| 04/30/99 05:31 PM USHR's April News 4/30/99 Hollweg Makes History When left wing Ryan Hollweg was picked first overall by the Medicine Hat Tigers in yesterday's WHL Bantam Draft, he also made a bit of history -- he's the first American ever picked #1 overall in the league's draft. Hollweg, of Downey, Calif., a Los Angeles suburb, played for the Langley Hornets (BCHL) this season, had a 14-40-54 line, and was named the BCHL Coastal Division Rookie of the Year. Hollweg was also the fifth-leading scorer for Langley but here's a telling point: the four players ahead of him were either '78s or '79s; Hollweg is merely an '83. Hollweg, 5'11" and 190 lbs, was also Langley's leader in penalty minutes with 173. USA Hockey officials hope that, despite the pressure of being a #1 pick, Hollweg will choose to join the US National Program in Ann Arbor, Mich and thus retain his NCAA eligibility. There were five other Americans chosen in the draft. Four are from Alaska and one from Minnesota. -- Picked #5 overall, by the Kelowna Rockets, was Jason Ryznar, a 6'3" LW who played for the Anchorage, Alaska Bantams this past winter. -- Picked #51 overall, by the Tri-City Americans, was 6'0" RW Ryan Stattner of the Alaska All-Stars Bantams. -- Picked #61 overall, by the Seattle Thunderbirds, was 6'0 RW/RC Joey Crabb of the Alaska All-Stars Midget AAA. -- Picked #89 overall, by the Kamloops Blazers, was 6'0" goaltender Steve Belanger, also of the Alaska All-Stars Midget AAA team. -- Picked #140 overall, by Seattle, was Justin Maiser, a 6'0" LW/C from Edina (Minn.) High School. Canadian players born in 1984, and American players born in 1983 are eligible for the draft. Playoff Structure Changed There will be a change in the playoff structure at USA Hockey's Select Festivals this summer. In the old system, you may recall, six of the ten teams were eliminated on the first day of the playoffs, thus over half the kids had nothing to look forward to on the last day except packing bags and being a spectator at the gold and bronze medal games. In the new system, by eliminating the two crossover games (#1 American vs. #2 National, and vice versa) and instead playing a regular round robin slate involving all teams on the tournament's penultimate day, the playoffs become a one-day affair involving all ten teams. In other words, #5 National will play #5 American; then #4 will play #4; #3 will play #3; #2 will play #2; and, in the gold medal game, #1 will play #1. In addition to giving all 200 players -- instead of just 80 -- a game to play on the tournament's last day, there is another worthwhile benefit to this system. With a team no longer able to win a gold medal without winning its division, the final day of the round-robin portion of tournament instantly becomes more important -- much like baseball's pennant races before the advent of wild cards. The Select 16 Festival will begin in St. Cloud, Minnesota on June 25 and run for a week, with the Select 17's moving in the following week. The Select 15 Festival will run from July 18-25 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. See you there. Columbine Survivors Include Two Hockey Players Among the lucky survivors of the April 20 carnage at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado were a pair of hockey players, Chip Dunleavy and Tim Mullan. After appearing at the Chicago Showcase with Team Colorado, both had returned to Columbine the day before the shootings. Dunleavy, a junior, is a skilled right-shot centerman, while Mullan, a 6-0 goaltender, and also a junior, is a player who caught the eye of USHR scouts in Chicago (see below). Columbine HS doesn't have a hockey team. Dunleavy and Mullan both played midget hockey in the area. 4/27/99 New England Team Takes Prospects College Weekend Utilizing stingy goaltending, speed, quickness, and a balanced attack, the New England 495's won the Prospects 99 College-NCAA Tournament in Etobicoke, Ontario this past weekend. In net, Michael Ayers and Mikel Beacham both had great weekends, holding opponents to seven goals over seven games -- a 1.00 gaa. On defense, Greg Lauze, Pete Tormey and Brett Peterson had strong weekends, as did -- and here's a sleeper -- Michael Hoffman. The captain at Scituate High School, a Mass. Div. III high school, Hoffman is 6'4", with good hands and coordination, strength, and a willingness to mix it up. He'll be going to Loomis-Chaffee in the fall, so recruiters who stopped going to Loomis games when Bubba Berenzweig left for Michigan might want to stop by. Up front, Tony Voce and Lou Eyster had four goals, Tom Colclough, Mark Angeloni, and Scott Selig had three apiece. Steve Greeley and David King each had two. The team was coached by Bruce Selig. 4/27/99 Scout's Notebook The following report is from the Greater Toronto Hockey League Under-17 Tournament, held April 16-18 at the North York Centennial Arena. GOALTENDERS: Jonathan Ceci 5'11 170 North York Canadians -- Challenges. Paddle down on scrambles. Moves well. Needs to become more confident handling puck. Paolo Colaiacovo 6'1 175 Mississauga Senators -- Good size. Handles puck with confidence, but must corral rebounds better. Moves well. Needs to become more consistent. Robert Gherson 6'1 165 Toronto Marlies -- Calm. Poised. Gets up quickly from butterfly. Challenges well. Cuts down angles. Quick feet. Good glove. Moves well. Handles puck well, too. Has a poke check, and uses it smartly. Dane Gilbert 6'0 200 North York Rangers -- Covers a lot of net. Mobility reduced a bit by weight. Good concentration. Doesn’t get rattled. Battles. DEFENCEMEN: Carlo Colaiacovo LD 6'1 175 Mississauga Senators -- Good frame. Very good skater with speed. Excellent flashy puckhandler. Moves puck smartly. Highly skilled. Controls the play. Jumps into offense. Very good shot. Quick feet. Good 1-on-1. Physical -- steps up to force play. Excellent upside. Rob Dmytruk RD 5'10 165 North York Canadians -- On the small size, but calm, poised, and confident. Sees ice well. Moves puck well. Very smart Mac Faulkner LD 6'0 175 Markham