May 30, 2011
Defense won't rest for RIT
RIT figures to contend again in 2011-12, with defense leading way
by Alan Lessels/Correspondent
RIT's Shane Madalora had a strong season in net. (photo: Steve Slade)
Don’t look now, but RIT is building from the backline again.
Defensemen Dan Ringwald, Al Mazur and Chris Tanev were an integral part of RIT’s run to the Frozen Four in 2010, and coach Wayne Wilson and his staff are putting together what looks to be another impressive group of bueliners.
Playing in front of sophomore sensation Shane Madolora, the defensemen helped the Tigers to their fourth Atlantic Hockey regular-season championship in the last five years and into the title game against Air Force. RIT lost that one, 1-0.
All the defensemen return for next season and three of them -- seniors Chris Haltigin and Daniel Spivak, and junior Chris Saracino -- will serve as the Tiger captains.
They, with the help of Madolora, freshman forward Ben Lynch (7-23-30) and the rest, will try to keep RIT’s impressive string going.
“We’ve been able to be very consistent,” Wilson said. “I couldn’t be happier with what we’ve done that way.”
The Tigers bounced right back in 2010-11 despite losing goalie Jared DeMichiel and the Big Three of Ringwald, Mazur and Tanev, who turned pro after his freshman year, in front of him.
Wilson was pleased with the way freshmen Greg Noyes, Nolan Descoteaux and Eliot Raibl stepped in and progressed on the blueline, and now he’s got a full crew returning.
It remains to be seen if they’ll have the same offensive impact as the Big Three -- they had 29 goals among them a year ago -- but they’ve shown some good signs so far.
Saracino had 5-15-20 totals this year and led the team with a lofty plus-28 in plus-minus. Noyes was at 3-14-17 and plus-19.
Air Force
The Good: The Falcons didn’t stay away long. After surrendering their Atlantic Hockey tournament title last season to RIT, the Falcons, thanks in part to a power play that was successful 24 percent of the time, bounced right back and won their fourth championship in the last five years. They beat RIT in the final.
The Bad: Air Force gave Yale a run in the first round of the NCAA tournament in Bridgeport, Conn., but came up just short, losing 2-1 in overtime. For the season, the Falcons gave up three goals a game, nearly half a goal more a game than the year before.
The Future: A concern going into the season was finding a replacement for goalie Andrew Volkening. Jason Torf stepped up nicely and put up a 2.87 goals-against average, .909 save percentage and record of 16-9-3 -- and he’s only a freshman. Forwards Kyle De Laurell and John Kruse, both sophomores this season, will be among those expected to fill the void left by
American International
The Good: After consecutive five-win seasons, AIC upped its total to eight wins, including a 6-3 upset of Army in the first round of the Atlantic Hockey tournament. A year ago, the Yellow Jackets had one player in double figures with goals and this time around four players had 10 or more. That helped them bump their goals per game number up by a half a goal to 2.59.
The Bad: The Yellow Jackets had two more league wins than a year ago with one less Atlantic Hockey game, but they still finished last in the standings. For the second straight year, they were a single point behind the team in front of them.
The Future: AIC’s top four scorers return, led by Adam Pleskach, who has 28-25-53 career totals going into his junior season. While the scoring went up, the Yellow Jackets need to cut down on their goals allowed, which crept back up to 4.24 a game.
Army
The Good: Sophomore goalie Ryan Leets posted a .916 save percentage and 2.91 goals-against average. The Black Knights played some of their best hockey toward the end of the season and put together their only three-game winning streak of the year during the final two weekends.
The Bad: Army has been under .500 with 11 wins overall and 10 in Atlantic Hockey in each of the last three seasons. The Black Knights were tied 3-3 with half a period to play against AIC in a first-round league game at home and lost in an upset, 6-3.
The Future: Cody Omilusik is gone off the top of the scoring list, but the next 10 highest scorers return. The next five on the list were juniors this season, starting with Danny Colvin, who was at 9-22-31 to tie for the team’s points lead with Omilusik. Defenseman Mark Dube (Billerica, Mass.) will also be a senior and was second in goals with 13-4-17 totals.
