It’s looking like a frigid weekend for much of college hockey country, but it likely won’t keep people away from the rink … at least not with series like the ones we chose to feature in this week’s INCH Friday Four-cast on tap.

Denver at North Dakota (Friday-Saturday): If nothing else, this weekend’s series in Grand Forks will provide a look at the resiliency of these two teams. The Fighting Sioux—in the midst of grueling seven-week stretch during which they’ve faced or will face Minnesota, Cornell, Denver, St. Cloud State, Minnesota Duluth, and Colorado College—are trying to get back into the top half of the WCHA standings. The Pioneers were clipped by Wisconsin in Madison, getting just one point from the Badgers.

Denver’s healthier and has the edge in goal with Marc Cheverie (pictured), but consecutive high-stakes series at unfriendly venues like Wisconsin and North Dakota can be mentally draining. And you can bet that the Engelstad Arena crowd, which hasn’t seen the Sioux play at home in three weeks, will be at a fever pitch for this series.

St. Lawrence at Cornell (Friday); Union at Yale (Friday): The top four teams in ECAC Hockey line up against each other Friday night and have an opportunity to shake up the top of the league standings. First-place Union leads by a single point over three second-place teams in Yale, St. Lawrence, and Cornell.

Yale hosts Union at Ingalls Rink. These teams tied in the first meeting of the year back in early November in Schenectady, but the Bulldogs have a chance to hold serve in their barn this weekend. Yale is just 2-2-0 in its last four league games and Union suffered its first two conference defeats last weekend on home ice.

Cornell and St. Lawrence played to a 1-1 tie two weeks ago and will meet again at raucous Lynah Rink. The Saints have surged into second place and are among the title contenders after going 4-0-2 in their last six conference games. The Big Red are also 4-0-2 in their last six ECAC Hockey games and earned a difficult split at home last weekend against North Dakota.

Michigan vs. Michigan State (Friday at East Lansing, Saturday at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit): Interesting that word of a Cold War redux in Ann Arbor in December broke Thursday; while the granddaddy of outdoor hockey games was all about spectacle and rivalry, the Spartans and Wolverines head into this weekend’s games focused inward.

Michigan State is on track to earn a CCHA first-round playoff, but the Spartans are just 1-2-2 in their last five games. Defense has become a bit of an issue; the Spartans have allowed 18 goals in their last five matches after giving up a total of 10 goals in seven games from Dec. 4-Jan. 8. Michigan, meanwhile, is in seventh place in the conference standings but just four points out of fourth place and the final opening-round bye. The Wolverines, who are 4-1-1 this month with the lone loss coming last weekend at Ferris State, are searching for offensive consistency.

BEANPOT SEMIFINALS, Harvard vs. Boston College, 5 p.m.; Northeastern vs. Boston University, 8 p.m. (Monday): The first Monday in February means the return of college hockey to Boston’s downtown arena. This year’s semifinal games match last year’s second day schedule when BC and Harvard played in the third-place tilt and BU defeated Northeastern in the tournament final—BU’s 29th Beanpot title.

This season hasn’t gone according to plan for the defending national champion Terriers, currently in sixth place in Hockey East, can use what has been unofficially dubbed the “Terrier Invitational” as a second-half spark plug. BC has won just twice in seven games since the calendar turned to 2010 and has lost twice to BU in that span. Harvard comes into the Beanpot as the hottest team among the four, with a 3-0-1 record in their last four, including wins over nationally-ranked Yale and Union. Northeastern is the only team of the four Beanpot participants that has a tournament title to its credit this year. The Huskies started 2010 by capturing the Ledyard Bank Classic at Dartmouth.

Also: Huge weekend in the WCHA—in addition to Denver at North Dakota, St. Cloud State travels to Colorado College and Wisconsin is at Minnesota Duluth. … Robert Morris travels to Bemidji State in a College Hockey America showdown featuring teams responsible for 75 percent of Miami’s losses this season. … Ferris State scored 14 goals in two games against Ohio State in Big Rapids in November. The two teams meet again this weekend in Columbus. … Scott Darling should be back in goal this weekend for Maine as the Black Bears take on Vermont in a key Hockey East series.

TV Schedule | INCH Pick ‘Em

Travis Vermeulen has set career-highs for goals and points as a senior.

TRAVIS VERMEULEN
St. Lawrence
Sr. | F | Centerville, Minn.

His Statistics: 2 GP, 2-4-6, GWG, +3 rating

His Impact: Vermeulen recorded a point on six of St. Lawrence’s nine goals over the weekend and helped lead the Saints into a three-way tie for second place in ECAC Hockey. He had two assists in the Saints’ 5-2 win over Brown on Friday and then came back with two goals and two assists in an important 4-2 win over Yale on Saturday at Appleton Arena.