Islanders -- Great strong stride. Can jump into offense. Can rush puck well, but hesitant to do so. A bit timid when forechecked. We like him more as a LW. Fred Hitziannou LD 5'11 180 Toronto Young Nats -- Smooth with the puck, and can carry it up ice. Plays a high tempo game. Advances puck with crisp passes. Will step up and hit hard. Mike Morsillo LD Toronto Red Wings -- Very mobile. Quick. Always in in the play. Good skills. Nick Onody RD 6'0 175 Don Mills Flyers -- Excellent skater. Carries puck up with confidence. Very good puck skills. Makes creative moves at top speed. Steps up to force well. Mike Sellan LD 6'0 180 Vaughan Kings -- Intense. Physical. Mean. Steps up to force and throw heavy hits. Loves to go with puck at top speed. Moves it well. Good anticipation. Good shot. Very confident. FORWARDS: Matt Bacon LW 6'1 200 Mississauga Senators -- Big, with a wide stride, but surprisingly smooth. Deceptive speed. Very good hands for his size. Very good puckhandler with confidence and imagination. Strong physical player. In other words, the complete package. Dan Buccella LW 6'0 180 Toronto Marlies -- Tremendous work ethic. Good skater with some speed. Can hit hard. Gets puck at net. Has some skill. Sean Burke RC 6'0 180 Vaughan Kings -- Good size and hands. Gets into position to score. Gets puck on net quickly. Very creative 1-on-1. Good in tight. Skating is improving. John Buscema LC 6'1 180 Vaughan Kings -- Good skater. Swoops into the play. Moves puck well. Will take a hit to make the play. Some shiftiness. Reaches at times instead of hitting. Steve Cowan LW/LD 5'11 175 Vaughan Kings -- Strong skating stride. Breaks well up ice. Works very hard. Has some skill. Mean. Throws heavy hits. Agitates opponents. Chris Curran LW 6'0 170 Mississauga Senators -- Very good skater. Intense. Works hard. Hits everything in his way. Dane Dainard RW 6'1 180 North York Canadians -- Good size. Can be physical. Gets puck at net. Moves puck well in offensive zone. Inconsistent Jeff Doyle RW 5'11 175 Vaughan Kings -- Very confident. Mean. Tough. Can hurt opponents with hits. Very skilled. Creates offensive chances. Demands respect. Can beat opponents in many ways. Creative 1-on-1. Loves to play in traffic. A bit undisciplined. Mike Fox-Higgins LW 6'1 185 Markham Islanders -- Good size. Has some skill. Good reach. Jason Fraccaro RC 5'10 160 North York Canadians -- Not fast or big, but sees ice well, and has good puck skills. Moves it well. Gets it on net. Eric Himelfarb RC 5'9 160 Don Mills Flyers -- Small. Elusive. Great speed and quickness. Head up with puck at all times. Very confident. Can beat man inside or out. Very quick hands. Gets puck on net. Exceptional passing skills, touch. Brian McLoughlin LC 5'10 165 Mississauga Senators -- Smooth skater and puckhandler. Skilled. Hits. Can beat man 1-on-1. Good hands in tight. Joe Tenute LC 5'8 160 North York Canadians -- Short but stocky. Excellent skill. Can dangle with the puck at top speed. Very creative. Elusive. Sees ice very well as he always has his head up. Incredible playmaker. Very nice passing touch. Good shot. Good in tight, too. Jason Ward RC 5'9 150 North York Rangers -- Small but fast, skilled. Josh Warden LW 5'10 160 North York Canadians -- Very good skater. Works, hits and forces. Good speed and quickness. Finishes checks. Keeps feet moving. 4/26/99 A Pair of New Head Coaches in the USHL -- Craig Norwich has been hired as head coach/GM of the Rochester Mustangs, signing a three-year pact. From 1990-96, Norwich, 43, was the head coach at Shattuck-St. Mary's. From there, he moved on to take over the Vail, Colorado Midget AAA Program. As a player, Norwich starred for Edina (Minn.) HS before going on to the University of Wisconsin where he was a two-time All American defenseman. Norwich played professionally in the WHA, the NHL and in Europe before turning to coaching. -- Todd Jones, who has spent the past thtree seasons as an assistant with the Sioux City Musketeers, is taking over as head coach of the Thunder Bay Flyers. Jones, a 29-year-old native of Thunder Bay who was a goaltender for the North Dakota Fighting Sioux from 1991-94, is replacing Gary Wenzel, who was fired by the club last week. CC Makes it Official -- it's Owens Colorado College made it official this morning -- Scott Owens, who on Friday night guided the Des Moines Buccanneers to the USHL Crown, will be taking over as head coach at the school. Owens, 43, a goaltender at CC in the late 70's and, later, an assistant under Brad both Buetow (1991-93) and Don Lucia (1993-95), has coached Des Moines for the last four years. He will be coaching Des Moines in the National Jr. A championship starting Friday in Lincoln, Nebraska. Vail's A Viper Lawrence Academy senior RW Chris Vail visited British Columbia last week, liked what he saw, and signed on to play junior hockey with the Vernon Vipers (BCHL) starting this fall. The Vipers by the way, finished the regular season with a 50-6-2-2 record, good for a league record 104 points. Since then, they've rolled through the playoffs, yesterday polishing off the Calgary Canucks in five games. The team, coached by Troy Mick, is loaded with Div. I recruits: goaltender Derek Gustafson (St. Lawrence Univ.), C Lanny Gare (UNH), RW Tyler Knight (Bowling Green) C Ryan Bayda (North Dakota), RW Joel Bresciani (Alabama-Hunstville), and defensemen Mike Bussoli (BU) and Josh Reed (UMass-Lowell). Next stop for the Vipers is the Royal Bank Cup, which gets underway Saturday in Yorkton, Sask. Other qualifiers are the Charlottetown Abbies (Atlantic), Bramalea Blues (Central) Estevan Bruins (Central) and the Yorkton Terriers, the host team. If you get TSN you can catch the championship game live on Sunday April 9 at 1 p.m. local time. 4/25/99 Lannon Leaves National Program Ryan Lannon, one of the top '82 defenseman in the country, has left the U.S. National Team Development Program. Lannon, who comes from an extremely close-knit family, suffered from homesickness all season. After returning to his Grafton, Mass. home for April school