Oct. 27, 2005

By Dave Starman

Special to CSTV.com

I am sitting here in the airport on my way out to CSTV's broadcast of Denver at North Dakota this Friday at 8:30 p.m. ET.  It's the second NCAA Finals rematch in three weeks on CSTV, on the heels of Denver at Maine two weeks ago.  After that, we'll see the Hockey East Championship game rematch Tuesday night when BC visits UNH followed by always tough Michigan visiting Notre Dame a week from Friday.  That makes three great games in eight nights on your national home for college hockey, CSTV.

The plane is a little delayed, so I'll think out loud.

MAINE MEN

I really like Maine.  The arena is great, the fans are great, and the feeling inside the arena on game night is everything college hockey should be.  A team that is committed to doing the little things right on ice and well schooled fundamentally, the Black Bears are poised to have a better season than last season, and possibly make a return to the Frozen Four.  They recruited for offense both up front and from the back line, and judging from their games so far, they have the poise to keep it tight when the situation calls for it.  Their goaltending is real good, but might not be great yet.  Big Ben Bishop, all 79 inches of him, is still an 18-year old rookie, and Matt Lundin is somewhat inexperienced despite a year behind the great Jimmy Howard.  Maine will make some noise this season on a national level.

ROAD RULES

Denver coach George Gwozdecky makes an interesting point regarding early season non-conference road trips.  He told me, "It doesn't make a difference if we are going to Maine or somewhere close by, it's the ability to get the returning players and the incoming guys together in a bonding situation.  The vets are in a new role in terms of responsibility, and it gives them a chance to establish themselves in those roles."  After their sweep at the hands of Maine, he humorously pointed out the obvious; "It is much better when you win those games on those trips, because it makes it much easier to show the kids that the stuff we are teaching them really works."

FAMILY TIES

A hot topic right now in college hockey is the influx of offspring of former NHL players. The latest is Patrick Mullen, son of Hall of Famer (and New York City native) Joe Mullen.  What makes this really nice is his father was also a great college player at Boston College, and his uncle Brian, another former NHL star, who played at Wisconsin.  In describing the young Mullen, Gwozdecky said, "He's special. A good offensive player.  He's the kind of kid that makes you look twice and ask yourself, `Did he just do what I think he did?'"  However, compared to his dad, a two-time Stanley Cup winner with Pittsburgh, Gwozdecky said, "His dad was a pretty special goal scorer.  Not many are in that class."  At Denver, Mullen joins Paul Stastny, son of the great Peter Stastny, also a Hall of Famer.

EYES ON EAGLES

For those that didn't know, Boston College Coach Jerry York had surgery this summer for prostate cancer.  He's fine, and back behind the bench.  Strange year for BC, as there are no Eaves, no Ryan Shannon, no Matti Kaltianen, Tony Voce is a year removed.   I think they are an interesting team watch this season.

Q&A ON QU

A number of folks ridiculed a statement made to me by a Quinnipiac official in a story I did for USCHO.  That official told me that by joining the ECAC, Quinnipiac embraces the athletic and academic traditions of the Ivy league schools, while offering an education on par with the Ivies.  I did not quote the official, rather just used the line in the story.  Many people who must have gotten close to a 1500 on the SAT hammered me by saying that there were many schools in Connecticut that have better academic standards than Quinnipiac.  However, none of them that were listed by those folks had a Division I hockey program.  The idea here, hockey fans, was to allow potential recruits to understand that Quinnipiac has a team that plays in a "big four" conference against Harvard, Cornell, Dartmouth, Brown, etc.  They also play Michigan, North Dakota (next season), and other tough non-conference schools.  On top of it, you can go to school in a great area on a beautiful campus and get a good education.  Around election time, you hear about a lot of poll results. Those would be the Quinnipiac University polls, not the Wesleyan polls.

A LITTLE TRIVIA

What do Division I stars like Mike Fornataro, Kevin Regan, Mike Radja, Andrew Thomas, Pete MacArthur, Joe Pavelski, and Tim Filangieri have in common?  The answer later. 

