ACHA WD2: Penn State 2 vs. Alaska 1

Katie Vaughan finished with 20 saves, including seven during a heart-stopping third period

Anything can happen at tournament time. Just ask the Women's Ice Hockey Club. Or, perhaps even more appropriately, ask Alaska. The Nanooks - the top seed in the West Region - were stunned by East Region No. 4 Penn State, 2-1, to open the ACHA National Championships in Ashburn, VA.

The win starts PSU off on the right note: 1-0-0 in the three-game preliminary round, which will pare the field from eight teams to four over the first two days of the tournament.

After an extended feeling-out period in what turned out to be a defensive yet vertical game, Allie Rothman's first goal of the season gave Penn State a surprising 1-0 lead late in the first period. Rothman intercepted a clearing attempt just inside the line at the tail end of a power play, then threw the puck on net - never a bad idea. Alaska goaltender Katrina Lydon made a chest save, initially, but the rebound bounced up, past her shoulder, and over the goalline.

PSU extended the lead to 2-0 with 9:49 left in the second when Devon Fisk once again made two plays that she typically makes. First, she stole the puck from the Nanooks' Brittany Stahle on the near boards in the Alaska zone. The loose puck ended up on Lydon, who stopped it, but Fisk scooped up the rebound, swung behind the net, and fired home once reappearing on the opposite side.

As is the case against any good team though, it wasn't simply a matter of coasting to the finish line from there.

The Nanooks surged in the third period, outshooting PSU 8-3 while getting the WIHC in some penalty trouble. With 7:06 left, or 17 seconds after Taylor Nyman's tripping penalty, Alaska defender Bailey Brewer blasted one past Katie Vaughan from left point. Shortly after, cross-checking calls 11 seconds apart to Mandy Mortach and Rothman forced a long 5-on-3 kill, but Vaughan, along with forwards Carly Szyszko and Elizabeth Denis, and Ashton Schaffer, Tara Soukup and Georgia Foulds on defense answered the call during a tense 109 seconds.

Vaughan finished with 20 saves, which generally increased in difficulty as the game progressed.

Penn State will tackle their final two preliminary games on Friday. First, at 10:45 a.m., PSU faces West No. 2 Wisconsin-Stout, the defending national champion. A few hours later, at 5:30 p.m., West No. 3 North Dakota State will be the opponent. If the WIHC is in the top four of the standings following those matches, they'll advance to Saturday's semifinal round.

Highlights

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Here are Penn State's goals - apologies for goal scorer Rothman being out of frame on the first one.



Box Score

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First Period
Scoring
1. Penn State, Allie Rothman (unassisted), 10:55 (power play).
Penalties
1. Penn State, Tara Soukup (2:00 elbowing), 6:00; 2. Alaska, Bailey Brewer (2:00 body checking), 8:57.
Second Period
Scoring
2. Penn State, Devon Fisk (unassisted), 7:11.
Penalties
3. Penn State, Elizabeth Denis (2:00 interference), 9:26; 4. Alaska, Hunter Hollenberg (2:00 body checking), 16:05.
Third Period
Scoring
3. Alaska, Bailey Brewer (Cayla Wiita), 9:54 (power play).
Penalties
5. Penn State, Taylor Nyman (2:00 tripping), 9:47; 6. Penn State, Mandy Mortach (2:00 cross-checking), 11:18; 7. Penn State, Allie Rothman (2:00 cross-checking), 12:07.
Goaltending
Penn State: Katie Vaughan: W, 20 saves/21 shots. Alaska: Katrina Lydon: L, 16 saves/18 shots.

D-Day in DC for WIHC

To say the least, it's been quite an interesting inaugural season for the ACHA D2 Women's Ice Hockey Club. The light schedule that is the norm for any first-year outfit was hammered by circumstances - Winter Storm Nemo wrecked a scheduled series at D1 Buffalo on February 9th and 10th, and a scheduled game against Slippery Rock at the Ice Pavilion on February 22nd was called off when SRU couldn't assemble a team to make the trip (put that together with a cancelled game on December 15th, and the WIHC never got to use the orange barn for a competitive game in its final season). The result of all of this: the team has played just nine games this year, none since January 27th, and will now attempt to win five in four days at the 2013 ACHA National Championships, which will run from Thursday through Sunday in Ashburn, VA, near Washington, DC.

The good news is that based on the games that were played, PSU earned one of the eight bids to nationals by finishing in the top four of the East Region (the top four from the East and West Regions in the season's final poll are invited). And they've also proven that they deserve to be taken seriously as a title contender, with exhibit A being their 2-1 win at East No. 1 West Chester on January 26th. Familiar names from the former Lady Icers D1 program like Carly Szyszko, Katie Vaughan, Allie Rothman and Ashton Schaffer have merged with dynamic newcomers like Devon Fisk, Mandy Mortach, Tara Soukup and Taylor Nyman to form one of the division's best teams.

