Greene, Mannino advance to NCAA title game

Grand Ledge's Matt Greene leads the
Sioux into the NCAA Championsip game
Photo by UND Athletics Photographer Scott Gaddini

Article by Matt Mackinder

Of the four Michigan natives on Frozen Four teams, two are left in North Dakota captain Matt Greene (Grand Ledge) and Denver goalie Peter Mannino (Farmington Hills).

Greene's Fighting Sioux took out Minnesota last night, 4-2, while Mannino's defending champion Pioneers squad won 6-2 over Colorado College. All six Denver goals were scored on the power play. Mannino made 41 saves and also had an assist in Denver's win and will most likely play in Saturday's title game at Value City Arena in Columbus, Ohio, after rotating all season with Glenn Fisher.

"Peter was terrific in goal, probably was one of our top stars, if not our best player," DU head coach George Gwozdecky said.

CC’s pain at losing to DU in the Frozen Four was eased a bit this afternoon when Marty Sertich was named as the 25th recipient of the Hobey Baker Memorial Award. The Roseville, Minnesota native is the second Tiger player to win college hockey's most prestigious individual honor, joining former linemate Peter Sejna in 2003.

North Dakota and Denver clash at the Value City Arena in Columbus, Ohio at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday night for all the marbles.

MSU's Lalonde goes pro

Spartan senior Mike Lalonde
is heading to Vegas

Article by Matt Mackinder

Michigan State senior forward Mike Lalonde signed a contract with the ECHL's Las Vegas Thunder on Thursday, March 30, and made his professional debut on April 1 against Victoria. The Thunder concludes their season with a pair of games against the Alaska Aces on April 8 and 9.

He closed his four-year career with 156 games played and 50 goals and 52 assists for 102 points. He reached the century club with an assist on State's fourth goal in a 6-3 win over Ohio State on Feb. 18, 2005.

As a senior in 2004-05, Lalonde appeared in 35 games, recording five goals and nine assists for 14 points. He missed five games (Nov. 27-Dec. 11) after suffering a knee injury in a 2-0 win at Wisconsin (Nov. 26). He recorded four multiple-point games on the season, including a goal and an assist in a 4-3 win over New Hampshire (Dec. 29), the game winner and a helper in a 3-1 win over Western Michigan (Jan. 15) and a goal and an assist in an 8-0 blanking of Lake Superior State (Jan. 21).

During his junior campaign (2003-04), he appeared in 42 games with 22 goals and 18 assists for a career-best 40 points. His 40 points ranked second on the squad in scoring and tied for sixth in the CCHA overall scoring race, while his 22 goals put him 12th in the country.

In 2002-03 as a sophomore, the Chetwynd, B.C. native played in 38 games with 13-18--31 totals to rank sixth on the squad in scoring. As a freshman (2001-02), he played in all 41 games, adding 10 goals and seven assists for 17 points. He scored his first collegiate goal at Nebraska-Omaha on Oct. 26, 2001.

Hensick and Tambellini named All-Americans

Maize and Blue forward T.J. Hensick joins
teammate Jeff Tambellini on the All-American team

Michigan forwards T.J. Hensick and Jeff Tambellini have been selected as 2004-05 CCM West All-Americans, the American Hockey Coaches Association announced Thursday. Hensick was named to the West first team, while Tambellini was named to the West second team.

A sophomore forward, Hensick had a tremendous season to become U-M's first Hobey Baker Memorial Award finalist since 2000-01. Hensick set career highs in goals (23), points (55), game-winning goals (2) and plus/minus (+19) this season. Over 39 games played, he recorded multiple points in 18 contests. He had an impressive career-best point streak of 10 games that spanned December and January during which he tallied an 8-7-15 line. When Hensick scored a goal the Wolverines were a perfect 18-0-0 on the year. Hensick was the Central Collegiate Hockey Association's scoring champion while earning All-CCHA first team honors.

A junior forward and assistant captain, Tambellini led U-M with 24 goals and career highs of 33 assists, 57 points and a +30 plus/minus rating. Additionally, he had a career-best nine power-play goals. Tambellini played in each of U-M's 42 games, recording multi-point efforts on 19 occasions. This season he also received recognition on the NCAA Midwest Regional all-tournament team, All-CCHA Tournament team (MVP) and the All-CCHA first team.