Vermeulen’s huge night against defending league-champion Yale included a strong start in the first period. He assisted SLU’s opener and then scored less than three minutes later as the Saints held a 2-0 lead. Yale rallied back to tie it in the first minute of the third period, but Vermeulen scored the eventual game-winning goal at 11:00 of the period. He then assisted on an insurance tally with 1:52 remaining.

The senior forward leads St. Lawrence in scoring with 11 goals and 24 points but hasn’t been counted on for offensive production throughout his collegiate career. He started the year with just 42 career points. That’s not to discount his contributions over the last three and a half seasons. Saints coach Joe Marsh told the Watertown Daily Times, “He’s the best defensive forward I’ve ever coached. He brings it every single night.”

His Runners Up: Michael Davies, Wisconsin; Brian Foster, New Hampshire; Dave Jarman, Sacred Heart; Ian Lowe, Bemidji State; Brandon Richardson, Nebraska-Omaha

The INCH Player of the Week is brought to you by The INCH Shop.

This weekend’s Denver-Wisconsin series lived up to its advance billing; it was a well-played, intense, highly entertaining affair between two legitimate national championship contenders in a playoff atmosphere. If the two games at the Kohl Center are an indicator, put our names on the list of those who’d like to see a rematch in March or April.

Generally speaking, last weekend wasn’t a great one for teams in the INCH Power Rankings. Of the 20 teams currently ranked, only St. Cloud State, Bemidji State, New Hampshire, UMass Lowell and newcomer St. Lawrence managed two wins. Five ranked teams, meanwhile, were winless-Boston College, Minnesota Duluth, and Union were swept outright, while Denver and Lake Superior State salvaged only ties against Wisconsin and Notre Dame, respectively.

“This guy has never had any coaching (at the University of Michigan). … Michigan is the worst. For hockey people, if you’ve got a choice between a kid-all things being equal-one’s going to Michigan and one’s going to Boston University, you all want your player (going to Boston University). … Red (Berenson) doesn’t coach. It’s ‘do what you want.’”

Asked about the maturation of defenseman Jack Johnson, Los Angeles Kings general manager Dean Lombardi blasted Johnson, Berenson, and the Michigan program during a wide-ranging Q&A with Hockeytalk.biz blogger Gann Matsuda. The comments set the hockey world abuzz, and compelled Johnson to defend Berenson and the Michigan program. When asked about the comments a few days after they became public, Lombardi blamed Matsuda for taking his quotes out of context.

Maybe Lombardi is right-there exists anecdotal evidence that a fair share of high-profile ex-Wolverines (Andrew Cogliano, Al Montoya, and Jeff Tambellini, for example) haven’t panned out, but the flip side is that a number of lesser-heralded Michigan prospects have far exceeded expectations (think Matt Hunwick, David Moss, and Jed Ortmayer)-and he’s entitled to his opinion. But to make such statements and claiming his words were taken out of context is bush league.

An oddity in this week’s voter-driven rankings regarding Cornell and North Dakota, who split a series at Lynah Rink last weekend. In the USCHO.com poll, both the Fighting Sioux and Big Red edged up one spot to fourth and eighth, respectively. In the USA Hockey Magazine/USA Today poll, however-a poll in which INCH casts a ballot weekly-the Fighting Sioux moved up one spot to fourth while the Big Red fell one rung from seventh to eighth. It’s nothing to get mad about (unless you’re a Cornell fan, perhaps) but it’s fascinating how two different groups of voters interpret the same results.

@SchlossmanGF - In Lynah Rink. It’s freezing in here.

@undsid - In Lynah Rink. It’s freezing in here. @SchlossmanGF: Stop whining!

@SchlossmanGF - @INCH_Gladdy Strange that two guys from North Dakota are complaining about the cold?

The Tweets of the Week share some levity from Grand Forks Herald beat writer Brad Schlossman and North Dakota media relations director Jayson Hajdu. Here are a couple of guys who wake up to sub-zero Fahrenheit temperatures throughout the winter and got the chills in a 40-50 degree hockey rink.

The bigger picture is that one of the ideas for this week’s Stick Salute was to raise the branches to North Dakota’s willingness to travel east and set up a very good series between two very good teams. We understand that several high-profile Western teams have big rinks and big financial responsibilities to their athletic departments. That being said, North Dakota has made a commitment to get on the plane and play non-league games against prominent Eastern-based teams. Last year, it was the IceBreaker Tournament at BU with another game against UMass. This year, a trip to Cornell; and next year the Sioux embark on a two-game series at Maine.

Bob DeGregorio, the only commissioner Atlantic Hockey has ever known in its seven seasons, will get at least three more years on the job.

On Friday DeGregorio signed an extension to his contract through the year 2013 to govern a league which has expanded twice in the past four years to 12 schools for next season.

“I feel great, very happy,’’ DeGregorio, 63, said from his offices in Haverhill, Mass. “I think the league is making great strides.’’