vacation week, he began feeling that, with hockey done for the season, there was nothing to go back to Michigan for. So he didn't. He stayed home, and enrolled at St. John's-Shrewsbury High School, where he's been taking classes for the last week. The St. Paul's School, where Lannon played in 1997-98, has contacted Ryan about returning there. Cushing Academy, which is fairly close to Grafton, has expressed an interest in Lannon as well. The best bet right now is that Lannon will play next season with the Boston Junior Bruins, who'll be joining the EJHL. U.S. Under-17 Team coach Ken Martel said, "I loved going into the locker room every day and spending time with Ryan. I have a son, and I'd be really proud to see him grow up to be like Ryan. He's a tremendous kid who's got his priorities in line. We love him and want him to be happy." Wieckowski Leaving Cornell? Yesterday, one of our favorite-named newspapers, the Kingston Whig-Standard of Kingston, Ontario, reported that Cornell University freshman center Krzysztof Wieckowski is considering opting into the NHL draft. The Whig-Standard reported that Kingston Frontenacs (OHL) managing partner Wren Blair will be meeting shortly with both Wieckowski and the player's 'family adviser,' Larry Kelly. The 6'3" Wieckowski, an early-'81 birthdate, would have to give up his NCAA eligibility to enter the draft, and, if he does that, he could be playing next fall with Kingston. The Frontenacs, as a long shot (Wieckowksi had already committed to Cornell), picked the big Ottawa native in the 7th round of last June's OHL draft. If he'd stayed home, he'd have been a first-rounder. Wieckowski played the 1997-98 season with the Ottawa Senators (CJHL) team where he was the league's rookie of the year. This past season at Cornell, Wieckowski was 3-6-9 in 31 games played. In other Cornell news, forward Sam Paolini of Rochester, NY and the Choate School has committed to the Big Red. Murphy Tabbed for NTDP St. Paul's School sophomore forward Ryan Murphy will be leaving the Concord, NH prep school for Ann Arbor, Michigan and the U.S. National Program. Murphy, a 5'11", 170 lb. RW had a 15-19-34 scoring line in 20 games for St. Paul's last season. Before going to St. Paul's, Murphy, a quick, smooth-skating winger, played at the Cardigan Mountain School. Speaking of St. Paul's, we've already mentioned that a pair of Vermont forwards -- Kevin Child (Champlain Valley High School) and Adam Dann (Rice Memorial) -- will be headed to St. Paul's in the fall. Now, Dann's linemate at Rice, Colin Koch, will be heading to the Concord, NH prep school as well. Colin, who'll be a repeat sophomore, is the son of former UVM star Randy Koch and the cousin of Michigan sophomore forward Geoff Koch. The third member -- and top goal scorer -- of Rice Memorial's big line this past season was Corey Winton, who will be heading to St. Mark's in the fall. Winton's 22 goals tied BFA's Marty Paeplow for the Division I lead in Vermont. Paeplow, who's 6'3", will likely be attending Northfield-Mt. Hermon as a PG. 4/24/99 Des Moines Takes Back USHL Crown with 5-0 Blanking of Omaha; Carney Stops 31 Omaha, Neb. -- The Des Moines Buccaneers, behind a 31-save shutout performance from goaltender Matt Carney, took the Clark Cup, the USHL championship, with a dominating 5-0 win over the Omaha Lancers before 5,836 here last night at the Ak-Sar-Ben Coliseum. Des Moines, which broke long-held USHL records for wins and total points during the regular season, won the best-of-seven series, 4-2, thus avenging last year's 4-0 sweep at the hands of Omaha. After scoring a pair of goals 25 second apart early in the first period, Des Moines added a single goal in a fight-filled second period, and two more -- including Peter Sejna's second of the game -- in the third. Despite the loss, Omaha will join the Buccaneers in the USA Hockey Junior A National Championship Tournament, which begins Friday April 30 in Lincoln, Nebraska. The other four teams are the Billings Bulls (Frontier League), Compuware Ambassadors and St. Louis Sting (NAHL) and the USHL's Lincoln Stars, the host team. Box score -- and how they scored. 4/24/99 Best of Showcase At last weekend's Chicago Showcase, time was short and teams were plenty. There were 24 of them, to be precise, and we managed to see 16. Here, then, and the players who stood out for us:
4/22/99
Here are the rosters of the teams that will be representing New England at this summer's Select 15, 16, and 17 Festivals. The asterisk denotes players who played in the Select Festival last summer.
*** Notable omissions from the above rosters include Connecticut defenseman Garrett Overlock, who wasn't allowed to try out for the Select 15 team due to the fact that his bantam team, the Mid-Fairfield Blues, was preparing for the Nationals. Defenseman Eric Lundberg of the New England Junior Coyotes only appeared at the tryouts for one day and wasn't named to the 16 team. Phillips Exeter standout forward Conrad Barnes was at the tryouts, but had a lackluster weekend, and didn't make the final cut for the 17 team. Others who will be missing from this summer's 17 team are Exeter winger Ed Caron, who chose not to attend the tryout; and Brady Leisenring of the U.S. National Program. Players in the National Program, who play a seven-month regular-season schedule, are being asked to take the summer off this year. 4/18/99 Minnesota Dominates at Chicago Showcase Woodridge, Illinois, April 18 -- At the Chicago Showcase today, Team Minnesota topped off its blitz through the competition with a 6-2 win over Pittsburgh. Goaltender Adam Laaksonen (Cloquet HS) kicked out 23 of 25 shots, and John Bottoms (Hibbing HS) notched a pair of goals. John Funk (St. Thomas Acad.), Dan Miller and Matt Koalska (both Hill-Murray) and Dave Iannazzo (Maple Grove HS) each had single goals. For the tournament, Team Minnesota, comprised of high school seniors not yet committed to a college, outscored its opponents, 49-16. We'll have more on the Showcase here tomorrow. 