Spartans fall in exhibition to Team USA

The U.S. National Team Development Program scored three times on a five-minute major to take a 5-4 decision from Michigan State in an exhibition game in East Lansing Thursday evening.

"Obviously, the three power-play goals on the major was a huge factor," admitted MSU head coach Rick Comley. "But we're obviously still in a period where we're trying to figure some things out. We are a work in progress. We aren't as deep as we were a year ago and some guys are stepping into new roles. We have to really focus and work hard on getting better."

Bryan Lerg scored twice for MSU and Justin Abdelkader and Tyler Howells added singles. Jeff Lerg made 22 saves for the Spartans, who are idle this weekend.

Abdelkader's five-minute boarding call at 5:11 of the second period sent Team USA on their way.

"It is great to see the guys pull out a victory tonight against a tough college opponent after coming up just short in the last few outings," said U.S. head coach Ron Rolston. "Our guys battled hard and played for each other all 60 minutes. After putting out such a strong effort our guys deserved to win tonight."

The Spartans welcome St. Lawrence and Sacred Heart into town for a non-league set next weekend.

Adrian College names first women's coach

Adrian College has announced the hiring of Chandy Kaip as the first women's hockey coach.

Adrian recently announced plans and broke ground for the Arrington Ice Arena, which will be located on the AC campus and house intercollegiate ice hockey and synchronized skating teams.

Kaip, 25, will bring a wealth of experience to the new post at Adrian. The Alberta, Canada native has served as an assistant coach and instructor for several colleges and club teams over the past four years after competing as a student athlete for the University of New Hampshire from 1998 to 2003.

Most recently, Kaip served as the on-ice instructor for Puckmasters Canada, the largest hockey training center in the world. While with Puckmasters, Kaip also gained experience as the conditioning coach and talent evaluator.

Prior to Puckmasters, she was an assistant coach for Warner Hockey Academy, instructing on and off the ice, organizing practice and coaching weight training for the girls' hockey team from 2005 to 2006

From 2003 to 2005, Kaip was an assistant coach for women's hockey at Utica College, recruiting for the Pioneers, instructing on and off the ice, and serving as the team's conditioning coach.

In 2001, Kaip was the assistant coach for Team Alberta’s Select-15 and under team after serving as a summer staff instructor at Athol Murray College of Notre Dame Hockey School from 1998 to 2000.

Over the years, Kaip has been active in each community, volunteering her time to D.A.R.E, National Women's/Girls' Day in Sport, and the Durham Breast Cancer Walk.

She completed Hockey Canada Coaching Level I and II training in 2005 and is certified as an ambulance-emergency medical responder and Level C CPR.

As a student-athlete, she was honored with the Seventh Player Hockey Award at UNH and the MVP of varsity volleyball at Notre Dame College in Canada.

Adrian will begin competing in NCAA Division III women's hockey in the fall of 2007.

The Arrington Ice Arena will be completed in the early fall of 2007. The new arena will have a professional-size sheet of ice, a capacity of about 1,000, press box, president's box, community rooms and skate rental.

More info, including an artist's rendering of the new arena, HERE.

Michigan players named to World Games roster

USA Hockey today announced the 22-player U.S. University Select Team roster for the upcoming 2007 Winter World University Games. The event will be staged at the Tazzoli Rink and Torre Pellice in Torino, Italy, Jan. 17-27, 2007.

Highlighting the U.S. roster for the biannual event are several players with Michigan connections, including forwards Nick Krebsbach (pictured), a one-time Wayne State Warrior (2003-2004), and Joel Kuehn (Troy/University of Michigan-Dearborn), both of whom were members of the U.S. University Select Team that competed at the 2005 Winter World University Games. Team USA finished with a 3-3-0 record at that event, marking its best showing since returning to the Games in 2001 with players from the American Collegiate Hockey Association.

The Winter World University Games is the second-largest sporting event in the world next to the Olympic Games and consists of 11 sports and 72 medal events. Featuring 1,500 athletes in the 17-28-year-old age range, the 10-day event began in 1960 in France and was hosted on American soil in Lake Placid, N.Y., in 1972.

The U.S. team was picked following an identification camp held in August and is comprised of players from non-varsity ice hockey teams affiliated with the ACHA, which includes 300 teams in three men's divisions.

"Each year that I've coached this team it has gotten better and better. We're going to have a deeper team than last time," said U.S. University Select Team head coach Chad Cassel. "This is the highest level of hockey that most of these guys will ever play, so it will be a great experience for them."

Other Michigan connections:
Goaltender Stephen Yu, Garden City, Michigan-Dearborn
Forward Michael Podelnyk, Howell, Western Michigan
Assistant coach Dave Debol, Saline, Michigan-Dearborn

Oakland gets back in win column

Oakland University picked up two wins over visiting Robert Morris College last weekend.

