Game Gab - Nightly Post-Game Analysis
Come here after the games for analysis and insights from CHN Staff members, including columnist Adam Wodon. And then talk about it in our blog.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Western Michigan 4, Notre Dame 1
CHN: The weight of all the injuries is finally taking a complete toll on Notre Dame. The Irish have tried to hang in there, but after getting swept by the Broncos, it's clear ND is hanging by a thread.
Denver 2, Air Force 1
CHN: It was a second straight heartbreaking loss to an in-state rival for Air Force, which lost 2-0 to CC on Friday. Last season, AFA played those teams are near-equals, but this year has been more of a struggle for the Falcons, so this had more of the underdog feeling that past meetings had. ... Marc Cheverie needed to stop a career-high 45 shots to get the win, and Kyle Ostrow’s centering pass found the back of the net in overtime as No. 2 Denver survived the upset bid. “Air Force gave us everything we could handle and much more,” DU head coach George Gwozdecky said. “We were certainly fortunate to come away with the win tonight and Cheverie was outstanding once again. We are happy to come away with two nonconference wins this weekend.” ... “Our guys played really well tonight,” AFA head coach Frank Serratore said. “We were much more assertive on offense tonight. The difference in the game was Marc Cheverie. We had some terrific shots and he was great. (Our defenseman) played that perfectly and I’ve never seen a puck take that type of bounce. It was just unfortunate. The bad part about it is that at this point in season there are no moral victories. They are the No 2 team in country and they found a way to get the job done. But I wouldn’t switch teams based on what I saw tonight. I really feel bad for our kids because they really gave it everything tonight. We have to bottle this recipe, rest up and hit those last four games on the sprint.”
Michigan State 1, Alaska 1
CHN: When Dion Knelsen scored in the first period, his 15th, it looked like more of the same from Friday. But MSU got a goal from Jeff Petry late in the first, and eventually won the shootout. Friday, Knelsen scored the only two goals of the game in Alaska's 2-0 win.
Miami 10, Lake Superior 4
CHN: You hate to say something as trite as Miami "Did it for Brendan," but it's hard to overlook the fact that the Red Hawks -- one night after finding out beloved team manager Brendan Burke was killed in an automobile accident -- came out with a lot of emotion, and channeled it towards a frenetic offensive display. It was 7-0 before LSSU got on the board, with Andy Miele scoring twice in the first period. LSSU wound up using three different goalies. ... "On behalf of our staff, administration, and the Burke family, we're just proud of the way our guys came out and played," Miami coach Enrico Blasi said. "All the boys just really wanted to do this for Brendan. I think it shows the kind of person he was and what he meant to us and it was a difficult 24 hours for everyone." ... Emotion also meant short tempers, with 108 minutes in penalties called in the game.
Canisius 5, Connecticut 2
CHN: Senior Jason Weeks set the program’s Division I record for most career goals as Canisius completed a two-game sweep of Connecticut. “The record means a lot,” Weeks said. “A lot of it has to do with staying healthy and being able to play in all situations. My teammates are also a big reason I have this record. Coming away with four points this weekend is just as big. We knew coming in that we needed to sweep to give us a chance at home ice. Now we just need to take it one game at a time and I know we’ll come out hard on Friday.”
Nebraska-Omaha 4, Ohio State 3
CHN: Nebraska-Omaha edged its way into a tie for fourth, overcoming an early 2-0 deficit. Jeric Agosta (14) capped the rally, scoring midway through the third.
Vermont 1, Providence 1
CHN: Sophomore Rob Madore made 32 saves and freshman David Pacan scored his sixth goal of the season, but it had to be somewhat disappointing to only get the tie against last-place Providence. Still, it was a three-point weekend for the Cats, and they are in a tie for fifth now in HEA. "Our guys fought hard this weekend," Vermont head coach Sneddon said. "We had urgency and it was playoff style hockey. I think we're getting closer to where we need to be for the stretch run here." ... The Catamounts kept momentum early in the final period after Friars junior Ben Farrer took a five-minute hit from behind and game misconduct. However, Vermont managed just three shots and no goals on its extended power play. "We got a few shots but we didn't have great net front presence," Sneddon said. "I don't think we attacked low very well. We've got to produce there. That's the difference in the game."
