Archive for October, 2012

Three Up, Three Down, Oct. 16: WCHA

Tuesday, October 16th, 2012

Ahh, college hockey season. Finally. Almost all WCHA schools were playing games that counted this weekend, meaning we have a very, very small sample to use when judging individual performances. Even so, here are some payers that stood out, and some that disappointed.

Three Up

1. Christian Isackson, Minnesota

When Minnesota’s lines were announced for its exhibition against Lethbridge last week, many pointed straight to Isackson, who’s name sat next to Nick Bjugstad and Kyle Rau on the Gophers’ top line. Following the Lethbridge game and a weekend series against Michigan State, it looks like he’s a perfect fit. Last winter as a freshman, Isackson only skated in 11 games and didn’t record a point. Counting the exhibition, he now has four goals and two assists in three games as a sophomore.

2. Milos Gordic, Michigan Tech

Last season was a disappointing one for Gordic, who saw his scoring production drop from the previous winter. Apparently, he used that as motivation this summer. Gordic posted a four-point weekend (two goals, two assists) in a home-and-home series against Lake Superior State, showing that he might be the guy to step up and fill the void left by the departure of Brett Olson.

3. Mike Seidel, Minnesota Duluth

Seidel had a breakout season in 2011-12, notching 17 goals – six of which came on the power play – while taking on an increased role in the UMD lineup. It looks like he’s picked up right where he left off. Seidel netted not one, not two, but three power-play goals for UMD this weekend and added an assist to go along with it, giving him his most productive weekend as a Bulldog to date.

Three Down

1. Mark Zengerle, Wisconsin

Although Zengerle had a goal and an assist this weekend, the less noticeable aspects of his game weren’t up to par. As the top center on the Wisconsin roster, Zengerle was a minus-two and won just 37 percent of his faceoffs (13-of-35 on the weekend). Everyone expects him to put up numbers, but he must be better all-around.

2. Ben Hanowski, St. Cloud State

You can’t be too hard on a guy who had a shorthanded goal and 11 shots in a weekend, but Hanowski was a minus-three against New Hampshire. Finding a way to get some of those shots past opposing goalies will obviously help that stat, and Hanowski’s offensive abilities will soon pay dividends for St. Cloud State.

3. Josh Thorimbert, Colorado College

Thorimbert was pretty dang good last season, and he posted a .924 saves percentage to show for it. But in his only action last weekend, he wasn’t impressive. Thorimbert gave up four goals on only 25 shots (an .840 saves percentage) in a winning effort against Clarkson. With some stiff competition on the horizon, he better find his game.

Three Things I Think, October 15: Hockey East

Tuesday, October 16th, 2012

So the first set of Hockey East games are over. Not every team has played a league game to this point, and it’s impossible to tell if anything is really greater or worse than what most expected. There were, however, some surprises in this first week of action. Merrimack’s win at Union to kick the season off sent some shockwaves. More than anything, it reminded us how unpredictable games are in the earliest parts of the season. Regardless, the win may prove large for Merrimack should it end the season on the Pairwise bubble — can’t believe it took me almost two weeks to use the P word. (more…)

Three Things I Think, October 15: WCHA

Monday, October 15th, 2012

The six month wait from April’s Frozen Four in Tampa to this weekend is always long. Sure, it pales in comparison to the short seasons of other college sports and yes, being a fan of a baseball team pushing 100 losses for the second straight year can’t help but college hockey’s first weekend of 2012-2013 is a date I’ve been waiting for ages.

And I know I’m not alone.

Thousands of fans filled arenas from Anchorage to Houghton to Kansas City (okay maybe not Kansas City) to witness dozens of freshmen make their debuts and the beginning of a dream. While Denver was off and North Dakota and Bemidji State played exhibition games against the United States U-18 development team, nine of the twelve WCHA teams made their regular season debut against non-conference foes.