Nine member schools of the former Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Hockey League founded Atlantic Hockey in June 2003: American International, Army, Bentley, Canisius, Connecticut, Holy Cross, Mercyhurst, Quinnipiac and Sacred Heart.

Quinnipiac departed for the ECAC Hockey League in 2005-06, but DeGregorio was instrumental in adding Air Force from College Hockey America and Rochester Institute of Technology, which was moving up from NCAA Division III to Division I, in 2006-07. Last year the league announced it would absorb Niagara and Robert Morris from the CHA, which will cease operations after this season.

“We are extremely fortunate and pleased to continue to have him lead this league,’’ said Bill Bellerose, the chair of the Atlantic Hockey executive committee. “He has guided us through two expansions, and continues to improve the visibility of Atlantic Hockey both regionally and nationally.’’

The initial expansion raised the profile of the league – Air Force has captured the playoff title all three seasons and posted its first NCAA tournament win in 2009 – and the second expansion firms up a “western” base of operations for a league with five New England members and one in nearby eastern New York.

“Bob has been the cornerstone of Atlantic Hockey, and continues to lead this league to new heights,’’ Bellerose said. “His work ethic for our member institutions is unparalleled.’’

DeGregorio was instrumental in instituting a multi-year strategic plan to strengthen the league, which included raising the scholarship level to 12 and the elimination of games against Division III foes.

“We have made steps, and I have to give credit to the directors and coaches because they have taken steps to make their programs better and the league better,’’ DeGregorio said.

The league has started to attract better recruits, and the players are gaining national recognition. Eric Ehn of Air Force and Josh Kassel of Army have earned All-America status. Ehn was a finalist for the Hobey Baker award and Air Force’s Jacques Lamoureux was a Hobey Baker semifinalist.

Atlantic Hockey still lags behind in out-of-conference success but has still managed to pull off a couple stunning wins per season. Army beat Miami (Ohio) last season when the Redhawks were No. 2 in the nation, and future member Robert Morris knocked off Miami twice this season. Holy Cross and Air Force have both posted wins in the NCAA tournament.

DeGregorio likes the progress the league has made.

“I think we’re even going to be better than we’ve been,’’ he said. “I think the schools are investing more, they are working harder to be successful and there’s no question in my mind how hard the coaches are working in this league. We have a great bunch of coaches. They have been dedicated to the student-athletes, the schools and making their programs better.’’

Air Force’s run into the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament – halted by a triple-overtime goal by Vermont – was huge exposure for Atlantic Hockey, but nothing like an appearance in the Frozen Four would provide, much like the boost Bemidji State earned last year.

DeGregorio insists that moving the tournament finals to the neutral-site Blue Cross Arena in Rochester has been a positive, although the city has been slow to warm to the two-day event. The initial three-year contract (2007-09) is now headed for its second rollover year, for 2010 and 2011. RIT has attracted some of its fervent fans – although the Tigers have yet to escape the semifinal round – and DeGregorio is hoping fans from Niagara, Canisius, Mercyhurst and Robert Morris will begin making the reasonable trip to Rochester.

“I’d like to be able to say, ‘Hey, that championship game tonight, we had 10,000 people,’’’ DeGregorio said. “I would be absolutely ecstatic about it.’’

With the expansion to 12 schools next season, DeGregorio said the decision has been made to include every team in the playoffs: There will be four opening-round single-game playoffs, followed by four best-of-three quarterfinal series.

One frustration for DeGregorio has been his inability to secure a national or regional television season-long package for Atlantic Hockey games – he did recently sign a deal with CBS College Sports for two telecasts per year for the next five seasons. The internet company B2 Networks have carried regular-season and playoff games – including the championship – the past two seasons, but DeGregorio would still like to get the Atlantic Hockey Final Four on cable TV.

No matter the season, Mercyhurst almost always find a way to move into first place in Atlantic Hockey.

The Lakers swept American International last weekend to seize the top spot by a point over Rochester Institute of Technology and Air Force – RIT, though, has four games at hand on the Lakers so the lead is dubious at best.

Still, there’s no doubt the Lakers continue to be a viable contender for the championship.

“We’re just plugging along,” said Rick Gotkin, now in his 22nd season at the helm and five wins shy of 400 for his career.

Mercyhurst opened the season at 2-9-1 before rolling off six consecutive wins to start an eight-game undefeated streak. The Lakers took three of four points at Air Force (a 3-3 tie and a 3-1 win) on Dec. 11-12. New Year’s weekend produced a 6-0 loss to Minnesota-Duluth and a listless 4-1 setback to Alabama-Huntsville in Vermont’s Catamount Cup. Gotkin said his team played very well in the loss to UMD but he said his club did not play with any urgency and without a work ethic in the loss to UAH.

“We were playing very well before Christmas, and then we got a (holiday) break and we’re trying to get back into it,” Gotkin said.

