U.S. Hockey Report
February News
- Quarterfinals:
- Taft over Berkshire, 4-1
- Deerfield over Westminster, 3-2 (OT)
- Cushing over Nobles, 6-0
- St. Sebastian's over Exeter, 6-4
- Semifinals:
- Taft over Cushing, 3-2
- Deerfield over St. Sebastian's, 3-0
- Finals:
- Taft over Deerfield, 4-2
- Quarterfinals:
- Deerfield 2, Westminster 1
- Taft 6, Berkshire 4
- Cushing 5, Nobles 1
- St. Sebastian's 4, Exeter 1
- Semifinals:
- Cushing 4, Taft 1
- St. Sebastian's 3, Deerfield 2
- Final:
- Cushing 7, St. Sebastian's 3
- The Formula:
- 1. Overall NEPSIHA record.
2. NEPSIHA Div. I record.
3. Winning percentage against NEPSIHA teams with a .500 or better record X the number of games played against NEPSIHA Div. I teams with a .500 record or better. - 1. Winchester HS
- 2. Arlington HS
- 3. Catholic Memorial
- 4. Austin Prep
- 5. B.C. High
- 6. Reading
- 7. Springfield Cathedral
- 8. St. John's-Shrewsbury
- 9. Archbishop Williams
- 10. Matignon
- #1 Winchester vs. #8 seed, 7:15 pm
- #2 Arlington vs. #7 seed, 6:00 pm
- #3 Catholic Memorial vs. #6 Reading, 2:15 p.m.
- #4 Austin Prep vs. #5 BC High, noon.
- 1. Cushing (25-0-1)
- 2. St. Sebastian's (19-1-1)
- 3. Exeter (14-6-1)
- 4. Nobles (16-9-2)
- 1. Deerfield (20-2-0)
- 2. Taft (18-2-1)
- 3. Berkshire (22-4-5)
- 4. Westminster (17-5-1)
- #1W Deerfield vs. #4W Westminster -- at Deerfield, 3:30 p.m.
- #2E St. Sebastian's vs. #3E Exeter -- at St. Sebastian's, 4:00 p.m.
- #1E Cushing vs. #4E Nobles -- at Cushing, 3:30 p.m.
- #2W Taft vs. #3W Berkshire -- at Taft, 3:30 p.m.
- 1. Tilton
- 2. Brooks
- 3. Brunswick
- 4. Pingree
- 5. St. Mark's
- 6. Hebron
- 7. Williston
- 8. St. George's
- #1 Tilton vs. #8 St. George's -- at Groton, 3:30 p.m.
- #4 Pingree vs. #5 St. Mark's -- at Pingree, 3:30 p.m.
- #2 Brooks vs. #7 Williston -- at St. Mark's, 3:30 p.m.
- #3 Brunswick vs. #6 Hebron -- at Middlesex, 4:00 p.m.
- Here are the important dates:
- June 23-28: Select 16 Festival ('85s) in St. Cloud, Minn.
- June 30-July 5: Select 17 Festival ('84s) in St. Cloud, Minn.
- July 10-15: National Goaltending Camp in Colorado Springs, Col.
- July 21-26: Select 14 Festival ('87s) in Rochester, NY
- August 4-9: Select 15 Festival ('86s) in St. Cloud, Minn.
- International Tournaments:
- Aug. 7-12: U.S. Under-17's in Slovakia for Four Nations Tournament (U.S., Slovakia, Czech Republic, and Switzerland).
- Aug. 13-19: U.S. Under-18's in Czech Republic for Six Nations Tournament (Invitations to: U.S., Slovakia, Czech Republic, Canada, Russia, and Sweden.)
- -- #1 West will play #4 West
- -- #2 East will play #3 East
- The winners of the above two games will meet in the first semi, Sat. March 3 at Salem, NH. Game time will be 4:30 pm.
- -- #1 East will play #4 East
- -- #2 West will play #3 West
- The winners of these two games will meet in the second semi, Sat. March 3 at Salem, NH. Game time will be 7:00 pm.
- -- #1 will play #8
- -- #4 will play #5
- The winners of the above two games will meet in the first semi, Sat. March 3 at Salem, NH. Game time will be 11:30 am.
- -- #2 will play #7
- -- #3 will play #6
- The winners of the above two games will meet in the second semi, Sat. March 3 at Salem, NH. Game time will be 2:00 pm.
-
- These players, if they choose to play in the USHL next season, are bound to the club that signed them.
- Cedar Rapids:
- Adam Olsen, F, '83, Alexandria HS (Minn.)
- Chicago:
- Tom Gilbert, F, '83, Bloomington-Jefferson HS (Minn.)
- Beau Kretzman, F, '83, Edina HS (Minn.)
- Des Moines:
- Mike Erickson, F, '83, Eden Prairie HS (Minn.)
- Jake Brenk, F, '82, Breck School (Minn.)
- Dubuque:
- Critter Nagurski, F, International Falls HS (Minn.)
- Zach Blom, D, Vail Midget AAA (Col.)
- Brandon Straub, D, Vail Midget AAA (Col.)
- Green Bay:
- Mike Bartlett, F, '85, Chicago Chill Midget AAA (Ill.)
- Adam Hanson, D, '83, East Grand Forks HS (Minn.)
- Lincoln:
- T.J. McElroy, D, Robbinsdale Armstrong HS (Minn.)
- Omaha:
- Clay Wilson, D, '83, Cloquet HS (Minn.)
- Grant Clafton, D, '83, Grand Rapids HS (Minn.)
- Rochester:
- None
- Sioux City:
- Nate Thompson, F, '84, Alaska All-Stars Midget AAA
- Michael Ramirez, F, '84, Alaska All-Stars Midget AAA
- Sioux Falls:
- Marty Sertich, F, '82, Roseville HS (Minn.)
- Topeka:
- Douglas Conley, F, '83, Buffalo Saints Midget AAA (N.Y.)
- Tri-City:
- David Boguslawski, F, Park Cottage Grove HS (Minn.)
- Waterloo:
- Aaron Johnson, F, '82, Armstrong HS (Minn.)
- These players must play five games with the club that selected them at the end of the high school season next month. If they choose not to play those five games (three if their team makes it to the state tournament) they will be returned to the draft pool.
- Cedar Rapids:
- Jimmy Spiewak, '82, Catholic Central HS (Mich.)
- Chicago:
- Chad Gromek, D, '82, Osseo HS (Minn.)
- Des Moines:
- None
- Dubuque:
- None
- Green Bay:
- Jake Taylor, D, '83, Rochester Lourdes HS (Minn.)
- Lincoln:
- Gino Guyer, F, '83, Greenway HS (Minn.)
