Writers Wanted!

MichiganCollegeHockey.com is looking for dedicated writers to cover the following schools for the 2006-2007 season:

Ferris State

Finlandia

Northern Michigan

Western Michigan

ACHA Club Hockey

Duties to include weekly recaps of your team's action, features as needed, and interviews with players and coaches.

Requirements should include;

1) Writing, communications, or journalism majors or background

2) Love and understanding of college hockey

3) Ability to attend the majority of your team's home games

To inquire about this unique opportunity, please e-mail us at MichiganCollegeHockey@yahoo.com.

Husky Talk: Coach Jamie Russell

Michigan Tech starts their 86th regular season against their biggest rival, Northern Michigan, this weekend. Head coach Jamie Russell (JR), is going into his fourth full year as the head coach and is looking to continue the Huskies' climb up the WCHA.

Michigan College Hockey's MTU writer Andy Bourdeau (MCH) was able to sit down and ask the man behind the bench a few questions.

MCH: The coaches poll for the WCHA has you at the eighth spot. Who do you and your staff see as the team to beat in the WCHA? Where do you see your Huskies finishing this year?

JR: I am not a big believer in polls. They are based on last year and last year is over. I feel North Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin will have good years. I really like the way our team is shaping up. We have great leadership and our team chemistry is the best it has ever been. We will surprise a lot of teams and make another move up the WCHA ladder.

MCH: Besides more from the two senior captians (Lars Helminen and Mike Batovanja), who do you see stepping up this year as a leader of the team?

JR: Tyler Skworchinski is a player that has improved each year and is poised for big senior campaign. We also have a large junior class with many on and off-ice leaders.

MCH: With two quality goalies on the team, how do you keep them both happy? Who will get the start for the first NMU game? How about the second?

JR: I have a lot of confidence in both Michael-Lee (Teslak) and Robbie (Nolan). Competition is a healthy thing and they both want the team to be successful regardless of who is playing.

MCH: With all the new freshmen coming in, who do you see giving the team the biggest impact the soonest?

JR: Phil Axtell at 6-foot-6 and 248 pounds will make an impact in more than one way! Eli Vlaisavljevich will also step in and contribute immediately.

MCH: You have played at MTU, so you know the rivalry with NMU, so how do you approach this series so early in the season? What advice do you give the team before a game like this?

JR: I absolutely loved playing in this series. It is among the fondest memories of college hockey I have. It means so much to both communities and Universities. In terms of advice, I tell the team to enjoy it. Both buildings will be packed and it embodies college hockey from start to finish. There is not a lot of need for 'rah rah' speeches. If a player isn't up for this series, they don't have a heartbeat.

MCH: Would this series be easier coming later in the year?

JR: In the future this series will become best of three as we will play a two-game series just before Christmas and UMD and Tech will play NMU and LSSU early in the year.

Thank you Coach Russell for taking the time to answer a few questions for us here at Michigan College Hockey.

MiCHO Power Poll 10.10.2006

Maize and Blue on top

The Michigan Wolverines begin the 2006-2007 season with the number-1 spot in the MiCHO Power Poll. The Wolverines return six seniors off a team that finished 21-15-5 last season. Michigan will begin play this week with non-conference games at home against Alabama-Huntsville and Connecticut.

MiCHO Power Rankings

1) Michigan (0-0-0)

2) Michigan State (0-0-0)

3) Northern Michigan (0-1-1)

4) Western Michigan (0-0-0)

5) Ferris State (0-2-0)

6) Lake Superior (0-0-0)

7) Michigan Tech (0-0-0)

8) Wayne State (0-0-0)

Each week MichiganCollegeHockey.com editors Matt Mackinder and Tom Balog will compile the MiCHO Power Poll. The poll will comprise the eight Division-I teams in the State of Michigan.

Lakers take point from defending champ Oakland

Grand Valley State played a home-and-home series with defending D-II national champion Oakland University this past weekend. Oakland, winners of the past two of three national championships, moved to D1 this season and have been quite successful, already earning the No. 12 ranking in D-I polls.

