Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Notes: Lyon’s Heart for Yale

Bulldogs’ goalie, Lowell’s brothers and much more in this week’s college hockey notebook.

Notes: Lyon's Heart for Yale
Alex Lyon has earned Liberty Invitational MVP and Tim Taylor Cup honors already this season (Photo by Beverly Schaefer).

By Nate Ewell

Sophomore Alex Lyon (Baudette, Minn./Omaha-USHL) picked up the inaugural Tim Taylor Cup as the top player in Saturday’s Harvard-Yale game, a fitting honor given that Lyon’s father, Tim, played JV hockey at Yale under Taylor. Alex, who was a star at Lake of the Woods High School in northern Minnesota, has built upon his impressive freshman season in which he was named the Ivy League co-Rookie of the Year. The 3-1-2 Bulldogs, who also beat Dartmouth last weekend, visit Cornell and Colgate this weekend.

Must Read/See/Head Material
Kalamazoo Gazette: WMU’s Dienes having increased success after working with Flames
Grand Forks Herald: Late-bloomer Poolman a find for UND
St. Cloud Times: Goldilocks Widman settles in at SCSU
ESPN.com: From pond hockey to the Hall of Fame (BGSU alum Rob Blake)
Fox Sports North: Gophers tap Swedish pipeline for hockey talent
Daily Gazette: Union’s Foo not playing like a freshman
Daily Gazette: Guardsman honors Union player for life-saving rescue
Buffalo News: Cuddemi gives a shot in the arm to Canisius
Eagle Tribune: Numbers game

Arizona State Announcement

Tuesday’s announcement that Arizona State will field a Division I men’s hockey team was described as “game changing” by NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly. For more on that announcement, click here.

Five More Storylines No One Should be Without

Lowell’s brothers in arms – Among the freshmen UMass Lowell senior captain Zack Kamrass (Atlanta, Ga./Sioux Falls-USHL) welcomed to campus this fall was his brother, Jake (Atlanta, Ga./Topeka-NAHL). Despite the obvious familiarity, a three-year age difference meant the pair had never been teammates before. Zack has held lead a very young River Hawks team – Jake is one of 14 freshmen, the most in the nation – to tremendous success, including a No. 5 national ranking heading to Notre Dame for games on Thursday and Friday.
Lowell Sun: Kamrass brothers help UML soar to fifth in nation
Friday’s game is on NBCSN and TSN2

Caggiula’s growth continues – The impressive progression of Drake Caggiula’s game has the North Dakota junior forward (Whitby, Ont./Stouffvile-OJHL) tied for the national scoring lead with 16 points in 11 games. That matches his freshman year output (39 GP) and is nearing last year’s 24 points (42 GP). Passed over in the NHL Draft, the free agent and former OJHL playoff MVP sits atop the scoring list on a UND team with 14 NHL Draft picks.
Friday’s game vs. St. Cloud State is on FS North

NMU’s Swedish connection – While perhaps overshadowed by their 10-0-0 Upper Peninsula rivals at Michigan Tech, Northern Michigan’s 6-1-1 start has the Wildcats ranked 17th entering a two-week Alaskan trip. A pair of sophomore Swedes – goaltender Mathias Dahlstrom (Smedjebacken, Sweden/Chicago-USHL) and forward Gerard Hanson (Lidingo, Sweden/Lidingo Vikings) – have helped fuel the success. Head coach Walt Kyle and his staff have found some recruiting gems from Sweden, including alums Greger Hanson (Gerard’s brother) and Erik Gustafsson (who plays for Sweden’s national team).

Seniors clutch for Air Force – Fresh off handing Robert Morris its first loss of the season, Air Force faces in-state rivals Denver (Fri.) and Colorado College (Sat.). The Falcons got an extra attacker goal from senior Chad Demers (Grafton, N.D./Fargo-USHL) four weeks ago vs. RIT to force overtime in a game they went on to win; that snapped a four-game losing streak and started a run in which five of six games have gone to OT. Not surprisingly, Demers and fellow seniors Cole Gunner (Richfield, Minn./Tri-City-USHL) and Scott Holm (Plymouth, Minn./Surrey-BCHL) have been especially good in those tight games (combined 9g-11a in 6 GP).

Fritz leads OSU offense – Ohio State opens Big Ten play against Michigan State Thursday and Friday without departed conference scoring champ Ryan Dzingel, but the Buckeyes still have a former conference scoring leader. Captain Tanner Fritz (Grande Prairie, Alta./Grande Prairie-AJHL) led the old CCHA in scoring as a sophomore and is atop the Buckeye scoring list with 9 points in 10 games. A gifted playmaker, Fritz is 8 points shy of 100 for his OSU career.
Thursday’s game is on FS Detroit+

NHL Note of the Week

Bowling Green alum Rob Blake’s induction in the Hockey Hall of Fame this week marked the seventh consecutive year that a former college hockey player was inducted (full list here).

Fries at the Bottom of the Bag

The weekend’s most intriguing series pits No. 1 Michigan Tech vs. No. 9 Minnesota State (see Shane Frederick’s advance); MTU’s 10-0-0 start is the best in college hockey since 2008-09 (Air Force, 13-0-0) … Army’s Cole Bruns (Prairie Grove, Ill./Omaha-USHL), who last year set the USHL record for consecutive shutouts, posted his first collegiate shutout Saturday, but is still in search of his first win. Army’s scoreless tie with Holy Cross was the third in program history and the first since 1995; it was the first for the Holy Cross program … Five players are tied for the national scoring lead.