{"id":26285,"date":"2004-02-26T21:29:45","date_gmt":"2004-02-27T03:29:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2004\/02\/26\/this-week-in-division-iii-feb-26-2004\/"},"modified":"2010-08-17T19:55:37","modified_gmt":"2010-08-18T00:55:37","slug":"this-week-in-division-iii-feb-26-2004","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2004\/02\/26\/this-week-in-division-iii-feb-26-2004\/","title":{"rendered":"This Week in Division III: Feb. 26, 2004"},"content":{"rendered":"
While there are some huge games this weekend, including the SUNYAC semifinals, the ECAC East, ECAC Northeast and NESCAC quarterfinals and the MCHA tournament, this is also somewhat of a slow week. Twenty teams have completed their seasons, and playoff-bound squads from the NCHA and ECAC West have a bye week before their final showdowns. Seven teams in the USCHO.com poll are idle this week.<\/p>\n
Before taking a look at the important developments on the ice, there were plenty of off-ice happenings to go around.<\/p>\n
Wesleyan fans knew something was up last Friday when 11 of 12 seniors didn’t dress for the Cardinals game at Conn. College, a 5-3 win. The same scenario played out the following night in a 2-0 loss at Tufts. The only senior to play the final weekend of the season was goaltender Jim Panczykowski. Wesleyan dressed only 15 skaters each night.<\/p>\n
On Sunday, word came that Wesleyan, which finished seventh in the regular season, was out of the NESCAC playoffs. The Cardinals were supposed to play at Trinity on Saturday in the quarterfinals. Instead, Tufts, which had finished ninth and out of playoff contention, moved into the eighth and final spot, pushing Amherst from the eighth seed to the seventh seed. The Lord Jeffs, slated to go to Middlebury, will now take on Trinity while Tufts plays the Panthers.<\/p>\n
So what happened? No announcement was made by Wesleyan or the NESCAC. The NESCAC release on its playoffs didn’t even mention that Wesleyan should have been playing, instead just listing the revamped seedings as if it had been that way all along.<\/p>\n
Calls to the NESCAC and Wesleyan were met with a simple, “No comment.” When asked if there would at some time be a reason given for the move, again, “No comment.”<\/p>\n
Sources close to the program have told USCHO.com that the seniors were suspended and the team’s season abruptly ended when the administration discovered that an initiation party had been held before the season started, and at that party the school’s alcohol policy was violated.<\/p>\n
Wesleyan’s administration apparently went with a “zero tolerance” response to those rules being broken.<\/p>\n
That’s their prerogative, but not releasing any information to the public or even the school community made matters worse. In the absence of even a generic “Violation of team\/school rules” statement, rumors and speculation have abounded, and the dreaded word “hazing” has been mentioned.<\/p>\n
Wesleyan can’t have it both ways. It’s understandable if privacy rules prohibit the school from going into details, but some sort of explanation, even a general one, was appropriate. Otherwise, if you don’t want to make news surrounding the hockey team public, then play in closed rinks with no fans. Don’t issue press releases on your team. Do not reveal who is on your team. Do not reveal the scores of games.<\/p>\n
If you reveal those things, you sure as heck better reveal why you don’t show up for a playoff game. Otherwise, you’re only making things worse. In this case, it was much ado about very little.<\/p>\n
“It’s wasn’t hazing,” said one source. “It was an initiation party. Attendance was optional. Some players weren’t even there. That’s why Panczykowski played (last weekend). He wasn’t there (at the party).”<\/p>\n
The party happened during a brief interim when Wesleyan didn’t have a coach. Buddy Powers, who had initially accepted the job after longtime coach Dave Snyder retired, resigned before the season began. Former Brown assistant Chris Potter was named interim coach in mid-October.<\/p>\n
Potter has done a great job this season, and deserves strong consideration for the permanent position. Hopefully, this incident, which sources say occurred before Potter was hired, won’t affect that.<\/p>\n
It was a history-making day for Hobart last Saturday.. The Statesmen’s come-from-behind 5-4 win over RIT in the afternoon, followed by a Manhattanville loss at Elmira that evening, gave Hobart its first ECAC West regular-season title ever. <\/p>\n
More firsts for the Statesmen include their first win over RIT in 12 seasons, and their first-ever ranking in the USCHO.com poll.<\/p>\n
Since the ECAC West awards home ice to the regular-season champ, then it was a no-brainer to schedule the semifinals and finals on March 6 and 7 at the Geneva Recreation Center, right?<\/p>\n
No so fast. The Geneva Rec Center isn’t a typical college hockey rink, at least not any more. There are only three locker rooms. Four are normally required to host the ECAC West tournament, so teams can prepare for the late semifinal while the first one is going on.<\/p>\n
Also, the rink only seats about 500 people, and those that come are exposed to the elements. The rink has a roof and three walls, but is not fully enclosed. Temperatures at game time have routinely been in the teens or twenties.<\/p>\n
“I have never been so cold in my life,” said a coach recently about a game earlier this season, when the wind chill was below zero. A referee reportedly came down with frostbite after officiating a game at the Rec Center in January.<\/p>\n
Having broadcasted a few times there myself, I can attest how cold it can get during games. Still, Hobart deserves the right to host, and that will be the case. After a meeting with the Athletic Directors at Hobart, RIT, Manhattanville and Utica, the ECAC announced on Tuesday that the ECAC West tournament will indeed be held at the Geneva Rec Center.<\/p>\n
A few modifications to the standard procedures are necessary. The first semifinal between RIT and Manhattanville was moved up a half hour to begin at 3:00 pm. The second semifinal between Hobart and Utica was moved back by 30 minutes, to 7:30 pm. This will allow time to clear out the locker rooms between games so that they can be reused. Also, individual game tickets will be sold instead of a three-game or two-day pass, allowing for the stands to be cleared between games on Friday. <\/p>\n
Weather.com’s extended forecast for Geneva, N.Y., calls for temperatures in the upper twenties and thirties those days. Not bad, but an extra sweater may be required.<\/p>\n