October
13, 2005
Eager Beavers
By
Inside College Hockey Staff
| INCH
National Notebook |
|
With
a limited slate last weekend, Inside College
Hockey offers a national notebook this week.
Check back next week for conference notebooks. |
Bemidji
State’s weekend sweep at Minnesota Duluth could
be termed an historic occasion. It was Beavers’
first-ever sweep of a WCHA opponent – in fact,
BSU entered the series with an all-time record of
3-42-3 against WCHA foes in six years of Division
I hockey.
Everyone
seems to be impressed by Bemidji State’s accomplishment
except for coach Tom Serratore, who is having an arduous
time understanding what the hullabaloo is all about.
“It’s
not bad, [but] we’ve been at this long enough,”
he said. “We’ve played a lot of good hockey
teams. Anytime you get a sweep on the road you are
happy, I don’t care who it is against. We won
on the road Friday…you always want to get the
one bale of hay, and we got two bales of hay. It’s
a great bonus for us.
“We’ve
been around a long time now. Our guys have played
in a lot of big games and have beaten a lot of good
teams. It’s bigger for [the media] to talk about
than us actually, you know.”
 |
| Ryan
Huddy had a pair of assists in Bemidji State's
sweep at Minnesota Duluth last weekend. |
Despite
what Serratore says, many are taking note of his team’s
performance. In Friday’s game, BSU jumped out
to a surprising 3-0 lead after two periods, but the
Beavers knew a storm was coming.
“It
was a snowstorm,” said Serratore, whose team
was outshot 21-4 in the final period but held on for
a 3-2 win behind goaltender Matt Climie. “We
weathered it and won the game.”
The
following night, the Beavers broke open a tight game
with two goals in the final five minutes of the second
period, and added another in the third period en route
to a 5-1 win. Layne Sedevie was steady in net, finishing
with 24 saves.
“We
have some good goaltenders,” Serratore said.
“It was good to see that they both kind of stood
tall this past weekend.”
Bemidji
State gets a second chance at the WCHA this weekend
-- the Beavers host Minnesota State, Mankato. Serratore
did not remind his players about the perils of a letdown.
“They
know,” he said. “I shouldn’t have
to tell them those type of things. The bottom line
is, you follow the same approach every practice and
every game – you work your hardest and you work
smart. They understand the maturity they have to have
and the approach they need for each and every game.”
--
Thomas Baldwin
COLORADO
GOAL RUSH
Seeing
Brett Sterling tied for the WCHA scoring lead after
one weekend of play isn’t surprising. But to
see the Colorado College star tied with sophomore
Derek Patrosso, and not Hobey Baker Award-winning
linemate Marty Sertich, may be somewhat unexpected.
That
is indeed the case after Patrosso, playing on the
wing with Sterling and Sertich, notched four goals
and an assist (matching Sterling’s 2-3-5) in
his team’s Ice Breaker Tournament wins over
Union and Maine in Colorado Springs last weekend.
He was named the WCHA’s Offensive Player of
the Week for his efforts. The two-goals-per-game pace
is quite a departure for the winger from suburban
Detroit, who put up just two goals in 35 games as
a rookie.
The
cynic might write Patrosso off as the latest recipient
of the David Hukalo Award, named for the Wisconsin
forward with the good fortune to be placed on a line
with Steve Reinprecht and Dany Heatley in 2000. But
Patrosso’s senior linemates (both of whom are
5-8) are already benefiting from having the sophomore
and his 6-1 frame on the ice with them.
 |
| Colorado
College forward Derek Patrosso scored four goals
in two Ice Breaker Tournament wins, doubling his
total from last season (Casey Gibson photo). |
“It’s
definitely nice to have that big body out there to
win battles in the corners and kick the puck out to
Brett and me,” said Sertich, who had one assist
in the Tigers’ opening weekend. “Derek
seems a little thicker overall and may have gained
a step over the summer.”
After
a rookie year that was both exhilarating (winning
a share of the WCHA title and making it to the Frozen
Four) and frustrating (missing seven games with a
concussion and watching all but a few shifts of the
Tigers’ game at the Frozen from the bench),
Patrosso spent the summer at home in Northville, Mich.,
working on his speed and strength and playing shinny
hockey with friends. After two games and a doubling
of his freshman year goal production, it’s hard
to argue with the results.
“I
worked a lot on my shot and on my leg strength so
I could take more of a pounding in front of the net,”
Patrosso said. “As fun as last season was, only
playing two or three shifts at the Frozen Four makes
you definitely motivated to work harder and get more
intensity.”
He
played on a line with Sterling and Sertich for six
games as a freshman before the aforementioned concussion
kept him out of the lineup for much of January. Patrosso
credits the team trainers for getting him back on
the ice and denies that the injury messed up his rookie
campaign.