Princeton 5, Cornell 3
CHN: Ben Scrivens had a rare bad game in net for Cornell, and was pulled for the first time this season after falling behind 4-1. Mike Garman, a sophomore who hadn't played since two mop-up roles last season, came in and almost immediately made two tremendous saves, and the Big Red got a lift out of it. Cornell scored two goals before the end of the second period, then its potent power play was a given a full 2-minute 5-on-3 with just over two minutes left in the period. Princeton, however, buckled down, killed it off, and the Big Red did not score again -- obviously a huge moment in the game. A tough loss for Cornell -- which fell from No. 8 to No. 14 in the Pairwise as a result, showing just how tenuous its situation is -- but other than Scrivens having trouble on a couple goals, the Big Red did play hard and pretty well for the most part. ... Princeton coach Guy Gadowsky said he thought it could be trouble for his team as soon as Garman made those big saves, and he was right, but his team was able to stabilize things eventually. Princeton, which had very high hopes coming in, but has been setback by many injuries, has been playing much better lately. Gadowsky credited that to a "mind shift," that the players are just accepting those guys may not return to the lineup, and have just buckled down with who is playing.
Maine 6, New Hampshire 3
CHN: Brian Flynn scored twice, as once again Maine rallied from an early 2-0 deficit, to complete a weekend sweep of next-state rival and first-place New Hampshire. It moves Maine into a tie for second with Boston College, three points behind UNH with a game in hand. "They put a lot of stress on us in our own end," said UNH coach Dick Umile, dismayed at the penalties that again cost his team. "In the second period we had the lead and then they started to put some heat on us and we didn't deal with it well," Umile told Seacoast Online. " We got beat. I'm not going to take anything away from Maine. They found a way to win the game. We went ahead twice and couldn't hold onto it." ... "To take four points at home, where they had won five in a row against us, we thought it was a big opportunity for us," Maine coach Tim Whitehead said. "'Hey, let's make a statement and let everyone know we're back.'"
Union 4, St. Lawrence 2
CHN: Union's three-goal third period got the Dutchmen back into a three-way first-place tie, thanks to Cornell's loss.
Rensselaer 2, Clarkson 1
CHN: Mike Addesa was in the building along with 14 members of the 1985 RPI national championship team. Addesa hasn't been back often, after getting unceremoniously fired under dubious circumstances a few years later. But this was a night for celebrating the accomplishment, on the 25th anniversary.
Merrimack 3, Mass.-Lowell 1
CHN: Chris Barton scored his 17th to highlight the win, Merrimack's first at home over Lowell since Nov. 12, 2000. Lowell had an incredible record of 10-0-3 at Merrimack over that stretch. Lowell only mustered 10 shots through two periods (25-10) after managing just two in the third period the night before in a 3-2 loss to BU, and are now below .500 in league play despite being picked second in the preseason coaches' poll. Merrimack remained within striking distance of the eighth and final HE playoff spot and improved to 10-2-0 at home.
Minnesota-Duluth 3, Michigan Tech 2
CHN: Duluth, after losing to last-place Tech on Friday, fell in a 0-2 hole early Saturday. But this time, the Bulldogs were able to respond with the next three goals to pull things out. “That was a tough hill to climb, but I never felt we were out of the game,” UMD coach Scott Sandelin told the Duluth News-Tribune. “We hung in there, but we were facing a great goalie . I don’t know how he wasn’t named MVP of the Winter Carnival.”
St. Cloud State 6, Alaska-Anchorage 0
CHN: It's Friday-Saturday pattern at home has been to get blown out, then bounce back with a tight win. But for UAA, it's been different on the road. And here, after a heartbreaking tie on Friday, the Seawolves succumbed to the first-place Huskies, and the winless streak at National Hockey Center is now 32 (0-28-4). Garrett Roe (11) scored twice, and Ryan Lasch added his 15th.
Northern Michigan 4, Ferris State 0
CHN: NMU leapfrogs two teams into seventh place after an impressive win over Ferris State. Justin Florek scored twice and Mark Olver had his 15th. The Bulldogs threw everything - including the kitchen sink -- at Brian Stewart, pouring 51 shots on net, but Stewart stopped them all.