The Lakers disposed of AIC by scores of 7-2 and 5-3. Brandon Coccimiglio posted the hat trick on Friday, and his line with center Grant Blakey and right winger Steve Cameron accounted for eight points. Having switched places with Mike Gurtler the next night, Coccimiglio, Scott Pit and Paul Chiasson had a goal and three assists.

Gotkin said the Lakers’ improved play is nothing more than a collection of a lot of little things.

Ryan Zapolski leads all Atlantic Hockey goaltenders in save percentage.

“We were getting very good goaltending, we were getting some timely goals,” he said. “When you start doing things like that, you get confidence and you win some more games, and get some more confidence. It wasn’t one thing.”

Mercyhurst does not have a prolific scorer such as Matt Pierce (24 goals in 2008-09) or Dave Borelli (28 goals in 2005-06) but more Lakers are getting involved in the scoring. Coccimiglio leads the way with 13 goals and 26 points. Steve Cameron has 10 goals and 18 points. Six more skaters have at least five goals, and 11 players have double-digit points.

“We don’t have that dynamic goal scorer yet,” Gotkin said. “We’ve had a lot of guys that have been chipping in, which is great. … We have more of a committee approach, and more guys with two, three, four goals than we ever have. We are different in that regard.”

Surprisingly, the Lakers rank last in Atlantic Hockey on the power play (12.4 percent, 17-for-137), and the penalty kill ranks fourth (82.1 percent, 101-for-123).

Junior Ryan Zapolski is having another good season in the nets. He leads all Atlantic Hockey netminders with a .920 save percentage and ranks fourth in goals against at 2.65. Five of the six starting defensemen are on the positive side of the plus-minus, led by Jeff Terminesi’s plus-13 and 12 points.

Mercyhurst (11-11-2) is 11-5-2 in league play and has 24 points. RIT (11-2-1, 23 points) and Air Force (9-4-5, 23 points) are looming, although the Lakers have finished with both teams … at least in the regular season.

Mercyhurst has played every team in the league except Sacred Heart – the Lakers and Pioneers play a two-game set in Milford, Conn., on Friday and Saturday.

“I think it will be a tough series,” Gotkin said on his bus trip to Connecticut. “Sacred Heart has played very well, especially recently. They beat Air Force at home twice, they took three of four points from Army at home. They won at Dartmouth and Union. That is the sign of an excellent team.”

Bentley visits on Jan. 22-23 before Mercyhurst heads to the Rockies to face Denver and Colorado College on Feb. 5-6. Canisius and Mercyhurst have a home-and-home on Feb. 12-13. Army visits Erie on Feb. 19-20 before the Lakers close the regular season at ninth-place Connecticut on Feb. 26-27. So that’s three series against the teams that will likely be battling Mercyhurst for the final two home-ice quarterfinal berths.

“Like everybody else, we’re jockeying for playoff position here,” Gotkin said. “The parity in the league is greater than it has been, and we’ve held our own.

“The truth is it’s a long season and you have to find your niche, get your confidence and do a lot of the little things to build that confidence over the stretch.”

With six weekends left in the regular season, the Lakers have put themselves in a good position to host a best-of-three quarterfinal series. That’s all you can ask for, Gotkin said.

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

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.

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.

“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.

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.

@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.

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From the time they arrived on the Canisius College campus, Cory Conacher and Vincent Scarsella have been linked.

Vincent Scarsella

They came in as true freshmen and have been linemates for the Golden Griffins for most of the past two and a half seasons. Where there’s one, there’s usually the other, which should be no coincidence since they are roommates.

It’s no wonder the Canisius Connection sits atop the Atlantic Hockey scoring charts. Conacher leads the league in goals (13) and points (27). Scarsella leads the circuit in assists (15) and is third in points (23).

“They have tremendous chemistry between them,” Canisius coach Dave Smith said. “They have grown a lot together and with the program. They complement each other very well.”

With similar physical builds and similar styles, it was no wonder Smith paired up the freshmen in the fall of 2007. Conacher, from Burlington, Ontario, broke his wrist early in the season and missed 17 total games. When he returned to the lineup, he joined efforts with Scarsellla, who lives in nearby Lackawanna, N.Y. Scarsella led the team with 31 points and Conacher had 17 points.

A healthy Conacher put up 35 points during his sophomore year and Scarsella recorded 26.

Scarsella is a power forward in a little guy’s body, according to Smith. A straight-ahead skater, Scarsella is quick to the puck and protects it well once he has it. Conacher has developed into a tremendous playmaker, and his skating and shooting skills should draw the attention of pro scouts. Smith believes both players will play professional hockey once they are through at Canisius.

“It’s always been Cory and Vince, Cory and Vince, since day one,” Smith said. “They’re almost like brothers. They pick on each other. They have little battles. They compete against each other and with one another.

“It’s been fun to watch them evolve and grow up together,” Smith added.