Friday night saw freshman Matt Burke score a hat trick and Andrew Hansen make 26 saves in the 6-4 victory. Kyle DeMaggio, with his first career goal, Will McMahon and Garrett Kondratek also scored for OU.

The Grizzlies put nine on the board in a 9-1 route Saturday night. John Parrish scored his first career hat trick and Trent Mitchell and Tim Michaels both scored their first career goals to go along with a McMahon shorthanded marker. Hansen remained undefeated in his collegiate career (13-0 dating back to last season) in turning aside 28 Eagle shots.

"It was nice to see some other players get in the scoring," Oakland head coach Sean Hogan said. "I think we are getting better each day and working hard. We are not where we want to be yet, but we are progressing."

"We are very pleased with the progression of this team and think we are capable of good things this season," OU assistant coach J.R. Dunn said. "The key will be to stay focused and keep improving."

Oakland University faces visiting University at Buffalo Bulls in a one-game showdown Friday night at the ONYX starting at 8:40 p.m. This is the first matchup between these two teams.

NOTEBOOK

-- Defenseman Trevor Mallon is no longer with the team after accepting a full-time job offer.
-- Oakland fired 78 shots on goal this past weekend.

WSU's Kimball named associate head coach

Wayne State assistant women's coach Grant Kimball has been named associate head coach for the program.

Kimball is in his fourth year at Wayne State. He joined the Warrior hockey staff after serving the previous two seasons (2001-02 and 2002-03) as the top assistant coach with the Lake Forest College women's program of the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (NCAA D-III).

After graduating from Lake Forest in 1996, Kimball spent the next five seasons coaching with the Team Illinois Girls Hockey Organization. He coached the U-19 and U-15 teams to consecutive Illinois state championships. Several of his players went on to play Division I and III college hockey.

MiCHO Power Poll 10.17.2006

The Michigan Wolverines retain their top spot in this week's MiCHO Power Poll. Michigan beat Alabama-Huntsville and Connecticut last week. Michigan State held on to the No. 2 spot and Ferris State jumped to No. 3 (from No. 5) with a sweep of Mercyhurst.

MiCHO Power Poll
1) Michigan (2-0-0)
2) Michigan State ( 1-1-0 )
3) Ferris State ( 2-2-0 )
4) Western Michigan ( 1-1-0 )
5) Michigan Tech ( 1-1-0 )
6) Lake Superior State ( 1-1-0 )
7) Northern Michigan ( 1-2-1 )
8) Wayne State (0-2-0)

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.

Michigan gets verbals for 2009, 2010

Three minor hockey players from the Detroit area have verbally committed to the University of Michigan for 2009 and 2010.

Forward A.J. Treais and defenseman Jon Merrill play for the Little Caesar's minor midgets and forward Chris Brown is with the Honeybaked minor midget program. Treais and Brown are 15 years old and Merrill is only 14.

Treais has a "very high-end skill set and great puck skills," according to Red Line Junior. "He also has excellent vision, but is small and a very soft perimeter player."

Playing a year "up" with the minor midgets, Merrill is "going to be a dandy," noted RLJ. He moves his feet well and is a smart player with the puck. Merrill is already an alternate captain to boot. He's the 2010 commitment.

Brown, a Texas native, is "big, lanky and downright mean on the ice," RLJ stated. Also has good puck skills and finishing ability, but some say Brown would be better off going the major junior route in the Western Hockey League. The Calgary Hitmen took him this past spring in the 10th round.

Bulldogs sweep away Mercyhurst

After getting swept opening weekend by Union, Ferris State returned home last weekend and swept aside Mercyhurst.

Friday night, Eric Vesely scored twice and Chris Zarb pitched in with three assists as Ferris State beat the Lakers, 7-1. Zac Pearson, Aaron Lewicki, Cody Chupp, Casey Haines and Brendan Connolly also scored to back Mitch O'Keefe's 23 saves in goal.

J.T. Dahlinger added two assists in the win.

Jim Jorgensen's unassisted goal with 5:42 to play Saturday proved to be the game-winner as FSU edged Mercyhurst, 5-4. Connolly, Dahlinger, Pearson and Blair Riley recorded goals for Ferris State as well, and O'Keefe kicked out 16 shots for his second straight win.

The Bulldogs play a home-and-home series with Western Michigan this weekend starting Friday night in Kalamazoo.

Warriors swept in opening series

The Wayne State Warriors (0-2-0) learned over the weekend what so many teams in the WCHA have known for years. It's not easy to beat the Minnesota Golden Gophers on their home ice at Mariucci Arena.

The 8th-rankerd Gophers handed the Warriors a 7-1 loss on Friday and 5-1 defeat on Saturday in Wayne State's season-opening series.