Hensick is Michigan's first West first team All-American since 2002 when Mike Cammalleri and Mike Komisarek were both first teamers. In 2004, Al Montoya was a West second team All-America honoree. A Wolverine has earned All-America recognition in 12 out of the last 15 seasons. A total of 57 Michigan players have received All-America honors 78 times in Michigan's 83-year history.

American Hockey Coaches Association Press Release

Rooting Interest in the Frozen Four

Northville's Derek Patrosso and the Colorado College Tigers
are heading East to the Frozen Four in Columbus, Ohio
photo by Casey B. Gibson

Article by Matt Mackinder

Four players on the four remaining Frozen Four teams have Michigan ties, but only one will take home the national championship.

Forward Derek Patrosso (Northville/Colorado College), defensemen Derek Peltier (Plymouth/Minnesota) and Matt Greene (Grand Ledge/North Dakota) and goalie Peter Mannino (Farmington Hills/Denver) will all converge on Columbus, Ohio, next weekend (April 7-9).

All but Greene, the Fighting Sioux's captain, are freshmen.

Patrosso has a 2-6--8 line this season playing in 34 of the Tigers' 42 games, including last Saturday's dramatic come-from-behind 4-3 win over Michigan at the Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids.

Peltier is Minnesota's third-highest scoring defender and has 6-13--19 through 42 games.

Adam Berkhoel was in net last season as Denver won the national title, but Mannino has stepped in and played admirably while splitting time with sophomore Glenn Fisher, who has actually played one more game than Mannino. Posting a 16-4-1 record, Mannino also has a 2.25 goals-against average and a .922 save percentage in 21 games.

Greene has been a steadying force for the Sioux and has nine points (2-7--9) as a mostly defensive defenseman. One of his goals was a game-winner.

The first Frozen Four semi-final between the CC Tigers and the DU Pioneers will face-off at 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, April 7 at the Value City Arena and can be seen nationally on ESPN2. The second semi-final between the UND Fighting Sioux and the Minnesota Golden Gophers will hit the ice at 7:00 p.m. and will also be aired on ESPN2.

The two semifinal winners will square off in the NCAA Championship game on Saturday, April 9 and can be seen nationally on ESPN beginning at 7:00 p.m.

Michigan represented at World Championships

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- USA Hockey has announced the first 20 members of the U.S. Men’s National Team that will compete in the 2005 International Ice Hockey Federation World Championship April 30 – May 15 in Innsbruck and Vienna, Austria.

Nearly half of the roster is composed of players with ties to the state of Michigan.

Olympians Mike Modano (Livonia/Dallas Stars), Doug Weight (Warren/Lake Superior State/St. Louis Blues), and Mike York (Waterford/Michigan State/Edmonton Oilers) will lead the squad up front. Also providing scoring punch will be Adam Hall (Kalamazoo/Michigan State/Nashville Predators), Mike Knuble (Grand Rapids/Michigan/Philadelphia Flyers), and David Legwand (Detroit/Plymouth Whalers/Nashville Predators).

Two former CCHA standouts will also be on the blueline with John Michael-Liles (Michigan State/Colorado Avalanche) and Andy Roach (Mattawan/Ferris State/St. Louis Blues).

Flint native Tim Thomas will also see time in net along with Ty Conklin and Rick DiPietro.

The USA squad also has a Michigan connection in the front office with general manager Don Waddell, a former Northern Michigan goalie in the 1970's. He then moved on to an eight-year playing career that included stints in the IHL with the Saginaw Gears and Flint Generals. After he hung up the skates, Waddell honed his skills as a head coach and GM for the Generals before moving up to the assistant GM role with the Detroit Red Wings and his current role as GM for the Atlanta Thrashers.

The United States begins play in the 16-nation 2005 IIHF World Championship on May 1 in Innsbruck against Slovenia.

Husky Talk: Senior Salute

Since it will be a few long months until next season, this will most likely be the last Husky Talk of this year, but I have all intentions of bringing back this column next year. If I have any fans out there that would like to comment or suggest ideas you can email me, I would love to hear them.