DU's Rhett Rakhshani posted identical 2-1—3 scoring lines in wins against Nebraska-Omaha and Boston College.

RHETT RAKHSHANI
Denver
Sr. | F | Huntington Beach, Calif.

His Impact: Rakhshani was the catalyst as Denver captured its own holiday tournament with wins over Nebraska-Omaha and Boston College. Denver opened the tournament with a 7-0 win over UNO and Rakhshani posted two goals, an assist and was a plus-4.

Denver trailed Boston College 2-0 after two periods, but Rakhshani took over in the third period. He scored just 30 seconds into the period to cut the Pioneer deficit in half. Later in the period, he scored the game-tying goal with 5:16 remaining and then set up Joe Colborne’s game winner with 3:15 left on the clock.

His Runners-Up: Dan Bakala, Bemidji State; Brett Perlini, Michigan State; Kyle Rank, Bentley; Chris Rawlings, Northeastern; Jason Walters, Union

Among the longest shots to win any of the holiday tournaments, the Bentley Falcons left Storrs, Conn., with the trophy following 4-1 wins over host UConn and nationally-ranked Massachusetts in the UConn Hockey Classic. Goalie Kyle Rank was named tournament MVP after stopping 65 of 67 shots he faced in the two games, and made 42 saves in the win over UMass.

We panned Atlantic Hockey’s non-league performance in earlier editions of the First Shift, and will take this opportunity to salute Bentley’s big win. The Falcons are 6-4-2 in Atlantic Hockey, currently in fifth place, and have played fewer games than three of the teams ahead of them in the standings.

Regular readers of this site know that we’re not the greatest fans of post-game shootouts. Unfortunately, at many holiday tournaments across the country, the shootout is used to determine which teams advance and in some cases which teams win the tournament (Wisconsin). Our personal opinions aside, the holiday tournament season is probably the best time to use this format. With teams playing back-to-back nights and more than one game at each venue, there are time concerns and burdens on the players. Still, we applaud the Great Lakes Invitational and Beanpot for putting 20 minutes on the overtime clock.

We can accept that the CCHA uses the format for its league games, but why was there a shootout after Saturday’s 0-0 tie between Bemidji State and Western Michigan? When the host Broncos prevailed, fans left the rink with the perception that the Broncos won the game. Not bad for a team that failed to score an actual goal all weekend.

“Things just kind of turned for the worst and it just became a big distraction this year for us. And I think that’s one reason we were so up and down this year, because some of the things that he said to his players and some of the things that were done. People just didn’t cope with that.”

Texas Tech offensive lineman Brandon Carter made those remarks to ESPNDallas.com reporter Jeff Kaplan following the Red Raiders’ Alamo Bowl win over Michigan State last weekend. The situation surrounding the dismissal of Texas Tech football coach Mike Leach is bizarre, but the entire episode drives home an important lesson—that even though journalists and fans alike think they can dissect the problems plaguing Team X or get to the bottom of why Player Y isn’t performing, the truth is that we really don’t know.

Sure, we can speculate that a specific team’s issues stem from a lack of effort, an absence of finishers on offense, or zero attention to detail. And we might be right. Then again, maybe the guys hate each other, maybe they’ve tuned the coaching staff out, or, in the case of Texas Tech, the coach is a jerk.

On the strength of a pair of convincing wins over Michigan Tech and Rensselaer at the Great Lakes Invitational, Michigan State leapt past Bemidji State in this week’s INCH Power Rankings and both voter-driven polls. The Beavers didn’t help their cause with a scoreless tie at CCHA bottom-feeder Western Michigan, but the decision to flip the Spartans ahead of BSU wasn’t as easy as you might think.

@twolinepass America is a helluva country!

A simple statement from Ryan Lambert of Puck Daddy that captured a lot of the pride and emotion evident on Twitter Sunday night after the United States defeated Sweden in the semifinals of the World Junior Championship.

It’s not Friday, but allow us to deviate from our weekly schedule to present the latest installment of the Four-cast. This edition will be the first of two focusing on important holiday tournaments.

Florida College Classic; Dec. 29-30
Germain Arena; Estero, Fla.

Bill Sweatt leads CC with 20 points in 18 games.

This is an intriguing tournament featuring four teams with something to prove. Is Cornell a legitimate top-five team and Frozen Four contender? Is Colorado College as good as its 11-4-3 record indicates or did they simply take advantage of a favorable home-ice schedule in the first half? Is Maine on its way back to the NCAA Tournament and contending for Hockey East honors? Can Princeton play up to its talent level after a difficult first half?

Maine and Cornell are the annual co-hosts of this event and it regularly draws competitive invited teams to fill the field. After lots of snowy bus rides and flights all year long, it’s even a bit of a reward for these teams to make it down to Florida’s gulf coast, where the current 10-day forecast shows high temperatures ranging between 66 and 82. Not too shabby, but the team that comes home with a couple of victories this week will have more to remember than pleasant weather.

