Inside College Hockey | 2003 Northeast Regional First Round

March 28, 2003
NCAA Northeast Regional
The Formula For Success

NCAA Tournament Coverage

By Joe Gladziszewski

WORCESTER, Mass.– When it comes down to it, playoff hockey is quite formulaic. Strong goaltending, special teams play, and gritty, stubborn work along the boards are the contributing factors to a desired result. Another factor – balanced scoring – helped Boston University advance to the Northeast Regional Final with a 6-4 win over Harvard.

As far as first lines go, there's not much to notice about the trio of Mark Mullen, Brian McConnell, and John Sabo. They're the number-one group of forwards for the Terriers with 12, 11, and 10 goals respectively.

Boston University 6, Harvard 4
Team	Goal	Str
Time	Assists
First Period
1-BU	Brian Collins (11)	PP
3:39	B. Miller, D. VanderGulik
2-HU	Brendan Bernakevitch (6)	EV
4:07	T. Pettit
2-BU	Matt Radoslovich (3)	EV
14:57	R. Priem
2-HU	Tyler Kolarik (15)	PP
17:06	T. Pettit, N. Welch
Second Period
3-HU	Brett Nowak (12)	EV
8:33	T. Kolarik
3-BU	Brad Zacanaro (5)	EV
14:44	K. Magowan, F. Skladany
Third Period
4-BU	Mark Mullen (13)	EV
0:45	B. McConnell
5-BU	Bryan Miller (5)	PP
2:03	B. McConnell
6-BU	Frantisek Skladany (14)	EV
3:34
4-HU	Dominic Moore (24)	PP
7:53	C. Johnson, T. Pettit
Goaltending
HU: Dov Grumet-Morris, 58:06, 25 saves, 6 GA
BU: Sean Fields, 60:00, 34 saves, 4 GA
Penalties: HU 10/39; BU 7/14
Power Plays: HU 2-5; BU 2-6
Attendance: 9,024

Third-liners Brad Zancanaro and Frantisek Skladany scored pivotal
goals for the Terriers, and the fourth-line contributed a goal and responsible defensive play for head coach Jack Parker.

"The third line gets noticed because of Skladany, he's such a great player, he's such an offensive threat. I think Zancanaro and Magowen have given us a great year all year. Since I've put that line together, they've played extremely well," Parker said.

"I also thought our fourth line played great tonight. They got a goal, they bounced people, they played really well. They got the puck out of the zone all the time. I thought (Ryan) Priem, (John)
Laliberte, and (Matt) Radoslovich played very well for us."

Skladany's goal, the sixth of the night for the Terriers, was the third in a string of quick goals early in the third period. Mark Mullen and Bryan Miller tallied to put BU in front 5-3.

SPECIAL TEAM

The University of New Hampshire Wildcats were able to come up with
the right mix of those aforementioned factors, while St. Cloud State got itself into a spot of trouble with its over-aggressive style of play. The Huskies, after reading all week that they weren't
tournament worthy, were determined not to roll over for the highly-regarded Wildcats.

New Hampshire scored off the opening faceoff, with Colin Hemingway
lighting the lamp 10 seconds in, and cashed in three of nine power-play chances.

New Hampshire 5, St. Cloud State 2
Team	Goal	Str
Time	Assists
First Period
1-NH	Colin Hemingway (21)	EV
0:10	L. Gare , J. Prudden
2-SC	Ryan Malone (16)	PP
8:11	Unassisted
2-NH	Colin Hemingway (22)	PP
18:47	G. Stafford
Second Period
3-NH	Preston Callander (11)	EV
1:20	J. Abbott, J. Aikens
2-SC	Jeff Finger (5)
3:53	M. Hendricks
4-NH	Sean Collins (20)	PP
7:08	S. Saviano, N. Martz
Third Period
5-NH	Preston Callander (12)	EV
12:08	J. Aikens, C. Hemingway
Goaltending
SC: Jake Moreland, 60:00, 25 saves, 5 GA
NH: Mike Ayers, 60:00, 35 saves, 2 GA
Penalties: SC 11/22; NH 6/18
Power Plays: SC 1-6; NH 3-9
Attendance: 9,024

With players like Steve Saviano, Justin Aikins, and Sean Collins on its second power-play unit, New Hampshire has two equally potent man-up quintets. Third-liner Preston Callander scored twice in the game. His power-play marker at 12:08 of the third period sealed the deal in UNH's 5-2 win.

"You can't give up nine power plays in an NCAA game," St. Cloud State coach
Craig Dahl said. "They scored three goals."

Other power-play markers came from Hemingway and Collins. When the Wildcats found themselves penalized, the penalty-killing effort was strong, especially from goaltender Mike Ayers who was very steady in his first NCAA Tournament start since last year's 7-2
national semifinal loss to Maine in St. Paul.

SEEN AND HEARD AT THE CENTRUM CENTRE

• Harvard's Mark Mazzoleni and Boston University's Jack Parker had nothing but praise for each others' teams during the post-game press conference, their first on-the-record comments since some verbal sparring took place in the Boston newspapers earlier in the week. Mazzoleni accused Parker of sand-bagging, after the Harvard bench boss heard Parker watched the Crimson's Thursday practice in Worcester.

The love-fest following the early game left the punchlines to UNH head coach Dick Umile. "I know that Jack's thinking that he'll have a few sophisticated ideas. I don't know about sand-bagging or anything, but these are two teams that are really respected and I think it's great to have two Hockey East teams playing in the regional final."