- Omaha:
- Taylor Jindra, F, '82, Burnsville HS (Minn.)
- Rochester:
- Rob Rankin, F, '82, Holy Angels HS (Minn.)
- Sioux City:
- None
- Sioux Falls:
- Nick Pernula, F, '84, Osseo HS (Minn.)
- Tri-City:
- Connor Phippen, D, '82, Holy Angels HS (Minn.)
- Waterloo:
- Trevor Stewart, F, '82, Elk River HS (Minn.)
-
2/1/01
USHL Protected Players
- USHL teams are allowed to protect a number of players from their protected team. If a USHL team selected four players from their protected team below, it had five picks in last week's draft. It continues like that --- three gets six, two gets seven, etc.
- Cedar Rapids RoughRiders -- Shattuck St. Mary's
- 1. Jordan Parise, G, '82
- 2. Casey Bickley, D, '82
- 3. Nick Hamm, D, '83
- 4. Bill McCreary, F, '82
- Chicago Steel -- Team Illinois Midget AAA
- 1. Chris Bolognino, D, '83
- 2. Anthony Cosmano, F, '85
- 3. Danny Richmond, D, '84
- Des Moines Buccaneers -- Duluth East HS
- 1. Weston Tardy, D, '83
- 2. Nick Licari, F, '84
- 3. Tommy Kolar, F, '83
- 4. Dan Hoehne, G, '83
- Dubuque Fighting Saints -- Hastings HS
- 1. Travis Kieffer, F, '82
- 2. Casey Welch, F, '83
- Green Bay Gamblers -- Chicago Chill Midget AAA
- 1. Bret Adams, F, '82
- 2. Mike Brown, F, '85
- 3. Brett Coburn, F, '82
- 4. Jeff Likens, D, '85
- Lincoln Stars -- Red River HS
- 1. Ryan Potulny, F, '84
- 2. Danny Irmen, F, '84
- 3. Nate Ziegelmann, G, '83
- Omaha Lancers -- HoneyBaked Midget AAA
- 1. Bryan Marshall, F, '83
- 2. Nick Lang, F, '83
- 3. Bryan Dobek, F, '83
- 4. Dominic Vicari, G, '84
- Rochester Mustangs -- Rochester Mayo HS
- 1. Scott Thauwald, F, '84
- 2. Jeff Jakaitis, G, '83
- 3. Mark Pettis, D, '82
- Sioux City Musketeers -- Pittsburgh Hornets Midget AAA
- 1. Dylan Reese, D, '84
- 2. Clay Labrosse, F, '83
- 3. Ken Trombetta, F, '82
- 4. Brian Bakowski, G, '85
- Sioux Falls Stampede -- Greenway HS (Minn.)
- 1. Andy Sertich, F, '83
- 2. Mike Dagel, D, '83
- 3. Mike Forconi, F, '83
- Topeka ScareCrows -- L.A. Jr. Kings Midget AAA
- 1. Adam Bartholomay, F, '83
- 2. Joseph Howard, F, '83
- 3. Grant Goeckner-Zoeller, F, '83
- 4. Jason Hastings, D, '83
- Tri-City Storm -- Bloomington Jefferson HS
- 1. Matt Duncan, F, '83
- 2. Nick Coffman, F, '82
- 3. Mike Bernhagen, F, '83
- Waterloo Black Hawks -- Marquette Electricians Midget AAA
- 1. Mike Dagenais, F, '84
- 2. Matt Bobo, D, '83
- 3. Rob Lehtinen, D, '83
- 4. Matt Mouser, G, '84
2/28/01
Cacciola a Friar
St. Sebastian's goaltender Dave Cacciola has committed to Providence College and will go there in the fall, filling the slot current senior Boyd Ballard holds.
Cacciola, who goes up against Exeter in the NEPSIHA quarterfinals today, transferred from Burlington (Mass.) HS to St. Sebastian's a couple of years ago. A butterfly type goalie who's consistently square to the puck, Cacciola is 6'0", 175 lbs and a Jan. '82 birthdate. He's been a major factor in St. Sebastian's 19-1-1 season, posting a handful of shutouts.
Cacciola was also on the Eastern Mass Senators team that won the National Midget title last April.
Cacciola's committing comes a week or so after Cedar Rapids (USHL) netminder Bobby Geopfert committed to the Friars. Geopfert, however, will play another year of juniors before coming to Providence -- Nolan Schaefer will be a senior when Geopfert arrives as a freshman. Geopfert, who played for Suffolk PAL on his native Long Island before going to the USHL is small at 5'8" but aggressive, quick, and ultra-competitive. He's an '83, and one of the top ones in the country.
2/28/01
Playoff Predictions
A respected coach who has been behind the bench at prep hockey's Final Four offers up his predictions for the playoffs:
"My reasons," he says, "for picking some team other than Cushing are two-fold. Cushing has not lost yet this year and the pressure is building. The big ice surface at Salem favors Taft as they practice and play all their games on a bigger-than-normal sheet. They have great speed and despite their lack of any big name defensemen except Sifers, they have played well defensively all year. If Chris Ries plays goal, he is steady and reliable. If Spadaccini plays, he is streaky.
"I pick Deerfield to lose in the finals for the fourth year in a row. If I were (coach) Lindsay and this happens, I would get an exorcism."
Our take? Well, this is how it looks to us for tomorrow:
The action today will definitely be in the west -- that's where the greatest likelihood of upsets will be found. Westminster and Deerfield have played three times this season, with Westminster knocking off the Big Green 3-1 in the Flood-Marr final, and then Deerfield taking the two league games, one on Jan. 24 (3-2 in OT) and one on Feb. 24 by a 2-0 score. If Westy, which always plays strong team defense and has Phil "Fort" Lauderdale between the pipes, hangs around until late, they could take this one, though the edge, a slight one, has to be with the Big Green. Berkshire and Taft have met once this year, back on Dec. 2, with the result a 1-1 tie. If Berkshire has their injured players back and junior goaltender Jeff Pietrasiak comes up big, Taft will have a game on its hands. That's a lot of ifs, however. The reality of the situation is that we see Taft getting past the specter of last season's quarterfinal defeat, winning handily, and moving on to Salem's Lot.
Cushing will have no problem whatsoever with Nobles. The two teams have met for the last two or three years in the quarters with Cushing winning every time in a blowout. That won't happen this time, mainly because Nobles has Rory Walsh, who's a better goalie than Nobles has had in quite a while. But Cushing is just too strong.
Exeter, without both Eddie Caron and Colin Fitzrandolph, will struggle mightily against St. Sebastian's, a young team that is more skilled up front, on the blue line, and in net than Exeter. Realistically, Exeter's only hope is for senior center Tom Cavanagh to carry the team on his shoulders. However, if St. Seb's shuts Cavanagh down, they'll win handily.