Great Lakes Invitational; Dec. 29-30
Joe Louis Arena; Detroit, Mich.
Interesting field, albeit one that won’t drive ticket sales. Two inconsistent teams, Michigan and Rensselaer, meet in one first-round match, and two consistent teams, Michigan Tech and Michigan State, square off in the other (hey, we didn’t say both were consistently good).

At first glance, this appears to be the Spartans’ tournament to lose mainly because they’ve got the best goaltending in the draw with sophomore Drew Palmisano. Don’t be surprised if Rensselaer knocks off Michigan in what could be a high-scoring affair; both teams like to push the tempo, and the Engineers tend to play to the level of their opponent, which explains why they’ve beaten New Hampshire, Yale, and Boston University and lost to Army and Niagara.

IIHF World Under-20 Championships; Dec. 26-Jan. 5
Regina and Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Playing on home turf in Saskatoon and Regina and winners of the last five World Junior Championship gold medals, Canada enters this year’s event as the odds-on favorite. Six of the 22 players on the Canadian roster are returnees from last year. That said, the most talented players in the lineup could be a trio of newcomers-forwards Taylor Hall, Nazem Kadri, and Brayden Schenn. Sweden is considered the top threat to Canada’s supremacy.

The U.S. team, meanwhile, is a young group but one that knows how to win on an international stage-a lot of the names on this roster won gold at the World Under-18 Championship last spring. While there may not be the high-end talent like a Colin Wilson or James van Riemsdyk on the U.S. squad this time around, this team boasts great balance. Typically, the U.S. thrives in this event when it gets superb goaltending, which puts the onus on goaltenders Mike Lee, the St. Cloud State freshman, or US NTDP product Jack Campbell.

The U.S. should benefit from a favorable draw-others in Group A are Canada, Latvia, Slovakia, and Switzerland-and should exit pool play as one of the tournament’s top four seeds. A difficult quarterfinal match against the Czech Republic, Finland, Russia, or Sweden looms. Given the youth of this team, a top-four finish for the U.S. would be an outstanding effort.

UConn Hockey Classic; Dec. 29-30
Freitas Ice Forum; Storrs, Conn.
Sure, UConn’s annual holiday tournament doesn’t get the national attention of the three aforementioned events. It usually draws a field of teams from within the region, bringing together a quartet of clubs from Hockey East, Atlantic Hockey and ECAC Hockey. That’s the case this year, but the first semifinal is definitely worth taking note of as nationally-ranked teams Union and Massachusetts will drop the puck on this two-day event. That gives the UConn Classic one more ranked team in its field than the Great Lakes Invitational can claim.

Some players worth watching in the early semifinal include UMass standout James Marcou, the nation’s leader in assists and his wingman Casey Wellman, who has 13 goals. Union’s offensive strength is in its depth as eight players have 10 points or more already this season but keep an eye on senior Mario Valery-Trabucco, who has 10 goals and 21 points in 15 games played. Bentley and UConn met earlier this year in an Atlantic Hockey tilt and Bentley got a 4-3 win as Dan Koudys scored with five minutes left to play. Sean Ambrosie had a pair of power-play goals for UConn and Erik Peterson scored twice for Bentley in that one.

SURPRISE TEAM

Air Force's Jacques Lamoureux has recovered from a sluggish start to rank among the Atlantic Hockey leaders in goals and points.

A look at the preseason INCH predictions is right on the money with Air Force, Mercyhurst, RIT, and Canisius holding down the top four spots. Only Holy Cross’ slow start has spoiled a perfect call on the top seven spots.

It’s hard to say three-time playoff champion Air Force is a surprise, but the Falcons got lumped up pretty good in October with five setbacks in seven games. The team responded well with a 10-game unbeaten streak (6-0-4) and would have held down first place on its own at the break were it not for a 3-1 loss to co-leader Mercyhurst earlier this month. Even in the midst of the turnaround, coach Frank Serratore spoke critically of his team, but how else do you address a squad that has raised the bar considerably?

Scoring is down nearly a goal—not surprising since the Falcons had to replace 406 career points—and the defense is allowing a half-goal more per contest, but most of that came in October. All-star goalie Andrew Volkening (2.59, .911) will be hard-pressed to get his numbers back down to the microscopic stats he posted last season (1.97, .920) but he’s doing his best with nine efforts of two goals or fewer in his last 13 outings. The Air Force penalty kill, which was tops in the league last season, is 33 percentage points better this season. 

SURPRISE INDIVIDUAL

Army’s Cody Omilusik is quickly building on his numbers posted over his first two seasons. The junior forward is second in the league with 12 goals and third in scoring with 21 points—he has points in all but three contests. He produced a hat trick at Bentley on Nov. 20 and scored twice in the season opener at Nebraska-Omaha on Oct. 9. Eric Sefchik has centered his line all season, while all-star partner Owen Meyer has been replaced with promising freshman Andy Starczewski.

