David Valek

DAVID VALEK
Harvard
Jr. | F | Zagreb, Croatia

His Statistics: 2 GP, 4-0–4, GWG, +4 rating

His Impact: Valek scored four goals on the weekend as Harvard picked up two crucial victories over St. Lawrence and Clarkson to wrap up its regular season. The Crimson trailed 1-0 against St. Lawrence before Valek knotted the score just 65 seconds later. He added another in the third period as Harvard picked up the victory. His Saturday night effort against Clarkson, when a first-round playoff bye and home-ice quarterfinal series was on the line, was even more impressive. Once again Valek came through. He scored twice more, both in the third period, as Harvard capped a rally from a 2-0 deficit.

The four-goal outburst was extremely uncharacteristic for Valek, who entered the weekend with five goals in 84 career games. The least surprising stat of the weekend is that he had eight blocked shots. That’s what his game is built around. He’s a reliable competitor among a solid group of forwards and does the little things to help Harvard win.

It paid off for the Crimson on the last weekend of the year, and they finished third in ECAC Hockey, after being picked in the league’s preseason media poll to finish 12th.

His Runners-Up: Jack Connolly, Minnesota Duluth; Eric Delong, Sacred Heart; Joey Diamond, Maine; Reilly Smith, Miami

Safe to say David Carle and Eric Ringel didn’t expect their hockey careers to play out the way they did— Ringel played in 23 games over two seasons for Notre Dame before a concussion and ensuing symptoms ended his playing days in 2009, while Carle never suited up for Denver after he was diagnosed with a heart condition prior to his freshman season in 2008. But even after hanging up their skates, both players stuck around to serve as student assistant coaches. Carle and Ringel were honored at Senior Day festivities at their respective schools this past weekend, and we’d like to salute them, too, for their contributions to Denver and Notre Dame.

As you probably know by now, we’re not fans of the shootout. So it pains us to see a rivalry as heated as the annual battle between Alaska and Alaska Anchorage for the Governor’s Cup decided by a shootout. Each team won at their respective home rinks, necessitating the need to break the tie using a method that’s slightly better than a coin flip. We like the rules governing the Colorado College-Denver Gold Pan series—win the trophy outright or it stays with the previous year’s victor.

What Happened?: It’s probably more appropriate to refer to this section as What Didn’t Happen, in regard to the wild finish in Atlantic Hockey on the last weekend of the regular season. Six teams headed into their final two games within three points of first place. Air Force was the one team that fully controlled its destiny, as the Falcons entered with a one-point advantage, but that went out the window with an overtime loss on Friday night at Robert Morris. Thing is, none of the other teams really took full advantage. Niagara pulled even by defeating RIT in a matchup of the second- and third-place teams. Fourth-place Mercyhurst lost to Canisius and fifth-place Bentley tied sixth-place Holy Cross. The following night, Air Force responded with a 3-0 win, and Niagara couldn’t match that result when the Purps tied 2-2 at RIT. Six teams had opportunities, but none of the six teams in contention managed to win twice on the weekend. Suppose that’s a fitting way to conclude one of the tightest conference races in any league in many, many years. Here’s the resulting playoff bracket in Atlantic Hockey.

What We’re Watching: There’s plenty of playoff and regular-season hockey this weekend, and one matchup we’ll monitor is the CCHA Tournament first-round series between Bowling Green and Northern Michigan. It’s a rematch from the first round of last year’s league playoffs in which the 11th-seeded Falcons upset the 6th-seeded Wildcats in three games, winning the decisive third game in double overtime. A redux isn’t necessarily in the cards, but one has to wonder if last season’s outcome is a motivator for Northern Michigan or gives Bowling Green a confidence boost.

What the …?: Worst. Deadline. Ever?

Actually, last year’s NHL trade deadline lacked blockbuster deals but with all the talk of Dustin Brown or Rick Nash potentially on the move this season, the end result was decidedly ho-hum. When the day’s biggest trade is arguably Andre Kostitsyn going from Montreal to Nashville or Paul Gaustad moving to the Predators from Buffalo, it’s a letdown. A few players with college ties were dealt Monday, most notably former Wisconsin defenseman Tom Gilbert going from Edmonton to Minnesota for defenseman Nick Schultz and ex-Nebraska-Omaha blueliner Greg Zanon shipped by the Wild to Boston for erstwhile Michigan defenseman Steve Kampfer.

@DaveWarsofsky5 David Warsofsky

Big weekend for the terriers. Gonna be nice to play the first round infront of the best fans in college hockey

• The former Terrier had an eye on his ex-teammates who put together a road sweep of Vermont with a convincing 5-0 win on Friday night followed by a 3-2 come-from-behind overtime win on Saturday. That concluded a difficult week full of off-ice headlines, and assured BU of a home-ice series in the first round of the Hockey East playoffs. Warsofsky, by the way, has spent his rookie year in pro hockey with the AHL’s Providence Bruins, where he has 22 points in 48 games.