The weekend started on Friday in Allendale. Jake Erway scored shorthanded to give GVSU a 1-0 lead going into the second period. Oakland came out hard in the second, scoring three goals to take a 3-1 lead. The Lakers would not give up in the third, as Erway would add another goal and Nate Beverwyk would deflect the puck off the goaltender to tie the game up 3-3. The teams would exchange scoring changes for the rest of the game, but big saves from GVSU goaltender Grant Lyon would keep the game tied. After a 4-on-4 overtime period, the game ended in a 3-3 tie. Lyon made 30 saves and final shots were 50-33 in favor of GVSU.

Saturday, GVSU made the trip to Rochester. It was banner raising night for OU, but they were unable to gather any momentum from the ceremony as the first period ended 0-0 with strong goaltending from both the Oakland and GVSU goaltenders. The teams exchanged goals in the second period, with GVSU's Ryan Altom picking up his third of the season on a breakaway on a pass from Beverwyk. Grand Valley was unable to pick up anything in the third, while Oakland hit the twine once on the power play. Goaltender Chris Moore played well in the loss, facing 31 shots and making multiple breakaway saves. Final shots were 35-31 in favor of GVSU, a 2-1 OU victory.

GVSU stays in town next weekend to participate in the Grand Rapids Showcase Tournament hosted by Davenport University. The tournament will showcase the area's ACHA teams that include GVSU, Davenport, Calvin and Hope. The first game for GVSU will be on Friday at 7:00 p.m. All games will be played at Patterson Ice Arena in Kentwood.

Saints too much for Warriors; Boal awarded

It's not an easy start to the season by any stretch, but the Wayne State Warriors (0-2-0) were still expecting a better start. The Warriors were swept by the fourth-ranked St. Lawrence Saints at the Appleton Arena in Canton, N.Y. to begin an six-game, season opening road trip.

The Warriors had their chance for the big upset on Friday night, but surrendered four straight unanswered goals in the eventual 5-4 defeat.

After giving up the opening goal, Wayne State got goals from Tegan Schroeder, Christine Jefferson, Tina Vanderhoeven, and Melissa Boal to jump out to a 4-1 lead.

The Saints responded with three goals to close the second period and tied the game at 4.

Sabrina Harbec notched the game winner at 5:55 to save the game for the Saints.

Val Turcotte stopped 23 of 28 in the WSU net. Meaghan Guckian steered away 14 of 18 for St. Lawrence.

The Saints finished off the Warriors fairly easily in the finale, skating to a 4-1 win.

St. Lawrence blasted Wayne State 42-14 in shots and finished 2-8 on the power-play. WSU concluded the night 0-4 with the extra skater.

Melissa Boal scored the only Warrior goal shorthanded, 7-seconds into the third period.

Turcotte was between the pipes again and stopped 38 shots.

Wayne State will continue their six-game roadie with a pair of games against the Rensselaer Engineers in Troy, NY next weekend.

Boal Named CHA Offensive Player of the Week

Sophomore forward Melissa Boal was named the CHA's Offensive POW after a pair of goals and an assist vs. fourth ranked St. Lawrence over the weekend.

Boal's shorthanded goal on Saturday moved her past Kim Spaulding and into third place all-time on the WSU Scoring chart.

Boal is just six points behind second place Katie Jones and 38 behind leader Kelly Zamora.

Ferris State swept in opening series

81 shots on goal looks good. On paper.

Too bad for the Ferris State Bulldogs (0-2-0) that their first two game were played on the ice as they were swept at home by the ECACHL's Union Dutchmen over the weekend.

Friday night the Bulldogs out shot the Dutchmen by a 41-22 margin, yet were shut out 2-0 at the Ewigleben Arena.

Lane Caffaro and Mike Schreiber scored first period power play goals and Justin Mrazek shut the door in goal, stopping all 41 FSU shots for the win.

Mitch O'Keefe stopped 20-22 in net for the Bulldogs.

The big blow to the Bulldogs came in the third period when senior forward Mark Bomersback collided with a Union player and suffered a broken leg. The top-returning point getter will be sidelined for at least two-months.

