January
27, 2005
Bill
of Goods
By
Mike Eidelbes
Maybe it’s
because he plays at Nebraska-Omaha, a CCHA outpost more than 500
miles from its closest competitor. Maybe it’s because the
Mavs’ schedule kept them away from spotlight destinations
Ann Arbor and Columbus and sent them to East Lansing the same
weekend the Michigan State football team played at Michigan, relegating
the Spartan icers to the back pages. Maybe it’s because
his name makes him sound like a CPA instead of the nation’s
highest scoring freshman.
Why
haven’t we heard about Bill Thomas until now?
Thomas
is a big reason UNO is vying for one of the six home-ice berths
in the first round of the league playoffs. With 32 points (12
goals and 20 assists) in 24 games, the Pittsburgh native is tied
for third in the CCHA in scoring. More importantly, his play –
and that of the Mavs’ other young guns – has renewed
optimism around a still-young program that saw its fortunes sag
during the last two seasons.
“Like
any team, we wanted home ice in the playoffs and to play for the
CCHA championship,” Thomas said. “Those were the biggest
goals.
"We’re in fourth place now – we’d have
home ice advantage if the season ended today – and we’re
making strides.”
That
the Mavericks, who won a total of eight games and five in the
league last season, are serious contenders for an upper division
finish speaks volumes to the quality and character of the young
team coach Mike Kemp has assembled. The talented freshman class
has contributed greatly to the turnaround, but Thomas says the
group’s maturity has been just as important.
“Even
though we are freshmen, there are a few of us who are 21,”
said Thomas, who spent two seasons with the USHL’s Tri-City
Storm prior to enrolling at Nebraska-Omaha. “A lot of younger
players might be more emotional about wins and losses, or worried
about how they’re playing individually instead of how well
the team’s doing. Our young guys are team players.”
For
the most part, Thomas has avoided the streaks and slumps that
most freshmen endure. In fact, his longest scoring drought came
earlier this month when he went three straight games without recording
a point. In an effort to jump start the offense, Kemp reunited
Thomas with his former Tri-City linemate and UNO’s leading
scorer from a year ago, sophomore Scott Parse.
“Scott’s
one of the best players I’ve played with in my career,”
said Thomas, who rooms with Parse on the road. “He sees
the ice really well and creates opportunities for me when I’m
out there.”
Thomas
has gotten so many opportunities that he’s poised to break
UNO’s freshman scoring record his linemate set last season
when he tallied 35 points. He doesn’t expect Parse to withhold
the puck as the season winds down.
“He
mentioned [the record] to me when we were in Miami,” Thomas
said. “He asked me how many points I had, and he told me
last year when he was getting close [the fans] had a countdown
for it. I don’t think he’s going to get upset if I
beat it.”
SEEN
AND HEARD IN THE CCHA
MSU
finds its lines: Highlighting Michigan State’s
three-point weekend against Lake Superior State was the performance
of a new line combination for the Spartans. Coach Rick Comley
put junior forward David Booth between sophomore Tom Goebel and
freshman Bryan Lerg, and the unit paid dividends almost immediately.
The trio – led by Lerg’s first career hat trick –
combined for five goals and four assists in Friday’s 8-0
romp over the Lakers. In Saturday’s 2-2 draw, they were
clearly the Spartans’ best line, playing with confidence
and generating a number of prime scoring opportunities. Booth
was particularly effective, scoring a beautiful second-period
goal and nearly ending the game in overtime only to see his shot
from the slot hit the crossbar.
“I think our skills complement each other,” Booth
said. “We’ve got very good speed and we just clicked.”
At 5-8, the pesky Goebel is deceptively strong on his skates and
a terrific playmaker. Lerg, meanwhile, is showning signs of the
offensive ability that made him a heralded recruit. Booth is the
most dangerous of the three – he can use his speed to beat
a defender wide and deke the goalie on one shift, then scrap in
front of the net for a rebound the next.
“At the end, the play he made when he hit the crossbar…that’s
a man’s play,” raved Lake Superior State coach Frank
Anzalone. “The [second-period] goal…that’s a
man’s play. He did a great job in this series.”
The emergence of the Lerg-Booth-Goebel line couldn’t come
at a better time for the MSU, whose hopes of an NCAA Tournament
berth are iffy at best. With three capable forward units, defending
the Spartans becomes even tougher.
“We’ll be very effective on the score sheet the more
we play together,” Booth said.”
You gotta have heart: Outside the visiting locker
room at Munn Ice Arena Saturday, Anzalone was effusive in his
praise not only of Booth, but also his team. One night after getting
demolished by the Spartans, the Lakers thoroughly frustrated the
hosts with a patient, physical brand of hockey that has them on
the way to their best record since 1999-2000.
“One point, at this point, is very valuable to us,”
said Anzalone. “You have to be happy with that, but I’m
happier about the way our kids played.”
When
the Lakers are in position to play their style of game –
something they couldn’t do after falling behind early to
MSU Friday – opponents can be assured of a miserable night
due to a combination of neutral zone trapping and a physical,
grinding approach.
“They’re
big and strong,” Comley said. “They trap, and they
wear on you. You could tell right away it was going to be a different
hockey game."