Wisconsin 3, Michigan 2
CHN: Playing in front of more than 50,000 fans at Camp Randall Stadium, the Badgers returned the favor for a 3-2 loss to Michigan earlier in the season. In the always-exciting environment of an outdoor game, defenseman Brendan Smith scored two power-play goals, 4:10 apart, both one-timers, late in the third period, to give Wisconsin the win. Game-time temperature was 21 degrees and a decent wind, which made things a little rough. Michigan may not have enjoyed it as much, but the whole thing made for an exciting day in Madison, that was already "cool" before Wisconsin rallied for the win. ... "That first step out there, hearing the crowd and seeing them hanging over the sides, was something else," Wisconsin sophomore left winger Jordy Murray said. "Words can't describe that." ... Said senior forward Ben Street, who played in the last outdoor game four years ago, "The crowd just kept getting fired up. We were cold, but I think we just had goose bumps because of how loud it was and the way that the game was going." ... Meanwhile, on the other side, Michigan steamed about the two penalty calls, late in the game, both to captain defenseman Chris Summers. A WCHA crew officiated the game. Asked what he thought, Michigan coach Red Berenson said, "That's a bad question to ask a coach after he loses a game on a penalty in the last 5 minutes. ... We knew pretty much what they were doing (on the power play) and they're good at it. You really have to do a good job and we didn't. They executed as good as it gets." (All quotes, courtesy Madison.com.)
Yale 6, Harvard 3
CHN: Yale is back in a three-way tie for first, thanks to Cornell's loss, after handling Harvard. Six different players scored goals and Billy Blase stopped 20 shots. In its never-ending quest to define a go-to goaltender for the postseason, Blase, a senior who had played little this season, stepped in to relieve freshman Nick Maricic on Friday and got the win. So Yale coach Keith Allain went back to Blase for Saturday. Stopping 20 of 23 shots is not going to inspire huge confidence, but it was a second straight win.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Cornell 2, Quinnipiac 0
CHN: Cornell's ascendancy continues, while Quinnipiac continues to plummet. The once-promising season for the Bobcats is far in the rear-view mirror these days, as the team crumbled under the expectations. Cornell was limited to just 16 shots, but made the most of them, despite playing another weekend without Riley Nash. Ben Scrivens, playing the best he ever has, made all 32 stops. The Big Red are in first place in the ECAC, and No. 8 in the Pairwise at the moment.
Colorado College 2, Air Force 0
CHN: Joe Howe made 20 saves as CC held off upset-minded Air Force. CC got on the board 66 seconds into the second period. Air Force turned the puck over at its own blue line and Rylan Schwartz collected the loose puck. He fed Mike Testwuide coming down the slot for his 17th of the season. ... It looked as though Air Force tied the game on the power play when Jeff Hajner took a shot that was tipped in by Jacques Lamoureux. However, the officials waived off the goal saying that Lamoureux’s stick was too high. Air Force had five power plays in the second period, but was unable to convert. “This was very, very disappointing,” head coach Frank Serratore said. “We had our chances. It was a truly missed opportunity. We had seven power plays and they had two too many men penalties called on them. The game should have been over in the second period. We had a game plan to take the rush offense away and we did. We held them to two goals and when you do that, you have to find a way to win and we didn’t. We played hard within the framework of our system. We were very assertive on defense and their opportunities were sporadic. We didn’t show that assertiveness on offense. Plain and simple we didn’t get it.”
Miami 2, Lake Superior 0
CHN: Miami continues to run away with the league. Carter Camper scored with 9 seconds left in the first period, and despite 33 shots from LSSU on Cody Reichard, the league held up until an empty netter as time expired. ... The team was told after the game about the death of student manager Brendan Burke, 21, son of NHL general manager Brian Burke. (See separate story.)
Western Michigan 7, Notre Dame 2
CHN: Notre Dame is just ravaged by injury, and it definitely showed here. The Irish are missing so many key players now, hopes of a second-half rally are looking pretty bleak. This is just going to be "one of those years," it looks like, for ND.
Boston University 3, Mass.-Lowell 2
CHN: BU scored two shorthanded goals in the first period in establishing a 3-1 lead, and it held up.
