College Hockey   CC Tigers and USAFA Falcons Hockey

The final Western Collegiate Hockey Association meetings this past weekend in Florida were a bittersweet occasion for Colorado College coach Scott Owens.

It served as the transition for the WCHA-founding Tigers as CC enters the new National Collegiate Hockey Conference it helped form last summer.

”It was not awkward but it was a little sad and a little more business-like (than usual),” Owen said. “The league was already meeting with the new members and the NCHC metearlier in the week.”

The transition affects the WCHA as well. Longtime commissioner Bruce McLeod, who has led the league for 20 years, said this coming season will ‘”probably” be his last, multiple sources have reported.

The NCHC met with all eight schools fully presented – athletic directors, coaches, faculty representatives – on hand for the first time and gave an update on the league office’s progress.

“You can’t believe all the things that need to be done to set up a new league,” Owens said.

The officiating program grabbed plenty of attention on a full slate. The deadline to apply to hockey operations head Joe Novak and supervisors of officials Don Adam to become a league official is May 15.  A system that would hold officials accountable and get them better training si expected.

“I think the fans will be pleased with the changes,” CC athletic director Ken Ralph said.

The league bylaws, postseason tournament and the 18-game TV package with CBS Sports Network also drew praise.

“I could not be more pleased with our first meetings in Naples,” NCHC Commissioner Jim Scherr said. “It was great to get everyone in the same place and on the same page as we prepare for our inaugural season. We have some tremendous individuals at each of our institutions that are highly motivated and very professional. We are just a couple of months from dropping the puck on opening weekend and I could not be more excited to get the season underway.”

The American Hockey Coaches Association annual meetings followed with talk of changing the NCAA regionals from neutral sites to the home arena of the regional top seed sites as last done in 1996. Tweaking the Pairwise rankings was discussed with no action made on either topic.

“About 35 to 40 percent of the Western coaches wanted to look at institutional sites but a lot like the neutrality,” Owens said. “We talked about other ways to help attendance, such as lowering ticket prices and student ticket discounts. I would like to see permanent western sites so fans can plan on attending in advance.”

No rule changes were proposed for the NCAA to consider.

The NCAA Tournament field was announced Sunday night and six WCHA teams made the field as expected with five at-large bids (Denver, Minnesota, Minnesota State, North Dakota and St. Cloud State) and automatic qualifier Wisconsin. That is a heck of a way for the current league configuration to go out.

The NCAA selection committee did not strictly follow the Pairwise rankings, instead, opting for some regionalization to help boost attendance.

Here are more reactions to the pairings: Goal Gophers,  Mankato Free Press (with video), Western College Hockey Blogs includes regional preview capsules.

The dates, sites, times and pairings with WCHA teams bolded follows:

Northeast Regional, March 29-30
Verizon Wireless Arena, Manchester, New Hampshire

Friday, March 29, 4:30 p.m. Eastern time
No. 1 Massachusetts-Lowell (26-10-2) vs. No. 4 Wisconsin (22-12-7)

Friday, March 29, 8 p.m. 
No. 2 New Hampshire (19-11-7) vs. No. 3 Denver (20-13-5)

Men’s Frozen Four, April 11 and 13
CONSOL Energy Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Thursday, April 11, 4:30 and 8 p.m. Eastern time, ESPN2/WatchESPN (order of games TBD)
East Regional Champion vs. Midwest Regional Champion
Northeast Regional Champion vs. West Regional Champion

Saturday, April 13, 7 p.m. Eastern time, ESPN/WatchESPN

National Championship

The following conferences and teams received automatic qualification:Atlantic Hockey Association, Canisius; Central Collegiate Hockey Association, Notre Dame; ECAC Hockey, Union; Hockey East Association, Massachusetts-Lowell; Western Collegiate Hockey Association, Wisconsin.

On Saturday, the WCHA unveiled a new logo.