In the semis, we see Cushing coming out flying against Taft and hitting them hard every time they touch the puck. If Taft survives the first 5-10 minutes, they'll give Cushing a game. Both teams have top-flight forwards, and both teams have adequate goaltending. However, Cushing's group of D -- Lannon, Degon, Pickett, Youngclaus, and Yandle -- is the class of the tournament and will be the difference here.
St. Sebastian's is a little more skilled than Deerfield, but, as mentioned above, they are young, and they play in a less-physical league. This -- assuming they get by Exeter -- will start to catch up to them on Saturday. That said, we're betting that this matchup, if it comes to pass, will produce a close, entertaining game, quite likely the best of the tournament. We're also predicting that the Arrows prevail, but just barely.
Cushing's physical play will put St. Sebastian's back on its heels early, Woodford, Murphy(s) et al will pop a few, and then the blueliners will close it out.
2/27/01
The Best of the Rest
Div. 1 West:
Note: These are the official standings, courtesy of NEPSIHA and follow the formula shown below. Bear in mind that the won-lost records shown here are each school's overall record against NEPSIHA foes. What they don't show, of course, is each school's strength of schedule rankings. Millbrook, for instance, only played three games this season against Division I opponents over .500. All three of those games were vs. Berkshire and Millbrook went 1-1-1 in them.
2/26/01
Daccord Resigns at Nobles
The timing is unusual, to say the least, but Nobles head hockey coach Tom Daccord is reported to be resigning the post in order to devote more time to family commitments.
Daccord told his players of his decision after the regular season finale against Milton on Saturday. Nobles meets Cushing in the New England Prep quarterfinals on Wednesday, and it's unclear who will be behind the bench.
Daccord, the brother of Boston Bruins goaltending coach Brian Daccord, is the chairman of Nobles' history department. He played his college hockey for Jim Higgins at Princeton, graduating in '85.
Daccord coached the Nobles girls team for four years before swapping positions with Tom Resor, who moved from the boys to the girls programs. Resor has a daughter playing on the girl's team.
Update: Daccord will be behind the bench on Wednesday and reportedly plans to stay with the Nobles hockey program as a varsity assistant or as the JV coach next season. Meanwhile, a search for a new coach has begun.
2/26/01
Leahy to BC
6'1", 190 lb. Taft defenseman Taylor Leahy has made a verbal commitment to Boston College.
Leahy, a stay-at-home defenseman with a good long stride, plays a simple steady game. A converted forward, he has been playing defense only since the start of this season.
Leahy, who's also the captain of the Taft soccer team, is a native of the New York City suburb of Larchmont, N.Y. and played high school hockey at Mamaroneck High before coming to Taft. He has ties to the Boston area: his father, Richard Leahy, played for Catholic Memorial in the mid-'60s.
2/25/01
Sachems Top Seed in Mass. Super 10
The seeding for the Mass. High School Div. 1A tournament, which will be trimmed to its customary "Super 8" after Tuesday night's play-in, features public schools in the top two slots as the Winchester High Sachems, under John Messuri, and the Arlington High Spy Ponders, under Dick DeCaprio, have been awarded the #1-2 seeds.
The list:
The teams seeded #7-10 will play a preliminary round on Tuesday night at the Chelmsford Forum (formerly the Tully Forum) in Billerica, Mass, with the winners moving on to the Super 8 as the #7-8 seeds, and the losers dropping down to the Div. I tournament.
On Tuesday at 6:00 Springfield Cathedral will face off against Matignon. At 8:15, Archbishop Williams faces off against St. John's-Shrewsbury.
The Super 8 gets underway Sunday March 4 at Tsongas Arena in Lowell. Here are the matchups and game times:
In the ten years of the Div. 1A Tournament, no public school team has won it all (Catholic Memorial has won it nine times, and BC High once).
Our prediction for 2001? Arlington High will take home the hardware. The reasons: BC-bound center Ned Havern, big winger Brendan Timmins, and (equally big) future Harvard blueliner Tom Walsh. The supporting cast is not too shabby either.
2/25/01
Prep Playoff Matchups Announced
The New England Prep School Ice Hockey Association (NEPSIHA) met this morning, cranked up the computer and, when all the numbers were crunched, released the seedings and schedule for the 2001 New England Prep Tournament.
Seedings, Div. I East:
Div. I West:
Here is the schedule for the Div. I quarterfinals, all to be held this Wednesday, Feb. 28, at campus sites:
The winner of the above two games will play in the first Div. I semifinal on Sat. March 3 at 4:30 in Salem, N.H.
In the other bracket, the matchups are as follows:
The winner of the above two games will play in the second Div. I semifinal on Sat. March 3 at 7:00 in Salem, N.H.
In Division II, where there is no east-west breakdown, the seedings are:
Here is the schedule for the Div. II quarterfinals, all games to be held Wednesday Feb. 28: Note: There have been two revisions since early this afternoon, both involving a reshuffling of the #6, 7, and 8 seeds, so please look it over carefully before making any travel plans!
The winner of the above two games will play in the first Div. II semifinal on Sat. March 3 at 11:30 a.m. in Salem, N.H.
The winner of the above two games will play in the second Div. II semifinal on Sat. March 3 at 2:00 p.m. in Salem, N.H.
In Div. I, the hot debate, relatively speaking, anyway, will be over Deerfield getting the top seed in the west in front of Taft. From a purely subjective standpoint, we feel Taft is the better team, but subjectivity has no place in these seedings. It's purely by the numbers, and every game between NEPSIHA opponents is weighted equally. Deerfield finished the regular season 20-2-0, while Taft finished 18-2-1. Over the last 14 games of the regular season, however, Taft went 14-0-0 while Deerfield went 13-1 and that one loss was, you guessed it, to Taft (Feb. 14). If the second half of the season were given greater weight than the first, as is done a number of leagues and sports, Taft might possibly have gained the #1 seed, but in prep hockey, of course, early-season games count the same as late-season games, and Taft stumbled a bit early, tying Berkshire 1-1 on Dec. 2; losing to Avon in OT on Jan. 6, and then losing to Salisbury in OT just two days later, on Jan. 8.
In Div. II, there's little room for debate. Tilton is head and shoulders above everyone else in that loop, and better than most of the Div. I teams we watched this year. If anyone knocks them off, it will be a major upset.
2/20/01
U.S. Team Victorious at Quebec City
On Sunday, before a crowd of 10,000 at Le Colisee, two U.S. teams battled it out in the championship game of the Quebec City International Pee Wee Tournament with the Middlesex (Mass.) Islanders knocking off the New York Islanders, 4-2.