Union 11, Clarkson 2
CHN: One weekend after seeing its hold of first place slip away in the ECAC, the Dutchmen came out with a vengeance against Clarkson. Well, a delayed one. Clarkson scored 20 seconds into the game, but Union responded 28 seconds later, then scored four more times in the period and never looked back. The shots were just as ugly -- 48-19. Nine different players scored -- with Mario Valery-Trebucco picking up the hat trick and a plus-5 -- with only two of the goals coming on the power play. It's hard to get more dominant than that. ... Let's talk about Clarkson a second. You knew they were still rebuilding, with two straight NCAA trips now two years in the past. But this one has been a lot rougher than expected. The goaltending hasn't been there -- three guys played in this one -- and injuries have taken a large toll. With illness factored in, Clarkson played with just three forward lines and four defensemen. So it's a bad time to be picking on Clarkson. But it's not just that. Clarkson needs to take stock. "There's no excuse," Clarkson coach George Roll told the Watertown Daily Times. "It was a tough week of practice. A couple guys who played tonight weren't able to practice until Thursday. But when you are short of players you have to be much more in tune defensively, we were porous defensively."
Boston College 7, Massachusetts 1
CHN: BC edged ahead of UMass for second place in Hockey East, but there was nothing "edge" about this game. BC was all over the Minutemen, with Joe Whitney scoring twice in a four-goal first period, and it only got worse from there for UMass.
Michigan Tech 3, Minnesota-Duluth 1
CHN: With Denver idle in league, UMD had to be thinking this was a golden opportunity to recapture first place, facing the struggling, last-place Huskies. Unfortunately, that is probably what it was thinking, too much. Duluth had 31 shots in the first two periods, but only 1-0 lead. That's when things got ugly. The Huskies scored the next three goals, and held UMD to just six shots in the third, and the Bulldogs came away heads still buzzing, wondering what the heck happened.
Ohio State 5, Nebraska-Omaha 5
CHN: The Mavs have been discussing a new building, something on campus and a bit more cozy. But for one night, they had nothing to worry about with the attendance. A record-setting crowd of 13,417 at Qwest Center Omaha saw UNO win a shootout in the seventh round. Freshman Terry Broadhurst scored a natural hat trick, and Eric Olimb had four assists to propel UNO offense.
Northern Michigan 3, Ferris State 3
CHN: Ferris State had the big shot edge, but NMU got the only goal of the shootout to gain the extra point, in this back-and-forth affair.
Canisius 3, Connecticut 1
CHN: Canisius improved to 12-11-4 on the season and 10-8-3 in Atlantic Hockey play. “Tonight was a great game,” said Canisius head coach Dave Smith. “Connecticut played really hard and I thought we matched them and played just as good. There were some moments where we played our best hockey tonight. Their goalie played outstanding and I thought it was a good hockey game.”
Vermont 5, Providence 1
CHN: Vermont beat up on the last-place Friars. Freshman Sebastian Stålberg scored a goal and had two assists. "I thought we played a really solid game tonight," Vermont head coach Kevin Sneddon said. "Our cycling was as good as it's been all year. I think that was really the key to the game. We were pretty effective down low in their zone and made it difficult for them to come up ice with a lot of energy because we spent a lot of time in their zone."
Maine 3, New Hampshire 2
CHN: Maine knocks off the first-place Wildcats, and moves into a tie for third place -- and a tie for No. 14 in the Pairwise. Maine overcame a 2-0 deficit, getting the tying goal in the final minute of the second period, and the winner in the first minute of the third period. The rally started, however, thanks to a mental lapse by UNH, when it took a penalty in the offensive zone. Maine -- with the nation's best power play coming in -- scored 22 seconds later. "I think we lost it," UNH coach Dick Umile said to Seacoast Online. "We were playing pretty well in the second period. We took an unnecessary penalty. That was the big turning point right there." Said defenseman Blake Kessel, "We talked about keeping our heads this weekend. It was dumb. It was after the play ... but we've still got to work on killing it off after we get it."