Here are a few details about next season in the WCHA, including tournament locations.

Wisconsin took off after freshman Nic Kerdiles joined the team following his 10-game suspension.

WCHA Final Five Tournament

Friday semifinals

No. 1 St. Cloud State (23-14-1) vs. No. 4 Wisconsin (20-12-7), 1:07 p.m. MT

Season series: tied 1-1

Notes: Badgers enter Friday’s game against SCSU on a four-game winning streak that began with a 3-2 win over the Huskies. …. At No. 16 in the Pairwise rankings, UW needs to win to garner an NCAA berth. … The first line of Nic Kerdiles, Mark Zengerle and Tyler Barnes accounted for three of Thursday’s seven goals.  … Joel Rumpel made 38 saves in the quarterfinal win.

Leaders:  UW,  Michael Mersch, jr. F (23g, 13a); Mark Zengerle, jr. F (9g, 22a); Nic Kerdiles, fr. F (8g, 20a); Tyler Barnes, jr. F (13g, 15a); Joel Rumpel, soph. G (14-8-4, 1.87 gaa, .933 saves). SCSU, Drew LeBlanc, sr. F (13g, Division I-best 37a); Nic Dowd, jr. F (14g, 24a); Jonny Brodzinski, fr. F (21g, 11a); Kalle Kossila, fr. F (15g, 17a); Ryan Faragher, soph. G (22-12-1, 2.27 gaa, .916 saves).

No. 2 Minnesota (26-7-5) vs. No. 6 Colorado College (17-18-5), 6:07 p.m. MT

Season series: Minnesota leads 1-0-1

Notes: Senior goalie Joe Howe returned to his freshman while the Tigers’ penalty kill went 6-for-6 against a potent North Dakota power play. Alexander Krushelnyski scored his third shorthanded goal for CC to win the special teams battle. … All three UND goals came at even strength. … Minnesota has the nation’s top offense (3.61 goals) and power play (25.16 percent). … CC scored three goals in the third period to forge a 4-4 tie last time the teams played.

Quote:  “(Minnesota is) big and strong and will be good on a smaller sheet,” Tigers coach Scott Owens said. “We’re just going to stay with our deal and see if we can make some good things happen. We respect them a ton, they’re No. 1 in the country, but because of the schedule we played we’re not really intimidated by anybody.”

Leaders:  CC,  Rylan Schwartz, sr., C (18g, 32a); Alexander Krushelnyski, jr., LW (15g, 26a); William Rapuzzi, sr., RW (15g, 20a); Mike Boivin, sr., D (14g, 14a); Scott Winkler, sr., C (13g, 14a); Archie Skalbeck, jr. F (12g, 11); Eamonn McDermott, jr. D (3g, 19a); Joe Howe, sr., G (13-11-4, 3.08 goals against, .912 saves percentage). UM, Erik Haula, jr. F (16g, 33a); Kyle Rau, soph. F (15g, 24a); Nick Bjugstad, jr. F (21g, 15a); Zach Budish, jr. F (13g, 22a); Adam Wilcox, fr. G (25-6-5, 1.84 gaa, .923 saves). Wilcox is profiled by College Hockey News.

Here are the game stories from Thursday night’s semifinal: Colorado Springs Gazette; Grand Forks Herald; USCHO and College Hockey News.

A state lawmaker wants to give Minnesota $800,000 to maintain its rivalry with North Dakota. A sold-out Mariucci Arena is not incentive enough?

Here are the game stories from the Wisconsin win:the Wisconsin State Journal; Mankato Free Press;  USCHO, and College Hockey News. Of note, four Mavericks were injured in the loss.

Air Force’s McKenzie garners league honor

Air Force junior Adam McKenzie is the Atlantic Hockey Association Defenseman of the Year as voted by the league’s coaches.

McKenzie was named the AHA Player of the Week on March 4 as he scored five points (1-4-5) as the Falcons swept the 13^th-ranked Purple Eagles in the final regular-season series. He had a career-high four points (1-3-4) in the win on March 2.

