Union and RPI came home Sunday from their road trips out West without a win. But both teams equated themselves fairly well.
The Dutchmen went 0-1-1 against 19th-ranked St. Cloud State. They came back from a 3-1 deficit with two late third-period goals to earn a 3-3 tie Friday. Freshman goalie Keith Kinkaid made his Union debut Saturday, and did well in making 30 saves. But the Dutchmen couldn't stay out of the penalty box, giving up all of St. Cloud's goals on the power play in a 3-1 loss.
While the attention on the Dutchmen's new offensive players has been on Wayne Simpson and Jeremy Welsh, one big surprise has been the play of sophomore forward Brian Yanovitch.
Yanovitch had a goal and an assist in Friday's game, and assisted on Brock Matheson's goal Saturday. After collecting just two assists in 17 games last season, Yanovitch has two goals and two assists in three games this year. He has picked up a point in every game. Yanovitch is tied for second in team scoring with Adam Presizniuk. If Yanovitch keeps it up, the Dutchmen's offense could be even scarier.
Meanwhile, RPI's offense couldn't get on track in the Brice Alaska Goal Rush. The Engineers managed just one goal in the two games. Still, they managed to come out of it at 0-1-1. That can be attributed to the play of goalie Allen York. He was spectacular in Saturday's game against 17th-ranked Alaska. He did everything he could in preserving RPI's 1-0 lead, especially in the third period, when the Engineers' were getting outshot, 18-2. But the lack of offense caught up with RPI. A tripping penalty to Engineers defenseman Peter Merth with 2:25 left led to a Joe Sova power-play goal just under a minute later.
What amazed me is that RPI only had two shots on goal in a 20-minute third period, but had five shots on goal in the five-minute sudden-death overtime. While I wasn't at the game, nor did I get a chance to listen to it, but I would think you would have to do a better job generating offensive chances to try and increase your lead instead of sitting back and trying to protect it. I'm sure RPI coach Seth Appert will address that.
Frustrating trip
At least Union and RPI came out of their road trips with a tie. Rochester Institute of Technology should have had two wins in the North Country over the weekend.
RIT outshot St. Lawrence and Clarkson, 88-49. In the third periods of those games, the Tigers had a 44-13 shot advantage.
But the Tigers lost both games. St. Lawrence scored two goals on five third-period shots to take a 3-1 win. The Tigers did score two goals in the third against Clarkson, but the Golden Knights also scored twice and rolled to a 5-3 win.
Weekly award winners
The North Country teams swept the ECACH men's weekly awards, and almost took all of the women's honors.
Clarkson forward Matt Beca was named ECAC Hockey player of the week. He had three goals over the weekend. Beca scored the game-winner in Friday's 4-3 overtime victory over Niagara, and had two goals against RIT.
St. Lawrence freshman forward Kyle Flanagan was named rookie of the week. He had two goals and two assists in helping the Saints rally from a 3-0 deficit to beat Niagara, 4-3, on Saturday.
Flanagan's teammate, Robby Moss, was named goalie of the week. He made a career-high 42 saves against RIT, and 21 stops against Niagara.
On the women's side, Clarkson forward Melissa Waldie was named player of the week for her two-goal, one-assist effort in two games against Vermont.
St. Lawrence freshman forward Kelly Sabatine was named rookie of the week after getting a goal and two assists in a weekend sweep of Robert Morris.
The only non-North Country winner was Quinnipiac's Victoria Vigilanti, who won goalie of the week. She had 51 saves over the weekend, including a 22-save effort in a 1-0 win over Northeastern on Saturday.
Colgate streak ends
Last Saturday, Colgate's streak of playing in consecutive overtime games ended when it beat RIT, 3-2, in regulation.
One week later, another streak ended. The Raiders' 4-1 loss to Nebraska-Omaha ended a 14-game streak of games decided by a goal or less. The last time Colgate had a game decided by more than a goal was Jan. 31, a 4-2 loss to St. Lawrence.
