October
19, 2005
Maine Event
By
Jeff Howe
Early-season
records are often useless, especially when a team
has completed less than one-tenth of its actual schedule,
but early indications are beginning to show that Maine
could be the Hockey East favorite. The Black Bears
turned the collective head of the college hockey world
this weekend by sweeping two-time defending champion
Denver in Orono.
Backed
by two standing-room-only crowds, the Black Bears
bullied the Pioneers at Alfond Arena, beating them
5-1 on Friday night and 4-2 on Saturday.
It
was the activity after Friday’s game that had
Maine fans growling, though. To the home crowd, what
looked to be an act of poor sportsmanship by Denver
turned out to be nothing more than a difference of
conference tradition. Hockey East teams line up after
each game to shake the hands of their opponents, but
WCHA teams – who almost always play the same
team twice in a weekend – only do it when the
weekend series has concluded.
So
when goalie Ben Biship and company were on the ice
to pay their respects only to see the Pioneers making
their way to the locker room, all 5,641 in attendance
paid their respects to the Pioneers instead, not necessarily
with all five fingers.
Maine
coach Tim Whitehead didn’t see the situation
as a big deal.
“[Denver
coach] George [Gwozdecky] and I were actually walking
off [the ice] together, and right away he said, ‘You
know, we don’t shake hands after the first game,’
and I said, ‘Hey, don’t worry about it.’
It was really just a misunderstanding. Our players
weren’t fazed by it at all, and I don’t
think [Denver’s] were either.”
What
did faze the Pioneers, though, was the solid play
of Maine’s young defensive group, which started
at the back end with the performance of Bishop, who
saved 38 of 41 chances over the weekend. Bishop has
now been named Hockey East Rookie of the Week twice
in a row.
“We
played defense as a team,” Whitehead said. “We
didn’t rely on a goalie, or our defense or just
our forwards. We got contributions from everybody,
and it did start with our freshman goalie. I thought
Bishop played very well. We tried to limit the scoring
chances against him just to give him the opportunity
to succeed.”
When
the Pioneers did get a scoring chance, Bishop was
there to make the play. Denver’s star forward,
Gabe Gauthier, found a seam in Maine’s defense
on Friday night with the Pioneers trailing 3-1 in
the third period, but Bishop proved to be a royal
pain, as he stopped Gauthier’s point-blank shot
and made sure the defending champs couldn’t
sniff any third-period momentum.
SEEN
AND HEARD IN HOCKEY EAST
The
right foot – New Merrimack coach Mark
Dennehy accomplished something in just one night over
the weekend that former coach Chris Serino couldn’t
achieve during his last few months on the job in North
Andover.
In
his first game on the Warrior bench, Dennehy led his
team to a 3-2 victory over Bowling Green on Friday
night, closing the books on Merrimack’s program
record of 14 consecutive losses. It was the Warriors’
first win in 2005, after dropping every single contest
since their 4-1 triumph over Connecticut on New Year’s
Eve.
To
put things in perspective, Merrimack hadn’t
won a game in 287 days, a streak that fell just shy
of the 301 days it took for the National Hockey League
and its players to reach a tentative agreement to
end the lockout.
So
does this mean that the whole head coaching thing
is really as easy at it may sound to Dennehy, who
for a brief period of time shared the best winning
percentage of any coach in the nation? Well, not really.
“It
was a battle,” Dennehy said. “It took
a lot out of me. I felt like I played the game by
just going through what we went through on the bench,
but hopefully it’s as rewarding down the road
as it is right now. That was a fun game to be a part
of.”
The
fun stopped soon after, though, as Dennehy watched
Michigan put up a touchdown and extra point in the
first period on Sunday before the Warriors fell 9-2
to the Wolverines.
He’ll
take his ups and downs for awhile at Merrimack, as
he took over a team that finished in last place in
Hockey East a year ago, managing to win just one out
of 24 league games. But he knows where his team stands
and that, with one win already out of the way, they
are at least ahead of the curve.
“I’ve
heard from other coaches that you really don’t
get your feet underneath you until after year-two,”
he said. “I’ll have to take their word
for it because I’m not there yet. I think things
are still moving pretty quickly. There are a lot of
things that are not the way I want them to be. I’m
just trying to knock off a couple things a day, a
couple things a week, a couple things a month.”
|
Great Weekend Getaway |
 |
| North
Dakota at New Hampshire (Fri.-Sat.)
