This week we take a look at two programs at opposite ends of the spectrum. <\/p>\n
We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll check in on Nichols College and get Lou Izzi\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s thoughts on what could be a record-setting season. First, however, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll start with the only team in the ECAC Northeast without a league victory: the Framingham State Rams.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153All in all, obviously it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a disappointing season\u00e2\u20ac\u009d head coach Chris Heaney said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I think we all had higher expectations of what we did and what we ultimately achieved, but the reality is, other than a few bumps in the road here and there, we were in every game. We played really well against some of the top teams, and we just struggled to finish off teams that we should beat. The reality is, even at this point in the year, our guys are still playing hard every night.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n
With a record of 1-22-1, some observers may judge the season by the numbers, but a closer look reveals that of half of those losses, four were by one goal, and seven were by two goals, reaffirming Heaney\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s earlier statement about playing well against top teams.<\/p>\n
When asked about players who stood in during this tough campaign, Heaney was quick to answer. <\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve had a few guys who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve really stepped up, especially coming down the home stretch. Josh Williams on defense has really kind of put himself into a position as one of our \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcgo to\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 guys on the blueline. Joe Hurley has really stepped up his game. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s having a tough time finding the back of the net, but he just does all the little things we ask.<\/p>\n
Jeremy Schmidt is another guy who just shows up every night and gives us everything he has. Despite the score, or our record, all those guys that I mentioned, they just show up to play, as well as other guys, but those guys in particular, we never have to question their motivation.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
On offense, as he has for the last two years, senior Nick Glum will lead the team in scoring. He currently has 13 goals and nine assists for 22 points. While offense wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t the problem for Nichols, Heaney didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t admit that goaltending was a concern early on. <\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We really struggled at the beginning with goaltending,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. We tried all three guys, and everybody got their shot, we were looking for somebody to take the ball and run with it, and nobody really did. Then we went with Pete Dundovich, a transfer from UMass-Boston. We went with him down the home stretch, and he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just played phenomenal, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s really done a terrific job.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Heaney paid what could be the ultimate compliment to Dundovich, who as a sophomore has a record of 0-16-1, with a save percentage of .877. <\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153After every game we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve played, every coach has come up to us in the handshake line and commented on our goaltender. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a great kid, very mature, with solid leadership, and he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s doing a great job for us. The other guys [James Babineau and Andy Joyce] are too, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just that he got the job and made the most of it.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
When asked what it was like as a coach to keep the players motivated through such a season, Heaney didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t avoid the question. <\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I actually learned a lot this year, and unfortunately I learned it from past mistakes. The reality is they do want to win. Nobody\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going out there with the intention of losing a hockey game.<\/p>\n
As a coach you have to just focus on the positives rather than looking at negatives, which is hard to do, but it gets a little bit easier when the guys are playing hard. As long as you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re competing every night, you can find a positive in there.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
A team at the opposite end of this spectrum is Nichols College, currently sitting in second place. <\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been a super regular season for us,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said head coach Lou Izzi. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The thing that a lot of people don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t realize is that we skate 10 freshmen in our line up every night; we don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have a senior on our roster. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve accomplished what we have so far with a very young team. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been a rewarding season in many ways for our school and program.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Nichols will have a big challenge this Saturday night when they host UMass-Dartmouth, a game that will determine second place in the league. With a win, Nichols could set a school record for most wins in a season. <\/p>\n
They currently sit at 18-5-1 overall, and are 12-3-0 in the conference. UMass-Dartmouth has an identical conference record of 12-3-0, so the winner clinches second place sometime late Saturday night.<\/p>\n
Defensively, there are three juniors who have truly impressed Izzi this year: Cole Ruwe, Jeff Beiber, and Glen Cacaro. <\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The game has really slowed down for those guys,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Izzi. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re really playing like seasoned seniors, and they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re only juniors, and they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re a big reason why we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re being so successful right now.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Continuing, he noted that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153[t]hey do an outstanding job in their own end. They have so much patience and poise with the puck. They do a great job getting the puck out of their own zone. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re playing at another level right now, and to have three veteran defensemen who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve played in our system for three years and can perform at a very high level, I think that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s one of the reasons why we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been successful.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
The Bison are 10-3-0 in the new year, and in their last five games have only surrendered seven goals. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve received solid goaltending from junior Keith Fink, who sports a 15-5-1 record with a winning percentage of .738, which is second in the conference. <\/p>\n
On offense, Anthony Monte continues to lead the way, not only for his team, but in the conference. He currently has 18 goals and 29 assists for 47 points in just 24 games. The junior, who has led his school in scoring for the last two years, will lead the school again in scoring for the third consecutive season, most likely too closing out conference play on top as well.<\/p>\n
One other player who has contributed up front is junior Ryan Gervais, who is second in the ECAC NE in goal scoring with 21. <\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been a guy who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s gotten a lot of big goals for us,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Izzi said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got a great shot on the power play, he got the overtime winner against Suffolk. Last weekend [against Suffolk] he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s another guy that stepped up, and he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s really just played phenomenal hockey all season long for us.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
In speaking of his team\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s youth, Izzi is obviously impressed. <\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153My five juniors have been really good, and we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been able to add a freshman class, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got 10 of them playing right now, and they just have a lot of grit, and toughness and good speed and skill, and they just keep coming. When we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve blended it all together, we have a good mix of youth, and then we have some veteran leadership with our junior class.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
When thinking ahead to postseason play, Izzi is glad that his squad is healthy right now. He realizes the competition will be tough. <\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been around for 10 or 11 years now, and the first five to seven years, the top teams would always go out of conference and kind of get our bells rung. Then we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d come back in conference and really beat up on the lower part of the league. But now, what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s happening is that every game is just a war, and I think you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re eventually going to see our league do better out of conference because we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re pushing so each other so much in conference games.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Concluding, he observes that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153[t]here are no more easy skates. You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re seeing big upsets; you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re seeing teams that are even in the playoff picture get some big wins. I think it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just a credit to all the coaches who are doing a great job out there recruiting great players. I think what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to happen is that the playoffs are going to be very competitive. <\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153You look at potential match-ups, and I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s really any good match ups for any of the teams. Everybody has the potential; the lowest seeds all have the potential of winning. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re all going to have to come into the playoffs peaking and playing our best hockey of the year, and hopefully we play some good games.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A Tale of Two Teams This week we take a look at two programs at opposite ends of the spectrum. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll check in on Nichols College and get Lou Izzi\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s thoughts on what could be a record-setting season. First, however, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll start with the only team in the ECAC Northeast without a league victory: the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":140328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n