I admit it; I’m a rink rat. I’ve spent more hours than I can count in hockey rinks all over the Northeast watching practices, NHL, AHL and college games, not to mention kids from 6 to 16 in uniforms of every color imaginable. <\/p>\n
Just when I think I’ve seen it all, I’m reminded once again of the unpredictability of sports. Or did it have more to do with the lunar eclipse?<\/p>\n
Hmm … <\/p>\n
In New Haven, the Yale Bulldogs (1-3-0 overall, 1-1-0 ECAC) finished the weekend with their first win of the season and a first for a rookie netminder whom head coach Tim Taylor calls “too good not to play.”<\/p>\n
And play he did.<\/p>\n
In their three games leading up to hosting Colgate, the Bulldogs had allowed an unspeakable 24 goals.<\/p>\n
Enter Matt Modelski.<\/p>\n
The Brighton, Michigan, native made 41 saves in the 3-2 overtime win against the Raiders, including 21 stops combined in the third period and overtime. And while it may be a bit early to declare games “must-wins,” this contest qualified.<\/p>\n
It was additional pressure for Modelski, but he was well-equipped to handle it.<\/p>\n
“Coach Taylor told me before that every game in college hockey is like a seventh game in the Stanley Cup playoffs,” explained Modelski to USCHO’s Katie Baker.<\/p>\n
“In juniors, I played 60 games last year, and at the end we were fighting for home-ice advantage during the last 11 games of the year. We ended up getting home-ice by three points by winning all of those games, many of which were won in overtime or by one goal.”<\/p>\n
Well, that explains it. The kid’s an old pro at this. However, what really had us scratching our heads was not how the game ended, but how it began.<\/p>\n
Modelski was called for having illegal equipment before the game even started. <\/p>\n
“The chinstrap on my helmet hung below the two inches that is allowed by NCAA rules,” said Modelski. “It’s a brand new rule this year, so nobody really knew what to make of it when it was called.”<\/p>\n
Ah, but the officials knew and Modelski had to sit out the first 33 seconds of his first college game while getting the strap altered. It wasn’t exactly a dream start, but it didn’t bother the goaltender.<\/p>\n
“The ruling didn’t really affect me at all,” he said, “and, if anything, it may have helped get the butterflies out.”<\/p>\n
All goalies should be so lucky.<\/p>\n
“It was the most exciting game I have ever played in,” Modelski admitted, “and I will never forget it. The win really helped the team out of a hard situation, and I’m just glad I could be part of it.”<\/p>\n
Modelski was named ECAC Rookie of the Week for his performance.<\/p>\n
The very same night — I’m telling you, there something to this eclipse theory — Yale’s travel partner, the Princeton Tigers (0-4-0, 0-2-0), lost to Cornell, 7-0, as the Big Red’s senior captain, Ryan Vesce, accomplished something else that had us shaking our heads.<\/p>\n
Coming off a night in which he posted a goal and an assist against the Elis, the Lloyd Harbor, N.Y., native scored three times and added four helpers against the Tigers.<\/p>\n
Simply amazing.<\/p>\n
According to Vesce, who had 45 points in 36 games last season and is already up to 11 after just four contests, his seven-point performance was a first for him, and not just at Cornell (2-1-1, 2-0-0). Asked if he’d ever had a night quite like this, at any level, he didn’t have to think very long.<\/p>\n
“Nope, never.”<\/p>\n
Modest and team-oriented, Vesce quickly changed the focus of the conversation.<\/p>\n
“It was nice to get the seven points,” he said, “but the most exciting thing was to get the two wins.”<\/p>\n
In fact, Vesce admitted that he had no idea just what kind of numbers he was putting up as the game progressed.<\/p>\n
“During the game, you focus on the system you need to play. You don’t really think about how many points you have.”<\/p>\n
What he and his teammates were thinking about, however, was a return to form, at least in terms of execution.<\/p>\n
“We had a big week of fine-tuning on our system. Anyone who saw the first two games did not see the Cornell of the past. We were more run-and-gun and we made some mistakes.”<\/p>\n
There were no mistakes of note against Princeton, thanks in large part to the speedy 5-foot-8 forward’s career-highs in goals, assists and points. His seven-point effort was also the first such game for a Cornell player in 25 years and the first in the NCAA in four years.<\/p>\n
For his efforts, Vesce was named ECAC Player of the Week.<\/p>\n
Sometimes you can go home again and when Colgate’s (3-2-1, 1-1-0) bus pulls into its hotel in the North Country on Thursday, that’s exactly where interim head coach Stan Moore will be.<\/p>\n
A product of Massena, N.Y., Moore will return for games in nearby Canton and Potsdam this weekend at schools and in towns that always bring back a wealth of memories from his childhood.<\/p>\n
“Sometimes I chuckle at the fact that, first as an associate coach and now as head coach, I’m standing behind the bench as an opponent,” said Moore, who from 1996-98 made the trip as Union’s head coach.<\/p>\n
“We try not to treat this any differently than any other road trip,” he said. “We just hope that we win; that we play well enough to win.”<\/p>\n
From an Xs and Os standpoint, the fact that Moore grew up in the middle of hockey-crazed St. Lawrence County has no impact whatsoever on the games.<\/p>\n
“It’s business as usual,” he explained.<\/p>\n
Off the ice, however, Moore has many familiar faces waiting for him to complete the 168-mile trip from Hamilton, N.Y., to the St. Lawrence campus for Friday night’s game.<\/p>\n
“My parents still live in Massena and my brother and sister are up there. I’ll see them after the game and anyone else who stops by.”<\/p>\n
