Can Air Force repeat as Atlantic Hockey champs?

Last year Air Force tied for the regular season lead in Atlantic Hockey, and followed that up with not only a conference tournament championship, but a first round NCAA win over Michigan, and being just an overtime period away from the Frozen Four.

This year RIT ran away with the league with a 22-5-1 conference record. They ranked 2nd in the conference in scoring (3.47 gpg) and first in defense (2.18 goals allowed per game). They’re also great on special teams, second in the conference in both the PP and the PK. Although they’re a decently high scoring team, they do so with a balanced lineup. Their two leading scorers have 13 and 11 goals, and then it goes 10, 10, 9, 8, 8, 7, 7, 7. So there is really no way to take RIT out of the game by shutting down one player.

Contrast that with Air Force. The defending league champs have gotten another great year from Jacques Lamoureux, who backed up his TCHB player of the year season with a very good 20-20–40 year. But Air Force’s only other double digit goal scorer is Matt Fairchild, who has 10.

My sleeper team though is Sacred Heart. They have the 2nd leading goal scorer in the country in Nick Johnson, who has potted 25 goals in 34 games played this season. Fellow Senior Dave Jarman is tied for 3rd in the conference in points per game (1.32 ppg). However, the Pioneers don’t stay out of the box very well, and are dead last in the conference on the penalty kill. Also, expecting a Freshman goalie to take you to a tournament title is a tad unrealistic.

In the end, I think this can only go RIT’s way. The Tigers will likely be the 16 seed in the NCAA tournament, but they will be a tough out for either Denver or Miami (probably).

Miami is our new #1 - Source: Yardbarker

1. Miami (24-5-7) (21-2-5) Up 1

2. Denver (25-7-4) (19-5-4) Down 1

3. Wisconsin (22-9-4) (17-8-3) No Change

4. Yale (19-7-3) (15-5-2) Up 1

5. Cornell (17-8-4) (14-5-3) Up 1

6. North Dakota (20-11-5) (15-10-3) Up 1

7. Boston College (21-10-3) (16-8-3) Up 1

8. Michigan State (19-11-6) (14-8-6) Up 1

9. St. Cloud State (20-11-5) (15-9-4) Down 5

10. Alaska (18-9-9) (11-9-8) Up 5

11. Union (18-10-6) (12-8-4) No Change

12. Bemidji State (23-8-3) (14-3-1) No Change

13. Ferris State (19-11-6) (13-9-6) No Change

14. New Hampshire (16-11-7) (15-6-6) Down 4

15. Colorado College (18-15-3) (12-13-3) Up 1

16. Northern Michigan (17-11-8) (13-9-6) Newbies

Dropped out: Minnesota-Duluth (14)

Maybe next week: RIT

Teams By Conference: WCHA 5, CCHA 5, ECAC 3, Hockey East 2, CHA 1

Can Bemidji State get back to the promised land?

The CHA tournament enters its final year, and thankfully we are all being put out of our misery. Bemidji State is in line for a #1 seed, and they are in the same bracket with three teams who are under .500 in conference. Every team in America, especially those on the bubble, will be cheering for the Beavers to take it home.

Although they’ve gotten to beat up on some poor teams, Bemidji State has racked up quite the statistical resume. They are 6th in the country in scoring and 4th in the country in scoring defense. Beaver Junior Matt Read leads the conference with 19 goals and 40 points. In addition, Jordan George will probably be the conference’s Freshman of the year (13-20–33).

In net, Dan Bakala has been great. He leads the conference in GAA (2.13) and save percentage (.925).

So, can anyone knock off the Beavers?

Well, probably not. But a semi-interesting case can be made for all three teams. Niagara is 2nd in the league in scoring offense, and they do a great job staying out of the box, taking only 11 penalty minutes a game. The thing that shies me away from the Purps however is their poor track record in close games. In fact, Niagara didn’t win an OT game all year.

