(Wayne - please let me know if this makes it. If I use reply,
I would be replying to Bill, so I must use send.)
Thanks to Bill for his time & effort. I don't know why I haven't
received the Yearbook in the mail yet, even though I've seen it on
the newsstands for a while now. Anyway, just a few comments:
> Here are THN's ten teams most
>likely to win it all in St. Paul this season:
>
>1. Boston University. Two-thirds of the Commonwealth Line, sophomore Tony
> Amonte and junior Shawn McEachern, return for a Terrier team that made
> the NCAA semifinals last season. Amonte and McEachern were the team's
> top two scorers in 1989-90. In addition, sophomore Scott Cashman is
> one of the best goaltenders in college hockey.
I'm still trying to determine if McEachern has turned pro or not. I
had heard he did several months ago, then I heard he didn't, then
someone told me this past week that he did. Big loss is Joe Sacco,
RW on the afore-mentioned line. THN is dead wrong on Cashman. He
is not as good as some people would like you to think. I believe
he'll suffer from a bad case of sophomore jinx this year. Still,
BU has a decent defense - which played a big part in his success last
year. They could have a problem with balanced scoring, even though
they return all their top-scoring forwards except Sacco.
I think BU & BC will be the top two contenders for the Hockey East
title and both will make a run at the national championship. But
to pick BU as the #1 team most likely to win it all? No way.
>2. Cornell. Head coach Brian McCutcheon describes this year's team as
> "mature". The Big Red lost only two seniors from last season's squad
> and boast a standout group of defensemen (including six NHL draftees),
> led by top blue-liner Dan Ratushny.
Cornell put on a good show against RPI in the ECACs in March, and
Ratushny is a good one. But if they can't put the puck in the net,
cross them off the list. That was one of their downfalls in '90,
especially against RPI with all the opportunities they had.
>3. Maine. The Black Bears should not have any trouble on offense, what
> with the return of their top eight scorers from 1989-90, including
> Jean-Yves Roy, whose 39 goals was the most by a Hockey East player.
> The defense lost three players to graduation, but Keith Carney (41
> assists, also the most in Hockey East) returns. Goaltending may be a
> bit of a problem. {Note: This article was written before Matt
> DelGuidice signed with the Boston Bruins. I don't know whether the
> loss of DelGuidice would remove Maine from "Top 10" consideration -- I
> understand that freshman Mike Dunham is a good one. -- Bill}
It sounds like they wrote this after DelGuidice signed, since most
people considered him to be one of Maine's strengths. THN is right
that Maine should score a lot of goals, with players like Roy (one
guy I did not expect to see back), Scott Pellerin, Martin
Robitaille, etc. Carney is a good one but he can't play sixty
minutes [is that why we almost went to a 50-min. game? :-) ]. I'm
curious to see how good Dunham is. Maine faces the same problem
Merrimack did last year regarding goaltending - none with Div. I
experience (though Snow saw a few minutes here and there - but
he doesn't seem to be the #1 guy). By the way, I think the stats of
39 goals for Roy & 41 assists for Carney are *overall* - I believe
Brown led HE for assists in league games.
>6. Boston College. They can't replace two-time Hockey East MVP Greg
> Brown, but the Eagles are pretty much set on offense with the HEM line
> of Steve Heinze, David Emma, and Marty McInnis. BC's defense is young
> but not incapable, and the Eagles are solid between the pipes with
> sophomore Scott LaGrand.
This could be your national champ, in all honesty. BC's loss of Brown
is their ONLY key loss this year. All other players return. They
have the deepest, most talented defense in Hockey East - and one of
the best in the country. Ceglarski rotated four blue-chip freshmen
defensemen last year in and out of the lineup and all played a huge
part in the Eagles' success. I think they'll be more than ready to
fill the void left by Brown's departure to Buffalo. As for offense,
the return of the HEM line speaks for itself. Bill Guerin matured
several years during the last month of the season. And as for
LaGrand, he's the guy that should have been named goalie on the
HE All-Rookie Team. Watch him dazzle people this year. As much
as I hate to admit it :-), I think BC will win Hockey East again and
has the best chance of any HE team to win it all. Rated 6th is
probably right where the Eagles would want to be, since it's when
a lot is expected of them that they choke (what? who said that?).
>7. Minnesota. Their top two scorers from last season, Peter Hankinson and
> Scott Bloom, are gone, but senior Ken Gernander and junior Tom Pederson
> lead a group of forwards that are capable of making up the difference.
Agreed, we know the Gophers are always good, and they return quite a
few good players to go with a ton of quality rookies. I don't know
how Woog is going to decide who plays (dartboard?). Another team
that's been there quite a bit recently and is still looking for
hardware.
>10. North Dakota. Defenseman Russ Parent has graduated, but junior Jason
> Herter, a 1989 NHL first round draft choice (by Vancouver), should be
> ready to step in. The Fighting Sioux also return forwards Dixon Ward
> and Greg Johnson, both of whom may challenge for the WCHA scoring
> title.
The Sioux are another perennially good team and from what I saw
of them in the first round vs. BU, they may be on their way back
towards another WCHA title. Herter is a great player and should
get his due this season.
RPI is another team worth considering on this list.
As for the top players list, I really can't argue except to
say that David Emma will not win (Heinze has a better chance from
BC and Amonte is better than both of them) and Rob Cowie from
NU may be too inconsistent to merit serious consideration. He
needs to stay out of the box and he gets burned too much on D.
Of course, as Keith pointed out in his scathing rebuttal of my
listing of the HE preseason all-star team in 1989 :-), all these
top 10 lists mean nothing once the first puck is dropped.
>Hockey Digest also mentions that St. Cloud State will soon be joining the
>WCHA, and that Kent State is looking to improve and perhaps join the CCHA in
>a few years. They also have tabbed Notre Dame and Alabama-Huntsville as
>programs that may look to join conferences in the next decade, and they
>predict that North Dakota State, Iowa State, and Wisconsin-Green Bay might
>field Division I hockey teams by the year 2000.
As Carol pointed out, St Cloud is a full-fledged member of the WCHA
this year, bringing that league's total to 9 teams. Besides Notre
Dame, Huntsville, & Kent, the two Alaskas have been trying for some
time to work out a deal with a conference. Distance is the problem
there. I don't know whether Air Force is content to remain an
independent or not. Ideally, all the independents would be able to
get into a conference before long, but I think there are too many
outside factors that will prevent this from happening. If I am
correct, the automatic tourney bid for an independent disappears
this year.
Merrimack held its first practice (optional) this morning at
12 am. About 30 players showed up.
More news as I become aware of it, as always...
- mike
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