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Tuesday @ The Rink With Dave Hendrickson

Welcome to CollegeSports.com and USCHO's "Tuesday At The Rink" series of moderated chats.

This week is special, as Hockey East Commissioner Joe Bertagna kicks off a tripleheader at 2:00 p.m. ET. He is followed by USCHO Hockey East columnist Dave Hendrickson at 3:00 p.m. ET and CSTV's Mike Emrick at 4:00 p.m. ET. Come for one, stay for both!

Dave Hendrickson has been the Hockey East Correspondent for USCHO.com since its inception in 1996. He played a major role in the early development of the award-winning website's writing department.

Hockey East honored him in 2001 with the Joe Concannon Media Award, given annually to a recipient who has demonstrated a superior body of work in covering and promoting the league over an extended period. He remains the only online writer to be so honored.

He has coached hockey at levels from Mites through Midgets and owns USA Hockey's Advanced certification.

While Dave is not joining us until Tuesday at 3:00 p.m. ET, feel free to leave him a question in advance.

CollegeSports.com Moderator: Hi and welcome to part two of today's Tuesday @ The Rink tripleheader.

CollegeSports.com Moderator: We are now joined by USCHO Hockey East columnist Dave Hendrickson.

Dave Hendrickson: Thanks for having me here, but let me just say that Joe Bertagna is a very tough act to follow. I feel like Shemp taking over for Curly on the Three Stooges.

Al (Smithfield, RI): Hi Dave, What's wrong with Providence the past couple of seasons and what can they do to turn things around?

Dave Hendrickson: This was going to be a rebuilding season. You can't lose one of your big difference-makers, especially a goaltender, at the last moment and not have it affect you. They'll be back, but this was going to be a down year.

Dave Hendrickson: Their goal scoring is really down and they'll need to recruit some bigger producers to get back on track.

TJ (Westport, CT: What's going on at PC? After 10 years and only 2 NCAA trips, a boring system, and teams continually underacheiving, is coach Pooley beyond the "hot seat", and likely to be shown the door after this season?

Dave Hendrickson: Teams have ups and downs. It all comes down to recruiting in terms of long-term strength. And if you're a recruit these days, other schools look more lucrative. More long-term success at schools like BC, BU, Maine and UNH and more exciting buildings.

Dave Hendrickson: I have no idea about Pooley's contractual status, but I think all teams other than the four I just mentioned are in catch up mode with the Big 4.

Matt (South Portland, ME): Do you honestly believe Maine can makes the NCAA's without winning the conference tournament? They sit at 16th in the PWR (T-14 if you use .5, .3, .1 bonuses) and still have two tough home games against Lowell and visit BC on the last weekend of the regular season.

Dave Hendrickson: Maine definitely has a shot. There is a lot of fluctuation in the PairWise. You mention the upcoming tough games, but those are the ones that also factor into multiple criteria in the PairWise - games against common opponents, teams over .500 and head-to-head comparisons, so Maine has a great shot at the NCAAs but needs to play well. Jimmy Howard is back to playing at his great level so that's the foundation.

Brian (Havertown, PA): I have seen BC play on several different occassions this year, and it appears to me that Andrew Alberts is the key to their success. Some nights he can the HE equivalent of Chris Pronger, other nights he spends too much time in the box and/or being ejected. How can Jerry York and the Eagles ensure that Alberts play smart hockey in their run to a Frozen Four and a National Championship?

Dave Hendrickson: I agree that Alberts is a major key. He's one of the top D in the country and a major factor in the team's success. There's a reason BC is running away with the top team defense in Hockey East. I suspect that as the games become more important, the focus of every player improves and it becomes easier to avoid the bad penalty to keep the eye on the prize. Sometimes, though, the intensity goes up and so do the penalties. It's a balancing act for any coach. Don't tone down the intensity, but don't get it too high either.

Jeremy (Somerset NJ): Dave, Does the Beanpot get a special exemption from the NCAA that allows it to play multiple overtime games in an in-season tournament?

Dave Hendrickson: No, Jeremy. Any in-season tournament can play as many overtimes as they need. There's no five-minute rule either. Just resurface the ice and play the game to the tournament's required completion.

RIck, NJ: Do you expect the trend in recent years toward lower-scoring games to continue? What can change it?

Dave Hendrickson: I think the change in rules enforcement we saw stressed so significantly early in the year is an attempt to get offense back into the game. If you can't give the extra hook or if you can't obstruct away from the puck, then skill will come to the fore and offense should increase. That's why I support the effort. However, the increase in scouting and improved goaltending counters that, so there will need to be ongoing efforts to keep skill the most important thing.