4/16/99 Hilbert, DiPietro Lead U.S. Past Ukraine, 6-0 Kaufbeuren, Germany, April 16 -- The U.S. Under-18 Team concluded play at the World Under-18 Championship with a 6-0 win over the Ukraine this afternoon. Center Andy Hilbert had a three-point game for the U.S.(2g,1a), while goaltender Rick DiPietro -- in addition to notching the shutout -- chipped in offensively with a pair of assists, both in the second period. Freddy Meyer, Brian Fahey, Patrick Foley, and Todd Jackson also scored for the U.S., which ended the tournament with a 3-3 record. The Under-18 team, which will be returning to Ann Arbor tomorrow, finishes the year with a 10-6-3 record in international play. 4/16/99 Harnden, Smith, and Speer Top Prospects Arnprior, Ontario -- The Ontario Bantam Championship, held here last Sunday, showcased a pair of players who will be playing in next year's U.S. National Team Development Program as well as a 14-year old whose name you may want to remember. The two who will be wearing the red, white and blue next season are: 6'1", 205 lb. left-shot forward Jesse Harnden of the Thunder Bay Kings. Harnden, an '83, is a dual citizen -- his mother grew up in Two Harbors, Minnesota, a town on Highway 61 between Duluth and Thunder Bay, Ont. By the way, that's a 60-mile trip, with only three legitimate towns along the way -- but a lot of spectacular views of Lake Superior. The other player bound for Ann Arbor is defenseman Marcus Smith of the Richmond Hill Stars, who was named his team's MVP in the title game. Smith, 5'11", 179 lbs., is a rugged, hard-hitting defenseman with good quickness and hands. An '83, he's the younger brother of Plymouth Whalers center Julian Smith, who played for Cushing Academy from 1995 to '97. The MVP of the game for Thunder Bay was 1984 birthdate Daniel Speer, who scored both his team's goals in the 2-1 win and had scouts in attendance reaching for superlatives. Speer, who's 6'1", 180 lbs. is a skilled left-shot centerman with size, smarts and the imagination to get the puck on net in a variety of ways. It's early still -- there's the 1999 OHL draft to concentrate on first -- but Speer has what it takes to be a high first-round pick in 2000. Speaking of the OHL, here's something rare. This past week, in the quarterfinals of the league playoffs, all four teams that finished the regular-season in first place were sent packing. Belleville topped Ottawa in five games; Owen Sound topped Guelph in six games; London topped the Plymouth Whalers in seven games; and Oshawa, also in seven games, topped Barrie. Of the four losers, the biggest by far was the Whalers, the top-ranked team not just in the OHL but in the whole CHL. Thursday night, before a sellout crowd of 4,186 at the Compuware Sports Arena, just north of Detroit, the Whalers were demolished by the London Knights, 10-3, in Game 7 of their series. The Whalers are by far the most American of any team in major junior hockey, with roughly half their roster from this side of the U.S-Canadian border. Seven are from Michigan alone -- Forwards David Legwand, Shaun Fisher, Damian Surma, and Kristopher Vernarsky; and defensemen Kevin Holdridge and Jared Newman. Two, defenseman Paul Mara and goaltender Robert Holsinger are from Greater Boston. Defenseman Nikos Tselios is from Illinois. Forward Eric Gooldy is from upstate New York. (For fun, you can throw in forward Harold Druken. He's from St. John's, Newfoundland and played on this winter's Canadian National Junior team, but just a couple of years back he was a prep standout at the Noble & Greenough School in Dedham, Mass.) By the way, two hours before the start of the deciding game time Thursday, Whalers coach Peter DeBoer was named OHL Coach of the Year. 4/15/99 U.S. Under-18's Whack Germany, 6-0 Today, the U.S. Under-18 Team, behind a five-point effort from John Sabo, defeated Germany, 6-0, in a relegation round game in Fussen, Germany. The U.S. outshot the Germans, 42-6. And that's not a misprint, either. Sabo had a goal and four assists; Patrick Foley had three assists; and Justin Forrest and Jeff Taffe each chipped in with a goal and an assist. Andy Hilbert, Freddy Meyer and Ron Hainsey scored the other goals for the U.S. Rob Bonk picked up the shutout. The U.S., now 2-3-0 in its first year of competition in the tournament, finishes play tomorrow (Friday) with a game against the Ukraine. The Ukraine, with a 3-0 win over Norway today, also has a 2-3-0 record. Today's win ensured the U.S. won't drop into the B pool for next year's Under-18 World Championship. 4/15/99 Mandes is The Man, but he's only 13 Steve Mandes of Buckingham, Pennsylvania and the Valley Forge Minutemen Pee Wees is only 13 years old, but there's already a buzz about him. While leading his team to a 6-0 tournament record and a national championship last week in Laurel, Maryland, Mandes, a 5'7" right wing with speed, hands, and an 85 mph shot, was on the ice for all of his team's 18 goals. He had a goal (10) or an assist (6) on 16 of them. What happened on the other two? Well, Mandes was on the ice, but didn't figure in the scoring. His linemates did, though. C/LW Chad Kolarik, the 13-year-old younger brother of top Div. I prospect Tyler Kolarik (Deerfield Academy), had one, to finish the tournament with a 4-6-10 line. Center Paul Worthington, also 13, had the other. Worthington was 2-4-6 for the week. Here's Mandes' breakdown:
While it's not hard to guess who our MVP for the tournament was, there were a number of other good players to keep an eye on in Laurel. Coincidentally, every player on the USHR All-Tournament team (not counting the goalie) wore #16. Here they are:
4/14/98 Midget Nationals: Eaves Top Prospect Here are 25 players who jumped out at us during the weekend's Midget Nationals in Odenton, Maryland. Congratulations to Shattuck-St. Mary's, who won three games in less than twenty four hours -- the last a five overtime affair -- but, in the title game, exhausted, and down 3-0 to Little Caesar's in the waning moments of the the second period, reached down and found a little something extra -- like five straight goals.
