Each week I write a preview of all the Hockey East games for US College
Hockey Online.
 
Here is my preview of the Governors' Cup.  You can check out the
preview of all the games by going to the "News and Articles" section at:
 
        http://www.uscollegehockey.com
 
 
Governors' Cup
Maine (5-5-1, 1-4-1 HE) vs. UMass-Lowell (6-4-0, 4-4-0 HE)
Friday, 5 p.m.
#4 New Hampshire (9-2-0, 8-0-0 HE) vs. #7 Vermont (7-3-0,
2-3-0 ECAC) Friday, 8 p.m.
Consolation Game: Saturday, 4 p.m.
Championship Game: Saturday, 7 p.m.
All Games at Gutterson Fieldhouse, Burlington, VT
 
Vermont is playing like a team that can do differential equations
but can't add, can write Pulitzer-prize winning novels but can't
spell, and can cook pate de fois gras but can't boil water.
 
After beating a murderer's row of New Hampshire, Boston
University, Miami, and Lake Superior to start the season, the
wheels have fallen off the Vermont bandwagon. In the six games
that followed their number one ranking, they posted a clear-cut
victory margin only in Sunday's 4-1 contest against
UMass-Amherst. In the other five, they barely escaped Colgate
and Union with one-goal wins, and lost to Cornell (no shame
there), Rensselaer (who would later be shutout three straight
games), and perennial doormat Dartmouth. Did someone slip
something into the bubbly the Catamounts were toasting
themselves with?
 
The cliche "if you can stop St. Louis and Perrin, you can stop
Vermont" has been spoken countless times. In the past, however,
no one has been able to stop the French Connection. This year,
however, teams have contained the two with surprising regularity.
Going into Sunday's game, the pair's names were missing from the
lists of ECAC scoring leaders.
 
New Hampshire comes off a weekend sweep of Boston College,
8-3 and 4-2, extending their winning streak to eight games. The
Wildcats have now swept four straight Hockey East opponents.
 
And they're getting stronger. The much-heralded Sean Matile
made his debut in goal on Saturday and impressed.
 
"That gives us some depth," said coach Dick Umile. "Now we have
two good ones in Sean and Brian Larochelle." Larochelle, who
played poorly in some games early in the season, has settled
down. Although rarely spectacular, he now gives the Wildcats
solid netminding.
 
"They might have the best collection of forwards in the
conference," said BC coach Jerry York after the sweep.
"Everybody's got one or two top ones, but they've got a group of
four or five. And they didn't even play [Tom] Nolan so they'll be
even stronger when he comes back."
 
Maine coach Greg Cronin upped the ante in the praise of the UNH
forwards. "They might have the best group of forwards one to nine
in the country," he said.
 
Nolan's chances of playing in the Governors' Cup are considered
slim. Greg Dumont, injured in the Friday game, will have his hip
pointer evaluated and could play.
 
Eric Nickulas, one of the best of UNH's many snipers, netted his
50th collegiate goal, a significant achievement so early in his junior
year. "He's a prolific goal scorer," said Umile. "He can skate and he
has a pro shot."
 
Freshman Mike Souza netted two goals on the weekend, his fourth
and fifth goals in eleven games. Not bad for a team's fourth-liner.
 
New Hampshire has already recorded more road wins this season
than all of last year. "We're older," said Umile. "We're still a pretty
young team, but last year we were a very young team. We've also
been able to get established in our routine now that the
Whittemore Center is finished."
 
UNH opens the Governors' Cup against the struggling Vermont
Catamounts.
 
"I guarantee you that they'll un-struggle against us," said Umile.
"They may have lost to Dartmouth but Dartmouth always gives
them a hard time."
 
Maine played the biggest game of their year on Friday night.
Holding an 0-3-1 league record going in, they could not afford
another weekend disaster against visiting UMass-Lowell. The
opening period could not have gone worse. After giving up a
power-play goal, the Black Bears then picked up a five-minute
major, during which Lowell scored two more times. After a Maine
goal, Lowell added what could have been the coup de grace,
scoring with just five seconds left in the period to make it 4-1. But
placed in the biggest gut-check moment of the season, the Black
Bears responded with a thrilling 5-4 win in overtime.
 
"I told them after the first period," said coach Greg Cronin, "that
they were playing well and that if they took care of defense and
didn't force the offense we'd be fine. And we shut them down.
 
"The next night I was more disappointed in a Maine hockey team
than I've ever been in my seven years here. We were playing
against a team ahead of us and had an opportunity to get back into
the upper echelon of the league standings. But they just took it to
us. They outhustled us, they beat us to loose pucks, they just flat
outworked us.
 
"The teams are pretty evenly talented," continued Cronin. "It just
came down to gritty play and they got their fingers dirtier than
ours."
 
On the plus side, goaltender Alfie Michaud rebounded with some
strong performances. "Michaud was terrific," said Cronin. "Fillion
was too for Lowell. But Alfie didn't have any chance on the goals
[on Saturday]. It was just a complete breakdown on D by an
upperclassman."
 
The Black Bears, who started the season short-handed, now read
like a list of the walking wounded. Dan Shermerhorn sustained a
deep thigh bruise and has been battling an MCL problem all year.
Bobby Stewart has a wrist problem and a deep thigh bruise. Shawn
Mansoff separated a shoulder and Jeffy Libby has a nasty hip
pointer. Cronin doesn't expect any of the four to play this weekend.
 
"I was impressed with Lowell's tenacity," said Cronin. "They work
hard and Tim Whitehead has them focussed on the specific
objectives he wants them to achieve."
 
"It was just a great week for college hockey," said UMass-Lowell
coach Tim Whitehead. "Two overtime games and great crowds.
 
"The best part of the weekend for us was the way we bounced
back from the tough loss on Friday," said Whitehead. "I don't think
our kids expected to be up 4-1. They let down a bit, and Maine
had a great comeback. After that loss we had to decide if we were
going to come back and win the next night or fold. It was a tough
challenge for our kids, but they hustled their way to a big win.
 
"This may sound strange," continued Whitehead, "but I think our
game the previous weekend against Army helped prepare us for
the Maine fans. Army had a great crowd and they were very loud.
They had a good third period against us and by the end of the
game the noise level was pretty high. That helped us, I think.
 
"We'll probably have another close game in the Governor's Cup,"
he said. "Another tough game between two young, hustling teams.
Then, no matter what happens, we'll play a great team the next
night. Vermont and UNH are very similar teams. They have very
explosive offenses with great goaltending."
 
PICKS:
 
UMass-Lowell vs. Maine: Give UMass-Lowell the advantage
between the pipes and in team health. Maine looks to be missing
too many important players. Lowell 5-3.
 
New Hampshire vs. Vermont: This has "title game" written all over
it. If the two teams were playing at the same level, the Gutterson
faithful would make the difference. But UNH is at the top of their
game now and Vermont isn't even close. Still, this looks like a
barn-burner, 5-4 New Hampshire.
 
Consolation Game: Vermont stomps the limping Black Bears 5-1.
 
Championship: It's midnight for Lowell and the stagecoach just
turned into a pumpkin. New Hampshire 7-2 over UMass-Lowell.
 
-----------------------------------------------
Dave Hendrickson   [log in to unmask]
Hockey East writer for US College Hockey Online
        http://www.uscollegehockey.com