Omilusik had nine goals in his freshman season and 13 as a sophomore.

WHAT HAPPENED TO …

Bentley goalie Kyle Rank enjoyed a productive rookie season in 2008-09. He split time with Joe Calvi for much of the season and was given the nod to lead the Falcons into the playoffs. Rank posted a 2.68 goals against average, good for  third in the league, and .912 save percentage, the fifth-best mark. He was named the INCH Atlantic Hockey rookie of the year and was named to Atlantic Hockey’s third-team all-star squad and all-rookie team.

His fortunes have soured somewhat in his sophomore campaign. Rank’s numbers have ballooned to a 3.78 GAA (tenth in the league) and his save percentage has dropped to .886. Coach Ryan Soderquist alternated Rank and Calvi (2.77) through the first eight games but Rank has been named the starter in the last eight games, during which Rank has posted a 3-3-2 mark. He headed into the break, however, with a nine-goal clunker at Canisius on Dec. 5.

BEST NEW FACE

It’s not often that freshman skaters at Army make an impact in their rookie season, but forward Andy Starczewski ranks second in goals (six) and fourth in points (12). He has benefitted from a move to the top line with Eric Sefchik and Cody Omilusik, notching a pair of two-goal games in his last three outings and points in four of his last six games.

The league’s rookie class of 2009-10 has shown signs of promise. Eight Atlantic Hockey freshmen have reached double-digits in point scoring, and four netminders are seeing the lion’s share of time for their teams.

BIGGEST UPSET

The season was barely hours old when Canisius knocked off Ferris State, 1-0, on Oct. 10. Dan Morrison turned aside 48 shots from the Bulldogs for the shutout victory, securing a weekend split for the Golden Griffins. Ferris State actually stumbled to four losses in the opening month (including an exhibition setback) but has yet to lose since then, a current six-game win streak holding up a 10-game unbeaten string. Ferris State is No. 14 in the most recent INCH Power Rankings.

Sacred Heart has the only other win against a current top-20 team. The Pioneers stuck a 6-5 overtime loss on Union on Oct. 24. Sacred Heart squandered a four-goal lead in the final eight minutes of regulation but salvaged the day with Nick Johnson’s OT tally.

In all, Atlantic Hockey is a woeful 4-36-4 in non-league contests.

TOUGHEST ROAD OUT

Connecticut went winless in October and heads into the Christmas break riding a five-game losing skid and eight-game winless streak. The Huskies are 0-11-1 away from Storrs, but home-cooking is coming in the second half with 10 contests at Freitas Ice Forum. However, UConn opens January at Air Force and hosting RIT.

Air Force has to make four more trips to the east, including a Feb. 19-20 showdown at Rochester Institute of Technology. The Falcons open February at No. 5 Colorado College (Feb. 5) and host No. 2 Denver (Feb. 6).

Sacred Heart plays its next eight games at home; however, all of the contests are against teams in the top half of the conference standings (Air Force, Army, Mercyhurst, Canisius). RIT may have the best slate down the finish, with 10 of 16 games against teams in the lower half of the standings. The Tigers have two tough closing series with Air Force (Feb. 19-20) and Canisius (Feb. 26-27), but all four games are at Ritter Arena.

BIGGEST QUESTION ANSWERED

Holy Cross set itself up for a return to the upper half of the league with all but two skaters returning but the Crusaders needed to get better goaltending. Senior Ian Dams and junior Adam Roy were given their shot but it’s freshman Thomas Tysowsky who has won the job. Starting all but one contest since Oct. 16, the rookie has logged 898-plus minutes, posting a league-leading 2.20 goals against average and a .913 save percentage. Tysowsky allowed two goals or fewer in three of his seven losses and three of his four ties.

If the Crusaders can find some more offense, Tysowsky appears ready to backstop the Holy Cross cause. January will be tough for the Crusaders but the schedule is a bit more forgiving in February, which could allow them to build momentum heading into the playoffs.

BIGGEST QUESTION REMAINING

RIT's Dan Ringwald has 14 points in 16 games, good for second place among Atlantic Hockey defensemen in scoring.

Will RIT finally get over the hump? Prospects are looking good for the Tigers, who went unbeaten in 10 games until last weekend’s 3-2 loss to Niagara. Jared DeMichiel has backstopped a defense that has cut its goals against by almost three-quarters of a goal, and plenty of skaters are contributing to the scoring.

The Tigers lost a pair of one-goal games at Air Force in October. Those games won’t matter when the two clubs meet again on Feb. 19-20 in a prelude to the Atlantic Hockey tournament in Rochester. RIT needs to show well in round two against the Falcons and needs to seize on “home-ice” advantage in the playoffs to reach the finals.

