NCAA taps Pa. for 2013, 2014 championship games
July 13, 2010
PHILADELPHIA (AP)—The NCAA is bringing the men’s college hockey championshipsto Pennsylvania for back-to-back Frozen Fours.
The Division I Men’s Ice Hockey Committee says Pittsburgh will host the 2013Frozen Four at Consol Energy Center, while the Wachovia Center in Philadelphiawill be the venue for the 2014 championship.
Consol, set to open next month, is the home ice for the NHL’s PittsburghPenguins, while the Wachovia Center, home of the Flyers, is no stranger tohosting NCAA tourneys, including the first and second rounds of the 2006Division I men’s basketball tournament.
The decision, announced Tuesday, means that, for the first time, NCAADivision I hockey championships will be played in the Keystone state.
NCAA won’t change icing rule
July 8, 2010
INDIANAPOLIS (AP)—The NCAA has decided against making icing a penalty at alltimes during college games, even for short-handed teams.
The ice hockey rules committee announced its decision Thursday after schoolsobjected.
The committee had considered making icing a penalty even for teams defendingthe power play, saying it would have rewarded speed and skill and helped tocreate scoring chances. Schools instead recommended that the rule be mandatoryfor exhibition contests only.
NCAA considers tighter hockey icing rule
June 23, 2010
INDIANAPOLIS (AP)—The NCAA is considering whether to make icing a violation atall times during a game, including during penalty-killing situations.
The NCAA says the proposal comes from the men’s and women’s hockey rulescommittee. Currently, as is the case in the NHL, short-handed teams can ice thepuck during power plays without having play stopped for a faceoff in their zone.
The committee believes the rule change will create more scoring chances forthe team on the power play and perhaps make some players less likely to takepenalties because it will be tougher to kill the penalty time.
The NCAA’s Playing Rules Oversight Panel will consider final approval forthe rule change during a July 29 meeting.
NCAA may boost penalties for hockey head shots
June 11, 2010
INDIANAPOLIS (AP)—The NCAA is considering a crackdown on hits to the head inhockey.
Under a proposal by the sport’s rules committee, a hit to the head wouldcarry a minimum five-minute major penalty and a game misconduct ordisqualification. The committee’s proposals must be considered by the PlayingRules Oversight Panel in July before being implemented.
Committee chair Forrest Karr, the athletic director at the University ofAlaska Fairbanks, said player safety is “critically important” in collegehockey and that players will be “penalized severely” for contact that targetsthe head and neck area.
Earlier this year, the National Hockey League outlawed blindside hits to thehead and recommended that offenders be given a 5-minute major and a gamemisconduct.
Boston College hockey players involved in crash
April 26, 2010
BOSTON (AP)—Three members of Boston College’s national championship hockeyteam face alcohol charges after the sport utility vehicle they were in was hitby a trolley while making a U-turn across the tracks, officials said Monday.
Hockey players Philip Samuelsson, Patrick Wey and Parker Milner will besummoned to court on charges of being minors in possession of alcohol after theaccident early Sunday, according to Joe Pesaturo, a spokesman for theMassachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.
Seven college-age students were in the Jeep Cherokee, and all suffered minorinjuries; no one on the trolley was hurt. Police found open and unopened cans ofbeer, as well as a bottle of vodka, in the SUV, the police report said. Itdoesn’t appear the driver had been drinking.
Also expected to be summoned to court on minor in possession charges aredriver Jane Stanton, Tina Dilandry, Reilly Corbett and Elizabeth Motley.
Six of the occupants are Boston College students, and no one in the SUV wasover age 19, authorities said. The crash remains under investigation.
Samuelsson, Wey and Milner are all freshmen on Boston College’s hockey team,which defeated Wisconsin 5-0 for the national title April 10. Samuelsson is theson of former NHL player Ulf Samuelsson.
The vehicle was making the U-turn when the trolley hit it at about 30 milesper hour, according to the police report. Milner, Motley and Corbett left thescene and were tracked down at a hospital, the report said.
College officials say that they are cooperating with authorities and thatthe students could face disciplinary actions.
Boston College hockey players charged after crash
April 26, 2010
BOSTON (AP)—Three members of Boston College’s national championship hockeyteam are among seven college-age people facing alcohol charges following acollision between their SUV and a trolley.