LONG ISLAND LOVE

Speaking of Filangieri, a rookie defenseman at Boston College, he'll join two other Long Island born players on the Eagles defense.  Filangieri (Waterloo-USHL), Tim Kunes (New England-EJHL), and Mike Brennan (Apple Core/EJHL, National Team) took different routes, but are products of a very good player development system on Long Island.  They follow defensemen Kevin Schaeffer (BU) and Steve Birnstill (Northeastern), both Apple Core alumni, as future stars on Hockey East backlines.  Another `Core defenseman, Erik Bergdoerfer, has committed to RPI.

ENGINEERING A WIN

While talking about RPI, how about the play of rookie goalie Mathias Lange last weekend?  Lange spotted BU two goals, and then locked the door as RPI won at BU 3-2.  Two days later, he shut out Army.  Both he and Big Ben Bishop had great debuts for rookie goalies.  Want another great rookie performance? Add in Chad Johnson of Alaska Fairbanks, who was great in a 3-3 tie at Minnesota.  Billy Sauer at Michigan had a nice debut also in a sweep of Quinnipiac.  There are more, I just didn't see them.

NORTH TO ALASKA

I mentioned Fairbanks, and the Nanooks are certainly worth mentioning. Guy Gadowsky built a solid program, and left it in the hands of Tavis MacMillan, who had a big hand in the program's success under Gadowsky.  MacMillan's team did great in Minnesota against the then No. 1 Gophers, bringing home three of four points.  If the Nanooks didn't have such a bad travel schedule, they would definitely be a top CCHA team.  As it is, Jordan Hendry, Kyle Greentree, and Kelly Czuy are as good as any top three in the CCHA.  With Hendry back from a missed season due to injury, Fairbanks will make this an interesting season.

HUSKY TALK

A new era is underway at Northeastern.  Matthews Arena was jammed to capacity, standing room included, for the Huskies' game against Boston College last weekend.  They actually had to turn fans away for the first time.  "It was electric in there," said new coach Greg Cronin.  "I've coached in many Islanders-Rangers games, and it reminded me of that atmosphere.  It was awesome."  So was the result for Northeastern, sort of, as the Huskies tied, BC 1-1.  They also rebounded from a 6-0 shelling at North Dakota a couple of weeks ago to lose 2-1 the next night.  If you're keeping count, that's two near-upsets against national powers.  Northeastern is in good hands under Cronin, who has brought all the passion and energy that he had a coach in the AHL.  It's also nice to have a Boston accent at all the Beanpot schools once again.  Somehow the non-Boston dialects of Mark Mazzoleni and Bruce Crowder never seemed to fit in east of the 128 perimeter.

PINSTRIPED GOPHERS?

The Gophers remind me of the New York Yankees: a collection of stars that don't seem to have the same goals (though they'll score a lot of them).  Minnesota will be a tough out this season, but most folks I talk to do not see them walking out of the Bradley Center with that little block of wood in April. 

In an interview on WFAN sports radio in New York, OLN analyst Pierre MacGuire told the hosts Mike Francesa and Chris Russo that the "the NHL has never seen the star power that will join the league in three consecutive seasons as Alexander Ovechkin, then Sidney Crosby, and then Phil Kessel. Is this breaking news?  Did Kessel announce he's leaving after this season?  Keep an eye on this one.

CCHA CONNECTIONS

There is something humble and down to earth about the coaches of the CCHA.  I know they want to beat each other's teams on the ice, but off it, they all seem like each other's biggest fans.  Watching Michigan's Red Berenson sharing old NHL stories with Rick Comley of Michigan State, his biggest rival in the CCHA and in the state of Michigan was heart warming.  Coaches like Ferris State's Bob Daniels and Northern Michigan's Walt Kyle could be a comedy team together.  Competition breeds respect, and these guys have been at it a long time.  It's nice to see.  By the way, I'm hoping Bowling Green has a great year. The Falcons deserve it after the adversity they had last year. 

WATCHING WISCONSIN

Brian Elliot had a good weekend for Wisconsin in goal, as they won and tied the St. Cloud State Huskies at the National Hockey Center.  Elliot replaces Bernd Bruckler, who was as good as any goalie Wisconsin has had in recent years.  Other than replacing a heart and soul guy like John Funk, the Badgers enter the season with, basically, the same team they had last season. I thought they'd win the WCHA regular season last year, but they didn't.   Now, though, Wisconsin should be ready to make some noise.  I think this is a big year for Bucky, and wins in Minnesota, Denver, CC, or NoDak would really help this season. 