It was more of the same Saturday night as the Bulldogs held a 40-29 shooting edge at the end of sixty minutes, but were forced to look at a final score of 6-5 in the visitors favor.

Jason Walters led the Dutchmen with a pair of goals and one assist. Mrazek stopped another 35 shots for his second straight "W".

Matt Verdone was one of the only Bulldogs to beat Mrazek all weekend. The senior winger scored a pair and assisted on another in the weekend finale.

Blair Riley, Dan Riedel, and Aaron Lewicki also scored for FSU.

Derek McIntrye started in net for the 'Dogs, but got the leash after surrendering 4 goals in 12 shots. O'Keefe mopped up and finished the night with 15 saves on 17 shots.

The Bulldogs will continue their non-conference schedule as they host Atlantic Hockey's Mercyhurst Lakers into Big Rapids for a pair next weekend.

Michigan Tech routs Lakehead, ready for season

The Michigan Tech Huskies started their 2006-07 season with a win on Friday night. The win came over Lakehead, a Canadian college that was traveling the area playing three games this past weekend.

MTU put up six goals as Macolm Gwilliam, Tyler Skworchinski, Ryan Angelow (2), Eli Vlaisavljevich and Phil Axtell all joined in on the scoring. Both goalies, Michael-Lee Teslak and Rob Nolan, played in the 6-1 win.

Missing from last year are the top two scorers, Chris Conner and Brandon Schwartz as well as forwards Taggart Desmet and Nick Anderson and the top penalty-killing defensemen John Scott and Pekka Saittakari.

Coming in are some anticipated additions, including Alex Gagne a freshman with three years of eligibility. Joining him on the freshman class are forwards Axtell and Ryan Bunger and freshmen blueliners Drew Dobson, Vlaisavljevich and John Kivisto.

MTU looks to be solid on the defensive side this year. They are returning their top defenseman, Lars Helminen, the team leader in assists for the last two years. Also returning are the two goalies Nolan and Teslak.

The biggest question for the Huskies this year comes on offense - where will the scoring come from? The Huskies answered a few questions with their win Friday. Scoring six on any team is good and it gets the confidence going.

Up next, MTU will have a home-and-home with Northern Michigan Friday (at MTU) and Saturday (at NMU). On Oct. 21-22, the Huskies will travel to Vermont to take on the Catamounts.

Broncos roll in final tune up

The Western Michigan Broncos had little trouble in dispatching visiting Wilfrid Laurier 8-3 in exhibition play at the Lawson Arena.

Junior winger Jeff Pierce scored four-goals and five-points as the Broncs improved their record against Canadian schools to 42-4-4 all-time.

The Broncos will open the regular season and conference play as they play game one of a home-and-home with Michigan State in East Lansing on Friday night. Western and State will return to Kalamazoo on Saturday evening to conclude the two-game set.

LSSU falls to Lakehead University

Lakehead University came out Saturday night and beat Lake Superior State University for the first time in 23 years. The LSSU game at Pullar Stadium was Lakehead's third game in three nights after falling 8-1 on Thusday night against the University of Minnesota-Duluth and 6-1 against Michigan Tech on Friday night.

Play was fairly even in the first period and the Lakers applied some strong pressure in the second, but Lakehead's Chris Whitley was solid in goal. Lakehead's Jeff Richards opened the scoring at 14:34 of the first period, but Laker freshman Pat Aubry tied the game for the Lakers at 17:08 with the only assist going to senior Dominic Osman.

Richards scored his second goal of the game at 10:58 of the second period, and Mathieu Maissoneauve made it 3-1 with a power-play goal at 1:36 of the third period.

Senior Jeff Jakaitis was strong in goal giving up both of Richards' goals in the two periods he played totaling 21 saves. Freshman Pat Inglis supported his effort to get playing time this season by allowing just the one goal by Maissoneauve and saving eight shots after replacing Jakaitis in the third period.

Lake Superior State travels to Columbus, Ohio to open the CCHA season against Ohio State next Friday and Saturday.

Photo by Mike Burrill