The first step in turning contention into reality will come during the preliminary round on March 7th and 8th. Each team will play three of the four squads in the opposite region during this round, with the matching seed on the other side off of the schedule. So for East No. 4 Penn State, this means games against West No. 1 Alaska (Thursday, 1:00 p.m.), West No. 2 Wisconsin-Stout (Friday, 10:45 a.m.) and West No. 3 North Dakota State (Friday, 5:30 p.m.). After the preliminaries, the four best-performing teams will advance to the semifinals on Saturday, with the championship game on Sunday.

Here is a capsule look at each of the teams blocking PSU's road to glory. For more on nationals, including a full schedule, standings and a link to FastHockey.com's webcasts of the games, be sure to visit the WIHC website's ACHA Tournament Central.

Note: All records and statistics below only include ACHA-sanctioned games.

East Region

1. West Chester

Record: 13-2-0
Head coach: David Japchen
Goals scored per game: 5.87
Goals allowed per game: 1.13

Versus Penn State:
Lost 1-2 on January 26th
Won 3-1 on January 27th

Preliminary round schedule:
March 7 vs. Minnesota-Duluth, 1:15 p.m.
March 8 vs. North Dakota State, 8:45 a.m.
March 8 vs. Wisconsin-Stout, 8:00 p.m.

DVCHC website team page:
http://womens.dvchchockey.org/page/show/748376-west-chester-univ-?subseason=101512

Leading scorers (goals-assists-points):
Becky Dobson (44-21-65 in 15 games)
Kirsten Baron (14-11-25 in 15 games)
Lindsay Howard (7-12-19 in 15 games)
Colleen Tweedy (6-7-13 in 15 games)
Amanda Vito (6-7-13 in 15 games)

Goaltender:
Aly Golia (13-2-0, 1.13 GAA, 0.941 Sv%)

Simply put, it's impossible to find a more impressive-looking team headed into the tournament than WCU. Although Cal was ranked first in the East Region for most of the season, the Rams split a pair of regular season games with the Vulcans, then dominated a semifinal meeting in the Delaware Valley Collegiate Hockey Conference playoffs en route to the league title (their only other loss, of course, was to Penn State). They boast D2's leading scorer in Becky Dobson, who averages just under a hat trick per game, as well as goalie Aly Golia, who joins PSU's Katie Vaughan and Sarah Eisenhut in D2's top three for both goals against average and save percentage.

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2. California

Record: 14-2-0
Head coach: Gregg Kaminski
Goals scored per game: 3.56
Goals allowed per game: 1.44

Versus Penn State:
Won 2-1 (OT) on October 6th
Won 2-0 on October 7th

Preliminary round schedule:
March 7 vs. North Dakota State, 3:30 p.m.
March 8 vs. Minnesota-Duluth, 11:00 a.m.
March 8 vs. Alaska, 7:45 p.m.

Team website:
http://calu.zonethemes.com/womens/

Leading scorers (goals-assists-points):
Megan Cooper (11-14-25 in 16 games)
Alli Paratore (8-17-25 in 16 games)
Kelsey DeNardo (17-6-23 in 15 games)
Dana Bowersox (9-6-15 in 16 games)
Melissa Heisler (5-8-13 in 16 games)

Top goaltender:
Maria Sciacca (13-2-0, 1.32 GAA, 0.939 Sv%)

The Vulcans, an emerging power in D2, gained the nation's top spot in the poll this season for the first time in program history but, as mentioned, faltered in two of three meetings with West Chester (as well as against Delaware last month) to drop to second in the east in the final ranking. Impressively, Cal has earned a sweep at D1 Buffalo by 2-0 and 3-2 scores on October 20th and 21st, as well as a 4-2-0 ACHA record against teams at the tournament - the two wins over Penn State are joined by 1-1-0 marks against WCU and UD.

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3. Delaware

Record: 11-3-0
Head coach: Bobby Crystle
Goals scored per game: 4.64
Goals allowed per game: 2.07

Preliminary round schedule:
March 7 vs. Wisconsin-Stout, 3:15 p.m.
March 8 vs. Alaska, 8:30 a.m.
March 8 vs. Minnesota-Duluth, 5:45 p.m.