• This year's NCAA Tournament doesn't have a top-notch goaltender the likes of Ryan Miller, Rick DiPietro, or Marty Turco to grab headlines. With apologies to Cornell's David LeNeveu, who until proven otherwise must be thought of as a product of his team's stingy defense, Boston U.'s Sean Fields is the best big-game goaltender of the bunch.

Ask Dan Murphy, Tyler Kolarik, and Tim Pettit, who all had superb opportunities bettered by Fields.

Friday's Three Stars

3. Brad Zancanaro, Boston U.
The diminutive freshman center (5-feet-5, 159 pounds) had plenty of time in the slot on a 2-on-1 rush, and picked the top-right corner with a wrister to make it 3-3 with 5:16 remaining in the second period. Jack Parker called it the biggest goal of the game, and it's a point that would be hard to argue.

2. Colin Hemingway,
New Hampshire
Hemingway had two goals and an
assist, showing the offensive flair that ranked him among the nation's leaders last season. He was also one of the first Wildcat players to get into the post-whistle scrums that frequently took place in the early stages. Hemingway plays with an unmatched enthusiasm.

1. Jim Abbott, New Hampshire
His one-handed backhand touch pass at the blue line turned into a perfect chance for Callander, and he buried an important score for UNH. Abbot's the kind of unsung player that makes little plays like these in big games.

• Both losing teams found themselves without key personnel for the majority of the game. Late in the first period of the first game, Harvard's Ryan Lannon, the team's best defensive defenseman, was given a five-minute major penalty and game disqualification for butt-ending. In the second game, St. Cloud State lost centerman Peter Szabo to a right-leg injury midway through the first, forcing Dahl to move Brock Hooton from the fourth line to play with Matt Hendricks and Jonathan Lehun.

• Freddy Meyer returned to the BU lineup, and with the game tied at three after two periods, it's a captain's time to speak up. Meyer said it was a team effort that got the Terriers on track for the third. "It was more of a whole team response. Everyone was saying what they had to say and got everyone fired up," he said. "We knew we didn't have a great second period and we wanted to come out and put on a show for the third and score some quick ones and we did that."

The Terriers showed increased passion, competitiveness, and desire by finishing checks and winning loose puck battles. BU popped three goals in a span of 2:49 to win the game.

• The buffet tables in the media hospitality room were adorned with bread shaped like seafood. Molds were used to create loaves shaped like alligators, crabs, lobsters, octopi and turtles. It made for nice decoration, but it was a little unsettling.

PLUSSES AND MINUSES

Kudos to the accountability shown by St. Cloud junior Matt Hendricks. He pointed the finger at himself when the topic of penalties came up in the post-game press conference. "I think the biggest part, giving them the power plays, was the undisciplined actions that we took," Hendricks said. "We tried to play real aggressive, and the aggression took a little bit of a toll, especially with me in the third period. I took two real stupid
penalties and they ended up scoring on one of them."

That's the kind of statement that makes Hendricks an excellent candidate to wear an "A" or "C" on the front of his sweater next year.

New Hampshire's fans were in full voice on Friday night. With three of the four schools at the Northeast Regional traveling from a comfortable driving distance, it was the blue-and-white clad Wildcat fans that filled the Worcester Centrum Centre with the most exuberant cheers and chants.

Senior center Aaron Kim, who played in his 107th game for Harvard on Friday, bumped into Fields when the BU netminder went behind the net to play the puck and was called for goaltender interference. The penalty came just after Moore's goal brought the Crimson to within two goals and Harvard clearly had momentum. It's a bad penalty for any player to take, but a fourth-liner with five career goals should know better than that.

The excitement and efficiency produced by the 15-second face-off rule does create problems with the administraition of the games. Seemingly, assistant referees spend more time counting than they do watching the centermen. Most noteworthy were the tactics (which I applaud) used by Harvard's players, who were able to turn a shoulder into their Terrier counterparts and shield the puck. It led to several point-shot opportunities by the Crimson, and Parker wanted it stopped. "I was concerned about our face-offs. I was after the referees to make sure they get their sticks down, and they did in the third period," he said.

Wouldn't you know ... Miller's goal came off of a Terrier face-off win in the Harvard zone.

WHAT'S NEXT

Harvard qualified for the NCAA Tournament for the second straight year and this time it didn't take an automatic bid to get the Crimson into the NCAAs. Things are looking up for this proud program. The Crimson lose Moore, Kim, and Brett Nowak to graduation. Despite losing, making appearances in the ECAC finals and NCAA Regionals can only help this team as it faces big games in the future.

Boston University didn't play a perfect hockey game, yet the Terriers find themselves in the quarterfinals for the 11th time in the last 13 years. Familiar foe New Hampshire awaits, and fans can only hope that the two Hockey East powers will put on a show to rival the 1-0 overtime thriller they staged at the Fleet Center two weeks ago.

St. Cloud State acquitted itself nicely for a program that was widely criticized for being selected for the NCAAs. The Huskies don't make the decisions and they don't create computer mumbo-jumbo. St. Cloud proved itself to be tournament worthy, and as all four coaches noted, there are at least 16 excellent teams capable of filling out this year's expanded bracket.

New Hampshire faces Boston University. The teams have split four prior meetings this season, but this one takes on added importance. For the best program not to have won an NCAA championship, Saturday's game is the second step toward erasing that dubious title.