You know those jokes about Florida being someplace where people go to die? A lot of those people happen to be New Yorkers, so it's only appropriate that the Rangers' point streak died in Florida.
Yep, the Rangers return to the Garden to face the Penguins on Tuesday night (with yours truly in attendance), looking to snap a two-game pointless streak. Ugly game against Tampa tonight. No real jump that I could talk about from the Rangers, although Lundqvist made his best effort to steal a point or two for the Blueshirts. Just hoping the boys can shake it off and get back at it in a huge game against the Pens on Tuesday, to be immediately followed on Wednesday by a game against the Devils in Newark.
Friday against Florida, I didn't mind so much, because I'd like to see Florida make the playoffs. For starters, Tanner Glass would be part of a taxi squad, I assume, which is his only real shot at the postseason since the Rochester Americans aren't making the Calder Cup playoffs. Also, the Panthers getting in would probably mean that Philadelphia would drop out, and if there's one team I can't stand, it's the goon squad known as the Philadelphia Flyers. There are things that have happened in Flyer uniforms this season that have no place in hockey, and I would rather not see them rewarded with a playoff berth.
Of course, they're the teams trying to get into the playoffs. In the college hockey world, we have playoffs going on right now, and two conference champs set to be crowned tomorrow. Bemidji State, having dropped the final curtain on Wayne State, will face Niagara for the CHA title, while Mercyhurst, having beaten Sacred Heart and Army, will look to post one more upset against Air Force for the Atlantic Hockey title.
I'm sad to see Army's season come to a close, but I'd love to see Air Force go to the tournament. Actually, I'd love to see a Serratore Sweep go down, with Bemidji and Air Force going to the tournament. Both Frank and Tom are great guys, even among college hockey coaches, who are pretty much good guys all around to begin with.
Meanwhile, in playoffs that end next weekend, there are some interesting Game 3 situations going down on Sunday night, with teams on the bubble potentially playing for their seasons. Notre Dame, sitting fourteenth in the Pairwise after Saturday's game, goes into a potential do-or-die situation against Ferris State, while Boston University, on the outside looking in at the moment, needs a win against UMass-Lowell to stay alive. I'd love to speculate on the implications of the Minnesota-Minnesota State game, but as we've learned, the Gophers are about as indestructible as their coach's hair.
Finally, there's Michigan Tech and North Dakota. Now, I doubt there's much in the way of implications here, because the Sioux are clearly in, and the Huskies are almost certainly out (if they take two out of three from North Dakota, who's to say they couldn't win the WCHA, you know?). However, I do think it's kind of funny that after handing North Dakota its first loss of the season, Michigan Tech snaps another North Dakota unbeaten streak.
Oh, and I've started doing some blogging for USCHO, speculating on the Hobey Baker race. You can read my first entry here.
Showing posts with label Army. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Army. Show all posts
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Monday, March 10, 2008
Memo To The Mouse
OK, here's a thought for the folks at ESPN, specifically the ones responsible for the ticker on ESPNews: if an NHL game is 0-0 after regulation and OT, and the shootout is won by a 1-0 score, maybe you should say who scored the goal on the ticker.
I was at a friend's birthday celebration during the Rangers-Bruins game, and I went to the gym afterwards. I watched ESPNews while on the elliptical (it was a non-lift day), and they kept showing:
BRUINS 0
RANGERS 1 NYR wins shootout, 1-0
and then
BRUINS 0 OTL Auld 35 svs
RANGERS 1 W Lundqvist 29 svs
It wasn't until I went to a bar later that I found out that Nigel Dawes was the shootout hero for the Rangers. I haven't said much about Dawes this season, but I love the Rangers' young talent in general: Dawes, Brandon Dubinsky, Ryan Callahan. The energy they bring to the team - in addition to being fine players - is one of the biggest factors in the way the team is playing right now (10-0-3 in the last 13 games, heading into tonight's game with the Sabres).
That's an exciting game, but I'm still amazed at how exciting the Army-American International game on Saturday was. The Black Knights' 5-2 series-clinching win included the following:
a disputed goal
a power outage immediately following the disputed goal
the underdog leading 2-1 after the first
a penalty shot
two goals (including the penalty shot) on the same penalty kill in the last 45 seconds of the second period
The power outage was a pain, as West Point hosted the Patriot League women's tournament this past weekend in addition to the Army-AIC playoff series. It lasted about half an hour, and affected the entire post, not to mention the neighboring village of Highland Falls. During the break, I shared stories with the Yellow Jackets' SID, including the North Dakota-BC fiasco from the fall, and a multiple-overtime classic from 2002 between Dartmouth and Colgate. Then, the announcement was made over a barely-functioning bullhorn that the power would be restored in 15 minutes (listening to the megaphone, I couldn't help but think, "Our tax dollars at work.").