An MBTA spokesman says Jane Stanton, the driver of the Jeep Cherokee; PhilipSamuelsson; Patrick Wey; Parker Milner; Tina Dilandry; Reilly Corbett andElizabeth Motley are all charged with being minors in possession of alcoholfollowing the accident early Sunday.
Samuelsson, Wey and Milner are all on BC’s hockey team that won the nationalchampionship this month.
The MBTA says the vehicle was making a U-turn across the tracks and hit thetrain. Some people in the Jeep suffered minor injuries.
A BC spokesman says the school is cooperating with authorities and studentscould also face campus sanctions.
Osiecki named new OSU hockey coach
April 24, 2010
BC tops Wisconsin 5-0, 2nd hockey title in 3 years
April 10, 2010
DETROIT (AP)—The NCAA hockey championship trophy is headed back downCommonwealth Avenue.
Led by goalie John Muse, Boston College won the national title for thesecond time in three years, beating Wisconsin 5-0 in the final of the FrozenFour on Saturday night.
Muse made 20 save to improve to 8-0 in tournament play, including thenational title run he made as a freshman in 2008.
When it was over Muse’s teammates tossed their sticks and helmets into theair then swarmed the junior goaltender.
“Johnny Muse was clearly on the top of his game,” BC coach Jerry Yorksaid.
BC won its fourth title and third since 2001, best in the nation over thelast decade. The Eagles’ top rival, Boston University, took home thechampionship last year. In college hockey’s version of the Duke-North Carolinabasketball rivalry, BU and BC are located just a few miles away from each otheron the Green Line trolley that runs along Commonwealth Avenue.
This championship for Muse came almost a year after hip surgery, and thegrueling rehabilitation that followed.
“There wasn’t much pain, but it was long and tedious,” he said. “I did itfor these guys. I wanted to be back.”
Cam Atkinson scored two of the Eagles’ four third-period goals to back Muse.
Atkinson’s first and Chris Krieder’s goal came 2:02 apart early in theperiod and turned a one-goal game into a rout.
“We wanted to attack and be aggressive,” York said. “We don’t like to sitback and change our style of play with the score.”
That mindset has helped put York in elite company with four national titles,including one with Bowling Green.
Just two coaches have more championships—Michigan’s Vic Heyliger won sixfrom 1948-56 and Denver’s Murray Armstrong had five from 1958-1969—and no onehas more than York’s 33 wins in the NCAA tournament.
“I’ve been at it a long time, so that helps,” York said at the end of his38th season as a head coach, and 16th leading the Eagles. “It’s always good tocoach good teams and good players, and I’ve had a whole bunch of those.”
Wisconsin beat the Eagles in the 2006 finals for its sixth title, but didn’thave much of a shot to stop BC’s faster forwards, swarming defensemen andstellar goalie in the rematch.
“We got near the top of the mountain, but we weren’t able to stick the flagat the top,” Badgers coach Mike Eaves said.
Wisconsin forward Blake Geoffrion, grandson of Hockey Hall of Famer Bernie“Boom Boom” Geoffrion, was shut down a day after winning the Hobey Baker Awardas college hockey’s top player.
Geoffrion scored 28 goals this season to help Wisconsin enter the game witha nation-high 171 goals—averaging four a game—but he and his teammatesstruggled to get pucks and bodies near the net to make Muse sweat.
“They did a good job of blocking shots and collapsing down low,” Geoffrionsaid.
Ben Smith, who won the most outstanding player award for the tournament, gotBC’s good night started with a goal 12:57 into the game.
After a scoreless second, the Eagles proved they weren’t content to just sitback and play conservatively.
Atkinson started the flurry in the third and Matt Price finished it with anempty-net goal with 4:31 left while Scott Gudmandson was pulled briefly to addan extra skater. Gudmandson made 21 saves.
A world indoor attendance record was set for hockey with a crowd of 37,592at the home of the NFL’s Detroit Lions.
Wisconsin’s Michael Davies had chances to score and perhaps could’ve blamethe ice conditions for taking away his best opportunity in the second periodwhen he whiffed on a breakaway after the puck bounced over his stick.
“It was soft, but both teams had to play on it,” Eaves said.
The games at Ford Field will be remembered for record crowds and routs thatmatched the Frozen Four record of 18 for goal differential set in 1961.
