Wednesday, October 9, 2019

Notes: Ice Breaker Opens Season

Bowling Green welcomes Ohio State, RIT, Western Michigan to Toledo.

Notes: Ice Breaker Opens Season
Cameron Wright scored four goals against his former head coach Sunday at Miami.

By Nate Ewell

Bowling Green first-year head coach Ty Eigner started his career with a ‘W’ thanks in part to a four-goal effort from junior Cameron Wright (Newmarket, Ont./St. Michael’s-OJHL). Wright’s four-goal performance marked the second multi-goal game of his college career; he tallied nine goals in each of his first two seasons. Eigner and the Falcons host the Ice Breaker Tournament this weekend, welcoming Ohio State, RIT and Western Michigan to Toledo’s Huntington Center. | Watch the Ice Breaker on FloHockey

2019 Ice Breaker Tournament
Friday, 5 p.m.: Ohio State vs. Western Michigan
Friday, 8 p.m.: RIT vs. Bowling Green
Saturday, 5 p.m.: RIT vs. Ohio State/Western Michigan
Saturday, 8 p.m.: Bowling Green vs. Ohio State/Western Michigan

Ice Breaker Tournament History

Must Read/See/Hear Material

Star Tribune: Hastings puts his trust in the process
The Gazette: Halloran healthy, ‘flying’ as Tigers open season
Wisconsin State Journal: Through depression, Pelton-Byce learns it’s OK not to be OK
Wisconsin State Journal: Decorated freshman class rides in to push Wisconsin over the top
Duluth News Tribune: Bulldogs’ contrasting captains are more similar than they seem
ESPN.com: College hockey preview | Peters and Bucci: Frozen Four picks, surprise teams
Grand Forks Herald: 10 storylines you may have missed
Grand Forks Herald: Pinto set to play a prime role for UND
NHL.com: Drafted college players to watch

Four More Storylines No One Should Be Without

Flyer faceoff – Friday’s opening game of the Ice Breaker Tournament is of particular note for Philadelphia Flyer fans, as two top Flyer prospects face off. Ohio State’s Tanner Laczynski (Shorewood, Ill./Lincoln-USHL/PHI) and Western Michigan’s Wade Allison (Myrtle, Man./Tri-City-USHL/PHI) are both preseason Hobey Baker Award contenders entering their senior seasons. Both 2016 NHL Draft picks, Laczynski and Allison have a combined 183 career points in 182 NCAA games.

Dracket leads RIT – RIT enters the Ice Breaker after a 3-1 season-opening win at Colgate fueled by 33 saves from junior goaltender Logan Drackett (Calgary, Alta./Calgary-AJHL). After splitting time as a freshman Drackett secured the starting job last season, and led all returning Atlantic Hockey goaltenders with a .911 save percentage. That included back-to-back 30-save performances as the Tigers upset Sacred Heart in the first round of the Atlantic Hockey tournament.

First-round debuts – Five of the first 16 picks from the 2019 NHL Draft could make their NCAA debuts in Chestnut Hill, Mass., Friday night as Boston College hosts Wisconsin. The hosts have a trio of first-round picks in Matt Boldy (Millis, Mass./U.S. NTDP/MIN), Spencer Knight (Darien, Conn./U.S. NTDP/FLA) and Alex Newhook (St. John’s, Newf./Victoria-BCHL/COL), while the Badgers bring a pair in Cole Caufield (Stevens Point, Wisc./U.S. NTDP/MTL) and Alex Turcotte (Island Lake, Ill./U.S. NTDP/LA). Wisconsin also features 2020 NHL Draft first-round prospect Dylan Holloway (Bragg Creek, Alta./Okotoks-AJHL), who should also make his NCAA debut. | Friday’s game is on NESNplus

Most NHL Draft Picks
14 – Minnesota
12 – Boston College, Boston University, Wisconsin
10 – North Dakota
9 – Harvard

Brekke’s debut at St. Lawrence – Brent Brekke is the third of the nation’s three new head coaches to get his tenure underway as he leads St. Lawrence to Mercyhurst for a series this weekend. Brekke was a longtime assistant coach at Clarkson, Miami and Cornell, and won conference championships at each of those stops. He takes over a St. Lawrence team that returns 88% of its scoring from a year ago, third-most of any team. | The Hockey Think Tank Podcast: St. Lawrence coach Brent Brekke

First-Year Head Coaches
Bowling Green – Ty Eigner
Miami – Chris Bergeron
St. Lawrence – Brent Brekke

NHL Note of the Week

Twenty players who spent 2018-19 in NCAA hockey have already made their NHL debuts. | NHL Matchup Tool

Fries at the Bottom of the Bag

The first 16 games of the regular season featured four hat tricks, including four-goal games from BGSU’s Wright and Providence’s Greg Printz (Fairfax, Va./Omaha-USHL) – the same number of four-goal games in all of last season … 118 current and future NCAA players were among those listed on NHL Central Scouting’s Players to Watch list for the 2020 NHL Draft … Conference play in Atlantic Hockey (Bentley at Robert Morris) and the WCHA (Alaska at Michigan Tech) opens this weekend … More than 175 games are slated to be broadcast on national or regional sports networks this season, including this weekend’s Air Force-Notre Dame series on NBCSN (Friday) and NHL Network (Sunday).