When the lights came back on, AIC led after the first, and was actually in pretty good position until the last minute of the second, when Owen Meyer scored on a penalty shot and Ken Rowe followed with a true shorthanded goal. Meyer almost added yet another shorthanded tally in the last few seconds, and AIC was just about done at that point.
I will say that AIC was much better this season than in the past. Gary Wright's coaching job this year was not reflected by the record, and Dan Ramirez in goal will give AIC an opportunity to move up in Atlantic Hockey in the next couple of years. Of course, there may not be much room to move up in the conference between Army, Air Force, RIT, Sacred Heart, Mercyhurst and Holy Cross. Those are six quality programs that will have staying power at the top, but they'll find themselves having more and more trouble with AIC in coming years.
Finally, Dartmouth's season ended last night in ugly fashion, in a 6-0 loss to Cornell that clinched the ECAC Hockey first-round series for the Big Red. It was an ugly year in confernece for my alma mater - although, oddly enough, the Big Green beat the top three teams in the Hockey East standings - owing largely to the graduation of Grant Lewis, Ben Lovejoy and Mike Hartwick, which left Dartmouth with a very young defensive corps. Of course, the departures of David Jones to the Colorado Avalanche and T.J. Galiardi to my favorite major junior team, the Calgary Hitmen, didn't help matters. (And yes, I do have a favorite major junior team, owing largely to the Hitmen's namesake, Bret Hart). Dartmouth will be back, though. You can count on that.
I was at a friend's birthday celebration during the Rangers-Bruins game, and I went to the gym afterwards. I watched ESPNews while on the elliptical (it was a non-lift day), and they kept showing:
BRUINS 0
RANGERS 1 NYR wins shootout, 1-0
and then
BRUINS 0 OTL Auld 35 svs
RANGERS 1 W Lundqvist 29 svs
It wasn't until I went to a bar later that I found out that Nigel Dawes was the shootout hero for the Rangers. I haven't said much about Dawes this season, but I love the Rangers' young talent in general: Dawes, Brandon Dubinsky, Ryan Callahan. The energy they bring to the team - in addition to being fine players - is one of the biggest factors in the way the team is playing right now (10-0-3 in the last 13 games, heading into tonight's game with the Sabres).
That's an exciting game, but I'm still amazed at how exciting the Army-American International game on Saturday was. The Black Knights' 5-2 series-clinching win included the following:
The power outage was a pain, as West Point hosted the Patriot League women's tournament this past weekend in addition to the Army-AIC playoff series. It lasted about half an hour, and affected the entire post, not to mention the neighboring village of Highland Falls. During the break, I shared stories with the Yellow Jackets' SID, including the North Dakota-BC fiasco from the fall, and a multiple-overtime classic from 2002 between Dartmouth and Colgate. Then, the announcement was made over a barely-functioning bullhorn that the power would be restored in 15 minutes (listening to the megaphone, I couldn't help but think, "Our tax dollars at work.").
When the lights came back on, AIC led after the first, and was actually in pretty good position until the last minute of the second, when Owen Meyer scored on a penalty shot and Ken Rowe followed with a true shorthanded goal. Meyer almost added yet another shorthanded tally in the last few seconds, and AIC was just about done at that point.
I will say that AIC was much better this season than in the past. Gary Wright's coaching job this year was not reflected by the record, and Dan Ramirez in goal will give AIC an opportunity to move up in Atlantic Hockey in the next couple of years. Of course, there may not be much room to move up in the conference between Army, Air Force, RIT, Sacred Heart, Mercyhurst and Holy Cross. Those are six quality programs that will have staying power at the top, but they'll find themselves having more and more trouble with AIC in coming years.
