Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Notes: Petan Leads MTU into Winter Carnival

Streaking goal scorers and steady defensemen highlighted in weekly notebook.

Notes: Petan Leads MTU into Winter Carnival
Alex Petan ranks seventh among active players with 127 career points at Michigan Tech.

By Nate Ewell

Petan paces MTU – Until Nashville, the biggest hockey weekends of John Scott’s life might have taken place at Michigan Tech’s Winter Carnival. That celebration is the backdrop for this weekend’s series with rival Lake Superior State and the Huskies enter on a 3-0-3 run. Senior Alex Petan (Delta, B.C./Coquitlam-BCHL) has led the way with his fourth double-digit goal season, including 4 goals in the last 4 games against WCHA title contenders Minnesota State and Bowling Green. Petan – an NHL free agent whose brother, Nick, has split this season between the Winnipeg Jets and Manitoba Moose – holds a 5-point lead in the WCHA conference scoring race. Friday’s game is on ASN and TSN5

Beanpot update – Archrivals Boston College and Boston University will meet for the Beanpot championship for the 22nd time Monday. The two top-10 teams feature a combined 21 NHL Draft picks. Monday’s game is on NESN and TSN1, 3 & 4

Must Read/See/Hear Material

Globe & Mail: Canada’s Spink twins ruling NCAA ice
The Gazette: AFA’s Dylewski making his mark on ice, in community
WOOD TV: WMU player honors father on the ice
WHAM TV: Norrish twins having big, identical impact at RIT
Denver Post: Staub took long road to becoming a contributor for DU
Hamilton Spectator: Standing tall in the NCAA
Burlington Post: Conacher won’t be overshadowed
Oakland Press: Troy’s Johnson emerging as nation’s top goalie
Troy Record: Schroeder the heart of RPI hockey
The Pipeline Show: Tage Thompson & Mark Letestu

Five More Storylines No One Should be Without

Kloos on a roll – Minnesota captain Justin Kloos (Lakeville, Minn./Waterloo-USHL) has caught fire in the second half and has goals in 7 straight games entering this weekend’s series vs. Penn State. Kloos has led a Gopher team that lost its top three scorers and goaltender from last year to an 8-2-0 start in Big Ten play, tied with Michigan atop the conference. Saturday Minnesota looks to stretch its unbeaten streak on Hockey Day in Minnesota to six games.| Friday’s game is on BTN; Saturday’s is on FOX Sports North

Moore offense for Holy Cross – Just two years removed from playing an outdoor game at the aforementioned Hockey Day in Minnesota, Holy Cross sophomore T.J. Moore (Edina, Minn./Benilde-St. Margaret’s HS) is one of the youngest players among the scoring leaders in Atlantic Hockey. Moore jumped from high school to the Crusaders and scored 11 goals last year. He has surpassed that already this season (12), including a hat trick Jan. 2 vs. Princeton. The Crusaders are just two points off the conference lead and could match last season’s conference (12) and overall (14) win totals with a victory at Army West Point this weekend.

Clarkson’s O from the D – Defensemen have accounted for 5 of Clarkson’s last 11 goals, including back-to-back game-winners last weekend from sophomore Terrance Amorosa (Kirkland, Quebec/Sioux City-USHL/PHI). After a 1-goal, 5-point rookie campaign Amorosa has 3 goals and 10 points this year, despite missing 11 games due to injury. Amorosa and defense partner James de Haas (Mississauga, Ont./Penticton-BCHL/DET) give the Golden Knights a pair of NHL prospects with terrific size, two of three draft picks on the Clarkson blue line. The Knights are 6-1-1 in their last 8 games entering a trip to Union and Rensselaer.

Vermont’s Super Mario – Vermont junior Mario Puskarich (Fort Walton Beach, Fla./Langley-BCHL) carries a 6-game scoring streak for the Catamounts, who are 6-2-0 since the holiday break. The well traveled Puskarich was born in Pittsburgh – and named after Mario Lemieux – before moving to Florida and then playing in British Columbia. Puskarich excels at getting shots on net (111, seventh nationally) and stats suggest he may be due for a goal-scoring spurt – his 6.3% shooting percentage this year is down sharply from his career numbers entering the season (10.9%).

Most Shots on Goal
133 – Ahti Oksanen, Boston University
118 – Austin Ortega, Omaha
117 – Steven Swavely, Maine
115 – Greg Gibson, Robert Morris
113 – Ben Carey, Air Force
112 – Ryan Fitzgerald, Boston College (BOS)
111 – Mario Puskarich, Vermont
110 – Justin Danforth, Sacred Heart

Steady Stecher – North Dakota’s 4-point NCHC lead has been fueled by the offense of the CBS Line (Drake Caggiula-Brock Boeser-Nick Schmaltz) and the goaltending of Cam Johnson, but UND’s most consistent player may be junior defenseman Troy Stecher (Richmond, B.C./Penticton-BCHL). Stecher – who is undrafted but a top NHL free agent target – leads Fighting Hawk defensemen in points (19) and is tied for second on the team in shots (70).

NHL Note of the Week

Tuesday former North Dakota star Dave Tippett became the fourth former NCAA player to coach 1,000 NHL games, joining Ron Wilson (Providence), Mike Keenan (St. Lawrence) and Jacques Martin (St. Lawrence). Columbus head coach John Tortorella (981 games/Maine) should join the group before the end of the season.

Fries at the Bottom of the Bag

Air Force and RIT – both within two points of the Atlantic Hockey lead – meet for two games in Colorado Springs this weekend. Both teams went 7-1-2 in January … National scoring leader Kyle Connor (Shelby Twp., Mich./Youngstown-USHL/WPG) has 30 points in his last 12 games … Michigan and Michigan State will meet at Joe Louis Arena Friday night and compete for the new “Iron D” trophy for the first time. Joe Louis will be the fourth NHL arena to host an NCAA game in the span of a week.