assists, 29 points
Harry Matheson — 12 goals, 16 assists, 28 points
John McGinnis — 10 goals, 17 assists, 27 points
Max Fenkell — 2.03 goals-against average, .933 save percentage
Steve Messina — 2.79 goals-against average, .901 save percentage

Adrian determined going into NCAA tournament

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Adrian with Harris Cup (Tim Brule)

The Adrian Bulldogs are more than ready to take the national tournament by storm this weekend. Since the program at Adrian went to the Division III level in the 2007-08 season, the Bulldogs have won the MCHA league regular season championship each year. Head Coach Ron Fogarty has led the Bulldogs to five MCHA Harris Cup titles, as well as three NCAA tournament appearances. They made it to the national championship game in 2011 and fell to St. Norbert 4-3.

Last weekend, the Bulldogs defeated Northland College, 8-0, en route to their sixth consecutive Harris Cup championship game appearance. Saturday’s contest sealed the deal for the Bulldogs, as they took down Milwaukee School of Engineering with a 4-1 win. The Raiders had defeated Adrian in the 2012 championship game to take the trophy from the team for the first time since Adrian entered the conference.

Josh Cousineau is a junior forward who earned the MCHA Tournament MVP honors with his three goals and two assists over the weekend. Cousineau is currently third on the team in scoring, having 12 goals and 24 assists on the season. The humble skater gives most of the credit for his honors to his team.

“We really played as a team this weekend,” Cousineau said. “Everyone was playing hard; they helped me earn the MVP honor.”

Another player on the Bulldogs roster who humbly gives his team the credit for his success is freshman forward Shaquille Merasty. He is second on the team in scoring with a 21 goals and 16 assists. He earned MCHA All-Freshman team honors, as well as a spot on the MCHA All-Conference team. Merasty scored the game-winning goal in Saturday’s championship game.

“I give a lot of credit to my linemates, Shelby Gray and Josh Cousineau, for setting me up on big plays,” Merasty said of his rookie year success. “The coaches gave me a real chance to succeed and I wouldn’t have had this chance without being given the opportunity to make big plays.”

Merasty is fourth in the nation for goals per game, averaging .78. He leads all rookies in averaging 1.37 points per game. He is 12th in overall scoring, which makes him the highest-ranking rookie; the next freshman does not appear in the rankings until the 29th spot. He is looking forward to bringing those numbers to the ice this weekend in the tournament.

“The boys will have an extra jump in their step; we are amped up,” Merasty said. “We had a feeling we were going to be rewarded for our hard work this season.”

This Saturday, the Bulldogs will host Oswego in the NCAA quarterfinal round at the Arrington Ice Arena in Adrian, Mich. They are bypassing Wednesday’s first round of the tournament.

Adrian currently holds a 23-1-3 record, and remained unbeaten in the MCHA throughout the season while boasting a 17-0-3 record. With that much success, it’d be plausible that a team could lose focus on their next mission. However, Fogarty says that is not the case with these young men.

“It’s easy to keep them focused right now. They are ready and excited for this weekend,” Fogarty said. “We’re going to concentrate on this Saturday and getting past Oswego.”

Fogarty is confident in the Bulldogs’ game plan and that their execution will be the same this weekend in NCAA tourney action.

“If you are changing your preparation this late in the season, you are in trouble,” Fogarty said. “We are playing well, so we are going to keep with our preparation and our game plan going into this weekend.”

Senior forward and assistant captain Zach Graham leads the team in scoring; he has scored 14 goals and assisted on 24 this season. For a second season, Graham was given the MCHA Player of the Year award. He was also named to the MCHA All-Academic team. Graham is a strong presence for his team on and off the ice.

“It is great to get personal accolades,” Graham said. “But if someone were to ask me if I would trade all of those awards for a national championship, the answer is yes, no question.”

Graham credits the team’s collective leadership for doing well this season.

“We are going to lead the team the same as we have been doing. The guys respect us (the seniors) on the ice, and that trickles down to the younger guys.” Graham explained. “It is the collective team leadership; if we aren’t doing well, the young guys let us know as well.”

This weekend will be a test for the Bulldogs, as they practically breezed through the regular season. Adrian is facing a 23-4-0 Oswego Lakers team, but cracking under pressure hasn’t been an issue for the Bulldogs so far this season.

“I imagine the rink will be packed,” Fogarty said. “It is a playoff weekend, we are going to play hard for 60 minutes, possibly more, but we are going to play our game.”

TMQ: Assessing the candidates for coach of the year

By Jim Connelly and Todd D. Milewski
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Todd: It’s officially playoff time in Division I men’s hockey — for three leagues, at least — and before we get into what lies ahead for teams, I wanted to form a list of candidates for national coach of the year and see who might be favored.

