| PLAYER OF THE WEEK |
JACQUES LAMOUREUX
Air Force
Sr. | F | Grand Forks, N.D.
His Statistics: 2 GP, 4-1–5, 3 PPG, GWG
His Impact: Lamoureux factored on five of Air Force’s seven goals in a tie and win against Canisius. He had two goals and an assist in Friday’s 4-4 tie, and he scored two goals in a span of 1:56 in the third period Saturday. The second of those two goals stood up as the game-winner in a 3-2 victory.
Lamoureux leads Air Force with 13 goals and 28 points this season.
Air Force has also moved into decent position in the Atlantic Hockey playoff race. They’re in fourth place, just one point behind Robert Morris and two points back of Niagara. Air Force is 3-1-3 in its last six games.
His Runners-Up: Chase Balisy, Western Michigan; Michael Dorr, Minnesota State; Paul Thompson, New Hampshire; Allen York, Rensselaer
The INCH Player of the Week is brought to you by The INCH Shop.
| STICK SALUTE |
Alabama-Huntsville hasn’t had a lot of success this season but got its biggest win of the campaign Saturday at Nebraska-Omaha. Freshman goalie Clarke Saunders did his part in the victory. He made 58 saves and helped foil eight UNO power plays. Sebastian Geoffrion scored the winning goal 29 seconds into overtime to give the Chargers a 2-1 win.
| BENCH MINOR |
We’ll give the CCHA credit for trying to generate some buzz, although we’re not sure what the league is trying to accomplish by adding the slogan “Hockey in the D” as part of the conference’s playoff championship at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit next month. Maybe it sounds hip? Perhaps the CCHA should appeal to fans disgruntled with the sight lines for the 2010 Frozen Four at Ford Field by calling the Joe Louis event “Hockey You Can See”.
| SAY WHAT? |
Perhaps we should change this item this week to “David Ramsey Says What?” — that’s the title of the blog belonging to the thusly-named Colorado Springs Gazette sports columnist. In his most recent post, Ramsey takes exception to North Dakota fans shouting “Sioux!” instead of “brave” at the end of the national anthem.
Wrote Ramsey: “Guess the actual words of the anthem aren’t quite good enough for North Dakota fans … even if this behavior offends and saddens those who care about our great country and its great anthem.”
INCH doesn’t have a problem with this practice, but understands it’s a delicate subject with some folks. We wonder if Ramsey objected to fans at the 1991 NHL All-Star Game in Chicago drowning out the national anthem with cheers in support of U.S. troops fighting in the first Persian Gulf War, which we rank among the most stirring moments in this country’s athletic history.
One commenter to Ramsey’s blog offers perhaps the best rebuttal to the author’s post by noting the peoples who first settled North America. “The Sioux were here first, right?” wrote the poster. “That would make this their home.”
| RANKINGS OUTRAGE |
This week’s commentary on the national polls isn’t necessarily a gripe with which teams are nationally-ranked, but simply the sheer number of teams receiving votes. A total of 31 teams received at least one mention by poll voters in the USCHO.com poll. That’s more than half of the teams in the country – including Providence, swept over the weekend by New Hampshire and owners of a 7-12-5 overall record.
| TWEET OF THE WEEK |
@slapschotts UPSET!!!!!!! Union knocks off No. 1 Yale, 3-2!!!
That offering comes from Union’s beat writer at the Schenectady Daily Gazette. We think that the no cheering in the press box expectation also applies on Twitter.