Michigan Tech's season has been over for awhile and some of the seniors have left to play at the next level, others are looking to finish up school this spring. All the seniors at MTU have been fun for the fans to watch, and all have left us with great memories. I have been following the team pretty close for the last 3 or 4 years so I have seen many of the current seniors play in many games. I have many memories of all of them including the 7-6 come back win against Northern Michigan, and the great road sweeps this year.

I received answers from 5 of the 7 seniors leaving, Cam Ellsworth (CE), Ryan Markham (RM), Brad Sullivan (BS), John Hartman (JH), and Phil Pietala (PP). I did not get an answer from Colin Murphy or Clay Wilson, but that is understood since both are currently planning for other teams. Thanks for all the great memories and we all wish you all the best of luck in the future.

MCH: What has been your favorite team memory as a Husky?

CE: Sweeping the Gophers at Marriucci.
RM: My favorite memory has to be coming back from 3 goals down to beat NMU my junior year. It was by far the most amazing come back that I have been a part of in my life.
BS: My favorite team memory will always be the locker room talk. Just being around the guys I will never forget the stories.
JH: This year sweeping the Gophers in Minnesota and winning Winter Carnival.
PP: My favorite team memory as a Husky was our thrilling 7-6 overtime win over rival Northern Michigan. As a hockey player with ties to this area (I grew up watching Michigan Tech) I have never felt better. It was in our building and was something that our fans were waiting to see from our team. Colin Murphy's four goals was amazing but the excitement on the ice and in the locker room after that game was something special.

MCH: What has been your favorite individual memory as a Husky?

CE: Breaking the all time saves record.
RM: Scoring my first goal against Wayne State University my freshmen year. It wasn't pretty, but it still counted.
BS: My favorite individual memory was my first goal against Duluth.
JH: Playing my first game freshman year.
PP: My favorite individual memory as a Husky was dressing for my first WCHA game at Mankato under coach (Mike) Sertich. When I was a little kid, my dad told me to start writing down my goals and trying to acheive them. At the time, my goals all revolved around hockey. I grabbed a paper plate and wrote down my goal for the upcoming season and at the very end, I thought about long terms goals and wrote that someday I wanted to play hockey at MTU. I came straight to college after high school because of academic scholarships and Mark Maroste invited me into camp. I spent my first year developing and adjusting to the college level. Then the following year, coach Sertich told me that I would play at Mankato. I had a great feeling that I finally got the chance to do something I worked towards my entire hockey career.

MCH: What current underclassman is best suited to fill your position?

CE: Bryce Luker is an excellent goalie who I think will have a great two years here.
RM: It is going to take a player who cares immensely about his team, and does his role to help the team win games.
BS: Jake Wilkins is the most suited underclassman to fill my position.
JH: Playing with Mike (Botavanja) and Jimmy (Kerr) has been unbelievable, we all play our hearts out. So I would have to say those two.
PP: The most effective part of my game was playing physical. I have always liked hitting, skating and playing the simple game. I think Mike Batovanja has done a great job playing the style that I liked to play.

MCH: Do you currently have any hockey plans now? How about next year?

CE: I am hoping to play as long as I can.
RM: I plan on playing professional hockey as soon as possible. Things are in the works right now, but I am not sure if I will have the opportunity to play this year, or if I will have to wait and see what my opportunities are next season.
BS: No plans right now, but I want to continue playing hockey.
JH: I am looking to hook on with a team right now, nothing is set yet though. I would like to play next year as well.
PP: At the moment I don't have any hockey plans. This season has been very long and disappointing from a personal standpoint. I'm pretty sure that my competitive hockey career will end here at MTU. I have plans of going on the medical or chiropractic school after graduation.

MCH: What will you miss most about the Houghton area?

CE: All of the people. The people are so nice here.
RM: I will miss everything about the Houghton area. I will miss my family the most, because they have been here to support me throughout hockey career and my life. The fans here are the best; they have supported us through thick and thin. The community here is unbelievable, all of the people here are nice caring individuals. It has been such a privilege to play at Michigan Tech.
BS: The thing I will miss most about Houghton is the knowledge and tradition of hockey, and the history this area has for hockey.
JH: Victoria’s Kitchen and the snow.