A first-team all-AHA selection this season, McKenzie is third Falcon to win the AHA Defenseman of the Year award, joining Greg Flynn (2008-09) and Tim Kirby (2011-12).

The Petaluma, Calif., native finished with 20 points (12 assists), including 11 points over the final nine games, including a career-high two goals in the season-ending loss to Canisius for Air Force (17-13-7).

Other AHA major awards:  Niagara coach David Burkholder was named Coach of the Year, Niagara junior goaltender Carsen Chubak was selected as the Player of the Year while Purple Eagle senior forward Marc Zanette was named Best Defensive Forward.

The folks in Grand Forks have done the math and North Dakota has a 100 percent chance of making the NCAA Tournament field as does Quinnipiac, Minnesota, Miami, Boston College, Mass.-Lowell, and New Hampshire. Click on the link and contact Jim Dahl of Sioux Sports Talk. He can explain the math far better than I ever could.

Here is more info gleaned from his report:

Three other WCHA teams are virtual locks for the NCAAs, too. Minnesota State (99.7 percent), Denver (98 percent) and St. Cloud State (94.1 percent) are very likely to join Minnesota and UND.

Wisconsin must beat Minnesota State on Thursday afternoon to stay in the hunt.

Can get an at-large bid: Yale, Notre Dame, Minnesota State, Niagara, St. Cloud, Denver, Western Michigan, Union, Wisconsin, Providence, Boston University, RPI, Alaska-Fairbanks, Robert Morris.

Needs to win the conference tournament: Brown, Colorado College, Ohio St, Michigan, Connecticut, Canisius, Mercyhurst.

2013 Red Baron WCHA Final Five – Xcel Energy Center – Saint Paul, MN

Games for Saturday, March 23: Broadmoor Trophy Championship Game, 7:07 pm CT

Here is a look at Minnesota State’s Game 3 win over Nebraska-Omaha.

North Dakota has reached the WCHA Final Five for 11 straight years including nine under coach Dave Hakstol.

I did not give CC senior goalie Joe Howe (37 saves) as much ink as I should have in last night’s game story. Here is an attempt to rectify that since he made a huge toe save on Nick Shore on a shorthanded breakaway with 17:17 left in the second.

“That’s the difference in the series right there,” DU coach George Gwozdecky said of Howe’s save on Shore in a Denver Post story. “If we’re up 3-0 at that point, game over, series over, I think. Howe makes an incredible save and they get right back in the game.”

Here is a Pairwise calculator because you didn’t want to spend anytime today out in the spring sunshine did you?

CC is 25th in the Pairwise rankings as of noon Monday.

The Tigers got some respect from the USCHO voters by picking up some points in this week’s national poll. That is a first since Jan. 1.

North Dakota dropped to No. 6 while Minnesota climbed back to No. 1:

USCHO.com Division I Men’s Poll

Air Force junior Ryan Timar provides a spark whether it is late in the third period or during dryland training last August.

“He works his butt off on and off the ice and he is a leader on and off as well,” said sophomore defenseman Dan Weisenhofer. “He brings a lot of energy to everything he does. He sets a precedent on the effort that is expected.”

Timar (11 points, 6 goals in 33 games) plays a large role as a defensive forward, playing a lot on the penalty kill and when Air Force (17-11-7) is trying to protect a lead late.

“He does a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff you need and he is on the ice in key situations,” coach Frank Serratore said.

That effort comes from humility.

“I always knew I wasn’t the most talented guy,” Timar said. “I knew I could bring hard work and effort and help the team out best that way. I was more of a scorer when I was younger but the hard work and effort was a constant. I think that is what Frank saw and why he recruited me.”

The final CC radio show of the season  is from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at McCabe’s Tavern in downtown Colorado Springs.