“I
wasn’t exactly on fire before it happened, so
in some ways it might have even been good for me,”
he said.
With
a visit by highly touted Ohio State up next for the
Tigers and a spate of injuries keeping several key
players in street clothed, there will be no letup
in the pressure on that top line to keep scoring.
Patrosso says the numbers aren’t important as
long as he knows he’s playing the role that’s
designed for him.
--
Jess Myers
JUSTIN-FICATION
Maybe
it was apropos that freshman Justin Abdelkader scored
the first goal of Michigan State’s season. The
rookie’s success might signal better times ahead
for the Spartans.
After
missing the NCAA Tournament in two of Rick Comley’s
first three seasons as coach, MSU started off Year
4 with an impressive, 3-0 shutout of North Dakota
at the Lefty McFadden Invitational last weekend in
Dayton, Ohio. Coupled with an event-opening 5-1 win
over Wayne State -- which included Abdelkader’s
pretty backhand tally in the first period –
the Spartans are 2-0-0 for the first time since 1997.
Comley
has made it a point to tell anyone who will listen
that he doesn’t expect the freshman class to
carry much of the burden right away. He’s especially
cognizant of Abdelkader’s situation. Just two
years ago, Abdelkader was playing high school hockey
for Muskegon Mona Shores on Michigan’s western
coast. Since then, he played one season of junior
hockey for Cedar Rapids (USHL), was drafted in the
second round by his home-state Red Wings and now is
the cornerstone of Michigan State’s rookie class.
“Everything’s
a whirlwind for the kid, so I think he has to be careful
about expectations,” said Comley, who compares
Abdelkader to former MSU standout Jim Slater, now
in his rookie season with the Atlanta Thrashers. “When
I see him around, it’s just kind of that shy,
meek little smile right now. But he plays with great
passion, and he’s going to be a really good
player.”
Abdelkader,
for his part, said he doesn’t feel any pressure
to produce.
“We
all have a lot to prove this season,” the 6-foot-1,
195-pound power forward said. “The guys said
they didn’t have as good of a season last year
as maybe they should have, so we knew we needed to
start good right away. Beating North Dakota might
have put us on the map.”
--
James Jahnke
BOSTON’S
RINK ROUNDUP
His
name is synonymous with college hockey in the Northeast,
and it is now emblazoned on the ice at Boston University’s
Agganis Arena forever.
BU
held a ceremony for legendary coach Jack Parker last
Thursday to unveil the new Jack Parker Rink logo.
More than 1,000 people were in attendance, among them
former players and a handful of local celebrities.
Comedian Denis Leary, the featured speaker, took part
in a roast of Parker. So did current Massachusetts
coach Don Cahoon, who played for and coached with
Parker in the 1970s – he was, in fact, Parker’s
first assistant coach.
“He
was 28 and I was 24,” Cahoon said. “Talk
about two guys who are wet behind the ears, and we’re
coaching a program that is legitimately a top-four
program and won despite ourselves. It was fun to be
able to take a look back 30-some-odd years later and
poke fun at each other.”
Meanwhile,
Boston College, which was 11-1-5 in front of its home
fans last year, failed to score against St. Thomas
(New Brunswick) in an exhibition match Friday. It
wasn’t the visitors keeping BC off the scoreboard,
however. It was Mother Nature -- she stormed though
New England late last week, bringing with her unexpected
humidity which caused dense fog to hang over the Conte
Forum ice. The game had to be called off, preventing
the Eagles from getting a game under their collective
belt prior to their regular season opener at Michigan
Friday.
--
Jeff Howe
FRIES AT THE BOTTOM OF THE BAG
•
One of the question marks facing the Colgate
Raiders was how sophomore Mark Dekanich would
perform in goal following the graduation of Steve
Silverthorn. Dekanich looked very solid in his season
debut, especially early in the game. He made his best
saves when the game was still scoreless, and Colgate
eventually built a big lead.
"I
thought he played great in the first period,"
Colgate coach Don Vaughan said. "You don't have
to make all of the saves, you just have to make the
right ones and he turned the game in our favor at
that point."
Dekanich finished the game with 32 saves.
• Massachusetts-Lowell head coach Blaise
MacDonald succinctly summarized his team's effort
following their season-opening loss to Colgate.
"We
didn't have one guy play well, which is very disappointing
given the experience that we have and how many big
situations we've been in and been successful in,"
MacDonald said.
Of the 19 players that saw action in the 6-2 loss,
16 were juniors and seniors. The River Hawks rebounded
from that loss with a 5-3 win over Rensselaer on Sunday.