INCH’S FIRST HALF ALL-ATLANTIC HOCKEY TEAM

G–Jared DeMichiel, RIT: The senior ranks second in wins (eight) and leads in winning percentage (.567). His goals against average of 2.21 ranks second in the league and his .916 save percentage ranks third.

D–Dan Ringwald, RIT: The all-star defenseman ranks second among blueliners with five goals and has 14 points overall.

D– Carl Hudson, Canisius: Hudson leads all Atlantic Hockey defensemen with 18 points. Three of his five goals have come on the power play, and he owns a plus-minus rating of +5.

F–Cory Conacher, Canisius: The junior leads the league in goals (13) and points (26) at the break. He has produced three game-winners, scored four times with the man advantage, and has a plus-minus of +5.

F–Jacques Lamoureux, Air Force: The league’s most dynamic scorer is just a shade under his scoring pace of last season, but his 11 goals and 23 points both rank among the conference’s top three. He has six goals on the power play and two game-winners. Lamoureux has points in all but four games, and currently has a six-game point streak.

F–Cody Omilusik, Army: Ranks second in the league with 12 goals and third with 21 points. He has produced points in all but three contests.

COREY TROPP
Michigan State
Jr. | F | Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich.

Michigan State's Corey Tropp heads into the holiday break as the NCAA leader in goals and points.

His Statistics: 2 GP, 4-2-6, +4 rating. GWG in two wins over Bowling Green

His Impact: When Michigan State was in a couple of tough spots against Bowling Green, the Spartans’ leading scorer came through. In Saturday’s game at BG, Tropp scored the game-tying goal with 5:40 remaining in the third period to knot the score 2-2. He then assisted on Michigan State’s overtime winner, the first career goal by freshman defenseman Torey Krug.

The teams tussled again Saturday in East Lansing and Tropp continued his big weekend by factoring on all four Michigan State goals in a 4-1 win. He assisted on Jeff Petry’s first-period power-play goal and then scored three straight goals over the second and third periods for the hat trick.

He is the only player with more than one hat trick this season and he leads the nation in goals (16) and points (27). Tropp has been called for just seven minor penalties in 20 games this year.

His Runners-Up: Bryan Flynn, Maine; Blake Geoffrion, Wisconsin; Mario Vallery-Trabucco, Union; Paul Zanette, Niagara; Ryan Zapolski, Mercyhurst

The upcoming week is largely bereft of college hockey action with just six non-conference matches on the slate between Tuesday and Sunday. There is an exhibition game that piques one’s interest, however, as North Dakota hosts the U.S. under-20 squad this Saturday—it’s the U.S. team’s lone domestic tune-up prior to the start of the the IIHF World Junior Championship, which runs from Dec. 26-Jan. 5 in Regina and Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. As an added bonus, the game is scheduled to be televised on Fox College Sports (DirecTV channel 617) at 8 p.m. ET.

Immortality takes many forms. For example, in his team’s loss to Rensselaer Saturday, Boston University defenseman Eric Gryba picked up a holding minor and a 10-minute misconduct at 8:13 of the second period to reach 295 career penalty minutes, eclipsing the school record of 288 set by Freddy Meyer. With all the PIMs he’s amassed, what’s another bench minor?

“We have a lot of guys who are underachieving now, or who overachieved last year.”

BU coach Jack Parker to John Connolly of the Boston Herald following the Terriers’ 5-3 loss to Rensselaer at Agganis Arena Saturday. The defending champs are in a death spiral that would make the Pittsburgh Steelers jealous. BU is 2-7-3 since Halloween and sits in ninth place in the Hockey East standings, one point ahead of 10th-place Providence.

This time around, we’re the subject of outrage.

Can you explain to the logic of how a team that splits with the No. 2 team in the country, and then splits with the No. 1 team in the country can fall three spots in your rankings?—Glen, St. Paul, Minn.

Glen refers to Minnesota Duluth dropping a few notches despite respectable splits against North Dakota and Denver. Our first impulse was to thank him for insinuating that logic plays a role in anything we do. He should listen to a podcast.

As we’ve often said regarding our Power Rankings, hockey is not played in a vacuum. And UMD’s slide isn’t really a result of anything they’ve done. As a staff, we felt the need to reward Ferris State (owners of a 10-game unbeaten streak) and Wisconsin (10-3-1 after a 1-2-1 start), so both crept ahead of UMD in recent weeks. Simple as that.

@CHockeyattheJoe Wearing my Blue and Yellow, because I am going to the U of M Game tonight!!! Come find me, I will be the one with the GLI stuff

Regional authenticity fail. Ask a Michigan fan if they wear blue and yellow, and you’re liable to end up wearing blue and black. As an aside, do you realize that there will be more nationally-ranked teams playing at the UConn Hockey Classic (Union, UMass) than at the Great Lakes Invitational (Michigan State)?