If
North Dakota were in Hockey East, the Fighting
Sioux would be in first place with a 2-0 conference
record after knocking around Northeastern twice
last weekend. Either way, if you make it to
the Whittemore Center this weekend, you can
see tournament-quality hockey in October when
No. 12 New Hampshire graciously welcomes the
sixth-ranked Sioux for a pair.
While
You’re There: Check out UNH’s football
team, ranked fifth in the nation in Division
I-AA, which hosts Northeastern at noon on Saturday.
If you’re still looking for some time
to kill between Saturday’s two games,
take a 15-minute cruise to historic Portsmouth,
or stay local and grab a slice at Durham House
of Pizza.
|
| Stick
Salute |
|
This Hockey East thing is easy, isn’t
it, Vermont? One weekend down,
and the Catamounts are already champs. OK, so
they won the Nye Frontier Classic in Alaska
by taking down Michigan Tech, 4-3 in overtime,
and Alaska Anchorage, 2-0, but UVM is the only
team in conference with a championship belt
so far.
|
| Bench
Minor |
|
A lot of teams lose twice in one weekend, but
no one lost twice the way Providence
did during its season-opening road trip. The
Friars spent a combined 98 minutes in the penalty
box against Clarkson and St. Lawrence, and they
allowed seven power-play goals in 24 chances.
At least all of their four-on-five practice
paid off, as they were able to capitalize with
a short-handed tally in Saturday’s loss
at St. Lawrence. |
FRIES
AT THE BOTTOM OF THE BAG
•
Boston College had its four-game winning streak over
Michigan snapped with a 3-2 loss in Ann Arbor on Friday
night. BC’s last loss to Michigan came on April
4, 1998, in the national championship at the FleetCenter.
•
Hockey
East finally found some success against the WCHA over
the weekend, as HEA teams went 4-2 over their interleague
opponents. Maine beat Denver twice, while Vermont
earned its conference stripes with its wins over Michigan
Tech and Alaska-Anchorage. But North Dakota, which
eliminated both Boston University and Boston College
in last year’s NCAA Tournament, toppled Northeastern
twice.
•
Merrimack
snapped more than just its 14-game losing streak on
Friday. It was also the Warriors’ first win
in – count ‘em – 45 games when trailing
at the conclusion of the second period. They were
0-44-1 during the streak that dated back to Jan. 24,
2003.
•
Northeastern
should be happy it didn’t score a single goal
in its season opener against North Dakota on Friday.
The last time NU was blanked on opening night was
in 1987, conveniently the last time the team won the
Hockey East Tournament. Book your tickets to Milwaukee,
Husky fans.
•
If the Minutemen could play Clarkson every night of
the year, some serious scoring records would get shattered.
UMass beat the Golden Knights 6-4 last year and 4-2
on Saturday night. In those two games, captains Matt
Anderson, Stephen Werner and Marvin Degon racked up
nine goals and 10 assists.
•
Vermont’s Brady Leisenring couldn’t have
asked for a better return to the ice after missing
the team’s final 33 games due to injury last
year. Leisenring tallied a pair of goals, including
the overtime game-winner against Michigan Tech on
Friday, and then dished out an assist in UVM’s
2-0 win over Alaska-Anchorage on Saturday. For his
efforts, he was named the Nye Frontier Classic MVP
and Hockey East Player of the Week.
•
It appears
that Maine’s offense packs a little more punch
than it’s given credit for. Trailing Denver
1-0 in the second period on Friday, the Black Bears
scored two goals in a 41-second span to claim the
lead. In the third period, Maine put home another
pair in 34 seconds. In their 3-1 win over Air Force
on Oct. 7, the Bears clawed their way for two lamp
lighters in an 87-second span.
•
Twenty-second
birthdays are typically more depressing than anything,
serving as a reminder that 21 is long gone, and 30
is inevitably on its way. But on Friday, Oct. 21,
it will mark the 22nd anniversary of Hockey East naming
Lou Lamoriello its first commissioner. Since the league’s
inception in 1983, Hockey East has expanded from four
to 10 teams, received 63 NCAA Tournament bids, seen
28 teams make it to the Frozen Four and won four national
championships.
A
variety of sources were utilized in the compilation
of this report.