•
Unlikely as it may sound, the graduation of the likes
of Jamie Holden, Frank Novello, Simon St. Pierre and
Bryan Worosz seems to have left no shortage
of goaltending talent in Atlantic Hockey.
Filling their skates, among others, is a pair of freshmen
who accounted for the league’s two victories
last weekend.
Dan
Giffin figures to take over for Worosz at Canisius.
He stopped 38 shots, including 19 in the third period,
to lead the Griffins to a 6-4 win over Robert Morris
in Sunday’s opener. Tyler Small, who should
compete with incumbent Mike Ella for time at Mercyhurst,
made 41 saves in the Lakers’ 5-2 win at Michigan
Tech.
“I
think you've got to give their goaltender a lot of
credit,” Michigan Tech head coach Jamie Russell
told the Daily Mining Gazette. “I think
he played a heckuva game. We had a number of grade
A scoring chances.”
•
The sound you heard emanating from Orono over the
weekend was that of a deep, satisfying sigh of relief
as Maine kicked off the post-Jimmy Howard
era. Though the Black Bears split its two
games at the Ice Breaker, the positives greatly outweighed
the negatives for the goalie tandem of Matt Lundin
and Ben Bishop. Lundin stopped 11 shots in Maine’s
3-1 victory over Air Force on Friday, and Bishop earned
Hockey East rookie of the week honors for making 34
saves in a 3-2 overtime loss in the loss to Colorado
College Saturday.
•
Much of the reason that the WCHA sports such an impressive
overall record versus the other conferences as of
late is due to the work of Colorado College. With
last weekend’s non-conference wins, the
Tigers are 15-0-3 in their last 18 games against non-WCHA
foes. CC’s last loss to a team outside
the conference came on March 30, 2003, when they fell
to Michigan in the NCAA Midwest Regional final in
Ann Arbor.
•
Speaking of the Tigers, another morsel on the weekend
slate of delicious non-conference matchups is a high-altitude,
top-10 showdown between Ohio State and Colorado College.
Buckeyes coach John Markell said he’s
not worried about OSU’s mindset going
into a season as the CCHA favorite for the first time.
“You
want to win something,” Markell explained. “What
did we win last year? Nothing. Making the (NCAA) Tournament
-- hell, all we did was get frustrated there again.
We didn’t win our Christmas tournament, we didn’t
win the league championship, we didn’t win the
playoff championship, we didn’t win our first
game in the NCAAs. I think that’s lingering
in the guys’ minds. Yeah, we had a great year,
but we want to win.”
•
It’s reunion weekend around the CCHA.
Boston College bench boss Jerry York takes his Eagles
to Bowling Green – where he coached 15 seasons
and won the 1984 national title – on Saturday
for the first time in nearly a decade. The Eagles
also play at Michigan on Friday, while Hockey East’s
Merrimack plays the same teams in reverse order. It
will be “just like the ACC/Big Ten Challenge
in basketball,” York told the Bowling Green
Sentinel-Tribune. Also Saturday, Western Michigan
hosts Robert Morris, which is coached by former Broncos
defenseman Derek Schooley. Finally, Alaska Fairbanks
visits Minnesota for a pair of games against former
coach Don Lucia (at UAF from 1987-93).
•
Northern Michigan will be without defenseman
Zach Tarkir during Friday’s series
opener against visiting St. Cloud State. Tarkir is
suspended after receiving a game disqualification
for fighting in an exhibition against York last weekend.
•
Prior to beating North Dakota, Michigan State downed
Wayne State, 5-1, at the Lefty McFadden Invitational.
The game got off to an auspicious start for the Warriors,
however, when Jason Baclig scored nine seconds
after the opening faceoff. That was the last
goal Wayne State scored during the weekend –
they were blanked by Miami Sunday – and it’ll
be a while before the Warriors can attempt to double
that total. Though they have a pair of exhibition
matches scheduled, Sunday’s loss marked the
start of a 19-day period before Wayne State next plays
for keeps (at Clarkson Oct. 28-28).
•
Rochester Insititute of Technology’s
first Division I action will come in the
home of the team the Tigers will replace in Atlantic
Hockey – Quinnipiac. The Bobcats host the Q
Cup, which also features Air Force and Bentley, at
the Northford Ice Pavilion, their home rink during
their time in Atlantic Hockey. Now in the ECACHL,
Quinnipiac will play its league home games elsewhere
this season while a new rink is constructed on campus.
•
The Battle for Buffalo isn’t
between Jim’s Steakout and the Anchor Bar over
who has the best wings. In college hockey it pits
Canisius and Niagara, and the two neighbors –
who are in different leagues – will play their
only game this season on Friday night at Canisius.
A
variety of sources were utilized in the compilation
of this report.