Alec (Chestnut Hill): It seems that BC has had a lot of games this season where they've made opposing goalies look very, very good, probably better than they are - Notre Dame's Morgan Cey, Providence's David Cacciola (twice), Yale's Matt Modelski, and last night, BU's backup keeper in Stephan Siewic. Any idea how this keeps happening to the Eagles?

Dave Hendrickson: The Eagles tend to put a lot of sustained pressure on goaltenders. Lots of action. Many goalies thrive on this. If you talk to them, what they hate is standing around with no action and then after a long lull they get hit with a grade A opportunity. That's tough. When you're playing against BC, there aren't typically going to be those lulls. A goalie gets in his rhythm and that helps him be in "the zone". Plus, BC has been high in the rankings all year and teams and goalies naturally will get up to play them.

Will (Boston): Do you see BU getting even stronger in the next few years? Agganis Arena has already brought in an awesome freshman class. Assuming they get the same caliber players for the next 3-4 years, the Terriers should be contending for national championships. What do you think?

Dave Hendrickson: I absolutely agree. I'd be surprised if there isn't a return to at least close to the level we saw in the nineties where BU was in the mix for the National Championship all the time. In recent years, though, the building held them back as other schools became more attractive. Schools like BC were winning more of those head to head recruiting battles. Aggains Arena puts BU right at the top of the class in terms of recruiting attractiveness, so I'd be stunned if BU isn't a Frozen Four regular.

Jeff (San Diego, CA): Hi Dave. I really enjoy your weekly column. Maine fans had higher hopes for the team this season. What do you think are the top 1 or 2 factors for their lack of goal scoring and powerplay efficiency?

Dave Hendrickson: They didn't have a lot of goal scoring last year either and if memory serves me correctly, they didn't do too bad. Their power play last year also was so-so. As offensive teams went, Maine was quite mediocre last year. They don't have to score a ton this year to get where they want to go. With Jimmy Howard back at peak form, they can continue to play tough team defense and get enough offense to win. They play playoff hockey so if they put themselves in position, they'll be a tough opponent and a serious challenger.

Pierre (Fort Kent, ME): How do you think Tim Whitehead stacks up against the late Shawn Walsh (RIP)?

Dave Hendrickson: That's a tough question. Frankly, there aren't many coaches who stack up against Shawn Walsh. What he did to build that program was an incredible achievement. Could Tim Whitehead do the same job of building the program out of nothing? I don't know. But he doesn't have to do that. He has to keep a premier program running at the national level. And he's shown he can do that. So comparisons aren't really fair to him. He's done a great job.

K.C. Fitchburg: How can Merrimack ever hope to compete with a BC or a Maine?

Dave Hendrickson: Merrimack certainly has its work cut out for it. The problem is recruiting. If you're a top recruit, do you prefer say BU and the Agganis or Merrimack? Not a tough choice. I thought Serino's illness really set back the program in terms of recruiting (though obviously his health was the most important issue). Serino's first couple years he kept getting at least one major recruit. That seems to have slowed a little and maybe his illness disrupted some of that recruiting momentum. He's an excellent coach, but it's an uphill battle for him.

Bruce (Acton): Do you think Hockey East is destined to have this top layer of teams that are superior while the others fight for the occasional good year?

Dave Hendrickson: I actually have a feature that is due to hit on USCHO any day now called "The Usual Suspects" and it points out how tough it has been over the past decade or so for teams to break into the Big Four. Those teams are SO strong that it'll be tough. I wouldn't bet against energetic and terrific coaches like MacDonald and Cahoon who are trying to build their programs, but I suspect that for the forseeable future teams out of the Big Four will be hoping to break into home ice every other year or so while the perennial powers are there year after year.

Tom (Amherst): How do you see the attendance situation working out for this year's NCAA tournament, with two regionals so close together in Amherst and Worcester?

Dave Hendrickson: That's a great question, Tom. We won't really know until we see which teams get placed where. Some schools have great travelling fans. The key is how much crossing over takes place. If there are a bunch of Western schools placed there because of seeding issues -- especially the top seeds which the committee tries to place in purely the exact order -- then you could see some attendance issues. So if BC is sent west because of a pure pecking order then that would be a problem, for example. But we won't know until we see the field.

Jeff (Alexandria, VA): How do you think NU will not only fare in the Beanpot final, but as well in the HE playoffs? Do you think Gibson can continue to lead them against the stronger teams in the league?

