I had a lengthy conversation with Paul Stewart, director of officiating for ECAC Hockey. I asked him about the two controversial calls in Union’s 3-1 win over Harvard on Saturday at Messa Rink.
The calls in question were the Harvard short-handed goal that was waved off late in the third period, and the protocol penalty against Union at the end of the first.
Stewart said proper procedure and the right call was made by the officials (referees Andy O'Brien and Eric Ernst, and linesmen Richard Patry and Robert St. Lawrence) after a video review showed Harvard’s Doug Rogers bumping into goalie Corey Milan just as a shot by the Crimson’s Alex Killorn’s from the right circle went over Milan’s right shoulder with 39.3 seconds left. The play was originally called a goal.
If you want to see the play, click here.
The protocol penalty against the Dutchmen was for going out to greet the goalie at the end of the period. Stewart said there is a rule about that, and he wants his officials to call it. If not, he said that they will miss their next assignment.
I’ll have more with Stewart in my Friday College Hockey Notebook.
Some other thoughts from the first weekend of ECACH play.
Team of the weekend (a new feature): Dartmouth. Picked to finish near the bottom of the league in the preseason polls, the Big Green came to the Capital Region and took a pair of 5-2 games from Union and RPI.
Playing with 16 underclassmen (freshmen and sophomore), the Big Green showed that they won’t be a pushover. Coach Bob Gaudet’s teams never are.
Sophomore forward Scott Fleming was named ECACH player of the week. He had four goals and one assist in Dartmouth’s wins. His goal 54 seconds into Friday’s game against Union set the tone of that contest. And freshman forward Doug Jones earned ECACH rookie of the week for his four assists, three of which came against RPI.
Scoring changes: There have been two changes to Union's last two goals against Harvard. Take away an assist from Luke Cain on Lane Caffaro's power-play goal, and give it to Jason Walters. Also, goalie Corey Milan has been given an assist on Cain's third-period goal.
Where are the goals?: Quinnipiac was shut out twice over the weekend at home. The Bobcats dropped a 1-0 decision to Colgate on Friday, and played to a scoreless tie with Cornell Saturday.
Cornell only scored once over the weekend, but it was enough to beat defending ECACH tournament champion Princeton, 1-0, Friday. Big Red goalie Ben Scrivens earned the league’s goalie the week honor after stopping 68 shots, including 43 against Princeton.
Finally, Boston University is the new No. 1 team in the USCHO.com/CBS College Sports top 20 poll, and the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine top 15 poll.
Union received eight points in the USCHO poll.
Here are the polls:
USCHO.com/CBS College Sports
Team (First Place) Record Pts Last Week
1 Boston University (29) 6-1-0 973 3
2 Minnesota (12) 5-0-3 930 4
3 Colorado College ( 8) 6-1-3 904 1
4 Denver ( 1) 6-2-1 846 6
5 Boston College 5-3-0 751 2
6 New Hampshire 4-2-3 724 5
7 Northeastern 6-1-2 646 10
8 Michigan 7-3-0 621 7
9 Notre Dame 6-3-0 617 12
10 Miami 4-3-3 506 8
11 Minnesota State 4-2-2 470 13
12 Princeton 2-1-0 458 9
13 Air Force 8-0-0 388 14
14 Cornell 1-0-1 330 17
15 Vermont 4-2-2 285 16
16 Clarkson 2-2-2 229 15
17 Michigan State 4-4-2 224 11
18 North Dakota 3-5-0 141 12
19 St. Lawrence 4-2-1 94 NR
20 Massachusetts 4-2-1 82 19
Others Receiving Votes: Nebraska-Omaha 75, Colgate 32,
Ferris State 26, Minnesota-Duluth 26, Harvard 25,
Alaska-Anchorage 14, Wisconsin 14, Ohio State 11,
St. Cloud State 10, Yale 10, Alaska 8, Union 8,
Dartmouth 7, Lake Superior 6, Bemidji State 5,
Mass.-Lowell 3, Maine 1.
USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine
Rank School Last Week's Ranking 2008-09 Record Weeks in Top 15
1 Boston University, 493 (19) 3 6-1-0 7
2 University of Minnesota, 471 (10) 4 5-0-3 7
3 Colorado College, 457 (5) 1 6-1-3 7
4 University of Denver, 409 6 6-2-1 7
5 University of New Hampshire, 320 5 4-2-3 7
6 Boston College, 313 2 5-3-0 7
7 Northeastern University, 287 10 6-1-2 4
8 University of Michigan, 272 7 7-3-0 7
9 University of Notre Dame, 268 12 6-3-0 7
10 Miami (Ohio) University, 161 8 4-3-3 7
11 Princeton University, 159 9 2-1-0 6
12 Minnesota State University, 131 13 4-2-2 5
13 U.S. Air Force Academy, 96 14 8-0-0 2
14 Cornell University, 82 NR 1-0-1 1
15 University of Vermont, 45 NR 4-2-2 3
Others receiving votes: Clarkson University, 37; Michigan State University, 31; University of Nebraska Omaha, 25; St. Lawrence University, 11; University of North Dakota, 7; University of Massachusetts, 4; Ferris State University, 1.