Indeed,
the Spartans appeared to give in to lethargy as Saturday’s
contest progressed. The Lakers shook off a slow start –
they took three quick penalties and gave up a goal in the first
four minutes of the first period – and methodically and
systematically battered MSU.
Momentum, which began to sway in the second period as LSSU got
goals by Matt Restoule and Trent Campbell, peaked during the first
shift of the final period. The Lakers’ forward line of Restoule,
Steve McJannett and Nathan Ward held the puck in the MSU end for
90 seconds, winning every key battle along the boards and generating
a handful of scoring opportunities.
“That
was signs of great things for the future,” Anzalone said
of Saturday’s performance. “Big heart players can
compete with anybody. They might not always win, but they’ll
always be there.”
| Great
Weekend Getaway |
 |
| Northern
Michigan at Michigan (Fri.-Sat.)
This two-game set pits the CCHA’s leader
in scoring offense (Michigan averages 4.31 goals per game)
against the league’s stingiest scoring defense (Northern
Michigan allows 2.17 goals per game). Yost Ice Arena offers
the best home-ice advantage in the conference, but the Wildcats
have been impervious to its effects – they own a respectable
8-9-0 all-time against the Wolverines in Ann Arbor. Michigan
has won five in a row against NMU, but the ‘Cats had
won the five before that.
While you’re there: Two games not enough for you?
If so, make the drive across metro Detroit to the northeastern
suburb of Fraser, home of the United Hockey League’s
Motor City Mechanics. The team, coached by erstwhile NHL
veteran Garry Unger, entertains the Kalamazoo Wings Sunday
afternoon. Both rosters feature a sprinkling of ex-CCHA
standouts, most notably Wings’ goaltender Chad Alban,
who was an All-American and Hobey Baker Award finalist at
Michigan State.
|
|
Stick
Salute |
|
In this writer’s opinion,
seven bucks is a lot to pay for parking at a college hockey
game. But on a frigid January evening at Michigan State,
you’ll fork over the dough without batting an eye
when a bus picks you up at the lot and drops you
at the Munn Ice Arena doors. It’s still expensive,
but it beats losing a fingertip to frostbite.
|
|
Bench
Minor |
|
The
honor goes to Michigan State captain Jim Slater
and his skewed sense of geography, based on an
exchange that took place with LSSU coach Frank Anzalone
as the Spartans and Lakers lined up for handshakes following
Saturday’s game.
“[Slater]
said, ‘Have a great flight back,” said Anzalone,
whose team buses to every road game other than Alaska-Fairbanks.
“We’ve got them fooled. He didn’t mean
anything facetious. He thought we flew [to East Lansing].”
|
FRIES
AT THE BOTTOM OF THE BAG
• What do you get when you bring together
two top-15 hockey teams that just happen to have the
utmost disdain for one another? If it’s Michigan-Ohio State,
you get record-setting attendance figures. 14,777 fans spun the
Value City Arena turnstiles Friday to witness the host Buckeyes
beat the visiting Wolverines, 4-1, which was the fourth-best turnout
for a hockey game in OSU history. Incidentally, the top four largest
hockey crowds at Value City Arena have occurred when the Bucks
hosted the Wolverines.
• Notre
Dame also broke an attendance record this weekend…sort
of. In spite of a winter storm that ravaged the Chicagoland area,
8,173 hearty souls trekked to Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Ill.,
to watch the Fighting Irish drop a 2-0 decision to non-conference
opponent Wisconsin. Attendance for the game, which was technically
a Notre Dame home game, could’ve been nearly 50 percent
larger had weather not been a factor, as there were more than
3,000 no-shows.
• The
Irish suffered identical 2-0 shutouts in the series against
Wisconsin last weekend, the first time the team had been blanked
on consecutive nights since Feb. 12-13, 1999, when Notre Dame
dropped a pair of 1-0 contests to Michigan State and Ferris State,
respectively.
• Does
anyone else find it ironic that Nebraska-Omaha will shuffle
over to the Omaha Civic Auditorium – better known
as ‘The Bullpen’ – for a non-conference series
against Wayne State this weekend because the Qwest Center hosts
a rodeo? ‘The Bullpen’ served as the home of the Mavericks
from 1997-2003. No word whether UNO will wear throwback uniforms
from their inaugural season.
• The
American Hockey League announced the rosters for the 2005
AHL All-Star Game, scheduled for Valentine’s Day
in Manchester, N.H. Former CCHA players selected to appear include
Andy Hilbert (Michigan/Providence Bruins), Ryan Kesler (Ohio State/Manitoba
Moose), Andrew Hutchinson (Michigan State/Milwaukee Admirals)
and Ryan Miller (Michigan State/Rochester Americans). The quartet
will suit up for the PlanetUSA squad comprised of American- and
foreign-born players. Only one ex-CCHAer – Mike Cammalleri
(Michigan/Manchester Monarchs) – was named to the Canadian
AHL team.
• Without
looking, name the three CCHA teams that have winning records
both at home and on the road. Two are fairly easy –
Michigan (10-1-1 home, 6-2-0 road) and Ohio State (9-2-0 home,
6-3-2 road). How about the third? If you guessed Bowling Green
State University (5-4-1 home, 5-4-1 road), give yourself a hearty
pat on the back.
A
variety of sources were utilized in the compilation of this report