The Middlesex Islanders became the fourth American team to emerge as champions in the 42-year history of the tournament. They are also the second team from Massachusetts to win the tournament. The last was the '83 South Shore Kings, which boasted Ryan Whitney, Brian McConnell, and Rob Flynn, all of whom are currently with the U.S. National Team Development Program in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Clearly, to win this tournament, which runs for 10 days, big-time players are necessary, and the Islanders had one in 6'2" right-shot defenseman Joey Ryan, who also happens to be the youngest kid on the team (he just turned 13 a few months ago). Ryan, who's from Malden, Mass., is big and strong, possesses a fluid stride, great shot, and the ability to skate with the puck. In his own end, his enormous wing span keeps opposing forwards from getting around him.
Another who has big-time potential is 6'1" defenseman Andrew Andricopoulos of Groveland, Mass. Andricopoulos has size, is a tremendous skater, and has a big shot. He's a very polished player for his age.
Then there's Brendan Ronayne, a RW from Billerica, Mass. who's a Cam Neely type, a big strong power forward with speed who'll drive to the net.
A big key to the team's success was the play of goaltender Matt Ward, the son of Coach Dave Ward. The younger Ward, who, going into the tournament had only given up eight goals in 26 Metro Boston Hockey League games, kept it going up here, picking up two shutouts and allowing only seven goals in the six games.
The Islanders road to the final began with a 5-0 win over Bratislava (Slovakia) with forward Ben Ferriero of Essex, who we perhaps should have mentioned above, scoring two goals and adding an assist. Next was a 4-3 win over La Naudiere (Montreal), with four different players scoring a goal; then a 1-0 blanking of Chomutow (Czech Republic); then a 2-2 win over Bratislava (again) in the finals of their bracket. In the semis, against the Vaughan Kings (Metro Toronto) the Islanders prevailed 4-1 with Danny Rossman of Boxford, Mass. and Kyle Kucharski of Saugus, Mass. each scoring two goals. Vaughan, by the way, has a 6'4" inch defenseman with a classic name --- Devereaux Heshmatpour. He's big, has a huge shot, loves to handle the puck and drew raves from all who saw him.
The title game was, as mentioned above, against the New York Islanders, an offensively explosive team that, in its semi against Little Caesars, was trailing 3-2 with 1:30 left in the game. No problem. They got two goals, with the game-winner coming with 20 seconds in regulation. The Islanders boasted a pair of excellent goaltenders in Josh Rourke and Daniel Rosen. Up front they had Scott Birnstill, a big, tall offensively-gifted kid who has a powerful shot, and Vladimir Nikiforov, who's tiny, about 5'0", but very, very skilled. A great puckhandler with vision to match, Nikiforov is a Sergei Samsonov type. A photo in the local paper showed Nikiforov trying to beat the 6'2" Ryan one-on-one. The caption: La Grande vs. La Petite.
In the all-Islanders final, the New York Islanders, coached by Alexsey Nikiforov, the father of the above-mentioned forward, and assisted by Bob Nystrom (Eric Nystrom's dad -- and a pretty fair player in his own right), gave the Middlesex Islanders a good game. However, Middlesex scored with 7:30 remaining in the third to break a 2-2 tie, and added an insurance goal three minutes later, to win the whole thing -- and the celebrating began.
Ward, the Middlesex coach, said his team, half of whom have been together since squirt minors, won because of "a total team effort every time out. We had nine forwards, five defenseman, and one goalie, and everybody contributed," Ward said. "I'm extremely proud of them."
We asked Ward how Joey Ryan compared with Ryan Whitney at the same age. "They are on the same par," said Ward. "They're the same type of player -- big skilled defensemen who can skate." Look for Ryan to be playing juniors next year with the Andy Heinze-coached Valley Junior Warriors (EJHL).
2/20/01
A Correction
In Sunday's article on the upcoming New England prep tournament (see "Looking Ahead" below), we wrote, in reference to the seeding of teams for the quarterfinals, that "if one side of the bracket turns out to be stronger than the other, the tournament committee reserves the right to move a team from west to east or vice versa." We went on to mention that Hotchkiss, which looks to be the fifth team in the west and thus out of the picture, could possibly resurface as the #4 seed in the east.
Wrong! They may do it that way in the NCAA, but not in prep hockey. If Hotchkiss doesn't get the #4 slot in the west, they're out of the playoff picture. It's that cut and dried.
This typist mistakenly assumed that teams could get shifted from west to east because last spring, in the now-defunct "second tier" tournament (i.e. teams ranked #9-16), Northfield-Mt.Hermon was seeded in the east even though, geographically, the school is 45 to 60 minutes west of Winchendon, which was seeded in the west. As it turns out, there's a good reason for this, and it is addressed by NEPSIHA president Tim Pratt in an e-mail to USHR.
Anyway, if we've given false hope to Hotchkiss or its supporters, we're sorry. Right now, it looks like they will have to sneak into the #4 spot in the west, a crowded field with, in whatever order, Taft, Deerfield, Berkshire, and Westminster.
2/18/00
Guess Who's #1?
Once again, as has been the case every week this season, Cushing Academy, now 23-0-1 in NEPSIHA games, occupies the #1 spot in the USHR New England Prep Poll.
Those of you closely following New England prep hockey this winter may have noticed that there's a big dropoff after the top six teams in the poll, -- actually, an enormous dropoff. We ran the numbers on our abacus and found that the teams ranked in the #7, 8, 9, 10 slots went a combined 1-15-1 against teams in the top six!
What's it all mean? When the quarterfinal matchups are announced next week, don't bet a single penny on #4 seeds.
2/18/00
Looking Ahead
On Sunday night Feb. 25 -- a week from today -- the New England Prep School Ice Hockey Association (NEPSIHA) will be announcing the seedings and matchups for the post-season and, of course, we'll have them for you here.
Every year around this time, we get dozens of e-mails asking how the seedings are determined.
First off, there is no subjectivity involved. It's strictly mathematical. What follows are the three criteria, each of which is equally weighted.
1. Overall NEPSIHA record.
2. NEPSIHA Div. I record.
3. Winning percentage against NEPSIHA teams with a .500 or better record X the number of games played against NEPSIHA Div. I teams with a .500 record or better.
In other words, the results of games versus Division I schools from outside the NEPSIHA (Lawrenceville, Hill, Northwood, Culver, Nichols, and a few others) count for nothing. They're essentially exhibition games.
Needless to say, when the committee meets next Sunday, they'll be
packing some serious pocket calculators -- and maybe a computer, too.
That night, St. Paul's School head coach and NEPSIHA president Tim Pratt will announce the seedings.