The Warriors were outgunned 41-10 in the opener with Tylor Michel scoring the lone goal on the power play in the second period. WSU finished the night 1-for-7 with the man-advantage and held the Gophers to 0-for-7 on the power play.

Will Hooper stopped 34 shots in the loss.

For Minnesota, Blake Wheeler scored two goals and assisted on another and Jeff Frazee stopped just nine shots for the win.

Freshman netminder Brett Bothwell got the start in net for WSU in Saturday's game and was greeted to collegiate hockey with 50 shots on net. Bothwell steered away 45 blasts, including 19 in the opening 20 minutes.

Wayne State upped their offensive effort to get 23 shots on net, but only scored on one shot again. This time it was co-captain Jason Bloomingburg who turned on the lamp with a power-play marker in the second period.

Jay Barriball and Kyle Okposo led the home team with a pair of goals each and Frazee stopped 22 between the pipes.

WSU finished the contest with a 1-for-6 showing with the man-advantage and Minnesota regrouped their power-play with a 3-for-11 night.

Wayne State will continue their season-opening road trip next weekend as they travel to Alabama to begin the CHA season with a pair against the Alabama-Huntsville Chargers.

Broncos and Spartans each take a game

Western Michigan and Michigan State played a home-and-home series last weekend with the home team winning each game.

The No. 3 Spartans took a 4-1 win Friday night at Munn Ice Arena with Tim Crowder scoring twice to go along with singles from Justin Abdelkader and Bryan Lerg. Tim Kennedy added two assists to back Jeff Lerg's 14 saves in goal.

"Overall I was pretty happy with how we played for this being our regular-season opener," MSU head coach Rick Comley said. "We were really sharp at times, but at the same time we struggled on the power play. It is very early though, so we have time to correct it. Jeff had some tremendous saves for us and played well as usual. He was especially good on a couple of odd-man rushes they had, as well as during their 5-on-3 midway through the third period."

Brian Bicek scored for WMU and Daniel Bellissimo (pictured) made 30 saves.

Sunday at Lawson Ice Arena, the Broncos rebounded for a 3-2 victory. Mark Letestu, Jeff LoVecchio and Mike Lesperance scored for Western Michigan and Bellissimo's 19 saves stood up.

"It was a total team effort," said WMU head coach Jim Culhane. "We put more pressure on them offensively and received a another solid performance from Daniel in net."

Jim McKenzie and Nick Sucharski tallied for MSU, while Lerg stopped 20 shots.

Michigan State has only an exhibition on tap for the coming week, welcoming the U.S. National Team Development Program to Munn Arena for a 7:00 p.m. game on Thursday. The Broncos, unbeaten in 27 of 37 games (22-10-5) versus ranked opponents at Lawson Arena over the last six seasons, host Ferris State on Friday before going to Big Rapids Saturday night.

U.P. rivalry ends in split

Michigan Tech and Northern Michigan scored a combined four goals in this weekend's series, the lowest since this series started in 1976. MTU won on Friday, 2-1, and NMU answered back with a 1-0 win Saturday.

The Wildcats scored first in both contests. Friday it was Pat Bateman who started the scoring, getting one past Michael-Lee Teslak in the first stanza. MTU carried the play for the majority of the first and second, but they could not find an answer for NMU goalie Bill Zaniboni.

The third period started with NMU holding a 1-0 lead. Tyler Skworchinski (pictured) tied the game in the third when he tipped in a shot from Mark Malekoff. MTU took the lead for the first and only time with three seconds remaining in the game, when Justin St. Louis put home a rebound that sent the crowd into a crazy frenzy.

Saturday was a similar contest as MTU seemed to carry the play for the majority of the game, but could not get an answer for Zaniboni. It was Matt Sidell's early power-play goal that was the game winner, and the only one of the game. NMU held off two 5-on-3 chances by MTU and were able to tie the series.

MTU will travel to Vermont this upcoming weekend. The Huskies are 1-1-1 with Vermont and look to improve on their record.

Photo courtesy MTU Athletics

GVSU finishes second in Grand Rapids Showcase

Grand Valley State University competed in the second annual Grand Rapids Showcase Tournament, hosted by Davenport University, last weekend and finished in second place.

Invited to the tournament were Calvin College, Hope College, Davenport and GVSU.

GVSU opened up the weekend against Hope College on Friday. The Lakers played without many regulars in the contest, giving many players their first chance of playing time. The game started slow, with GVSU only going up 1-0 after the first period on a Nate Beverwyk goal.

The second period was just as sloppy, with GVSU allowing three Hope goals, while only netting two of their own. Kyle Gorka scored his first collegiate goal and Phil Murray added another.