Alabama-Huntsville doesn’t have much scoring punch, but they’re pretty good defensively. Their kill is the best in the conference at just over 86%, and Cameron Talbot is no slouch in net, with the 2nd best save percentage in conference.

Robert Morris has been pretty bad all year, but they did manage to sweep a series against Miami earlier in the year so hey, miracles can happen.

However, I think teams like Maine, Nebraska-Omaha and Vermont can rest easy. Bemidji will be taking the CHA’s autobid.

Brown 3, RPI 1: RPI had a 1-0 lead after two periods, but Jered Smith, Bobby Farnham and Aaron Volpatti gave Brown a stunning win in game 1 of their playoff series.

Boston College 3, UNH 3: Blake Kessel had a goal, but was also hurt by a blocked shot in the tie, which also happened to clinch the Hockey East regular season title for the Wildcats.

Alaska-Anchorage 3, Minnesota-Duluth 2: Kevin Clark scored with under a minute left to pull Anchorage into 8th in the WCHA. Unless Duluth wins tomorrow night and North Dakota ties or loses, the Bulldogs will finish in 5th.

Alaska 4, Western Michigan 0: At the start of the night, the Nanooks were perilously in line for an at-large berth. At the end, they have an outside shot at a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Nanook defense was stingy and Scott Greenham was up to the task, stopping all 16 shots he faced.

Once again, the four regions are St. Paul, Ft. Wayne, Albany and Worcester. Regional hosts have to play in the regional in which they host. Also, intraconference matchups are avoided in the first round, unless 5 or more teams from a conference make the tournament. Let’s get to it.

St. Paul

1. Denver

2. Bemidji State

3. Alaska

4. RIT

Ft. Wayne

1. Miami

2. North Dakota

3. Michigan State

4. Ferris State

Albany

1. Wisconsin

2. Boston College

3. New Hampshire

4. Minnesota-Duluth

Worcester

1. St. Cloud State

2. Yale

3. Vermont

4. Northern Michigan

This week’s bracket broke down fairly easily for me. Denver and Alaska go to St. Paul due to proximity, RIT goes there because they are the worst team in the bracket, and Bemidji stay due to proximity.

Northern Michigan is my last team in this week. Due to their bye in the CCHA playoffs I like their chances to make it to the Joe and win the requisite amount of games to get into the tournament.

My frozen four this week is: 1. Denver, 1. Miami, 1. Wisconsin and 2. Yale

It started a couple days ago when the Pittsburgh Penguins acquired former Hobey Baker winner Jordan Leopold from Florida. 16 additional former collegians were traded away today

Ryan Whitney (BU)

Matt Rust (Michigan)

Andrew Alberts (Boston College)

Joe Corvo (Western Michigan)

Brian Pothier (RPI)

Lee Stempniak (Dartmouth)

Curtis McElhinney (Colorado College)

Jeff Halpern (Princeton)

Ted Purcell (Maine)

Kevin Porter (Michigan)

Yan Stastny (Notre Dame)

Aaron Ward (Michigan)

Craig Weller (Minnesota-Duluth)

Byron Bitz (Cornell)

Aaron Palushaj (Michigan)

Chad Kolarik (Michigan)

In addition, current collegians Chris Peluso (Bemidji State) and Matt Bartkowski (Ohio State) were dealt.

Fast forward to 2010, where Parise was the best player on the team that took silver in the Olympics. The best forward period in the tournament was probably Jonathan Toews who, ironically, went to the same school that Parise did. Indeed, of the 6 players named to the all-tournament team, four of them played college hockey.

And, the goalie of the tournament (Ryan Miller), forward of the tournament (Toews) and defenseman of the tournament (Brian Rafalski) all played college hockey.

Indeed, this tournament had seemingly more collegians than ever before, and it wasn’t just limited to the United States. 16 players from the US team played at US colleges, and the team featured two Hobey winners (Ryan Miller, Michigan State; Chris Drury, Boston University). Three of the team’s top 4 scorers (Parise, Rafalski, Ryan Malone) were collegians, and 7 of the 8 leaders in +/- were collegians. Ryan Suter, who went to Wisconsin, led the entire tournament in that statistic with Jonathan Toews, who wasn’t on the ice for a goal against.