The big change this season, as we wrote in the fall, is that the Division I tournament will no longer feature 16 teams. The one-year experiment of having two separate Div. I tournaments -- one for the top eight, another for teams ranked #9-16 -- has been scuttled. The tourney, which was actually a good idea, affording more teams an opportunity to play in the post-season, was dealt a mortal blow before it even started last year when Thayer Academy head coach Jack Foley, angered that his team -- ranked #9 -- hadn't played well enough to make the "Super 8" refused to allow the Tigers to take part in the expanded tourney.
So it's back to the way it used to be, strictly an eight-team tourney.
On Wednesday Feb. 28, there will be four Div. I playoff games, all in the afternoon and all at campus sites. Here's the format.
#1 East will host #4 East.
#2 East will host #3 East
#1 West will host #4 West
#2 West will host #3 West
We also get a lot of e-mail at this time of year asking which teams are in the east and which are in the west. Basically, the Founders League and the western half of the New England Prep School Conference are in the west; while the Keller Division of the ISL and the west division of the New England Prep School Conference are in the east. If one side of the bracket is stronger than the other, the committee reserves the right to move a team from west to east or vice versa.
Looking at the west, Deerfield (18-2) and Taft (16-2-1) look like locks for the top two slots and home ice for the Feb. 28 quarterfinals, with Berkshire (18-3-5) and Westminster (16-4-1) in the #3-4 spots. Hotchkiss (13-6-1) keeps hanging around, too. Could they get moved to the east side of the bracket?
In the east, Cushing (23-0-1) and St. Sebastian's (17-1-1) are mortal locks for home ice. The #3-4 slots look to be drawn from among Exeter (12-6), Lawrence (16-8), and Nobles (14-8-2).
Only games between NEPSIHA Div. I schools are included in the won-lost records above.
The winners of the quarterfinals on Feb. 28 advance to the Ice Center in Salem, NH for the semi-finals and finals on Sat.-Sun. March 3-4. The Salem Ice Center is about 50 miles northeast of Boston, right over the Mass-N.H. border. Once, we're told, it was a bucolic New England village, with farms and dirt roads. Now, thanks to the fact that New Hampshire has no sales tax, it's little more than a ghetto of malls and discount stores. Of course, Canobie Lake Park, an amusement park, and Rockingham Park, a thoroughbred race track, have their virtues -- but they're only open in summertime.
2/18/01
A Big Red D-man
5'11", 182 lb. Jeremy Downs, a left-shot defenseman from the Omaha Lancers (USHL), has been officially accepted by Cornell and will be heading there in the fall.
Downs, who's from Syracuse and played his youth hockey in the Syracuse Stars organization, is an excellent skater who carries the puck well. Cornell will be looking for him to add some offense from the blue line. With the Lancers this year, Downs has a 3-10-13 line in 40 games. He's a 9/1/82 birthdate.
Here's another college commitment, and also another New Yorker -- Long Island in this case. Joe Weber, a 6'2", 210 lb. defenseman with Henry Lazar's New York Apple Core (EJHL), will be heading to Holy Cross in the fall. Weber, a 1/20/81 birthdate, is a stay-at-home defenseman. He played prep hockey at the Kent School in Connecticut, graduating in 1998.
2/16/01
'Rent Rage
It's the time of year when, at least within programs that aren't playoff bound, small resentments and little misunderstandings grow to cancerous proportion, tempers get short, and, finally, coaches get fired.
Pete Rizzotti, head coach of Don Bosco Prep in New Jersey, was fired last Friday after a group of parents complained to Father John Talamo, the school's principal, about their sons' lack of playing time.
Talamo said the issue was more than just playing time, and pointed to a night six weeks ago, when, after a loss to Hudson Catholic characterized by poor effort, Rizzotti was so angry with his team that he had them bussed to the Sport-O-Rama (yes, that's really its name) rink where the school's JV team was preparing to take the ice for an 8:30 p.m. practice, and used the JV's time -- with the JV coach's approval -- to put the varsity through their paces.
If this practice-after-a-game bothered Talamo so much, he didn't say so at the time, which suggests that parents played a bigger role in the decision than he's letting on.
Talamo disagrees with that. "Anyone with common sense can see that this is more than just parents complaining," he said.
He's right: Talamo himself is complaining. "After all these years (Rizzotti has been coach since 1996-97). we're still a Division B team. We don't think that's good enough. We think we need new leadership to get to the next level," he said.
In Rizzotti's five years, the school has won one division title and gone to the state tournament three times.
How do the kids feel? When one player, team captain Tim Polcari, told a reporter from the Bergen County Record that the players were angered by the principal's decision, Talarmo forbade the boy from talking about the situation.
This is what Polcari told reporter Jim Driscoll: "No [player] wanted him to be fired. I just think some of the kids were upset about ice [time], and they wanted to talk to Father John. I've talked to everyone on the team tonight, and no one said they wanted him fired. Everyone's kind of in shock. This all happened so fast.
I just don't understand it," the captain added. "Pete's been a great coach. He gives everyone respect. He's done a tremendous job with the program. This happened so suddenly."
Talamo took another tack, claiming that practically all the players were unhappy playing for Rizzotti but were afraid to come out and say so in the aftermath of the firing because the assistant coaches who were handling the team for the first two games following Rizzotti's firing had "brainwashed" the players. Talamo said he had asked the assistants to bring "peace and harmony" to the team, and they didn't, so they're gone, too.
There was a movement on behalf of the players to boycott Sunday's game but that was squelched by the principal, who told the players they'd never play any sport in a Don Bosco uniform again, and that he would immediately replace them with the JV squad.
The school's athletic director, Frank Rezzonico, was not consulted on the firings.
Rizzotti, well-liked in coaching circles, is a trader on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange by day. He graduated from Don Bosco in 1987 and has coached in USA Hockey's Atlantic District Select Program, took over a weak program in 1996-97. That year Don Bosco finished 5-14-1, but the next year jumped into the state's top 10 with a 16-6-2 record.
Talamo's record as a principal reportedly includes the firing of 25 teachers in three years.
One of Rizzotti's prize proteges was young defenseman Bryan Miller, who played for Rizzotti for two years before moving on to the Chicago Freeze (NAHL) and from the there to the U.S. National Team Development Program. Next season, Miller will patrol the blueline for Boston University.
Two years ago, Fairfield (Conn.) Prep fired their coach, Adolph Brink with just a couple of games left in the season, and for much the same reason -- unhappy parents.
Our take on these things? This is not the NHL. It's high school hockey. At least wait until the season is over.
2/16/01
Loomis-Chaffee Coach Retiring
Jim Wilson, Loomis-Chaffee head coach, will be stepping down from that position at the end of the 2001-02 season. The plan calls for a coach to be hired this coming off-season, work under Wilson for a year, and then take over full time in the fall of 2001.