Bentley
The Good: The Falcons went 4-2-0 in their first half dozen Atlantic Hockey games and they also had a nice, early, out-of-conference win with a 2-1 triumph at Northeastern.
The Bad: Things didn’t go as well after that. Bentley was 5-11-5 the rest of the way in league games to finish at 9-13-5. The postseason hurt, too; the Falcons played host to Sacred Heart in a first-round game, led 3-1 seven minutes into the third period and lost, 6-3.
The Future: Freshman Brett Gensler led Bentley in goals with 13 and was tied for second in points with 24. Leading scorers Erik Peterson and Dustin Cloutier are gone but the rest of the offense returns and all the regular defensemen are back. The Falcons need to punch up a power play that scored only 8 percent of the time.
Canisius
The Good: Senior Eric Rex had 5-18-23 totals in 66 career games entering the season and went for 9-18-27 in 37 games in his last go-round. The Griffs finished in eighth place in the standings, upset Niagara in the first round and rallied for an overtime win in the second game of the quarterfinals to take host Holy Cross to a third game.
The Bad: The Griffs went 3-0-1 in their first league games but then went 0-4-3 in their next seven. After getting Holy Cross to that third game, Canisius was tied with the Crusaders as the midway point of the third period approached, but gave up two goals in 19 seconds and ended up losing 7-3.
The Future: Canisius must replace its top three scorers, including Cory Conacher, and still try to lift an offense that slipped from 3.4 goals a game to 2.9. Defenseman Ben Danford is a good place to start. He was at 2-24-26 as a freshman this season. The goaltending appears solid with Dan Morrison, who will be a senior, and Tony Capobianco, a sophomore-to-be.
Connecticut
The Good: Led by a vastly improved offense, UConn doubled its win totals from a year ago, both overall and in conference games. The Huskies jumped from 7-27-3 overall to 15-18-4 and from 6-19-3 in Atlantic Hockey to 13-12-2. They advanced to the tournament semifinals for the first time since 2007.
The Bad: The Huskies had their problems in the early going. They were 3-7-3 to start the season and had an 0-7-1 stretch in January. They allowed 3.6 goals a game, the same number as the year before.
The Future: UConn will look to cut down that 3.6 goals against number. Garrett Bartus, who will be a junior, returns in net to help. He had a .906 save percentage but a 3.45 GAA. Offensively, there were four freshman and two sophomores, led by freshman Cole Schneider at 13-20-33, among the top seven scorers.
Holy Cross
The Good: The Crusaders went on a school-record 12-game unbeaten streak -- 9-0-3 -- late in the season and advanced to the Atlantic Hockey semifinals for the first time since 2006. Holy Cross scored on 24 percent of its power-play chances.
The Bad: Holy Cross had some rough stretches, too. The Crusaders were 0-7-1 just before they went on their unbeaten run. Opponents scored on 20 percent of their power plays.
The Future: A couple of last season’s sophomores will be back to lead the Crusaders. Kyle Fletcher, who had four assists as a freshman, exploded for 16-22-38, and Rob Linsmayer was at 12-22-34 and was the league’s Defensive Player of the Year. Coach Paul Pearl looks to Thomas Tysowsky, Derek Kump (Falmouth, Maine) or incoming recruit Matt Ginn to solidify the goaltending.
Mercyhurst
The Good: Goalie Ryan Zapolski turned in a .920 save percentage and 2.84 goals-against average in his senior season. The Lakers came up with a couple of four-game winning streaks during the season, and went to Robert Morris and knocked off the Colonials in the first round of the playoffs.
The Bad: Mercyhurst was fourth in the league with a 15-10-3 record in 2009-10 and fell to 12-13-2 and seventh place this time. After beating Robert Morris, the Lakers were swept out of the league tournament by UConn.
The Future: Coach Rick Gotkin needs to find replacements for three of the top five and five of the top eight scorers. He can start with sophomore Paul Chiasson, who nearly doubled his totals to 17-20-37, and Taylor Holstrom, who was third on the team at 9-24-33 as a freshman.