Finally, Dartmouth's season ended last night in ugly fashion, in a 6-0 loss to Cornell that clinched the ECAC Hockey first-round series for the Big Red. It was an ugly year in confernece for my alma mater - although, oddly enough, the Big Green beat the top three teams in the Hockey East standings - owing largely to the graduation of Grant Lewis, Ben Lovejoy and Mike Hartwick, which left Dartmouth with a very young defensive corps. Of course, the departures of David Jones to the Colorado Avalanche and T.J. Galiardi to my favorite major junior team, the Calgary Hitmen, didn't help matters. (And yes, I do have a favorite major junior team, owing largely to the Hitmen's namesake, Bret Hart). Dartmouth will be back, though. You can count on that.
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Taking In The Action
I already don't like Josh Gratton.
Since I am no longer professionally responsible for college hockey, I decided to check out the Hartford Wolf Pack on Friday night, driving out to Hartford to see my friends Hugh Jessiman and Mike Ouellette. The Pack beat Norfolk, 6-2, in a game that saw both Dartmouth alumni record an assist each.
Gratton got on my bad side with a really ugly boarding call early in the second period, the kind of hit, head first into the boards, that there's really no place for in hockey. Naturally, he was challenged to a fight all of five seconds after he got out of the box, and David Koci scored a pretty decisive win in that bout. Myself, I just sat back down and said, "Well, he had that coming."
Other observations:
I think it's horribly cruel what happens with visiting goaltenders in Hartford. Apparently, there's no room for them on the bench, so Norfolk's backup watched the game from a folding chair set up just outside the tunnel. Why is this cruel, you ask? Because loudmouths like me - and yes, I am a loudmouth when I go to a game as a fan - can chirp at the poor backup sieve the entire game. I didn't have too much to say to Jonathan Boutin, but I said enough that he turned around and stared at me.
Mike Ouellette will play in the NHL before he's done. He's not going to be a big numbers guy, but he's going to be a good role player for someone. The role he was in on Friday was largely a defensive one. He was Hartford's go-to guy on faceoffs in the defensive zone, and he was absolutely money on those faceoffs. The assist wasn't particularly notable - Mike's ontact with the puck came back in the defensive zone - but killing penalties and winning faceoffs in the defensive zone are skills that you can take anywhere.
Jessiman looked good as well, although he did wind up a -1 on the evening for being on the ice during Rob Klikhammer's goal. He was comfortable in the Wolf Pack power play unit, which is where he contributed his assist. He's maturing nicely, and I think he'll compete for a spot on the Rangers next season.
Always nice to hear Kevin Nash's shoutout of "WOLFPACK IN DA HOUSE!" That brings back memories...
Moving on...last night, I headed up to West Point for Army's game against Sacred Heart. I recapped the game for USCHO, and you can read that here.
If Army wins the conference tournament - hardly a given with RIT, Sacred Heart, and Air Force in the mix - Michigan will have one hell of a time with the Black Knights in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
Atlantic Hockey has abeen a very tough out in the NCAA tournament in recent years, generally speaking.
2005: BC 6, Mercyhurst 5
2006: Well...you know.
2007: Minnesota 4, Air Force 3
Army will be in that mold if given the opportunity. Mark my words. The Black Knights check like the dickens, and I mean forechecking and backchecking. Their puck pursuit is relentless, and Army makes it nearly impossible to complete a pass cleanly.
The big problem for Army is that the Black Knight power play is one of the least efficient in the country, and special teams are such a key in playoff hockey. What Army does have, however, is a great top line, with Bryce Hollweg (yes, that's Ryan's little brother, or as I call him, "Little Hollywood"), centering Owen Meyer and Luke Flicek. That line has 40 of Army's 90 goals this year, and their chemistry will serve them well in the postseason.
In my first year at CSTV, I interviewed the five new D-I head coaches before the season: Dave Hakstol, Ted Donato, Guy Gadowsky, Tavis MacMillan and Brian Riley. When I wrote my article on Riley, one of my superiors at the time asked me what the heck he was doing at Army, having been successful as a head coach at Shattuck-St. Mary's.
The answer, by the way, is that Brian cares deeply about West Point. Obviously, he's the third Riley to be the head coach of the Black Knights after his older brother Rob and their legendary father, Jack (who was in attendance last night), and this is the job he wants. He's won the Atlantic Hockey Coach of the Year award twice in a row, and he's earned it. I know I've said this before, but what you have at West Point is a world-class coach working with some of the most coachable and hardest working student-athletes you will find. The combination has been more and more successful each year, and I'm looking forward to seeing more of these guys next weekend, as I'll be covering their first-round playoff series against American International.
