February
1, 2007 What's
Cook-in'? How About the Purps?
By
Warren Kozireski
Sophomore Ted Cook continued his torrid pace
scoring with three power-play goals and goaltender Juliano
Pagliero stopped 72 of 77 shots as Niagara swept Wayne State
last weekend to leapfrog idle Bemidji State back into first
place in the College Hockey America standings.
CHA
Notebook
Niagara
sophomore forward Ted Cook set the school's record for
power-play goals in a season last weekend, and tied
the marks for total goals in a season and career PPGs.
In just his second season, Cook broke the
school's single-season mark for power play goals (16 and
counting), tied the record for career power-play goals (27)
and is now tied for the top spot for goals in a season (26
and counting). And all with eight regular season games remaining.
“Before the season, I told the coaches
I would like to have the (power play) record. I guess things
are just going my way,” said Cook. We haven’t
won anything yet and we don’t have an auto-bid or
anything like that. If we take a night off, we’re
done. We want to win the regular-season championship and
... our tournament, but without the effort, we won’t
take it.”
The Purple Eagles continue to ascend the national
rankings having entered the top 15 in the USA Hockey
Magazine/USA Today poll for the first time this season
— Niagara debuted at no. 15 — and moving up
one position to no. 14 in this week's INCH Power Rankings.
“Overall, the weekend wasn’t one
of our more complete efforts, but we still won just the
same,” said Niagara coach Dave Burkholder. “(Cook)
is just a gifted player around the cage. He’s a goal
scorer and you can’t teach that — he just has
it and it’s been special.
"Our power play with Sean Bentivoglio
and Les Reaney with Pat Oliveto and Chris Moran at the top
really compliment him. It’s a group of five, but Ted
is the money guy around the net.”
In winning the second game of the series,
Niagara's big five didn’t need to be involved in the
scoring. Egor Mironov registered his first three-point game
as a collegian (two goals and an assist) and Vince Rocco
tied his career high with three points.
Niagara is still undefeated at Dwyer Arena
this season.
SEEN AND HEARD IN CHA
I want you to want me: As
first reported by James Jahnke in last week's INCH CCHA
Notebook, Wayne State has officially presented a proposal
to the CCHA to join the league.
“We have officially made a proposal
to join the league for the 2008-09 season and sent a letter
of application,” said coach Bill Wilkinson. “We
have not gotten any reaction or been given a timetable,
but I expect it will be on the agenda for the spring meetings
in Florida — at least I hope so. I don’t expect
anything until then.”
Also in the column, CCHA commissioner Tom
Anastos commented on the future of College Hockey America.
“I think that is one issue that will
percolate a little as we look to the future," Anastos
said. "Our feeling has always been that we want to
do anything we can to help the CHA stay together, because,
without it, it will be difficult to grow college hockey.
"Last April, some of us went to the NCAA
Hockey Committee to draw up some legislation that would
give the committee authority to grant the CHA an automatic
bid to the NCAA tournament even with fewer than six teams,
which would allow it to continue to operate. I’m not
sure that that legislation has gone all the way through
the NCAA yet, but it has at least been passed at a few levels,
so that’s all good news. But that said, many of those
CHA programs are concerned about their long-term viability
and have started to look around … but our preference
is to see the CHA stay together.”
Wandering eyes: Huge scoreboard-watching
weekend in CHA with first-place Niagara at third-place Robert
Morris and second-place Bemidji State at fourth-place Alabama-Huntsville.
The Purps split with the Colonials last time
there with the two teams combining for 18 goals over the
two games. Bemidji State swept the Chargers in mid-December,
but both were one-goal affairs if you disregard the empty-netter
in game two.
Wayne State entertains
the U.S Under-18 National Team for a single game Friday.
FRIES AT THE BOTTOM OF THE BAG
Great Weekend Getaway
Bemidji
State at Alabama-Huntsville (Fri.-Sat.) Toss-up here. Is it the 1 vs 3 matchup of
Niagara vs. Robert Morris or no. 2 Bemidji State vs.
no. 4 Alabama-Huntsville? The first two times they
met resulted in one-goal games (excluding an ENG)
so it’s BSU-UAH.
While you’re there: The temperature
won’t get out of the 40s, which is still better
than the 12 degrees the Beavers left in northern Minnesota.
So check out the "Vision for Space Exploration
Experience Dome" at the NASA complex. The Dome
allows museum visitors to travel to the moon and Mars
by surrounding them with floor-to-ceiling projection
screens depicting the journey and the landscape of
the celestial bodies. This gives "explorers"
the illusion of walking on these vast and diverse
environments of our solar system.
Stick
Salute
It's the second
week in a row in this spot for Niagara’s
Ted Cook, but we can’t ignore three team
records he broke or tied last weekend.
Bench
Minor
Alabama-Huntsville
senior forward Dominik Rozman's untimely tripping
penalty in overtime Saturday led to Western Michigan’s
game-winning goal. The loss negated a gallant UAH
third-period comeback , which included two goals in
the final 90 seconds of regulation.
• Alabama-Huntsville senior Steve Cantor
set a personal best with his 10th goal of the season against
Western Michigan Saturday.
• The Chargers seven seniors have accounted
for 55 percent of the team’s points (106) versus 45
percent (86) for the other 15 skaters.
• Robert Morris has allowed seven goals
in a game three times this season, including to Niagara,
this week’s opponent, back in November.
• With two starts last weekend, Brett
Bothwell is the first Wayne State freshman goaltender since
David Guerrera in 1999-2000 to lead the team in appearances.
• Bemidji State is two for two this
season in the first game of a series following a bye weekend.
Both wins came on the road. Guess where the Beavers play
Alabama-Huntsville Friday?
• Should Niagara sweep Robert Morris
this weekend, it would give them a six-game winning streak,
the team's longest since a seven-game run early in the 2001-02
season.
• Alabama-Huntsville freshman goaltender
Blake MacNicol, who joined the team last month, played his
first period Friday against Western Michigan. MacNicol,
who came to UAH from Bay State of the Eastern Junior Hockey
League, allowed one goal on three shots.
• Statistical oddity: The league's top
two teams, Niagara and Bemidji State, each have allowed
29 goals in conference games. The other three teams —
Robert Morris, Alabama-Huntsville and Wayne State —
have each allowed 46 goals in CHA play.
A variety
of sources were utilized in the compilation of this report.
Warren Kozireski can be reached at warrenkozireski@yahoo.com.
