Wednesday, December 7, 2016

Notes: No. 1 vs. 2 on Tap at Denver

Minnesota Duluth visits Pioneers, plus RIT’s twins, Union’s top line and more.

Notes: No. 1 vs. 2 on Tap at Denver
Denver captain Will Butcher and the Pioneers welcome No. 1 UMD this weekend (Photo by Larry Radloff).

By Nate Ewell

Denver’s Troy Terry (Denver, Colo./U.S. NTDP/ANA) and Minnesota Duluth’s Joey Anderson (Roseville, Minn./U.S. NTDP/NJ) are among the 27 players on the U.S. National Junior Team preliminary roster, but first they will face off this weekend in a No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown in Denver. It’s the second No. 1 vs. 2 series of the season, the first time that has happened since 2001-02. Minnesota Duluth took over the top spot after sweeping North Dakota in the first such meetings, Oct. 28-29. Anderson has made an immediate impact as a rookie with 15 points in 14 games, while Terry’s contributions (14 points in 16 GP) have spiked as a sophomore. | Friday’s game is on American Sports Network, TSN3 & TSN5 | Yahoo!: Juggernauts UMD, DU set to face off


More WJC Candidates: U.S. | Finland | Canada | Latvia | Slovakia


Must Read/See/Hear Material

N.Y. Times: Hockey players from Huntsville (yes, Alabama) start to rise
Minnesota Hockey Journal: The College Issue
The Pipeline Show: Vermont’s Ross Colton, Denver’s Tanner Jaillet & more
Mankato Free Press: Rookie Michaelis off to stellar start for MSU
USA Hockey Magazine: Patience pays off for high-flying Eagle
NHL.com: Draft a family affair for Poehling
Watertown Daily Times: Saints defenseman Masella brings leadership
St. Cloud Times: Athletic Driscoll settles in for SCSU
SBN College Hockey: Eye on the Future: Tucker Poolman
Hockey East Online: (Brady) Brady Shaw

Listen to “MSG, WJC & 1 vs 2” on Spreaker.

Five More Storylines No One Should be Without

Norrish twins activate – RIT has reeled off five straight wins to take over first place in Atlantic Hockey after a 3-7-1 start to the season. Twin brothers Brady and Chase Norrish (Strong Field, Sask./Yorkton-SJHL) have helped lead the way from the blue line, combining for six points last weekend. They are two of the team’s three captains, with top scorer Myles Powell (Courtenay, B.C./Cowichan Valley), and both earned All-Atlantic Hockey honors last season, with Chase being named the conference’s best defenseman. Chase shares the conference lead among blueliners in goals (5), while Brady leads in assists and points (15 each).

The line to beat – The nation’s highest scoring line has Union sitting fourth in the country offensively (4.00 goals/game) and one of eight teams with double digits in wins. Senior Mike Vecchione (Saugus, Mass./Tri-City-USHL) leads all scorers in goals (16) and points (31) and has been complemented well by his wings, junior Spencer Foo (Edmonton, Alta./Bonnyville-AJHL) and sophomore Sebastian Vidmar (Malmo, Sweden/Lone Star-NAHL). Vecchione, a two-year captain, needs just 14 points to become Union’s all-time scoring leader. He was ECAC Hockey’s Player of the Month for October and November.

Most Points, Three Teammates
78 – Vecchione, Foo, Vidmar (Union)
69 – Kelleher, Grasso, Cleland (New Hampshire)
66 – Aston-Reese, Sikura, Gaudette (Northeastern)
64 – Ferguson, Tonge, Leavens (Robert Morris)

UAF’s Staley thriving – From Kennewick, Wash., to Prince George, B.C., to Fairbanks, Alaska, Chad Staley’s hockey career has been on an upward trajectory geographically. The Nanooks sophomore has seen a similar rise in his offensive production, leading the team with 11 points after a five-point freshman campaign. His contributions have been critical – the Nanooks are 3-1-1 when Staley scores a goal. This weekend they host Alaska Anchorage in the first weekend of the Governor’s Cup.

Sheehy shining – Tyler Sheehy (Burnsville, Minn./Youngstown-USHL) earned one of the Big Ten’s three stars for the second time this year as the sophomore continues to be Minnesota’s most consistent offensive weapon. Undrafted in the NHL despite being part of two Anderson Cup teams in the USHL, Sheehy leads the Gophers in scoring and has 43% more points than his next-closest teammate. He carries a six-game point streak, including five goals in the last three games, into this weekend’s series at Michigan State. | Both games are on BTN

UConn’s sharpshooter – Tage Thompson (Orange, Conn./U.S. NTDP/STL) scored twice in Connecticut’s three-point weekend vs. UMass Lowell, giving him 10 goals on the year. That’s well ahead of last year’s pace, when he scored 14, including an NCAA leading 13 on the power play. This year he’s shown more versatility – scoring five times at even strength – while still just one goal off the national lead on the power play. Meanwhile, in the southern part of the state, Thompson’s father, Brent, has the Bridgeport Sound Tigers off to a 15-7-0 start as the AHL team’s head coach. | Friday’s game is on American Sports Network and TSN GO


NHL Note of the Week

Five schools – Denver, Michigan, New Hampshire, North Dakota and Notre Dame – have had alumni record hat tricks in the NHL this season. This week Bryan Rust became the third former Notre Dame player to record an NHL hat trick, joining Dave Poulin (5) and Kyle Palmieri.


Fries at the Bottom of the Bag

Penn State (11), Cornell (5) and RIT (5) carry winning streaks of five or more games into this weekend … Clarkson and St. Lawrence meet for the first time this year Friday in Canton, N.Y., with new SLU head coach Mark Morris facing his former program for the first time … New Hampshire’s two Division I teams – Dartmouth and UNH – face off Saturday in Hanover … Nine games are on national or regional sports networks this weekend.