Thursday, February 23, 2012

Story Lines: Senior Moments

Story Lines is a regular look at some of the hot topics and storylines to watch in Division I men’s college hockey.

First Line: Senior Moments

The next two weekends will see seniors across the country honored at their teams’ respective Senior Nights, as they skate in their final regular-season home games. These seniors have invested four years into their programs, and their impact can be seen across college hockey. While many top players sign NHL contracts prior to their senior year, it is still seniors who make up the nation’s top three scorers, and five of the top six. Four of the top six goaltenders in save percentage are seniors. What’s more, history shows that some of the seniors honored in the next two weeks have yet to make their biggest contributions. Conference and NCAA champions have invariably been led by strong senior classes. Last year’s Minnesota Duluth team boasted top-line senior Justin Fontaine and Kyle Schmidt, who scored the overtime goal in the title game.

Second Line: Big Things in Big Rapids

Ferris State is No. 1 in the national rankings and needs just one point this weekend against Western Michigan to win its second CCHA regular-season championship. The excitement is building in Big Rapids, Mich., around a team that has replaced graduated All-Americans Pat Nagle and Zach Redmond and somehow gotten better this year. The Bulldogs are 11-0-3 in the 2012 portion of the schedule, and head coach Bob Daniels joined Siriux XM’s NHL Home Ice to talk about their success.

Third Line: On a Roll

Some separation has developed atop the CCHA standings with Ferris State, but most conference races are tight, and conference tournaments aren’t likely to have any clear favorites. More than ever before, it seems like teams that are hot at the right time stand solid chances of winning their tournaments and earning an NCAA berth. In Atlantic Hockey, for example, Bentley and Holy Cross are tied for the nation’s fourth-longest unbeaten streak, at six games each. They meet this weekend to try to maintain that momentum.

Fourth Line: Start Fresh with a Trophy?

The rapid success first-year coaches have had has been a season-long storyline, from the fresh energy at Providence to the quick ascension at Michigan Tech. Two schools with new coaches are in the hunt for league titles as the season reaches its final weeks: UMass Lowell, led by Norm Bazin, in Hockey East, and Union, led by Rick Bennett, in ECAC Hockey.

Could Colgate’s Austin Smith be the first player in college hockey to score 40 goals since 1993-94? He has 33 with at least four games remaining, and likely more. Dean Fedorchuk had 42 goals for Alaska-Fairbanks in ’93-94.

Quoteable

“The number of victories doesn’t necessarily motivate me. We try to win trophies — when you’re a team in a team setting, the goal should be to win championships.” — BC head coach Jerry York on winning his 900th career game last weekend