Yale 4, Dartmouth 2
CHN: Billy Blase has been waiting for his chance this season. He has two wins in net for the No. 8 ranked Yale men’s hockey team but has yet to start a game. He made his first appearance at Ingalls Rink this year to start the second period with the Bulldogs trailing by two goals, and the senior goalie stopped the last 18 shots to lead the Bulldogs. Broc Little scored two goals including the game-winner in the second period to increase his team-high total to 17. Bulldogs’ freshman Nick Maricic got the nod in goal and stopped seven of nine shots in the first 20 minutes. “We needed a change,” said Yale coach Keith Allain, a former goalie. “It didn’t look like it was going to be Nick’s night tonight.” ... Blase, who last played (12 min., 3 saves) in a relief role at Brown in a 6-5 OT win on Nov. 21, got hot right away to help Yale make the comeback. “I prepare for every game the same way. There was no way I could know that I would play, but I was ready,” said Blase, the only current Bulldog with a collegiate shutout. “When stuff does hit the fan, I’m ready. It felt pretty natural and I was a little nervous, but I knew I could handle it. They (Yale teammates) played so well in front of me.”
Colgate 3, Princeton 1
CHN: With SLU and RPI tying, Colgate has now creeped up to fifth. Did not think Colgate was quite ready to make another charge this year, but the Raiders are playing well. It's not quite NCAA caliber, as Don Vaughan has achieved with some real good Colgate teams in his tenure, but it's a solid group -- still led by David McIntyre, a Hobey finalist last year.
Alaska-Anchorage 4, St. Cloud State 4
CHN: Trying to snap a 30-game winless streak at St. Cloud, and get a first-ever win at the National Hockey Center, the Seawolves came with 0.1 seconds of doing just that. But that's when Ben Hanowski scored a 6-on-4 goal to break UAA's hearts again. The goal was on the power play, because Nils Backstrom was called for boarding with 22 seconds left. ... Just last week, St. Cloud State was upset at a non-goal call that prevented a win, and led to a reprimand to coach Bob Motzko for his arguing of the play. With that in mind, the Huskies sweated out a video replay, making sure Hanowski's goal was scored in time. It was upheld this time. "We had the power play and got the puck off the draw," Hanowski told the St. Cloud Times. "Their guy fell on it and we kind of poked it out. We got it back up to Raboin and we had it set up for a few shots but they blocked it. ... (Ryan Lasch) got the puck and popped out quick. There were only five seconds left when Lasch rolled (out of) the corner, so I just kind of backed out, thinking 'Shoot!' or maybe get a rebound. The puck happened to come out to me in the right place at the right time." ... Coach Dave Shyiak and his team was highly disappointed: "I think, at the end of the day, fatigue set in. We had a short bench and they had three power plays in the third," he told the Times. "We didn't have that extra jump to block a shot or get a stick on the puck to go for the win … if we don't take (Backstrom's) penalty at the end, it's game-over. Six-on-five is a lot different than 6-on-4."
Alaska 2, Michigan State 0
CHN: Dion Knelsen scored both goals in the game, 1:12 apart in the second period, and the Nanooks limited MSU to just 14 shots. UAF moved into a tie for fourth in the standings, though Michigan has two games in hand. “We came out in the first eight to 10 minute and looked sharp and played pretty well," MSU coach Rick Comley told the Lansing State Journal. “But they tightened it down. They played the big ice well." “We had guys work hard but they might have tried to do too much at an individual level rather than a team level. And we made a couple poor plays in front of the net and they got two goals.’’
Quinnipiac 2, Colgate 0
CHN: Quinnipiac finally stemmed a disheartening 10-game winless. Searching for their first win since Dec. 12 (5-2 against American International), the Bobcats received a stellar performance from goalie Dan Clarke. "We are extremely relieved to get back in the win column," Quinnipiac coach Rand Pecknold said. "The boys are pretty pumped right now. There were a lot of games during this stretch that we should have won and didn't. It's good to get it together." Clarke recorded his second career shutout after holding Colgate scoreless and turning away 26 shots. Clarke stopped 10 in the second period, including a deflection that Colgate head coach Don Vaughan contested went through the net. "It was one his best games," Pecknold said of Clarke. "Clarkie was awesome tonight, he made some big plays. This game was right up there with his game against Ohio State. Clarke has been a little up-and-down lately, but tonight he looked like he did in November."
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