4/12/99 U.S. Under-18 Team Tops Norway, 10-2 Fussen, Germany; Mon. April 12 -- The U.S. National Under-18 Team rolled over Norway, 10-2, at the World Under-18 Championship here today. Jeff Taffe, of Hasting (Minn.) HS, led the U.S. scoring with three points (2g,1a), while Andy Hilbert (2g), Connor Dunlop (1g,1a), and John Sabo (1g,1a) also had multiple-point games for the U.S. In net, Rob Bonk picked up the win for the U.S. The U.S. finishes first-round play with a 1-3-0 record, and waits for the conclusion of tomorrow's games to be seeded in relegation play, which begins Thurs. April 15. 4/12/99
Shattuck, trailing Caesar's 3-0 with a little over two minutes left in the second period, blitzed Caesar's with five straight goals to take a 5-3 lead with 3:01 left in the game. Five different players scored for Shattuck. Then, all hell broke loose. Reportedly, Shattuck coach Andy Murray felt that a player on Caesar's was trying to run one of his players. Murray yelled something to Caesar's coach Chris Coury. Coury came after Murray, grabbed him by the tie, and the two coaches quickly found themselves duking it out. Coury's assistant, Ron Creamer, was right in the middle of the melee, too, standing on the dasher "violently wielding a stick" according to a neutral eyewitness. Coury, Creamer, and Murray all received gross misconducts. Justin Flaishans, Brian Bielinski, and Jake Barry all received misconducts for Caesar's, while John Van Pelt and Cliff Loya picked up misconducts for Shattuck. Shattuck came out of the brawl with a power play, but Caesar's Chris Patterson scored a shorthanded goal to cut Shattuck's lead to one goal with 18 seconds left. But that was as close as Caesar's could come. The Semifinals: Shattuck Tops TI in Five OT's To get to the finals, Shattuck topped Team Illinois in five overtimes Sunday morning (the game took roughly four hours to play, starting at 8:00 am, and finishing after noon). John Van Pelt finally won it for Shattuck at the 4:58 mark of the fifth OT. In other words, after nearly 96 minutes of hockey, much of it up-and-down action because, while TI played it close to the vest early, the game totally opened up in a thrilling orgy of overtime sessions. To win the tournament, Shattuck wound up playing nearly 146 minutes of hockey in one day. Assuming 15 minute periods, that 's nearly three plus prep games (not to mention the fact that they'd played two games on Saturday -- a 6-5 OT win over Pittsburgh that ended in the afternoon, then a 7 p.m. game that night). In the other semi, Caesar's trailed the American Eagles (N.J.) 2-1 after two periods, but scored three in the third period to win it, 4-2. The final goal was an empty-netter. We'll have more on the Midget tournament in the next day or two, including our own all-tournament team, so please check back. 4/11/99 Honeybaked Takes Bantam Nationals Edina, Minn, Sun. April 11 -- Detroit Honeybaked edged the New Jersey Jr. Devils, 3-2, to take home the National Bantam title here this afternoon. In the game, New Jersey defenseman Mike Gershon and Honeybaked defenseman Jamison Milam were named their respective team's MVPs. This morning, in the semis, Honeybaked beat the Cleveland Barons, 7-4, while New Jersey topped Edina, 5-2. Please check out all the scores -- plus the all-tournament team -- on our Bantam Nationals Scoreboard Page. Here are forty or so players that jumped out at us. It's a ranking, sure, but only in the roughest sense. Danny Fritsche, F, Cleveland -- Only an '85, Fritsche is already a solid six-footer. Size. Skill. A force to be reckoned with. Mike Aylward, F, Boston Jr. Bruins -- Another force to be reckoned with. A power forward with size, strength and skill. Works boards well. Wears uniform number 8, and his style recalls another #8 -- Cam Neely. Brian Liamero, F, New Jersey -- Top player on the festival's top line: Liamero and Mincucci on the wings, centered by Scott Eberenz. Liamero has good hands, instincts. A player to follow. Jamison Milam, D, Detroit Honeybaked -- A right-shot D. Quarterback on the blue line. Likes to rush the puck. Came up big in title game. Scott Eberenz, F, New Jersey -- The center and playmaker on New Jersey's top line. Highly skilled. Tim Sestito, D, Syracuse -- A big, strong D who likes to jump up into the play. Can take it to the net, and finish. Eric Sargent, F, Detroit Honeybaked -- Extremely good hands. Needs to work on his speed and quickness. Mike Gershon, D, New Jersey Jr. Devils -- Good speed and hands. Very smooth player with poise. Excellent offensive potential from the blueline. Chris Wright, F, Detroit Honeybaked -- Quick center who has good vision and is strong on the puck. A go-getter type. Always keeps his feet moving, fights through checks. Brett Sterling, F, LA Jr. Kings -- Fast. Quick hands. Can find the net. L.A.'s top player. Mike Abbott, D, Syracuse -- The kind of player who grows on you. His patience is unbelievable. He just doesn't get rattled. Smooth on skates. 5'9" and solid. Jason Paige, F, Detroit Honeybaked -- Gritty LW with good hands. Fights through checks, and drives to the net. Protects puck well. Mark Stewart, D, Rochester North -- Good size, mobility. Sees ice well, and has poise and patience. A little raw right now, but a player to keep an eye on. Brandon Boyes, D, Detroit Honeybaked -- Good hands. Excellent breaking out of zone -- will rush it or make the pass. Wants the puck in key situaions and has a great shot. Had a pair of goals in 3-2 title game win. Tom Goebel, F, Cleveland -- Goebel is a small centerman. Extremely fast and quick. Jim Cashens, D, Boston Jr. Bruins -- Agile. Good hands. Great shot. Jeff Budish, F, Edina -- A strong, powerful center. A little heavy on his skates perhaps, but has hands and sees the ice well. David Booth, F, Detroit Honeybaked -- A LW with good hands. Shoots from anywhere and everywhere. Goes to the net, too. Doesn't have great speed or particularly good stride. But he produces -- had seven goals in the tournament, including a hat trick in the 7-4 semifinal win over Cleveland. Josh Coyle, D, Cleveland -- Offensive 5'10" D. Very agile. Good hands. Not very physical -- tends to pokecheck instead of taking his guy out. Devin Shencopp, F, Detroit Honeybaked -- Skill player. Good hands. Good skating ability. Fights through checks nicely. Andrew McKay, F, Edina -- A smooth, flashy forward. Needs to add strength. Garrett Overlock, D, Mid-Fairfield -- A quarterback at the point. Good hands. Good skater. Better than average ice vision. Plays in all situations. Alex Minicucci, F, New Jersey -- Good hands, good up-and-down winger. Thomas Maldonado, D, New Jersey -- Tiny, but has great hands. Christopher Trick, D, Detroit Honeybaked -- A 6'1" D with good skating skills, hands. Still pretty raw, though. Vince Tozzo, D, New Jersey -- Big, strong, powerful D. Uses his size well. Greg Schultz, D, Mid-Fairfield -- BIG. If he's not 6'5", he will be shortly. Surprisingly good lateral movement. Reads play well. Doesn't pivot well. Hands a little suspect. T.J. Fox, F, Syracuse -- A tall, lanky up-and-down forward. Good hands. Can play D, too. Hugh Jessiman, F, Mid-Fairfield -- Good skater with long stride. Needs to play a little tougher. 