Whoever is hired will be facing a major rebuilding job. Right now, Loomis is a Div. I club in name only, playing in the Founder's League against Taft, Deerfield, et al -- and getting walloped game after game.
2/13/01
Summer on the Mississippi
Before long, the better young hockey players in the country will be reconvening on the ice, hoping to catch the eyes of the scouts and recruiters who (parents aside) make up the bulk of the crowds at USA Hockey's Select Festivals, most of which will again be held at St. Cloud State University, on the banks of the Mississippi River.
Before getting to the schedule, there are format changes, the biggest of which is the fact that USA Hockey's youth council has voted to increase the number of participants at the Select 15, 16, and 17 camps to 240 players. This means each festival will have two more teams. The extra 40 players will come from "under-represented" districts such as the Southeast as well stronger districts -- i.e. Minnesota, Michigan, and others will be allowed to send extra players. There will also be at-large players from all over. The youth council feels that getting more players into the mix will help the sport grow in the U.S.'s non-traditional hockey areas. Some observers feel otherwise, pointing out that including a large number of kids at the 15 level is fine but, after that, as the pyramid narrows, a winnowing process is the key to maintaining a high enough level of play at the festivals that scouts and recruiters are able to get a good read on a kid.
The other big change this year is the formation of a Select 14 Festival. Eight of the ten districts have agreed to send teams, with Mass. and Minnesota -- both of whom feel that the programs they already have in place are sufficient -- choosing not to participate. The 14 Festival, to be held at the ESL Center in Rochester, N.Y. July 21-26, will be a draft camp, with players from all districts mixed in together. As for the coaches, each district will nominate two coaches. The final picks, however, will be made at the national office in Colorado Springs.
The 15 Festival will, like last year, be a draft camp. It's been tweaked a little, though, so that this time around at least coaching staffs will stay intact. In other words, the three coaches on hand from, say, the Pacific district, will stay together as a group even though the district's players are sprinkled among a number of teams.
USA Hockey's annual Dave Peterson Goaltending Camp will consist of the top 31 goaltenders among boys born in 1986, as well as 12 girls of varying ages, and two hearing-impaired goaltenders, also of any age.
While the 15's will be fighting it out to see where they stand in the national picture and hopefully catch the eyes of scouts from the U.S. National Team Development Program in Ann Arbor, Michigan, the 16's and 17's have the added carrot of winning a slot on the Under-18 and Under-17 teams that will represent the U.S. in a pair of August tournaments overseas. This is a great opportunity, as those selected will not only play under top pro, college, and USHL coaches, but get to spend part of August in Europe, too. Not that both teams going to Europe will consist solely of players competing at the select festivals.
USA Hockey will also be reinstituting its Program of Merit. For this, coaches at the select festivals will be invited to come out to Colorado Springs in the spring, sit down, and plan out a way to maximize practice times at St. Cloud, thus raising the bar a notch for U.S. kids. Top coaches such as Herb Brooks, Mike Eaves, Moe Mantha, Lou Vairo, and Ben Smith are all scheduled to be on hand. In addition, there will be coaching panels at the festivals themselves.
2/11/01
Same As it Ever Was
In this week's USHR Prep Poll, released tonight, undefeated Cushing, as has been the case all season, sits on top of the pack. Furthermore, for the second straight week, the top six teams have remain unchanged.
2/10/01
New Hampton Decimated by Expulsions
When New Hampton Prep takes to the ice for this afternoon's game at Holderness, there will be a lot of new faces up from the junior varsity as nine players have been sent home from the New Hampshire boarding school following an in-school investigation into a beer party in a Lake Placid Hotel after an 8-0 loss to the National Sports Academy Sunday.
"It's very sad," said coach Brad Holt. "The past two days have been rough around here."
Seven of the nine players are repeat offenders, having broken the school's rules by leaving campus without permission in the fall, and all are unlikely to ever return to the school. Included among them are the team's top three players, senior forward Craig MacDonald of Toronto, Ontario, who was to be looked at today by UNH; senior forward Jarrett Konkle, a linemate of MacDonald's and fellow Toronto native; and team captain and senior defenseman Jesse Driscoll of Stowe, Vt. The others who have been expelled are junior goaltender Matthew Tourville (Sandwich, Mass.); PG forward Geno DeAngelis (Winthrop, Mass.); PG forward Mike Fontaine (Rye, NH); and junior forward Jake Noonan (Arlington, Mass.).
In addition, senior forward Jon Williams (Gilford, NH), and senior forward Sean Kennedy (Rutland, Vt.), both considered first-time offenders, have been suspended from the school for a week.
Here's what happened. With school going on break for the long weekend, the hockey team took off for a three-games-in-three-nights road trip that took them to Tabor Academy, to Bridgeport, Conn. where they played the Sacred Heart JV's, and, finally, to Lake Placid for a Sunday tilt against NSA. The kids had little left in the tank and were easily routed, 8-0. After the game, the coaches went out for dinner with the family of a potential recruit while the players stayed at the Maple Leaf Inn. Somewhere during the course of the evening one or more of the players headed out and returned with beer purchased at the downtown Mobil station.
That might have been the beginning and end of things had it not been for the fact that, after the hockey team returned to school, the innkeeper called New Hampton's AD seeking restitution for four missing pillows and a damaged door. In the course of the conversation, the innkeeper mentioned to the AD that there were dozens of beer cans all over the place.
Holt, who knew nothing of this until being informed by the AD on Wednesday, immediately offered to resign his coaching position, even as players and parents reportedly begged him to stay on. "I felt I needed to take some responsibility for this incident," he said. "It was under my watch. This whole thing is having a huge impact on seven kids and seven families."
As of now, Holt's proffered resignation has not been accepted, and Holt will be behind the bench for today's game against Holderness.
The tragedy here is that New Hampton, with a 10-7 Div. I record after Sunday's loss, had an outside chance of making it into the playoffs this season. Despite operating with 10 skaters and four defensemen all season, they were able to pick up wins over the likes of Tabor and Exeter.
Holt said he hoped that the disciplinary process, which has yet to be completed, might help reinstate a couple of his players, but he didn't sound optimistic. Some of the expelled players feel, since they had completed their final game of the weekend and were perhaps technically on break, that their actions were outside of school jurisdiction. It is true that if the school had left the dorms open for the weekend, the team may have made the trip back to campus after Saturday's game instead of staying in Lake Placid. Still, the basic facts remain.
"It's a tough time right now," Holt said. "It's sad."