Niagara
The Good: Forwards Paul Zanette and Brian Haczyk had super senior years for the Purple Eagles. Each had 50 career points coming into the season and led the charge as Niagara challenged all year for a first-round bye in the playoffs. Zanette had 29-26-55 totals and Haczyk was 28-17-45.
The Bad: The Purple Eagles could have used that first-round bye. Instead, they got a home game and drew Canisius, and got bumped out of the league tournament with a 6-3 loss. They outshot the Griffs 51-28, but gave up four second-period goals on just eight shots.
The Future: Giancarlo Iurio, who was a sophomore this season, and Ryan Rashid and Scott Arnold, who were freshmen, will be among those trying to fill the holes left by Zanette and Hacyzk. Iurio was at 9-24-33, Rashid at 13-13-26 and Arnold at 16-6-22. The Eagles return three goalies: senior-to-be Chris Noonan, and rising sophomores Carsen Chubak and Cody Campbell.
Robert Morris
The Good: Robert Morris, like Niagara, made a successful transition from the now-defunct College Hockey America to Atlantic Hockey. The Colonials turned around their overall record from 10-19-6 to 18-12-5 and their league mark from 6-9-3 in the CHA to 13-9-5.
The Bad: The Colonials pushed regular-season champion RIT much of the season, but slipped at the end. Also like Niagara, the Colonials then stumbled in the playoffs and lost a first-round game at home to Mercyhurst, 5-1.
The Future: The top two scorers, forward Nathan Longpre and defenseman Denny Urban, graduate. Four of the next five return and all will be seniors. Adam Brace (12-16-28) leads that group. Brooks Ostergard, who will be a senior, and Eric Levine, who will be a sophomore, are a solid pair in net.
RIT
The Good: The Tigers won their fourth Atlantic Hockey regular-season championship in the last five years. Coach Wayne Wilson was looking for a replacement for graduated goalie Jared DeMichiel and found a very capable one in sophomore Shane Madolora.
The Bad: RIT came up just short in the Atlantic Hockey tournament title game and dropped a 1-0 decision to Air Force, despite outshooting the Falcons 40-24. The Tigers rebounded well from an 0-4-1 start to the season, just like they did in 2009-10 when they lost their first five games and in the end advanced to the Frozen Four.
The Future: Madolora certainly helps make the future bright. The Tigers do lose their top two scorers in Andrew Favot and Tyler Brenner. Ben Lynch was at 7-23-30 as a freshman and Cameron Burt, who will be a senior, has career numbers of 35-72-107 in 109 games with a season to go.
Sacred Heart
The Good: Junior forward Matt Gingera was on fire at the end of the season with 7-2-9 totals in his last four games to help the Pioneers finish strong. Sacred Heart scored five third-period goals to upset Bentley, 6-3, on the road in the first round of the playoffs.
The Bad: A 5-1 win over Army in the last game of the regular season kept the Pioneers out of Atlantic Hockey’s cellar. Problem was, that win, and the playoff win at Bentley, marked the first time all year that Sacred Heart had won consecutive games. Sacred Heart’s tough 6-25-6 season followed a big 21-13-4 campaign.
The Future: The Pioneers return their top two scorers in Gingera and Erik DeLong. Goals per game dropped from 3.45 to 2.57 this season, but the Pioneers have even more work to do at the other end of the ice. Sacred Heat allowed 3.24 goals a game a year ago and 4.68 this time. The Pioneers also must beef up their special teams. They scored 20 power-play goals and opponents had a staggering 57 against them with the man advantage.
Allen Lessels can be reached at feedback@hockeyjournal.com.
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Paul Zanette, sr., F, Niagara
Zanette’s 55 points – on 29 goals and 26 assists – weren’t just the most in Atlantic Hockey, they were the most in the East, more than the 52 put up by current pros Cam Atkinson of Boston College and Paul Thompson of New Hampshire. They also nearly tripled the amount from his previous best season. A top-10 finalist for the Hobey Baker Award, the Nobleton, Ont., native helped the Purple Eagles go 18-13-4 and finish fourth in their first season in Atlantic Hockey.
