LCS Hockey - College Hockey Report

College Hockey Report
Chestnuts Roasting in the Zamboni Pit
by James Clippinger, College Correspondent

Well, after roughly a quarter-season of conference action, the national college hockey landscape is...more clouded than sambuca with water. All four conferences could still be up and dominated by any one team or end in a eight-way tie for first, but there are some definite trends developing. As the schedule is about to get all spotty with breaks for finals and holiday tournaments, let's quickly summarize each league:

WCHA
So far, Colorado College and North Dakota are running rings around the competition, with the Tigers currently in first but the feared Fighting Sioux holding two games in hand and only a point behind. Minnesota is six points back in third, leading a pack of six teams within four points. Duluth brings up the rear, but are looking resurgent after a sweep of Michigan Tech this past weekend.

CCHA
Defending national champs Michigan leads Ohio State and surprising Ferris State by a point, but holds at least two games in hand over both challengers. Notre Dame, Michigan State and Northern Michigan are just a few points back. So far, the biggest story in the CCHA this year has been the Battle of the Unrelated Blackburns, with Michigan's Josh and Michigan State's Joe currently 1-2 in CCHA goaltending statistics...none too shabby for a couple of rookie starters.

ECAC
You want parity? Ten points separate front-running Princeton from twelfth-place Harvard. Travel partners Colgate and Cornell trail the Tigers, with St. Lawrence and RPI rounding out the home-ice slots. But with the congestion in the standings, anything could happen in this league in the new year.

As an aside, when will Harvard suck it up and fire Ronn Tomassoni? Tomassoni is a nice enough guy, but you have to wonder about a coach who keeps landing the best recruiting classes in the ECAC and not producing results on or off the ice. Crimson teams of the last few years just haven't done the little things, and this year's 0-8-1 ECAC record and league-worst 45 goals allowed are ample evidence. (Of course, it also shows that J.R. Prestifilippo is having an off year.) Worse, the archetypical Harvard player has gone from skilled and humble Lane MacDonald to goonish and arrogant Steve Martins. This attitude has caused such wonderfully talented players as Craig MacAdams and Ben Storey to play with disdainful indifference during the ECAC regular season, only to get their clocks cleaned in the playoffs. Such problems come from the top, and it's about time Tomassoni be held responsible.

HOCKEY EAST
Say what you will about Eastern college hockey, it stays interesting. There's a four-point spread between first and seventh in Hockey East, with UNH ahead of Boston College by a point after splitting with the Eagles over the weekend. Maine is lurking just two points back, and with two games in hand the Black Bears are in prime position to take on the leaders. Northeastern is solidly in the cellar with a 1-6-0 league mark, giving Mass Amherst a welcome respite from the dregs.

PLAYER OF THE MONTH
The ECAC set a new league record for penalty minutes in a game last Friday, as Union and Cornell racked up 217 combined and the Skating Dutchmen set the one-team mark with 116. 185 of those minutes came from a late third-period brawl, in which standard skater-on-skater roughings gave way to a battle royal between Union netminder Leeor Shtrom and Cornell goalie Ian Burt. Shtrom picked up two disqualifications (fighting and leaving the crease to fight) and a misconduct, thus tying the ECAC record for player PIMs in a game. Way to go, Leeor! The two DQs mean that Shtrom will be out of game action until January.