4/11/99 U.S. Bows Again at World Under-18's Kaufbeuren, Germany; Sun. April 11 -- Slovakia edged the U.S., 6-5, at the World Under-18 Championship here today. With the loss, the U.S. falls to 0-3. The Americans face Norway (0-2-0) on Monday afternoon. 4/11/99 To UNH; To RPI ** Top prep scorer Josh Prudden, who helped Exeter to the Div. I title with a 60-plus point season, will be heading to UNH in the fall. Prudden, 5'11", 188 lbs. and a left shot, was a PG at Exeter this season after playing for Pingree, a Div. II school on Massachusetts' North Shore. Prudden, who's from Andover, Mass., also played for the Boston Bulldogs. ** Big Mike Duffy, a 6'4", 210 lb. left-shot center from the Kent School, will be headed to RPI in the fall. Duffy, who's from upstate New York played at Malone High before heading to Kent last fall. 4/09/99 Finland Blanks U.S. Under-18 Team, 5-0 Fussen, Germany -- U.S. medal hopes took a big hit at the World Under-18 Championship this afternoon as the National Under-18 Team was blanked, 5-0, by Finland. Goaltender Ari Ahonen, who starred in Finland's 3-1 exhibition win over the U.S. last Saturday (Apr. 3), was again a standout. The U.S., now 0-2, has tomorrow off. The Americans must rebound with a win against Slovakia on Sunday to have a shot at second-round play. Slovakia is 1-1, having pounded Norway, 7-0, earlier this afternoon. In other action today, Switzerland beat the Ukraine, 4-1, and Sweden beat Germany, 5-2. 4/09/99 Minnesota 17 Camp: Our Picks
4/09/99 U.S. Edged by Russia, 2-1, in World Under-18 Opener Kaufbeuren, Germany -- The US dropped a tough 2-1 decision to Russia in the opening game of the Under-18 World Championship here yesterday. Connor Dunlop scored an early powerplay goal -- John Sabo assisted on the play -- to put the US up, 1-0. However, Russia would score two goals by the end of the first to take a 2-1 lead. And that was it for the day's scoring. After that, it was a goaltenders battle. On the game, the US outshot Russia, 27-26. Evgeny Konstantinov was excellent for Russia, as was Rick DiPietro for the US. Two of DiPietro's 24 saves came on brekaway chances. The US plays Finland today, and must pick up a win to have a chance at the gold medal. 4/08/99 U.S. Cleans up in Kamloops On Sunday, for the second time in the 31-year history of the Kamloops International Bantam Tournament, a pair of U.S. teams met in the title game, with the St. Louis Blues topping Detroit Honeybaked, 4-3. Down 3-0 after the first period, St. Louis fought back with four unanswered goals. Blues 6'1" defenseman -- and captain -- Joe Pomeranski, who's going to the U.S. National Program in the fall, led the way, scoring two goals and assisting on a third to pull St. Louis into a 3-3 tie. Forward Dave Spina, an Arizona transplant, scored the game winner. In all its wins, St. Louis, coached by former St. Louis University and NHL netminder Lindsay Middlebrook, came from behind. Their only loss was a 4-1 decision to the Notre Dame Hounds (Wilcox, Sask.). A U.S. team also took the bronze medal game, as the Rochester Americans topped the Richmond Hill (Ont.) Stars, 5-4. Standouts for Rochester included forwards Lee Stempniak and Mark Langdon, defenseman Frank Burgio and goaltender Kevin Amborksi.
4/08/99 When Lucia Goes, Who Takes Over at CC? Let's see, at about 3 pm Tuesday Doug Woog finishes up the press conference announcing his "resignation" as Gopher hockey coach. At 5:51 pm, a plane carrying Minnesota AD Mark Dienhart and associate AD Pat Forciea lands in Denver. That evening, while Dienhart and Forciea are meeting in Denver with Colorado College coach Don Lucia, University of North Dakota head coach Dean Blais is signing a new five-year contract that could make him the highest-paid college hockey coach on the planet. That's some fast wheeling and dealing -- particularly for the college hockey world. Now, with Blais staying put, it looks likely that the 40-year-old Lucia, a Grand Rapids, Minn. native, will get the Minnesota job and return to his home state. Lucia, who coached six years at Alaska-Fairbanks before moving on to CC in 1993, still owns a house in Grand Rapids, which is out on the west end of the Iron Range, several hours north of the Twin Cities. The next question is: Who will take over at Colorado College? From a source close to the scene who wishes to remain anonymous, we've learned that the man at the top of CC's wish list -- at least for now -- is current Wisconsin assistant Mark Johnson. Johnson, who played for the Badgers in the late '70s under his father, Bob Johnson, also played for the 1980 gold-medal winning U.S. Olympic Team. He then went on to a 10-year NHL career, played in Europe for a few more years and then, in the mid-'90s, returned to Madison as an assistant under current Badger coach Jeff Sauer. 4/07/99 Four Eastern Mass. HS Stars Heading to Avon They are: * Scott Trahan, a 6'0" 165 lb., right shot forward from Chelmsford HS. Trahan, an '81 who'll be a PG at Avon, scored 46 points as a junior and followed that up with 23-28-51 season this year, good for a 7th place tie -- with Brian Collins -- among Mass. Division I scorers (regular season games only). UNH and Northeastern are among the schools reportedly interested in Trahan. * Eric Pedersen, the Northeast Conference MVP and the key to Saugus High School's winning the Div. II championship, is a 5'11", 180 lb. left shot D. Like Trahan, he's an '81 birthdate who will be taking a PG year. Look for Pedersen to head to Merrimack College in the fall of 2000. By the way, Merrimack coach Chris Serino is also a Saugus High grad -- though long before Pedersen was even born. * The Warner Brothers, from Arlington Catholic: Mike Warner, who'll be a PG, is a 5'10" left-shot forward, had an 11-19-30 line in 20 regular season games for AC this season. * His younger brother, 5'10" sophomore goaltender Tim Warner, is, in the USHR rankings, the top '83-born goaltender in Massachusetts, posted a 2.33 GAA for AC. Last summer, at the USA Select Festival he posted a 2.80 GAA for the Mass squad. (Note: The Warners are not related to USHR publisher/editor Chris Warner). More Prep School Commitments John Czaplinski, a 6'0", 225 lb. goaltender from the Buffalo Selects Midgets, will be headed to Kimball Union in the fall. Czaplinski, an '82 is from Cheektowaga, NY. Kevin Child, son of early 70's UVM standout Ted Child, will be headed to St. Paul's as a repeat sophomore. Child has played the last two seasons at Champlain Valley High School in Hinesburg, Vermont. In a big 2-1 quarterfinal win over S. Burlington, Child scored both his team's goals, the second in OT. CVU reached the state finals but the road ended there -- they were blanked, 2-0, by BFA St. Albans. Another Vermonter headed to St. Paul's in the fall is forward Adam Dann, from Rice Memorial High School. Dann, a 5'9" forward from Stowe, will be the only Vermonter on this year's New England Select 16 Team. 4/6/99 National Championships Get Underway Wednesday
