{"id":27112,"date":"2005-02-10T14:56:12","date_gmt":"2005-02-10T20:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2005\/02\/10\/this-week-in-new-england-diii-feb-10-2005\/"},"modified":"2010-08-17T19:56:09","modified_gmt":"2010-08-18T00:56:09","slug":"this-week-in-new-england-diii-feb-10-2005","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2005\/02\/10\/this-week-in-new-england-diii-feb-10-2005\/","title":{"rendered":"This Week in New England D-III: Feb. 10, 2005"},"content":{"rendered":"
While the D-word (Dynasty) has been thrown around quite a lot here in New England based on recent New England Patriot results and three Super Bowl Championships in the past four years, you can find appropriate use for it in the D-III hockey world in these parts as well. After all, just take a look at recent conference champions, NCAA participants and most importantly, national championship teams in the past ten years and two names jump to the head-of-the-class: Middlebury and Norwich. Eight of the past ten national titles find residence in Vermont with the current national championship team in Middlebury. Both teams have established themselves as the pre-eminent teams at their level in New England and have created benchmarking opportunities for competitors around New England to step-up and be measured compared with the best.<\/p>\n
This year Norwich, in somewhat of a rebuilding year, has found the chemistry in a young team maturing around some very talented upperclassmen including captain Kurtis McLean and rejuvenated Mario Chinelli, and is playing its best hockey at the right time of the year. Since back-to-back losses to open the New Year, Norwich has gone 9-0-1 in its last ten games, having handily defeated two quality teams in Colby and Bowdoin this past weekend. Almost in quiet fashion the Cadets have taken control of the ECAC East and sit in their familiar position atop the conference with just four games to go. The road for the NCAA auto-bid looks once again to be going through Northfield, Vermont. Not that there aren’t teams that can make a run at upsetting the Cadets — there are! But it won’t be easy on the road against a team that knows how to win big hockey games.<\/p>\n
For Middlebury, also rebuilding after graduating some key pieces from last season’s championship squad, the road to the NCAA’s is much more difficult and convoluted. Since the start of the NESCAC tournament, the Panthers have been the number one seed every season and won the title every year but one — a 2003 loss to Trinity. They have been in the NCAA tournament every year since becoming eligible in 1995 and may have to pull a rabbit out of their hat to get back this year. Currently sitting in second place behind Trinity, tied with Bowdoin, Middlebury has already suffered four NESCAC conference losses this season with the most recent setback coming at Hamilton on Saturday. The Panthers can still make the top spot, but are going to need some help to get there. They will need to beat league leader Trinity on Friday night and win out against Wesleyan, St. Michael’s and Norwich while hoping that someone upends the Bantams and Polar Bears. If the standings hold to form, the conference tournament will be someplace other than the confines of Kenyon Arena for the very first time and based on the league balance this season – anything could happen in the hunt for the NCAA auto-bid. <\/p>\n
A tale of two champions so to speak — One playing their best hockey of the season at the right time and one looking to rekindle the magic that has seen them playing important games in March. It doesn’t get much better than this! <\/p>\n
For Hamilton head coach Phil Grady, this season has been a battle for healthy bodies and consistent play. The Continentals have recently got both going in their favor and have leveraged the play of their junior sniper Gus Katsuras into making a late run for a home-ice playoff berth.<\/p>\n