Denver, CC’s opponent in this weekend’s playoff series is tied for fifth in the Pairwise rankings, making the Pioneers a very likely at-large NCAA team, even if they do not advance past the Tigers.

That may not be the worst thing. In 2004, CC swept DU at Magness and the Pioneers had a week off and then went on to win the first of two NCAA championships in a row. The Denver Post talks about why DU wants to advance to the WCHA Final Five regardless.

In contrast, CC is tied for 31st and must win the Final Five championships to get the WCHA’s automatic qualifier.

Quinnipiac remains No. 1 in the USCHO.com poll, where Air Force picked up a few votes, and the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine rankings.

Boston University coach Jack Parker will retire after this season, ending a 40-year run at his alma mater.

With less than two weeks remaining in Phase I of fan balloting to nominate this year’s Hobey Baker Award winner, more than 125,000 votes have been cast, surpassing the record number of votes received last year.

Awarded annually to college hockey’s top player, the  fan-voting phase will close on Sunday, March 10 at 10 p.m. MT. College hockey fans can visit the Hobey Baker web site to vote.

Alphabetically, the top eight vote-getters to date are: Ryan Dzingel – Ohio State; Johnny Gaudreau – Boston College; Corban Knight – North Dakota;  Drew LeBlanc – St. Cloud State; Greg Miller – Cornell; Wayne Simpson – Union; Frank Slubowski – Western Michigan; and Ryan Walters – Nebraska-Omaha.

The two CC nominees are Mike Boivin and Rylan Schwartz.

The fans’ vote accounts for  1 percent of the total ballot in selecting this year’s award recipient.

Award criteria include candidates emulating the exceptional character traits exhibited by the award’s namesake, Hobey Baker.  He was a World War I fighter pilot and was known as America’s greatest amateur athlete in his day, excelling at hockey and football at Princeton.

Important announcement dates are:

• Top Ten list of candidates:  March 21
• Hobey Hat Trick of three finalists:  April 3
• Hobey Baker Award announcement:  April 12

That early-season home loss to No. 10 UMass-Lowell doesn’t look so bad now for CC fans. The RiverHawks downed Boston College Tuesday night to move into a four-way tie for first place in Hockey East.

The North Dakota beat writer takes his best stab at predicting the NCAA Tournament field.

Okay, I missed this earlier but Sacred Heart hired former baseball manager Bobby Valentine as its new AD. The NCAA meetings just got a whole lot more interesting.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. –   Kyle De Laurell scored two goals as Air Force beat RIT, 5-3, in an Atlantic Hockey Association game Friday, Feb. 22, at the Frank Ritter Arena in Rochester, N.Y.

With the win, Air Force remains in second place in the league with 31 points. RIT fell to seventh place with 23 points. Air Force can clinch a first-round bye on Saturday with a win over RIT.

“This was a great win for us,” head coach Frank Serratore said. “We had to come from behind to win on the road and you have to be able to do that if you aspire to be a champion. We played a great third period.”

It was Air Force’s first win at RIT in five games.

Air Force (15-10-7, 13-6-5 AHA) and RIT (12-14-15, 10-10-4) conclude the two-game series on Saturday at 7:05 p.m. ET in Rochester, N.Y.

Here is the Denver Post’s game story on No. 10 Denver’s 5-4 home win over No. 6 North Dakota and the USCHO.com recap.

No. 2 Minnesota, now only a point back in the WCHA standings, had to mount a strong third period to put away ninth-place Minnesota-Duluth.

Here is the St. Cloud Times’ take on Friday’s 4-3 win by Colorado College. and the Gazette game story. Columnist David Ramsey talked to unhappy Tiger fans.

Now that Air Force is one win away from making the AHA quarterfinals, the Falcons are ranked at No. 31 in the Pairwise Rankings while CC moved up from No. 31, to 30 and now into a tie for 29th. Looks like both teams will have to win their postseason tournament to make the NCAAs.