Moore’s father, Stan Moore Sr., is a North Country icon. Prior to coaching his son and former Clarkson coach Mark Morris during their school days in Massena, the senior Moore was a standout left wing with the Golden Knights from 1950-53. While there, he scored 109 points on 54 goals and 55 assists in just 42 games.<\/p>\n
“I grew up with Clarkson and St. Lawrence hockey,” said the younger Moore, “and those were the two best venues to have.”<\/p>\n
He practically grew up on the Clarkson campus until he was four, which is when his family moved to Massena so his father could teach math and coach hockey (and eventually golf as well) at Massena High School.<\/p>\n
“I used to sell lemonade and crackers on the Clarkson campus in the summer,” said the younger Moore, “hoping that the faculty that was left would bite and give a young guy the opportunity to make some extra money.<\/p>\n
“I’d also eat at the dining halls for 25 cents for lunch. We’d eat near the students and when one of the players would walk by it was easy to eat because your jaw was so far from your upper lip.”<\/p>\n
Among the players Moore looked up to as a kid and now remembers fondly were Clarkson’s Steve Warr and St. Lawrence’s Steve Cady, now the Associate Athletic Director at Miami.<\/p>\n
“He wasn’t a big guy,” said Moore about Cady, “but he gave everything he had.”<\/p>\n
They are a younger squad and, thanks to the departure of key players, the Bulldogs have much to build in a short time. As if that wasn’t tough enough, they’re forced to do it with one of the toughest early schedules in the league.<\/p>\n
“Our schedule is very, very difficult,” said Taylor. “We were picked to be in the middle of the pack [in the ECAC] and started off with a road trip against the number one team in the country.”<\/p>\n
The journey out to North Dakota was one that Taylor and the rest of the Elis want to forget. Losing by a combined 18-4, Yale was exposed in all ends of the ice. One week later they found themselves facing No. 11 Cornell and Colgate.<\/p>\n
“We got waxed in North Dakota,” said Taylor, “then came back and got smacked around against Cornell.”<\/p>\n
This weekend, Yale travels to first-place Brown (2-1-0, 2-1-0) and No. 12 Harvard (1-1-1, 1-1-1).<\/p>\n
“Brown is a tough competitor,” said Taylor. “We’re certainly not looking past them to the Harvard game, but we know what is waiting for us. We’ll have our hands full.<\/p>\n
“The challenge in this league is that you have to prepare to play two teams that are often very different.”<\/p>\n
Such is the case this weekend for the Elis.<\/p>\n
“With Brown, we’re preparing for their goaltender and defense. They are a better team than last year when they had a good season. They are better with the special teams.<\/p>\n
“Harvard is one of the better skating teams in the conference. They are committed to their 2-1-2 forecheck and it is very difficult to get skating room against them.”<\/p>\n
It’ll be another tough test for the Bulldogs the following weekend when they start a run of three games in five days (November 21-25) against Dartmouth, Vermont and Princeton.<\/p>\n
“The team is still evolving,” said Taylor, “still trying to establish an identity. It’s hard to establish anything if you’re not getting wins. That’s what made the win [over Colgate] extremely important. It showed that if we do things right, compete and work hard, we’re a team that can win.<\/p>\n
“If we hadn’t won, we’d be a team full of doubts and anxiety regarding who we are and how we play.”<\/p>\n
Despite annual rumors of an impending deal with anyone from the Empire Sports Network to the New England Sports Network, fans of the ECAC continue to be shut out from seeing other clubs and marquee games from around the league.<\/p>\n
A handful of schools have the occasional game on a local cable system or statewide public broadcasting station, but other than that, fans who can’t attend games are relegated to Internet radio broadcasts.<\/p>\n
The debut of College Sports Television (CSTV) brings new options for fans and, this week, the league announced that Cornell, Harvard and Yale will appear on the new network.<\/p>\n
“It’s wonderful that CSTV has made a commitment to college hockey,” said ECAC Commissioner Phil Buttafuoco. “College hockey fans have reinforced that commitment by expressing interest in its coverage. Viewers will watch teams with tremendous history and tradition in college hockey.”<\/p>\n
The games include (all times are ET): <\/p>\n
The Harvard women will also be featured on CSTV in a rematch of last year’s Frozen Four when the Crimson take on Minnesota-Duluth, December 12, at 8 p.m. Note the new start times for the evening games; a change from the traditional 7 p.m. league start time.<\/p>\n
The network will also air the ECAC Championship Game from Albany, N.Y., on March 20, at 7 p.m.<\/p>\n
CSTV can be seen in approximately 15 million homes nationwide on cable and satellite through Adelphia and Insight systems, as well as DirecTV.<\/p>\n
If the Vermont Catamounts (0-5-2, 0-2-0) get the sense that their surroundings on Friday are a bit dark, they don’t need to check their vision. As part of Rensselaer’s first-ever “Black Friday” festivities, the team will wear special black jerseys during the game against UVM.<\/p>\n
The Engineers are also encouraging their fans to wear black clothing from head-to-toe, with students that wear any black item of clothing receiving a free ticket with their student ID.<\/p>\n
During the first and second periods, all fans will have an opportunity to take part in an auction to purchase the jerseys. Bids will begin at $80. The highest bidder at the start of the third period will be declared the winner and awarded the sweater on the ice immediately after the game.<\/p>\n