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PLAYER OF THE WEEK
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Ostergard stole the show against Miami.
BROOKS OSTERGARD
Robert Morris
So. | G | Chagrin Falls, Ohio
His Statistics: 2 GP, 2-0-0, 1.00 GAA, .975 save pct.
His Impact: The sophomore goalie for Robert Morris was at his best this weekend in helping the Colonials to a pair of victories over previously top-ranked Miami. In Friday’s game at Mellon Arena, home of the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins, Ostergard made 39 saves and allowed just a power-play goal in a 3-1 win.
Sunday in Oxford, Ohio, Ostergard stopped 38 Miami shots and again was only beaten by a power-play goal. He made 14 saves in the third period when the Colonials were protecting their 2-1 lead, which held up as the final margin.
Ostergard was named First Star of the game after both wins. For the season he has a 4-9-21 record in 17 games with a .907 save percentage and 3.43 goals-against average.
His Runners-Up: Bobby Butler, New Hampshire; Brandon Coccimiglio, Mercyhurst; Mike Connolly, Minnesota Duluth; Mike Embach, Ferris State; Allan York, Rensselaer
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STICK SALUTE
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There were a lot of impressive visuals from Fenway Park over the last two weeks when a hockey rink was built on the famous baseball ground and hosted a number of hockey events. When Boston University and Boston College took the ice on Friday night, our initial reaction was being overwhelmingly impressed by the special sweaters worn by the BU Terriers.
The font on front resembled that worn by the Boston Red Sox on their home jerseys, and the hanging skates shoulder-patch tribute to the Red Sox’ alternate logo was a particular fitting touch. The design was almost entirely the idea of head coach Jack Parker, as the Terriers used to wear warm-up jackets with a similar font in the late-1980s and early-1990s. He and equipment manager Mike DiMella worked with some of the team’s equipment providers to make the vision a reality. And if you’re hoping to get your hands on one … too bad. The idea behind the special design was so that the team members would always have something to hold on to and remember the experience.
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BENCH MINOR
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We understand that people tend to think their own little corner of the world is the best there is, but sometimes that provincialism can be a bit misguided. Take Massachusetts House Speaker Robert DeLeo, for example, who, in the afterglow of the NHL Winter Classic at Fenway Park earlier this month, was prepared to lobby the league to have the event in Beantown every year. The notion was quickly shot down by NHL brass.
Fenway is one-of-a-kind setting and the Winter Classic certainly benefited from the aura surrounding the venerable ballpark, but suggesting the event should be permanently housed in Boston is a disservice to the cities that have hosted the Winter Classic in the past as well as those poised to host it in the future.
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SAY WHAT?
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“I was a little smarter than he was. I gave my gold to my mom.”
Wisconsin sophomore defenseman Jake Gardiner, a member of the U.S. team that won first place at last week’s IIHF World Junior Championship, wisely sent his hardware home to suburban Minneapolis with his family following the tournament’s conclusion.
The U.S. team captain and Gardiner’s Badger teammate, forward Derek Stepan, planned on toting his medal back to Madison. The bauble went AWOL, however, when the airline lost his luggage. Fortunately, the bag and the medal showed up a couple days later unharmed.
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RANKINGS OUTRAGE
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Miami must have fostered a heaping helping of goodwill with poll voters somewhere, because the RedHawks managed to drop just one spot to second place in both the USA Hockey Magazine/USA Today and USCHO.com polls despite managing a total of two goals in a pair of losses to Robert Morris, a team that entered the weekend series in the throes of a nine-game winless streak and hadn’t won consecutive games all season.
That the RedHawks only managed to score twice in 120 minutes against the Colonials is even more troubling (or impressive, depending on your perspective) given the fact that RMU ranks 54th among the 58 Division I teams in scoring defense, allowing an average of 3.75 goals per game, and ranks 52nd in penalty killing success rate.
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TWEET OF THE WEEK
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@evalois What we learned yesterday? Defense, not defence, wins games. #wjc
http://twitter.com/evalois/status/7445063437
Similarities outnumber differences between Canada and the United States, but last Tuesday they seemed a world away, something a Toronto-based newspaper editor captured with this tweet. The World Junior Championship gold medal game was the most watched show in the history of TSN, Canada’s ESPN, while ESPN itself could barely mention it. Don Cherry later dismissed the result as USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program manufacturing a triumph over Canada’s natural superiority in the sport.
Whatever the rest of the United States’ interest was, the college hockey world watched with great interest as the Americans - including 11 current college players - upset the five-time defending champions. Team USA’s win was a source of great pride - and bragging rights throughout campus locker rooms populated by both American and Canadian players.