It wasn’t until the third that GVSU finally started to play up to their potential, dominating the period and adding three more goals of their own to win 6-3. Tom Anderson put in his first goal for GVSU, while Murray added his second of the game and Nick Biondo rounded out the scoring. Kevin Chapman was in net for the Lakers, stopping 16 Hope shots. GVSU outshot Hope 44-19 on the night.

After a 5-1 win against Calvin, Davenport advanced to play GVSU on Saturday night in the championship game. Both teams exchanged early scoring chances, but it was Davenport who got on the board first with a goal four minutes in. Nate Morang added one for the Lakers, but fell behind 3-1 after one period.

The teams exchanged goals in a high scoring, end to end game but GVSU found itself on the losing end when the final horn sounded by the score of 7-5. Chris Rader scored his first ACHA goal after three years out of the league and Morang, Biondo and Nick Boyle added goals for the Lakers. Anderson picked up three assists on the night as well. Grant Lyon was in net for the Lakers in the loss, as GVSU was outshot 36-30.

GVSU plays two regional games next weekend, the first at Ferris State University for the Lakers' first GMHL game. On Saturday. GVSU returns home to play Central Michigan University at 8:00 p.m.

Wolverines upend Chargers, Huskies

Michigan played two nonconference home games last weekend to open the season and came away with wins in both.

Friday night, the Wolverines (2-0-0) domianted from the start and took an 8-1 win over Alabama-Huntsville. Five players produced three points on the night, with T.J. Hensick leading the way with a pair of goals and a helper. David Rohlfs notched a career-high three points with his goal and two assists. In 44:59 of play, Billy Sauer stopped 24 of the 25 shots before Steve Jakiel made his collegiate debut and turned aside all eight shots he saw.

"One of T.J.'s goals is to be an every-shift, every-game player this year," Michigan head coach Red Berenson said. "He's working harder for it and you can see the difference. He's dangerous every time he is on the ice and around the net. It's not a surprise he's more consistent and that's what his goal is."

Brian Lebler scored his first of his career along with Steven Kampfer and Chad Kolarik, Jack Johnson and Andrew Cogliano also tallied in the victory. Cogliano, Kevin Porter, Johnson and Kolarik added two assists apiece.

The Wolverines held on for a 7-5 win against Connecticut last night. Kolarik recorded a hat trick, with his third being into an empty net while U-M was killing off a 6-on-3 UConn advantage. Rohlfs, Cogliano, Johnson and Hensick added goals and Sauer stopped 29.

"I think the defenseman actually fell down and it just happened," Kolarik said of his third goal. "I just threw it down (to the other end) because it was a (penalty kill), so I could just dump it down before the red line. So, I took a chance and it went in. It's not the way I really wanted a hat trick."

Michigan begins CCHA play next week with a pair of home games against defending regular-season champion Miami. Game one is on Thursday at 7:35 p.m. Game two is on Friday and will start 30 minutes later than normal at 8:05 p.m. as CSTV is broadcasting the game.

LSSU brings home two from Columbus

Lake Superior State University's weekend series against Ohio State can best be described as a tale of two teams.

Friday night, Ohio State's Joe Palmer recorded his first shutout for the Buckeyes making 22 saves, while LSSU senior goaltender Jeff Jakaitis totaled 43 saves in the game.

Ohio State's Tommy Goebel, a transfer from Michigan State, scored an unassisted shorthanded goal to give OSU the 1-0 win.

Saturday's game saw two different teams show up and a total of 13 goals scored in the game in which LSSU never trailed.

LSSU took a 3-2 lead to the dressing room after the first period which saw Laker freshman Nik Sellers and Matt Martello score their first goals as Lakers. Josh Sim also added his first goal of the year on the power play.

Andrew Schembri and Goebel had goals for the Buckeyes.

The game was tied at 4-4 after the second period in which Domenic Maiani tied the game for Ohio State at 3-3 only to see John Scrymgeour come back to regain the lead for the Lakers midway through the period. Mathieu Beaudoin was able to beat LSSU freshman goaltender Pat Inglis late in the period to tie the game again.

LSSU's Dan Eves scored his first of the season just two minutes into the third period to give the Lakers their fourth lead of the game, but Beaudoin tied the game again for the Buckeyes with a power-play goal with just under 10 minutes remaining in the game. LSSU freshman Nathan Perkovich scored a power play goal of his own, his first as a Laker, just over three minutes later to regain the lead for the Lakers. Beaudoin notched the hat trick with less than one second left in the game and Palmer sitting on the bench for the Buckeyes.

Dominic Osman (pictured) scored the winning goal, his first on the season, for the Lakers just over halfway into the extra stanza to give Inglis his first career win.

The Lakers went 2-for-14 for the weekend on the power play, but surrendered two shorthanded goals.

LSSU travels to Potsdam, N.Y., next weekend to take on Clarkston University, before returning home to take on American International the following weekend.