For some like Minnesota and Colorado College, the weekend proved to be a success with sweeps over Michigan State and Clarkson, respectively. Others such as Wisconsin and St. Cloud State found roadblocks in the way of Northern Michigan and New Hampshire, respectively.  It’s easy to look at these early results now and start crumpling the dark horse preseason picks but it is one weekend. Dozens of teams have overcome poor starts to make a deep NCAA tournament run (see: North Dakota under Dave Hakstol) and today’s fast start is tomorrow’s disappointment.

It will take time for those in Colorado Springs and Minneapolis to figure out the quality of last weekend’s opposition. There isn’t much to take away from opening weekend but with hockey back on campus does it really matter? (more…)

And we’re underway

Monday, October 15th, 2012

Atlantic Hockey kicked off it’s 10th season this past weekend. Only Bentley and Holy Cross have yet to play but every other team was in action this weekend.  And it was a much better start than last year for Atlantic Hockey. Michigan (then- No. 3) and Quinnipiac (then- No. 18) both fell to AHA teams while Alaska and Alaska-Anchorage combined to go 0-1-2 against AHA teams. At the end of the weekend, AHA teams were 4-8-2 in non-conference games.

It’s a step up from last year’s 1-14 performance on the first weekend of the year.  And with more non-conference games to come next weekend, AHA teams have a chance to make a bigger splash on the national scene. Next weekend AHA teams will face Michigan, Michigan State, Ferris State, and Denver.

As of right now, everyone is chasing Niagara after the Purple Eagles 2-1 win over Mercyhurst. The Purple Eagles and Lakers were the only teams to play an Atlantic Hockey game this weekend. But next week there will be three while everyone else stays in non-conference play.

The Takeaway: Northeastern upsets No. 1 Boston College

Sunday, October 14th, 2012

BOSTON — The reigning NCAA Champions returned to the ice Saturday night on the road at Matthews Arena and faced a 3-1 loss at the hands of Northeastern. At the helm of Northeastern’s offensive surge were three freshmen, and mixed with stellar goaltending from Chris Rawlings the Huskies were able to fend off a BC comeback to start the season off 2-0.

Ryan Belonger got things started with his first collegiate goal when he swatted at a Cam Darcy shot that bobbled right in front of the net and got one past Parker Milner’s shoulder. Kevin Roy was the next Husky freshman to hit the back of the net when he took a pass from Cody Ferriero across the crease and shot from just in front of the left pole.

The Northeastern lead was tested by Steven Whitney in the final minutes of the first period when he got past Rawlings with an assist from Johnny Gaudreau just eight seconds into an Eagles power play. (more…)

The Takeaway: BU Rallies, Beats Providence, 4-2 in Opener

Saturday, October 13th, 2012

BOSTON — A goal and two assists from Cason Hohmann helped Boston University defeat Providence, 4-2, at Agganis Arena Saturday night. Hohmann, a sophomore, scored the game-winning goal at 18 minutes, 57 seconds of the second period, fewer than 3 minutes after setting up Garrett Noonan’s game-tying goal.

BU goaltender Matt O’Connor, making his collegiate debut, stopped 26 shots, while PC’s Jon Gillies made 30 saves in the loss. PC defeated Sacred Heart, 8-2, on Friday night to open its season, but Saturday’s defeat makes the Friars 0-1-0 in Hockey East play.

What I Saw

  • The improvements Nate Leaman has made to Providence’s talent level in fewer than two years are visible at every position. The Friars don’t sit back, waiting for opponents to make mistakes. They dictate long portions of games and make teams play PC hockey. Throughout Saturday’s game, PC carried extended stretches, and only some quality blocked shots and saves kept them from more goals. When BU turned it on, Jon Gillies bailed them out frequently. The presence of Gillies in the Friars’ lineup is just one example of improved talent. Freshmen like Mark Jankowski, Paul de Jersey and John Gilmour all have diverse skill sets. (more…)

The Takeaway: UNH Sweeps St. Cloud with 4-2 Win

Saturday, October 13th, 2012

Durham, NH.-  New Hampshire and St. Cloud  played an even first period on goals by John Henrion and Kevin Gravel.  UNH never trailed in the game and would use a key second period goal by Austin Block with 1 minute, 9 seconds to go in the period to take the lead for good.