Dave Hendrickson: I am very impressed with how well NU plays as a team. They were very good at denying Harvard much to work with. They aren't flashy, but they're successful because they deny you and look to counterpunch. Gibson has played extremely well and if that countinues they could go far. They have done very, very well against a lot of nationally ranked teams. It wouldn't suprise me to see them win the Beanpot or get to the FleetCenter in the HE playoffs.

Ben (Portland, Maine): In his chat, Joe Bertagna was very adamant on the officiating. From your perspective, are they getting it right or making it worse?

Dave Hendrickson: I believe in calling the book, too, just like Joe. Skill is exciting to watch while the tugs of hooking and obstruction are boring. I'm all for calling the book as long as they keep it consistent. Where it gets frustrating is where the early weeks of the season were brutal to to watch only to have the officials seem to back off. They should stick to it and let skill predominate. I should also add that officials always take the brunt of the ire of fans. Think back to whether you liked Fitzy until he called it quits. After he was gone, everyone wanted him back.

Rich (Gray, ME): Hi Dave. In your opinion, how does Hockey East "stack up" against the other conferences? And, do you think we will see 4 (maybe 5?) HE teams in the NCAAs?

Dave Hendrickson: Interesting question since the ECAC has fared much better this year against HE than in the past. So the relative strength is closer in that respect. I'd still say that Hockey East and the WCHA are the two top conferences by a wide margin particularly in terms of top to bottom strength. The CCHA and ECAC are much more top heavy. We could definitely see 4 or even 5 HE teams, but so much depends upon the stretch run, especially the playoffs plus how other conferences do. Much is not in your own control. So it could definitely happen, especially with a non-home ice school like Lowell doing gangbusters in the PairWise.

Mike (Berlin, NH): How do you think Vermont will do in Hockey East after not having been competitive most years in the ECAC?

Dave Hendrickson: Vermont was down after the hazing scandal, but they're back this year and have often been a strong ECAC team. Their years with Perrin and St. Louis were some of my favorites. I LOVED to watch that team. There's great excitement in that arena and that's always important in attracting recruits. They took a beating because of the hazing and understandably so. But they're rebounding and should be a mid-level or so team in Hockey East next year.

Karen (Lynn, MA): Hi Dave, I'd like to hear your thoughts on the UNH goalies. I would like to see Kevin Regan play more often.

Dave Hendrickson: Regan has done well and I suspect it'll all come down to the play of him and Pietrasiak down the stretch to see who gets the bulk of the action. Just because Pietrasiak is the upperclassman doesn't mean he's a fixture. Whoever is strongest will likely get the nod the most in the last couple weeks plus playoffs.

Jimmy (Boston): What do you think of Lowell continually raising eyebrows? What has been the keys, in your mind to the River Hawks success this year? And why do so many people call you Pops?

Dave Hendrickson: I've been bullish on Lowell all season long. I think Blaise MacDonald is a fabulous coach who has done an outstanding job of keeping the day to day focus where it needed to be early in the year when the team had a brutal Hockey East opening. So I picked them to finish third in Hockey East this year which now looks quite unlikely. But I guess I meant third in Hockey East in terms of the Pairwise. They've gotten great goal scoring out of Ben Walter as anyone who can read a box score could guess. But I think they're a "whole is greater than the sum of the parts" kind of team. They are playing terrific TEAM play and unlike the last couple years when the goaltending has been up and down, Vetri is really getting it done. And although I'd like to think people call me Pops because I'm always talking about my kids, the reality is that I'm a lot older than the rest of my collegaues so it's a jab at my advanced age.

Chuck (Boston): Who do you see as the most likely candidate to pull a first-round upset in the Hockey East tournament, along the lines of what BU did last year?

Dave Hendrickson: I'd say that the two realistic upset teams would be Northeastern and Lowell. I don't think UMass, PC or Merrimack have the horsepower to win a series on the road this year. But Lowell and Northeastern, assuming they both finish out of home ice and are therefore considered underdogs, won't be longshots at all. I think both would have a great shot because they're strong teams in a conference that has so much parity.

CollegeSports.com Moderator: We are out of time for Dave.

Dave Hendrickson: The CSTV folks promised to make this idiot-proof for me and I'd like to thank them for living up to that promise. Thanks for all the great questions.

CollegeSports.com Moderator: And don't forget, we are minutes away from our third chat of the day - this one with CSTV play by play man Mike Emrick. Get your questions in now.


July 11, 2009