Tons of great players in the tournament either played in Europe or in major juniors, this is true. Roberto Luongo, who probably is the 2nd best goalie in the world at this point, played in juniors, and the best player in the world, Sidney Crosby, starred in the QMJHL. But over the course of this tournament, the best player on the best team played for two years in Grand Forks in the WCHA, and out of Canada’s 4 +/- leaders, three of them played college hockey (Toews, Duncan Keith, Dan Boyle). Not to mention Canadian Dany Heatley, who starred at Wisconsin, was tied for 6th in the tournament with four goals.

USA Hockey is definitely on the upswing. The country owns a U-18 title, World Junior title and an Olympic silver medal with the youngest team in the tournament. The NHL will no doubt benefit from a popularity spike, however small, off the results of this tournament. But there is a real argument to be made that the biggest winner from the past two weeks is college hockey.

1. Denver (24-6-4) (18-4-4)

2. Miami (24-5-7) (21-2-5)

3. Wisconsin (21-8-4) (16-7-3)

4. St. Cloud State (20-10-4) (15-8-3)

5. Yale (19-7-3) (15-5-2)

6. Cornell (17-8-4) (14-5-3)

7. North Dakota (18-11-5) (13-10-3)

8. Boston College (20-10-2) (15-8-2)

9. Michigan State (19-11-6) (14-8-6)

10. New Hampshire (16-10-6) (15-5-5)

11. Union (18-10-6) (12-6-4)

12. Bemidji State (22-8-2) (13-3-0)

13. Ferris State (19-11-6) (13-9-6)

14. Minnesota-Duluth (19-14-1) (15-10-1)

15. Alaska (16-9-9) (11-9-8)

16. Colorado College (17-14-3) (11-12-3)

Maybe Next Week: RIT, Maine

Teams By Conference: WCHA 6, CCHA 4, ECAC Hockey 3, Hockey East 2, CHA 1

Minnesota 3, Colorado College 0: Alex Kangas had his first shutout of the year with 26 saves. Patrick White, Jordan Schroeder and Josh Birkholz had the Minnesota goals.

Cornell 3, Harvard 0: Cornell got 2 second period goals to put the Big Red in front for good and keeps Cornell in a tie for 1st in ECAC Hockey. Cornell has allowed just 36 goals in 19 conference games, 15 less than their closest competitors.

Ohio State 3, Western Michigan 1: Zac Dalpe had two goals, and Dustin Carlson had 33 saves for the Buckeyes. Western Michigan coach Jim Culhane reportedly will be fired at the end of the season.

2. Miami (22-4-6) (19-1-4) No Change

3. Wisconsin (18-7-4) (13-6-3) No Change

4. Yale (16-6-3) (12-4-2) No Change

5. St. Cloud State (19-9-4) (14-7-3) No Change

6. Colorado College (17-10-3) (11-8-3) Up 1

7. Cornell (14-7-3) (11-4-2) Down 1

8. Michigan State (17-10-5) (12-7-5) No Change

9. Boston College (17-9-2) (12-7-2) Up 1

10. Minnesota-Duluth (18-11-1) (14-7-1) Up 1

11. Bemidji State (19-7-2) (11-3-0) Down 2

12. North Dakota (14-11-5) (9-10-3) No Change

13. New Hampshire (14-10-4) (13-5-3) Up 3

14. Union (16-8-6) (10-4-4) No Change

15. Ferris State (18-10-4) (12-8-4) No Change

16. Maine (14-11-3) (11-8-2) Down 3

Dropped Out: None

Maybe Next Week: Nebraska-Omaha, RPI

Teams By Conference: WCHA 6, ECAC 3, Hockey East 3, CCHA 3, CHA 1