SPARTAN START

Michigan State won the Lefty McFadden this season by beating North Dakota (which will look great in the Pairwise later because of North Dakota's difficulty of schedule in the WCHA).  Last season they won the GLI.  This year, they once again take aim at the CCHA title and a berth in the NCAA Tournament, where they have been a fixture (except last season) for many years. One man who figures to have a hand in that is Justin Abdelkader, who suits up this season for the new era at MSU. Speaking of Abdelkader, congratulations go out to his old coach and team, Mark Carlson and the Cedar Rapids Rough Riders for winning the USHL's Clark Cup.

ROWDY RINKS

I feel Alfond Arena in Maine is the toughest for a visiting team to win in.  Just my opinion.  However, I like Ohio State coach John Markell's take on Michigan's Yost Arena, also a very tough place to get a W.  "They play a 100 miles an hour, and the rink is not that big to begin with.  Add their speed and style to that, and that rink gets smaller as the game goes on.  That's why it's tough to win there."  Attention Cornell Fans...I haven't been to Lynah, but hear it is just as tough as Alfond and Yost.  Former Big Red Captain Ryan Vesce told me that he was intimidated to play there as a freshman on as the home team!  Tough crowd.

On the topic of buildings, Miami gets a new one next season that seems to have the makings of a cozy scene in a modern facility.  Agannis Arena at BU has that feel as well, as BU did their best to create a modern version of Walter Brown Arena.  What amazes me is the rinks in the WCHA.  They are huge, cavernous rinks, yet they are constantly packed full of fans so that it does seem like an intimate gathering with all the atmosphere of old time college hockey. 

PUMPING POULIN

This is shameless shilling, but congrats to Dave Poulin on a successful debut as a studio analyst on CSTV.  Dave did pregame, between periods, and post game analysis during CSTV's national broadcast of UNH and North Dakota.  Mike Emrick doing play by play, Dave Poulin in studio...no wonder CSTV is the national home of college hockey!

Poulin is in now in Athletic Development at his alma mater, Notre Dame, following his 10 year tenure as the Head Coach of the Fighting Irish (where he was a teammate of Gophers coach Don Lucia in the late seventies-early eighties).  During the recent USC-Notre Dame football game, he was on the sidelines standing within 10 feet of Patriots owner Bob Kraft and several Football Hall of Fame Irish alumni.  "It was rock star weekend," he said. "257 private jets were in South Bend for that game.  It was awesome."

SPRINGING TO LIFE
This is just a reminder that Colorado College will be a really good team again this year.  Frozen Four team?  I wouldn't rule that out.  Coach Scott Owens has the right idea.  Let your offensive players play and use their creativity.  With Sterling, Sertich, Patrosso and McCullouch, they have firepower.  Matt Zaba is solid in net, and rookie Drew O'Connell should be just fine.  O'Connell follows a legacy of pretty good netminders from the Waterloo Blackhawks to the NCAA.  Jordan Parise of North Dakota and Kevin Regan of UNH manned the Black Hawks net before him.  By the way, CC outshot Air Force and Notre Dame this weekend by a count of 80-27.  Defenseman Brian Salcido had six assists.  Of note for the Tigers is Braydon Cox, who has six career goals, all game winners.

OH-OH OSHIE

North Dakota's T.J. Oshie scored a great goal Friday night at UNH.  He went to the net off an offensive zone draw as the puck was harmlessly thrown at the net from the defense.  Goalie Jeff Pietriesiak couldn't get a handle on the shot, and Oshie kept going to the net and played the whistle, which never sounded.  He popped the loose rebound home for a great work ethic goal, the first of many.  He scored a similar goal Saturday.  Coach Dave Hakstol commented that Oshie's tenacity in wanting the puck, getting the puck back after he loses it, and protecting it is a huge factor in why he will be successful.

TRIVIA ANSWER

The answer to the aforementioned question is that they were all teammates in the USHL with the Waterloo Blackhawks.  Pretty good collection of talent.

Enjoy Denver at North Dakota. We sure will!