Monday, March 12, 2012

Story Lines: Emerging Falcon

BGSU’s unlikely playoff star and Harvard, untied, top our look at stories around college hockey.

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: A Late Salvo

Bowling Green is the lowest seed remaining in the conference tournaments, but that’s not what’s fascinating about the Falcons’ run. Most amazing is the effort of freshman Dan DeSalvo, who scored the last three goals of Sunday’s comeback, overtime win at regular-season champion Ferris State to lift the Falcons to the CCHA semifinals at Joe Louis Arena. It continues a remarkable postseason for DeSalvo, who scored four goals in the regular season and already has 10 in the postseason – breaking the CCHA record previously held by three players, including NHLer Mike Knuble. “When we recruited Dan we were told he has a knack for scoring big goals,” said second-year head coach Chris Bergeron. “Apparently so.”

Second Line: Harvard

It’s basketball team may steal headlines, but don’t sleep on the Crimson men’s hockey club. Two wins against Yale this weekend gave Harvard a trip to Atlantic City for the ECAC Hockey semifinals and assured that the Crimson would finish the season with more wins (now 12) than ties (an NCAA record 11). Despite the string of stalemates its been a season of progress for Ted Donato’s club, which is 12-9-11 after a 12-21-1 season in 2010-11. Senior Alex Killorn had 2-2–4 in Sunday’s decisive Game 3 against Yale, becoming the Crimson’s first 20-goal scorer since Dominic Moore (2002-03) in the process.

Third Line: Advancing, for Starters

It’s been a season marked by success of first-year coaches, and all four conferences that had a rookie coach features one in its conference championships (all of Atlantic Hockey coaches this season had returned from last year). Western Michigan (CCHA), Union (ECAC Hockey), Providence (Hockey East) and Michigan Tech (WCHA) each are led by new men behind the bench. Western Michigan and Union were each favored in their weekend series, while Providence and Michigan Tech have surprised a bit to make it this far. Nate Leaman, who coached Union to the NCAA Tournament last year, guided Providence to an upset of fellow first-year head coach Norm Bazin at UMass Lowell. Mel Pearson is the head coach at Michigan Tech and, as Tim Wharnsby wrote last week, he has a capable goalie coach in former NHLer Steve Shields, who picked up and moved from California to help the Huskies:

“It really wasn’t that difficult decision for me,” Shields said. “I was going to spend a few years in California, but I always felt I would jump back into hockey in some way, probably coaching. I feel I have quite a bit to offer. I felt it was a way to give back to coach Pearson and give back to college hockey, which was so good for me.

“Mel was the one who recruited me. He found me. He got me on my way. It was a very easy decision.”

Fourth Line: A Bit of Everything

Hockey East’s all-conference teams will be announced this week, but don’t expect to see Matt Mangene’s name on the list. That’s not because the junior is undeserving; it’s just that there’s no category for a forward/defenseman who has played both positions in seemingly every situation, sometimes in the same game. Mangene, a Miller Park, N.Y., native, may miss out on conference accolades but he loves his many roles. “I like it a lot,” he told Larry Mahoney of the Bangor Daily News. “Every day is a different day for me at the rink. I do something different and learn something different every day.” He and the Black Bears take on Boston University Friday at TD Garden.

The number of games this past weekend that went to overtime, including seven that were decided in the second overtime.

Quoteable

“It was the longest 16 minutes of my life. That’s probably one of the biggest — if not the biggest — goal of my career, and it’s just exciting to do it for the group of guys we have in the locker room.” — Air Force’s George Michalke III to the Colorado Springs Gazette on his game-winner as the Atlantic Hockey regular-season champs edged UConn to advance to the conference semifinals