2/9/01
Corkery Passes Reins to Donato
Salisbury School head coach Matt Corkery, after 19 years behind the bench, will step down at the end of the season and hand over the job to current assistant Dan Donato.
Corkery, 46, who, along with Sam Simmons, will stay on as an assistant, said simply, "It's the right time in Dan's life to be head coach, and the right time in mine to be an assistant."
In addition to coaching hockey, Corkery has been the AD at Salisbury for the past 16 years. No more, though -- he'll also be stepping down from that position at the end of the season, and moving into the development office. Among the new facilities being planned for the western Connecticut boy's boarding school is an athletic complex that will include a new hockey rink.
It was under Corkery's guidance that, two years after winning the NEPSIHA Div. II tournament in 1991, the school achieved Div. I status. Corkery claims his best team was the '95-'96 edition that included Kyle Kidney, Victor Natali, Ben Blais, and Jason Savageau. This year's team is having a good season, with a 9-7-1 record in Div. I play.
Corkery, whose service time is equaled only by Lawrence's Charlie Corey, Belmont Hill's Kenny Martin, and Avon Old Farms' John Gardner, also served 11 years as president of the New England Prep School Ice Hockey Association (NEPSIHA) before handing that job over to St. Paul's head coach Tim Pratt last season.
Donato, 30, captained Catholic Memorial's hockey team in the late '80s, went on to Loomis for a PG year, and then moved on to Boston University from '91-'94. Donato, the younger brother of Dallas Stars forward Ted Donato, was also an excellent baseball player, and will be going into his second season of coaching Salisbury this spring. Donato, who works in the school's admissions office, played pro ball in the N.Y. Yankees and Tampa Bay Devil Rays organizations.
2/9/01
Dropping Like Flies in a Snowstorm
It's been a bit of a rough year for 6'2" Sioux Falls winger Thomas Vanek, an '84 birthdate from Graz, Austria with first-round NHL draft potential. Vanek, 19-10-29 in 20 games, has missed half his team's games as a result of not one, but two, broken collarbones. The first came Nov. 4 and, after missing nine games, Vanek returned in mid-December. On Jan. 19, the 11th grader at the top of every college recruiter's wish lists (though some have to be getting a little nervous now), went down again. He's not expected back until mid-March, in time for the playoffs.
Vanek isn't the only loss for the Stampede. On Jan. 3, center Chad LaRose, a Miami-Ohio recruit for next season, got cold feet about going the NCAA route and left the USHL for the OHL's Plymouth Whalers. He's taken a big chunk of the offense with him, too.
To top it all off, on Jan. 21, two days after Vanek went down, the Stampede's Jamie Mattie, a Bemidji State recruit and the top-scoring defenseman in the USHL and another key to the Sioux Falls attack, took a slapshot to the foot, breaking it. He'll be out until later this month.
None of this has done the Stampede much good in the won-lost column. While they still have the USHL's best winning percentage and have scored more goals than any other club, they have also lost six of their last eight games. In the meantime, other players have ratcheted up their offensive game. In Saturday's 5-0 win at Sioux City, for example, 6'2" UNH sophomore Tyler Scott, who joined the Stampede the day after Christmas, figured in all five of Sioux Falls' goals (2g,3a). Jeff Corey had a hat trick and added as assist, and 6'2 LW Mike Doyle, a St. Cloud State recruit, had four assists.
2/8/01
Clark Turns Pro
Harvard University 6'6", 225 lb. junior RW Kyle Clark signed today with the Washington Capitals, which held his rights after selecting him in the sixth round of the 1999 NHL draft. It's expected that Clark will join the Caps top farm club in Portland (AHL).
Clark, a three-sport star who played football, hockey, and lacrosse at Essex High School in Vermont, spent his senior season, 1997-98, with the U.S. National Team Development Program, posting a 14-11-25 line in 65 games and leading the team with 287 penalty minutes. This, of course, was the first year of the NTDP, and Clark's fighting skills -- he was the best in the program, hands down -- was useful, particularly against OHL teams.
The fighting didn't come in too handy in ECAC play, however, and Clark struggled to put the puck in the net, leaving Harvard after 2½ years without scoring a single goal. As a freshman, Clark was 0-2-2 with 30 pims in 20 games; as a junior he was 0-3-3 with 30 pims 22 games; and this season he was 0-2-2 in 18 games.
Recent Harvard players who've left school early to turn pro include former Belmont Hill defenseman Chris Biotti, a 1985 first-round pick of the Calgary Flames, who left after his sophomore season. Also leaving after their sophomore seasons were goaltender Aaron Israel, who left for the Flyers organization in 1994; forward Ethan Philpott, who left in 1997, after his junior year; and forward Craig MacDonald, who left for the Canadian National Team in 1997. Of the four, only MacDonald reached the NHL, playing 11 games for the Carolina Hurricanes a few years ago.
2/8/01
The Skinny on Skinner
6'1", 170 lb. Brett Skinner, a left-shot D with the Trail Smoke Eaters (BCHL) will play another year of juniors next year and then pick his college from between Denver and Northern Michigan. Skinner, an '83 from Brandon, Manitoba, is a high-skill type who can run the powerplay, skate with the puck, and make excellent outlet passes. Why Denver and NMU? Skinner has ties to Wildcat assistant coach Dave Shyiak and freshman forward Dave Bonk -- they're all from Brandon -- as well as Denver freshman defenseman Ryan Caldwell, yet another Manitoban
2/6/01
Model Camp, New England Style
For 15 years now, the Minnesota Model Camp, held for one week each June in Minneapolis, has brought together that state's top high school players.
Now, New England is getting its own Model Camp. From June 20-27, 144 of the top high school age players -- primarily, though not exclusively, from New England -- will gather at the Iorio Arena in Walpole, Mass. for eight days of on-ice and off-ice sessions and games.
The camp, which is being co-directed by New England College Development League (NECDL) director Neil Hall and St. Cloud State University assistant Brad Willner, already has some of the top Div. I assistants in the country on board. So far, Willner, Dave Peters (Dartmouth), Mike Doneghy (Merrimack), Ron Rolston (Harvard), Mark Strobel (Minnesota-Duluth), C.J. Marottolo (Yale), Stan Moore (Colgate), Tom Mutch (Nebraska-Omaha), and Brian McCloskey (UNH) have signed on, with more names to be announced shortly.
There will be no tryouts for this camp. Like its Minnesota counterpart, the tournament is an invitation-only affair (none of which have gone out yet), with slots then being filled on a first-come, first-served basis. Players from outside of New England will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
Like the Minnesota Model camp, the tournament is for kids who played varsity hockey at a high school/prep school or in a top junior program. In other words, players entering their senior or junior years next fall, with a handful of sophomores sprinkled in as well.