An announced crowd of 34,954 for Thursday’s two-game session smashed theFrozen Four record of 19,432 fans set in St. Louis three years ago and hockey’sindoor mark of 28,183 from Tampa Bay’s home game at Tropicana Field againstPhiladelphia during the 1996 NHL playoffs.
BC stunned top-seeded Miami of Ohio 7-1 and Wisconsin routed RochesterInstitute of Technology 8-1 to advance to a game that was expected to becompetitive.
The Eagles had other ideas, shutting out Wisconsin in another lopsided gamethat excited only for their fans in a football stadium that had a rink set upnear an end zone.
Boston College tops Wisconsin 5-0 for hockey title
April 10, 2010
DETROIT (AP)—Cam Atkinson scored twice, John Muse made 20 saves and BostonCollege won the NCAA hockey championship for the second time in three years witha 5-0 victory against Wisconsin on Saturday night.
The Eagles scored four times in the third period, with Atkinson and ChrisKreider scoring 2:02 apart early in the period. Atkinson scored again midwaythrough the period.
A world indoor attendance record was set for hockey with a crowd of 37,592at the home of the NFL’s Detroit Lions.
Boston College won its fourth title and third since 2001, best in the nationover the last 10 years.
The Eagles’ top rival, Boston University, took home the championship lastyear, meaning the trophy has stayed on Commonwealth Avenue for three straightseasons.
Wisconsin beat the Eagles in the 2006 finals for its sixth title, but didn’thave much of a shot to stop Boston College’s faster forwards, swarmingdefensemen and stellar goaltender.
Muse improved to 8-0 in the NCAA tournament, including his perfect run in2008.
“I don’t know if it’s so much me or my whole team,” he said.
For BC coach Jerry York, the national title was his fourth, including onewith Bowling Green. Only two coaches have more championships—Michigan’s VicHeyliger won six from 1948-56 and Denver’s Murray Armstrong won five from1958-1969—and York’s 33 NCAA tournament wins is a record.
“He’s a great coach,” Muse said. “I wouldn’t want to play for anyoneelse.”
Badgers forward Blake Geoffrion, grandson of Hockey Hall of Famer Bernie“Boom Boom” Geoffrion, was shut down a day after winning the Hobey Baker Awardas college hockey’s top player.
Geoffrion scored 28 goals this season to help Wisconsin enter the game witha nation-high 171 goals—averaging four a game—but he and his teammatesstruggled to get pucks and bodies near the net to make Muse sweat.
“I thought our key was tremendous defensive zone coverage,” York said.
Smith, who won the most outstanding player award for the tournament, gotBoston College’s good night started with a goal 12:57 into the game.
After a scoreless second, the Eagles proved they weren’t content to just sitback and play conservatively.
Atkinson led the flurry in the third and Matt Price finished it with anempty-net goal with 4:31 left while Scott Gudmandson was pulled briefly to addan extra skater. Gudmandson made 21 saves.
Wisconsin’s Michael Davies had chances to score and perhaps could blame theice conditions for taking away his best opportunity in the second period when hewhiffed on a breakaway after the puck bounced over his stick.
“Both teams had to play on it,” Wisconsin coach Mike Eaves said.
The games at Ford Field will be remembered for record crowds and routs.
An announced crowd of 34,954 for Thursday’s two-game session smashed theFrozen Four record of 19,432 fans set in St. Louis three years ago and hockey’sindoor mark of 28,183 from Tampa Bay’s home game at Tropicana Field againstPhiladelphia during the 1996 NHL playoffs.
Boston College beat Miami of Ohio 7-1 and Wisconsin routed RochesterInstitute of Technology 8-1 to advance to a game that was expected to becompetitive.
The Eagles had other ideas, shutting out Wisconsin in another lopsided gamethat excited only their fans in football stadium that had a rink set up near anend zone.
Geoffrion wins Hobey Baker Award
April 9, 2010
DETROIT (AP)—Wisconsin forward Blake Geoffrion, the grandson of Hockey Hall ofFamer Bernie “Boom Boom” Geoffrion, received the Hobey Baker Memorial Award onFriday night as college hockey’s top player.
Geoffrion has helped lead Wisconsin to the NCAA championship game Saturdaynight against Boston College. He has 27 goals and 21 assists in 38 games thisseason.
Geoffrion’s great grandfather, Howie Morenz, also is in the Hall of Fame.