Oh, and I'd like to expand on my previous comments on at-large bids to the NCAA tournament. This isn't just Minnesota. It's Wisconsin, Minnesota-Duluth, and - in all likelihood - St. Cloud. I may need to think about this one a bit more, given that Wisconsin is one game under .500 with five ties, but generally speaking, I think that you should need a .500 record or better in conference play to make the NCAA tournament. For the record, taking out the three teams with sub-.500 records at the moment would put Providence, Notre Dame and Princeton in the tournament, and simply based on what the teams have done this season, I would much rather see those three teams make the tournament than a sub-.500 WCHA team.
Speaking of Notre Dame, SportsCenter had a great feature on Christian Hanson this morning. It's always great to see college hockey get that kind of airtime when it isn't the NCAA tournament or the Beanpot.
OK, that's it for now...time to get set to head for the Island, where Tanner Glass and the Panthers are in town. Hey, the man got me a job interview...you think I'm not going to go see him?
Since I am no longer professionally responsible for college hockey, I decided to check out the Hartford Wolf Pack on Friday night, driving out to Hartford to see my friends Hugh Jessiman and Mike Ouellette. The Pack beat Norfolk, 6-2, in a game that saw both Dartmouth alumni record an assist each.
Gratton got on my bad side with a really ugly boarding call early in the second period, the kind of hit, head first into the boards, that there's really no place for in hockey. Naturally, he was challenged to a fight all of five seconds after he got out of the box, and David Koci scored a pretty decisive win in that bout. Myself, I just sat back down and said, "Well, he had that coming."
Other observations:
Moving on...last night, I headed up to West Point for Army's game against Sacred Heart. I recapped the game for USCHO, and you can read that here.
If Army wins the conference tournament - hardly a given with RIT, Sacred Heart, and Air Force in the mix - Michigan will have one hell of a time with the Black Knights in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
Atlantic Hockey has abeen a very tough out in the NCAA tournament in recent years, generally speaking.
2005: BC 6, Mercyhurst 5
2006: Well...you know.
2007: Minnesota 4, Air Force 3
Army will be in that mold if given the opportunity. Mark my words. The Black Knights check like the dickens, and I mean forechecking and backchecking. Their puck pursuit is relentless, and Army makes it nearly impossible to complete a pass cleanly.
The big problem for Army is that the Black Knight power play is one of the least efficient in the country, and special teams are such a key in playoff hockey. What Army does have, however, is a great top line, with Bryce Hollweg (yes, that's Ryan's little brother, or as I call him, "Little Hollywood"), centering Owen Meyer and Luke Flicek. That line has 40 of Army's 90 goals this year, and their chemistry will serve them well in the postseason.
In my first year at CSTV, I interviewed the five new D-I head coaches before the season: Dave Hakstol, Ted Donato, Guy Gadowsky, Tavis MacMillan and Brian Riley. When I wrote my article on Riley, one of my superiors at the time asked me what the heck he was doing at Army, having been successful as a head coach at Shattuck-St. Mary's.
The answer, by the way, is that Brian cares deeply about West Point. Obviously, he's the third Riley to be the head coach of the Black Knights after his older brother Rob and their legendary father, Jack (who was in attendance last night), and this is the job he wants. He's won the Atlantic Hockey Coach of the Year award twice in a row, and he's earned it. I know I've said this before, but what you have at West Point is a world-class coach working with some of the most coachable and hardest working student-athletes you will find. The combination has been more and more successful each year, and I'm looking forward to seeing more of these guys next weekend, as I'll be covering their first-round playoff series against American International.
Oh, and I'd like to expand on my previous comments on at-large bids to the NCAA tournament. This isn't just Minnesota. It's Wisconsin, Minnesota-Duluth, and - in all likelihood - St. Cloud. I may need to think about this one a bit more, given that Wisconsin is one game under .500 with five ties, but generally speaking, I think that you should need a .500 record or better in conference play to make the NCAA tournament. For the record, taking out the three teams with sub-.500 records at the moment would put Providence, Notre Dame and Princeton in the tournament, and simply based on what the teams have done this season, I would much rather see those three teams make the tournament than a sub-.500 WCHA team.
Speaking of Notre Dame, SportsCenter had a great feature on Christian Hanson this morning. It's always great to see college hockey get that kind of airtime when it isn't the NCAA tournament or the Beanpot.
OK, that's it for now...time to get set to head for the Island, where Tanner Glass and the Panthers are in town. Hey, the man got me a job interview...you think I'm not going to go see him?
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