In the midget final, Alaska was edged, 2-1, by the Bay City Hurricanes, who play out of Long Beach, Calif., just south of L.A. Bay City's top player, 5'11" center Martin Galstyan (an '81), scored both Hurricane goals and 5'6" Erik Hokom, an '83 goaltender, was excellent in net. The Southern Californians played a complete game, taking the ice away from Alaska and not allowing them to create an attack. Alaska struggled in getting players in front of the net, and a lot of their shots were from the perimeter. In the bantam final, the LA Jr. Kings dominated Alaska, beating them 6-2. LA 5'6" forward Brett Sterling, an '84, was outstanding. So was 5'11" center Marc Silverman, a center, who scored twice with hard, overpowering shots.
Games start Wednesday April 7th, and finals will be on Sunday April 11. Here are the participating teams:
4/4/99 U.S. Splits a Pair in Prep for World Under-18's The US Under-18 Team, in Switzerland preparing for the upcoming World Under-18 Championships, split a pair of exhibition games this weekend, defeating Switzerland, 5-2, and bowing to Finland, 3-1. The tournament gets underway Thursday, with the USA meeting Russia in Kaufbeuren, Germany. In Friday's game, played before a sellout crown in the tiny mountain town of Seewan, the U.S. squad, shaking off jet lag, trailed 2-0 after two periods before exploding with a five-goal third period to take the win. Box score: U.S. Under-18 5, Switzerland 2 In Saturday's game, Finland goaltender Ari Ahonen stopped 20 of 21 U.S. shots to lead his team to a 3-1 win. The U.S. was outshot 29-21, including 15-4 in the second period. Box Score: Finland Under-18 3, U.S. 1 4/2/99 The Hotchkiss-Taft Brawl: What the Tape Shows Here at the USHR we took some heat from the Taft community for our coverage of the brawl that occurred after the final buzzer of their 5-4 season-ending loss to Hotchkiss on Feb. 26th. Taft headmaster Lance Odden, hockey coach Mike Maher, and Pat Orsaia, the mother of Taft senior defenseman Fred Orsaia, all charged this publication with biased reporting and threatened libel suits. When we heard the latter threat, we procured a game tape to see if perhaps we'd rushed to judgment. USHR editor/publisher Chris Warner, along with John Riley, who reported on the game for the USHR, examined it frame-by-frame on sophisticated, high-quality video equipment. Riley, by the way, is also a USA Hockey and NIHOA registered referee in Connecticut. Let's look at the issues point-by-point: 1) Odden and Maher were unhappy with our depiction of Taft as the aggressor. We still believe Taft to have been the aggressor, and the video supports us. As the buzzer sounds, Hotchkiss forward Brent Robinson is seen raising his stick in victory. He is then cross-checked hard from behind by Taft defenseman Evan Neilsen. After that, fighting breaks out all over. 2) We never wrote that Taft coach Mike Maher had any incendiary role in this situation, but, in conversation with us, Maher implied strongly that people might see it this way. Coach Maher actually held his bench back. The three or four Taft players who did get onto the ice were quick responders who came off the far end of the bench in the fight's early seconds. After that, no other Taft players came over the boards, as Maher, standing by the doorway, barred their passage. Once he was sure his remaining players would stay on the bench, Maher proceeded into the fray. His actions alone -- mainly pulling players out of the fight area -- certainly indicated he was there as a peacemaker. By the way, the brawl, while furious, was brief, lasting only 30 seconds. 3) The following is a direct quote from our early recap of the game: "Phinney (Brian, a Hotchkiss sophomore defenseman) also sustained a painful neck injury, after Taft's Fred Orsaia repeatedly slammed his head into the boards during the brawl." Pat Orsaia, Fred's mother, objected to this. We acknowledge that, as a result of second-hand reporting, there are inaccuracies here. The first is minor: Orsaia and Phinney were not near the boards. They were closer to the faceoff circle. On tape, we see Orsaia and Phinney grappling. Orsaia gets leverage on his opponent, lifts him up and indeed pile-drives him to the ice. In all likelihood this is where Phinney sustained his neck injury. But did Orsaia repeatedly slam Phinney's head into the ice? It's certainly possible, but from the tape alone we have no evidence of it. As the two combatants crumpled to the ice, other grapplers blocked out the ensuing action. From the tape alone, we cannot determine what happened next. 4) Odden, Taft's headmaster, complained to us about Hotchkiss coach Damon White's language. While we don't quite see swearing as a justification for physical violence, merely bringing it up points to the fact that the Taft-Hotchkiss rivalry contains a fair amount of animosity. Coach Maher also indicated that there were some pretty hard feelings between the two coaches and schools, going a step further and saying that there were actions by Hotchkiss in the Feb. 26th game that were 'bad.' We asked Maher for details, but he refused, saying that would only exacerbate tensions. We also offered Maher the opportunity to write down his view of the incident, which we would then publish. He chose not to. While we emphasize with Maher's desire not to escalate tensions between the two schools, alluding to such things -- and then not offering anything of substance -- doesn't really help us get to the truth of the matter. As a matter of fact, it set off the bullshit meter, and forced us to go solely with what we saw on tape. And what we saw on tape shows that Taft players initiated the fight, perpetuated it, and in every situation were the aggressors. Could a Hotchkiss player have crossed a line of decency and said something he shouldn't have? It's