The New England Model Camp, along with Prospects founder Bob Turow's U.S. Tournament to be held in Marlboro, Mass. in late July, will offer Div. I college prospects -- to say nothing of pro scouts and college recruiters -- a long-overdue alternative to Hockey Night in Boston, which is likely to lose a lot of the better players to the new tournaments.
2/4/01
(Almost) Nothin' New
This week's USHR Prep Poll shows no movement at the top -- and not a hell of a lot at the bottom, either. So, with an eye to the final three weeks of the regular season, we've highlighted each team's remaining games against Top 10 opponents. You know, of course, that we're just trying to help the Vegas bookmakers establish a betting line. (Hey, whatever works for the XFL can work for us, too.)
2/4/01
Prep Tournament Times
Here are the times for the Boys New England Prep School Ice Hockey Association tournaments.
Division I
On Wednesday Feb. 28 there will be four games at campus sites:
The winners of Saturday's games will meet for the Div. I prep championship on Sun. March 4, at Salem, NH. Game time will be at 3:00 pm.
Division II
On Wednesday Feb. 28 there will be four games at campus sites. For the Div. II tournament, there is no east-west breakdown, thus:
The winners of Saturday's games will meet for the Div. II prep championship on Sun. March 4, at Salem, NH. Game time will be at 12:30 pm.
2/2/01
Eaves Makes His Choice
It's not exactly a big surprise (we called it a month ago), but Patrick Eaves, for our money the top 11th grade forward in the country, has made an early commitment, calling the Boston College coaches last night to tell them he'd be joining older brother Ben at the Heights in the fall of 2002.
Eaves, who plays for the U.S. Under-17 Team in Ann Arbor, Mich., is a 5'11", 162 lb. RC who is just as good patrolling the blueline. A 5/1/84 birthdate and a junior at Pioneer HS in Ann Arbor, Eaves trails only Patrick O'Sullivan and Brett Sterling among the scoring leaders on the Under-17 Team. He has a 15-14-29 line in 35 games, along with 56 pims. Last month, we wrote that Eaves was the most complete player we saw in the World-Under 17 Challenge, describing him as "a smart, determined player who sees the ice extremely well, plays hard at both ends, controls the puck well in traffic, and can snap off a quick, accurate shot." Eaves, we also mentioned, is a gamer, having played the whole tournament with cracked ribs (and more: he took a slash to the hand in the gold medal game, got it iced down and on his next shift scored an unassisted goal that sent the U.S. on to the win.)
Eaves, the son of NTDP head Mike Eaves, has Hobey Baker potential. In other words, he's a huge get for the Eagles.
2/2/01
Imes to Lead Forge
Kevin Constantine, the general manager of the Pittsburgh Forge, the North American Hockey League's expansion franchise that will begin play this fall, has named Chris Imes as the franchise's first head coach.
Imes, 28, has been an assistant with the Tri-City Storm (USHL) this season. A native of Indus, Minn., Imes was a star defenseman for the University of Maine from 1990-95 and a member of the 1994 U.S. Olympic Team (Lillehammer, Norway). Imes, who won a national title with the Black Bears in 1993 and was a runner-up (to Brian Holzinger) for the 1995 Hobey Baker Award, also played pro in the IHL and in Europe.
Constantine, like Imes a native of Northern Minnesota (he's from International Falls), is the President/CEO of Pittsburgh's Island Sports Center. The 42 year old, who played goal at RPI and got his start in coaching in the USHL, coached in the NHL from 1993-2000, first for the San Jose Sharks and then the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Forge will play out of the Island Sports Center, which gained a measure of fame as the place where Mario Lemieux, the skatin' owner, started, in top secret, his preparations for his recent comeback. The building, which is a new, top-flight facility, includes a 1,250 seat arena. The club is owned by the Hillman Co., a Pittsburgh venture capital firm that also owns the building.
The Forge have sold over 200 season tickets and, if sales continue to build, Constantine may be looking to hire a full-time assistant. For now, he and Dave Hanson, who is the GM of the facility, will serve as assistant coaches.
In Tri-City, Dave Larson, an assistant in Cedar Rapids last season, will take over Imes' role on the staff of coach Jim Hillman.
2/2/01
The Big Guy is from the Teeny-Tiny State
6'2", 200 lb. Mount St. Charles (R.I.) HS defenseman Dustin Demianiuk and 5'8", 175 lb. Sioux City Musketeers (USHL) defenseman Matt Fetzer have made verbal commitments to Toot Cahoon and the UMass Minutemen.
Demianiuk, a big, raw defenseman who moves well for his size, is an '82 who'll join the program in the fall. Fetzer, a small-but-strong bulldog type of d-man, is an '83 who played for the Chicago Young Americans Midget AAA squad last year. He'll spend another year in juniors and come to UMass in the fall of 2002.
2/2/01
Vinz, Zemple Make Their Picks
Rochester Mustangs (USHL) forward Shawn Vinz committed to Minnesota-Duluth this week. Vinz, who played for Shattuck-St. Mary's before going to the USHL, also had scholarship offers from Mankato State and Michigan Tech. An '82 birthdate, Vinz, in 31 games with the Mustangs, has a 16-6-22 line with 80 pims.
6'2" Tri-City Storm defenseman Greg Zemple, coming off a strong performance in last week's USHL all-star game, has committed to the University of Vermont. Zemple, in 36 games this season, has a 3-10-13 line with a team-leading 67 pims.
2/1/01
The Crude
The USHL has announced that the Dubuque Fighting Saints, relocating to Tulsa, Oklahoma this fall, will be known as the Tulsa Crude, in homage to the city's role in the U.S. oil boom of the last century. The team's colors will be black and gold, like that team in Pittsburgh.
The Crude will play at the 6,000 seat Pavilion Ice Arena on the county fairgrounds, which is currently undergoing a $7 million renovation. The relocation of the Fighting Saints also moves the team, just like that, from the smallest USHL market to the largest. The greater Tulsa area has a population of 750,000.
Joining Fighting Saints president/GM/head coach Brian Gallagher in the new ownership group will be Monte Miron, who was the first Oklahoma high school graduate to play college hockey. Miron was a defenseman at Clarkson from 1971-74 and was drafted by Toronto in the 7th round of the 1972 NHL draft. Miron will head up the business side of the Tulsa organization.
Dubuque, currently in its 21st year in the USHL, has struggled on the ice and at the gate in recent years, averaging just 733 fans per home date last year, way below the league average. The glory years for Dubuque were the first five for the franchise as, from 1980-85 the Fighting Saints, coached by Jack Barzee, won three Clark Cups in five years.
2/1/01
USHL Signed Tenders
2/1/01
USHL High School Tenders
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