Five-goal effort
The performance of the weekend came from Merrimack freshman center Stephane Da Costa.
In his second game of his collegiate career, Da Costa scored five goals to lead the Warriors to a 6-3 win over Army. He had a natural hat trick in the first period, and capped it with two more goal in the third period.
Da Costa is a native of Paris. He missed the first two as a result of having to straighten out his eligibility because he had to pass the GED in English to be able to play.
"He’s a special player, we thought so when we recruited him,"’ Merrimack coach Mark Dennehy told The Boston Globe. "Obviously, he had a special performance tonight. It’s nice to see him break out. I thought he played pretty well [in his debut Friday against Holy Cross], but I think he wants to show what he can do and he kind of forced things."
To read Nancy Marrapese-Burrell's story in the Globe, click here.
The polls
Miami (Ohio) remains on top in the USCHO.com/CBS College Sports top-20 and USA Hockey Magazine/USA Today top-15 polls.
Curiously, St. Cloud State, ranked 19th in the USCHO poll, dropped out of the top 20. I knew Union should have been ranked ahead of the Huskies in last week's poll. The Dutchmen received eight points in this week's poll.
USCHO.com/CBS College Sports Division I Men's Poll
Team (First Place) Record Pts Last Week
1 Miami (46) 3-0-1 994 1
2 North Dakota ( 1) 3-0-1 940 4
3 Boston University ( 2) 0-1-0 820 2
4 Denver 2-2-0 801 3
5 Michigan 1-1-0 784 5
6 Cornell 0-0-0 701 6
7 Vermont ( 1) 2-1-0 650 11
8 Yale 0-0-0 589 8
9 Notre Dame 2-2-0 554 7
10 Princeton 0-0-0 530 10
11 Minnesota 0-1-1 454 9
12 Nebraska-Omaha 3-0-1 366 16
13 Mass.-Lowell 1-1-0 363 14
14 Boston College 0-1-0 273 12
15 Alaska 3-0-1 253 17
16 Bemidji State 2-0-0 243 15
17 Wisconsin 0-1-1 205 13
18 Minnesota-Duluth 3-1-0 175 NR
19 Colorado College 2-1-1 160 NR
20 Quinnipiac 3-0-0 150 18
Others receiving votes: Massachusetts 136, St. Cloud State 107, Northeastern 74, New Hampshire 48, Michigan State 31, Alabama-Huntsville 22, Harvard 21, Northern Michigan 18, Ohio State 12, Lake Superior 8, Union 8, St. Lawrence 6, Providence 3, Ferris State 1.
USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Poll
(first-place votes in parentheses)
Rank School Last Poll's Ranking 2009-10 Record Weeks in Top-15
1 Miami University, 509 (33) 1 3-0-1 3
2 University of North Dakota, 465 4 3-0-1 3
3 Boston University, 388 2 0-1-0 3
4 University of Michigan, 386 5 1-1-0 3
5 University of Denver, 378 3 2-2-0 3
6 Cornell University, 319 6 0-0-0 3
7 University of Vermont, 295 (1) 11 2-1-0 3
8 Princeton University, 245 9 0-0-0 3
9 Yale University, 226 10 0-0-0 3
10 University of Notre Dame, 221 7 2-2-0 3
11 University of Minnesota, 139 8 0-1-1 3
12 University of Massachusetts Lowell, 126 13 1-1-0 3
13 University of Nebraska Omaha, 113 15 3-0-1 2
14 University of Minnesota Duluth, 59 NR 3-1-0 1
15 Boston College, 42 12 0-1-0 3
Others receiving votes: University of Alaska, 39; Bemidji State University, 30; University of Massachusetts, 28; Colorado College, 24; University of Wisconsin, 18; Quinnipiac University, 15; St. Cloud State University, 6; Northeastern University, 4; U.S. Air Force Academy, 3; University of Alabama Huntsville, 1; University of New Hampshire, 1.
Any comments? Post them at the bottom of the page, or e-mail them to me at schott@dailygazette.com.