possible, but it's also not fair to us to plant the idea, then back off without substantiating it. 5) We asked why six Taft players were ejected from the game, but only two Hotchkiss players. Were the referees also biased? Maher claims the reason only two Hotchkiss players were suspended was because Hotchkiss had clinched a playoff spot. A fighting penalty in prep hockey calls for an automatic suspension from the following game. 6) In our original article, we pointed out that the fight may have stemmed from frustration. Taft, a team with six Division I bound players on its roster, had begun the season with great promise only to once again miss the playoffs at the end. This is our opinion -- and Maher took exception to it. While we can certainly understand how he wouldn't want to be reminded of Taft's fade, we have every right to voice it. After viewing the tape, we still consider frustration a contributing factor in the brawl. We'll actually go a little further. Not only were the players frustrated, they were pissed off at themselves. To believe otherwise, one would have to embrace the alternative viewpoint, i.e. the Taft players are a bunch of goons into gratuitous violence. We don't believe that for a minute, and never conveyed anything suggesting that in our original reporting. The Post-Mortem: We would have liked to have forgotten about this long ago, and we're sure Taft would too, but it keeps cropping up. From this end, we don't look kindly on efforts to cover up or put a favorable spin on fights. In our view, hockey fights, at least most of the time, are nothing to be ashamed of. Kids get pissed off and whack each other. It's not right, it's not wrong. It just happens. However, New England prep schools are extremely sensitive on the issue of fighting. It doesn't line up with the preps' somewhat antediluvian notion of sport as a character builder. And that's why every time we report on a fight in prep school hockey, we get a lot of flak. Odden likened the USHR to the Drudge Report and questioned our motives in reporting on the Feb. 26th fight. Here, then, is our motive: A player was hurt and others were suspended -- that's news and, as such, has to be written about. We can't help it if it makes Taft or Hotchkiss or anyone else look bad. That's not our responsibility. Our responsibility is to get as close to the truth as time and resources allow. And that's why, at Taft's request, we went back and re-analyzed the brawl of Feb. 26th. It doesn't exonerate them. 4/1/99
As the last NCAA Final Four -- now "Frozen Four" -- of the 20th century gets underway today, there are a few trends worth noting. First of all, for the second consecutive year, there are no teams on hand from the WCHA or the ECAC. Scouts have been talking for a while about the preeminence of Hockey East and the CCHA, and the numbers -- and not just for the last couple years, either -- support this view. Out the 40 Teams that made it to the Final Four in the nineties, sixteen (40%) have been from Hockey East, twelve (30%), have been from the CCHA, eight (20%) have been from the WCHA, and four (10%) have been from the ECAC. If we use even more recent history (i.e. the twenty teams that made it to the Final Four in just the last five years), the numbers are nine (45%) from Hockey East, six (30%) from the CCHA, four (20%) from the WCHA, and only one (5%) from the ECAC. In the second half of the eighties (1985-89), it wasn't this way. Looking at the twenty teams that reached the Final Four in those years, we found that seven (35%) were from the WCHA, five (25%) were from the ECAC, while the CCHA and Hockey East had four teams apiece (20%). While extenuating circumstances can skew things slightly on a year-by-year basis, we're looking here at a 15-year span, a long enough time period for variances to average out. (Notable variances include Maine's NCAA ban, and early-round draws that seem to tilt the tournament toward its legacy of equal geographic representation. Here's the history: Through the late seventies, two teams were selected from the east and two from the west. However, in many of those years the top four teams in the nation could have been drawn exclusively from the west. Of the thirty title games between 1952-'82, twenty featured west vs. west matchups. In those years, the eastern teams usually wound up battling it out in the now-defunct third-place games.) A couple of other interesting notes: The previous, and only other time, a league accomplished the feat of placing three teams in the Final Four was in 1992, when the CCHA sent Michigan, Michigan State, and Lake Superior State. The latter, coached by Jeff Jackson, won it all that year, beating Wisconsin, 5-3. It was the first of three straight title games for the Lakers, two of which they won. Also appearing in three straight title games while winning two were the Wisconsin squads of 1981-82-83 and the University of Minnesota teams of 1974-75-76. Appearing in three straight title games, and winning them all, were the Vic Heyliger coached Michigan Wolverines of 1951-52-53. Since Hockey East formed 15 years ago, only two ECAC teams have won NCAA championships -- RPI in '85 and Harvard in '88. But the same goes for Hockey East. The only two teams from the breakaway conference to have won national championships were Maine, in 1993, and BU in 1995. Finally, we offer the following as grist for between-period conversations tonight: Will Hockey East and the CCHA strengthen their positions over the next ten years? Will the WCHA and the ECAC rebound? What school has the best chance of being the next college hockey superpower? Is there a sleeping giant out there? One final note -- if UNH gets past the Spartans tonight, it will set up an all-Hockey East final. This has only happened once before -- in 1995, BU beat Maine, 6-2, at the Providence Civic Center. This typist is picking UNH to win it all this year. 3/31/99 U.S. Takes Off
In February, at the Five Nations Tournament in Prague, the U.S. won the gold medal, topping Russia in the championship game, so hopes are high. Of the 22 players on the squad, 19 played in the National Program in Ann Arbor, Mich. this season. The three exceptions are Jeff Taffe and Dan Welch, linemates at Hastings High, the runners-up in the Minnesota high school hockey tournament, and Brett Nowak, who played at the Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Conn.
Injury Report: Forward John Eichelberger of Glencoe, Ill. is the only player who will miss the tournament due to injury. Eichelberger has been out of action since January because of lingering effects of a concussion.
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