There’s obviously still time for things to change, but this list usually includes new coaches who have turned teams around, veteran coaches who have led their teams to higher-than-expected places and coaches whose teams have claimed regular season hardware in impressive fashion.

That being said, which names stand out to you?

Jim: Well, I’ll start out in my league, Hockey East, where I think there are a number of candidates. Norm Bazin at Massachusetts-Lowell could be a repeat COY in that league but I think you also have to look at Nate Leaman, who has turned around Providence in just two years, and New Hampshire’s Dick Umile, who has a team that has played well despite entering the year with little expectations.

In ECAC Hockey, obviously Rand Pecknold stands out for bringing Quinnipiac to the top. But you also have to look at Seth Appert at Rensselaer. No one saw RPI taking home second place in that league. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Appert take that league’s COY award.

In Atlantic Hockey, I think this is a slam dunk. Dave Burkholder’s Niagara team ran away with the league. Maybe you give a nod to Paul Pearl at Holy Cross?

That’s the east. Who from the west should be looked at?

Todd: There’s an interesting split in my thinking in the WCHA. Mike Hastings last summer took over a Minnesota State team that had suffered four straight losing seasons and eight in the last nine, and he has the Mavericks on the verge of an NCAA tournament spot and one win away from setting the school Division I record for wins in a season.

But then there’s St. Cloud State, where Bob Motzko took a team that was picked for fourth in the WCHA by the coaches and sixth by the media and has it in the lead for the regular season title with two games left. That’s a tough decision but if memory serves me, the tendency in the past has been to reward the new guy.

As for the CCHA, Miami was not a popular pick for the regular season title going into the season — it didn’t get one of the 98 first-place votes cast by the media and coaches — but Rico Blasi got the RedHawks through some late bumps to come out ahead. He would certainly be a fair pick. I was impressed also by how Jeff Jackson and Notre Dame got through a very rough stretch of the season to right themselves, so Jackson could figure into things, too.

Our colleague Adam Wodon from College Hockey News mentioned on Twitter after Penn State beat Wisconsin last Monday that Guy Gadowsky could be in the mix for the national award after what appears to be a successful first season for the Nittany Lions program. An intriguing thought but I don’t know if it’ll gain a lot of traction.

Jim: Well, if Gadowsky is to win the Spencer Penrose Award, the AHCA will have to break its own rules. If memory serves me right, there is no provision for an independent coach to win the award unless they reach the Frozen Four. The list of Penrose candidates includes the coach of the year in the five conferences as well as the four coaches whose teams reach the Frozen Four. To quote from a story on our site last year:

The nominees represent any coach who won or shared top coach honors in his conference this past season, along with coaches whose teams have advanced to the NCAA tournament semifinals.

I’d be very surprised to see the AHCA make a special provision for Penn State.

Todd: You’re right, it’s out of the AHCA criteria but not necessarily for us media types that give out awards at the end of the season.

Moving on, Atlantic Hockey, the CCHA and ECAC Hockey are into playoff mode, with first-round series set for this weekend. The top teams get the weekend off so it’s left to the lower-seeded teams to fight for spots to join them in the quarterfinals.

In the CCHA, Michigan hosts Northern Michigan in a best-of-three series, and I have a feeling that it’s going to be a doozy. Any series stand out to you?

Jim: I think Harvard at Dartmouth in the ECAC may be one of the more compelling series. Dartmouth seemed poised at times this year to make an NCAA run (and still could happen as the Big Green is 19th in the PairWise Rankings) and they’ll face a Harvard team that in the last month has played its best hockey of the year. For some reason, Ted Donato’s teams are always a tough out and, if the Crimson can pull out the upset, they’ll end a pretty good season for Dartmouth.

We also can’t forget about Michigan State at Alaska. The Spartans beat Alaska just two weekends ago so the belief that the upset could happen has to be pretty high. Alaska is another NCAA bubble team whose hopes likely would end if it loses to Sparty this weekend.

That’s a great thing about the opening round of the playoffs: The highest seeds aren’t just fighting to survive in the playoffs, they’re also battling for their NCAA lives.

Todd: Alaska is the only team in the top 16 of the PairWise Rankings as it stood after Sunday’s game that will be in playoff action this weekend, so that series with the Spartans definitely merits attention. In Atlantic Hockey, the Rochester Institute of Technology home series against American International could be a good bet to go the distance (and I’m not talking about just the combined length of the team names). RIT has just one win in its last four games, while AIC has won three straight and is 7-1-1 in its last nine games.

All that being said, Hockey East and the WCHA are headed toward an incredible finish to the season. In both leagues, five teams are within four points at the top of the standings. In Hockey East, what are Massachusetts-Lowell’s chances of holding on for what would be an unlikely regular season title?

Jim: I don’t know if a lot of people would’ve believed in November that Lowell could go from the bottom to top of Hockey East, particularly when given that Lowell had lost six of its first eight league games. But Lowell had a lot of young players to break in, many of whom have had a major impact.