Nick Sorkin led UNH offensively with a goal and an assist, while Dalton Speelman continued his early season emergence with an assist on Sorkin’s goal, seven minutes into the second period. Trevor van Riemsdyk scored the insurance goal with 14:38 remaining in the third period to ice the game at 4-2 in favor of the Wildcats. UNH improves its record to 2-0-0 on the season in completing a series sweep of St Cloud. (more…)

The Takeaway: Minnesota Starts Season On The Right Foot

Saturday, October 13th, 2012

Minneapolis, MN- A slow start by Michigan State ended up haunting the Spartans Friday night as three goals by the Gophers in the season’s first 13:38 fueled the #1/2 team in the country to a 5-1 win that was as close as the final score.

WCHA preseason player of the year Nick Bjugstad scored a goal and added an assist while freshman Mike Reilly and redshirt junior captain Zach Budish each had two assists. Tanner Sorenson scored the lone Spartan goal with 4:01 left as Minnesota goaltender Michael Shibrowski made 25 saves en route to his first win as a Gopher.

Ben Marshall, Christian Isackson, Erik Haula and Travis Boyd also scored for Minnesota. MSU goalie Will Yanakeff made 37 saves in defeat.

What I saw:

-The Spartans were one of two teams last year (Denver was the other) to hold Minnesota without a win in a two-game series and much of it was thanks to their defense containing the Gophers’ potent offense.  This year, however, it was the Gophers who used their speed advantage over the Spartans to beat them to pucks, out-muscle their defense and spend entire shifts in the MSU zone. While the top line of Bjugstad, Kyle Rau and Christian Isackson ran wild, the Spartans’ top line of Kevin Walrod, Lee Reimer and Greg Wolfe could not get anything going. (more…)

The Takeaway: Win Over St. Cloud Gives Umile No. 500

Friday, October 12th, 2012

DURHAM, N.H. — Dick Umile recorded his 500th career win Friday night as New Hampshire beat St. Cloud State 5-3 in its season opener. Umile becomes the 12th coach, sixth active, to reach the milestone at the Division-I level. He also becomes just the seventh coach to win 500 games at one school.

“The guys gave me the game puck,” Umile said, “and I said, ‘It’s all about having a lot of good hockey players.’ If you last long enough coaching good hockey players, they win hockey games. I just happen to be fortunate enough to be coaching this program with a lot of good hockey players.”

Dalton Speelman led the way Friday night with two goals and an assist in his first game since last November. Connor Hardowa (3 assists), Trevor van Riemsdyk (1 goal, 1 assist), Kevin Goumas (2 assists) and Grayson Downing (2 assists) all registered multi-point games for UNH (1-0-0). Ben Hanowski had a goal and an assist for St. Cloud (0-1-0), and Nic Dowd had two assists.

Hardowa and Speelman both said after the game that it was an honor to be part of Umile’s milestone night.

“We’ve been waiting pretty much all summer for that one,” Hardowa said. “We couldn’t get him that last one last year at BU. It’s nice to see him get that 500th. Not too many people have done it. It’s an honor to be a part of the program when he gets that one. A lot of guys put in a lot of effort to get those 500. We’re just a small piece of it.” (more…)

The Takeaway: UMass-Lowell and Vermont Battle to 1-1 Tie

Friday, October 12th, 2012

Lowell, MASS.- Vermont entered the Tsongas Center as the easy underdog against Massachusetts-Lowell but hung around the River Hawks for large portions of the game and went back to Burlington with a key point in Hockey East play. Lowell was able to use a porous turnover late in the first period to take a 1-0 lead on the Catamounts, but the score would not hold as Vermont would score a goal off the stick of Colin Markison with 8:43 remaining in the third to tie the game.

Vermont would control the latter portions of the game but the score would remain tied and both teams would come out with a point in both teams’ Hockey East opener.  The game was hard fought on both sides and a great College Hockey game to watch for the 6711 that attended, which was a UMass-Lowell record for a home opener. The crowd was also the second largest  in River Hawk history. (more…)