No player has made more of a difference, though, than rookie goaltender Connor Hellebuyck. Since losing his first game at Denver, Hellebuyck is now 13-0-0. Now I’m sure most of the votes on the all-rookie team will go to Providence’s Jon Gillies, but Hellebuyck has quietly become possibly the best goaltender in the league.

To answer your question, though, I do indeed believe that the River Hawks can win the Hockey East title. No other team is playing this well in Hockey East. The team standing in Lowell’s way is Providence, which developed a game plan last year to knock the River Hawks out of the Hockey East playoffs. The question is whether Nate Leaman can do that again and play the role of spoiler.

Todd: I don’t think you need to look much further than Providence’s 5-1 win at Boston College last Saturday to know that the Friars have that potential.

In the WCHA, St. Cloud State needs two points from a series at Wisconsin to ensure at least a share of the MacNaughton Cup — it would be the school’s first — and the top seed in the league playoffs. Wisconsin, on the other hand, could hope for a title share with a sweep and the right results involving Minnesota’s series at Bemidji State and the North Dakota-Minnesota State series. The Badgers also could end up on the road for the first round, showing what kind of volatility exists in the standings.

My guess is that St. Cloud State ends up with the top seed but I’m not convinced it will have the hardware to itself.

Jim: Well, the month of March begins with most every team still having a chance to win a national title. At this point, only three teams can’t win (Penn State, Alabama-Hunstville and Northeastern). By the time we write again, as many as 12 more teams will lose that chance. By the time the month ends, there will be just four teams with national title aspirations.

NCAA Tournament Bracket Reaction

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The eight-team field for the 2013 NCAA Division III Women’s Ice Hockey Championship was revealed this morning on www.ncaasports.com on a live selection show.

The three teams selected for the available at-large bids came as no surprise to join the five conference champions in this year’s quest to be the last team standing holding the gold trophy at Wessman Arena in a little less than two weeks.

UW-River Falls, Middlebury and Elmira joined conference champions Plattsburgh (ECAC West), Norwich (ECAC East), Bowdoin (NESCAC), St. Norbert (NCHA) and Gustavus Adolphus (MIAC) to round out this year’s field.

For the second year in a row we’ll see a first-round matchup flight take place as cinderella upstart St. Norbert will travel to Plattsburgh on Saturday to try and continue its nearly unfathomable run in just its third year as a program. The tournament field expanded to eight teams later year with Concordia (Minn.) being the beneficiary securing the final at-large bid into the tournament and getting a first round date with eventual national champion RIT.

Two years ago, Norwich became the last team to receive a bye to the Frozen Four after the Cadets were given the free pass to the semifinals while top-seeded RIT was forced to play Adrian in the first round in my opinion to avoid having to fly a team before the Frozen Four. The committee has debunked that theory in each of the last two seasons however since the field has expanded to eight teams and provided up with 5/3 splits each season without the ability to avoid a first-round flight.

All of the pairings make complete sense to me and I correctly assumed after looking at the numbers Sunday night. The only major surprise that I caught me off guard a bit was the potential semifinal matchup between Plattsburgh and Norwich. The last NCAA rankings that we saw on Feb. 26 had Norwich still as the No. 2 seed in the East and Bowdoin at No. 3. Norwich beat Southern Maine and NCAA ranked Manhattanville to win the ECAC East crown, while Bowdoin beat two NCAA ranked teams in Amherst and Middlebury.

That’s the only difference and it would appear that was enough for the committee to bump the Polar Bears up to No. 2 East since Norwich is paired up with Middlebury. The only other factor that could have happened is Bowdoin and Norwich were switched to avoid an intra-conference matchup in the quarterfinals, which the committee has shown a history and in the past there has been a guideline to avoid those when preventable.

I’m sure the potential of a semifinal showdown between the two Lake Champlain rivals raised more than few eyebrows on both sides this morning. Regardless, you’ve got to beat the best to the best and should those two meet next Friday in Superior, fans will be treated to one heck of a game as the previous two regular season meetings have been this year. Don’t forget these two teams also played to an 8-7 thriller last year at Plattsburgh and a 3-2 overtime win for Norwich at Norwich earlier in the season.

More to come later this week with a full preview on all four quarterfinal round matchups!

USCHO.com Hobey Watch 2013 Podcast, Episode 2: Boston College coach Jerry York

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Hobey WatchUSCHO.com’s Jim Connelly and Ed Trefzger take a look at the 2013 candidates for the Hobey Baker Award from Hockey East with Boston College coach Jerry York, including BC forwards Steven Whitney and Johnny Gaudreau, New Hampshire’s Kevin Goumas, and Massachusetts-Lowell goaltender Connor Hellebuyck.

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