Team website: http://www.udelhockey.com/w2/

Leading scorers (goals-assists-points):
Danielle Malysa (16-5-21 in 13 games)
Mari O'Leary (7-7-14 in 13 games)
Kimberly Blasnik (7-7-14 in 13 games)
Kaitlyn Smith (4-10-14 in 13 games)
Kelley Philbin (7-6-13 in 13 games)

Goaltender:
Sarah Ehrlich (10-3-0 record, 2.21 GAA, 0.888 Sv%)

Delaware joins Penn State as a team that, while claiming one of the east's bottom seeds, is still worthy of contender status - although they'll face a tough preliminary schedule that includes Alaska and UW-Stout, the top two western teams. Like PSU, Delaware has played tight games against West Chester and Cal this year, and in fact, gave the Vulcans one of their two losses February 9th on the strength of Danielle Malysa's goal with four seconds left in overtime (similar to how Penn State hung WCU with one of their two losses). A UD-Cal rematch at the DVCHC tournament resulted in a 2-1 Vulcans win despite Kelley Philbin's third period goal.


West Region

1. Alaska

Record: 6-0-2
Head coach: Scott Vockeroth
Goals scored per game: 4.38
Goals allowed per game: 1.25

Preliminary round schedule:
March 7 vs. Penn State, 1:00 p.m.
March 8 vs. Delaware, 8:30 a.m.
March 8 vs. California, 7:45 p.m.

Team website:
http://www.uafwomenshockey.com/

Leading scorers (goals-assists-points):
Cayla Wiita (7-9-16 in 8 games)
Rackell Kowalchuk (10-5-15 in 8 games)
Shawna Jusczak (5-2-7 in 8 games)
Brittany Stahle (2-5-7 in 7 games)

Goaltender:
Katrina Lydon (6-0-2 record, 1.25 GAA, 0.924 Sv%)

Alaska has played a pretty light schedule this season, due of course to their geographic isolation (they did play several games against local U19 teams to supplement their eight ACHA games). It would be unfair to say the Nanooks are not battle-tested, however. Six of their eight games have come against tournament teams Stout, Minnesota-Duluth and North Dakota State - and all were on the road, with none resulting in losses. UAF, which lost last season's national championship game to Stout, certainly has to be considered one of the favorites, particularly with Katrina Lydon, one of the ACHA's best stoppers, in net.

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2. Wisconsin-Stout

Record: 11-5-1
Head coach: Matt Morin
Goals scored per game: 3.60
Goals allowed per game: 2.13

Preliminary round schedule:
March 7 vs. Delaware, 3:15 p.m.
March 8 vs. Penn State, 10:45 a.m.
March 8 vs. West Chester, 8:00 p.m.

Team website:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/UW-Stout-Womens-Hockey-Team/236134433101216

Leading scorers (goals-assists-points):
Lily Cranston (19-8-27 in 16 games)
Ashley Gibson (14-13-27 in 11 games)
Kara Fritsche (6-5-11 in 16 games)
Kerry Blomberg (8-2-10 in 9 games)
Alex Westman (3-3-6 in 16 games)

Goaltender:
Kaye Collier (9-5-1 record, 2.13 GAA, 0.903 Sv%)

The defending ACHA national champions have a little something to prove after a loss-tie home weekend against Alaska on January 26th and 27th cost them the West Region's top seed, but otherwise, they have performed well against a tough schedule that included several D1 teams, including Minnesota and Wisconsin. The Nanooks, however, were the Blue Devils' only D2 tournament opponent, as scheduled games against Minnesota-Duluth in December were forfeited in Stout's favor.

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3. North Dakota State

Record: 14-4-1
Head coach: Garrett Gulsvig
Goals scored per game: 5.16
Goals allowed per game: 2.21

Preliminary round schedule:
March 7 vs. California, 3:30 p.m.
March 8 vs. West Chester, 8:45 a.m.
March 8 vs. Penn State, 5:30 p.m.

Team website:
http://www.hometeamsonline.com/teams/?u=NDSUHOCKEY-2&s=hockey&t=c

Leading scorers (goals-assists-points):
Kacie Johnson (29-18-47 in 15 games)
Kaylee Lothspeich (14-21-35 in 17 games)
Jacqueline Johnson (8-22-30 in 19 games)
Ellie Dahl (13-6-19 in 19 games)
Brittany Johnson (11-8-19 in 19 games)

Goaltender:
Hannah Seitz (14-4-1 record, 2.21 GAA, 0.912 Sv%)

Following early-season struggles - NDSU started off 3-4-1 thanks in part to games against Alaska and Minnesota-Duluth - the Bison enter the tournament as one of the nation's hottest teams, as they ticked off 11 straight wins to close the regular season. They have one of the ACHA's highest-powered offenses, as Kacie Johnson's goal and point totals are second only to West Chester's Becky Dobson in D2, while Jacqueline Johnson (the leader), Kaylee Lothspeich and Johnson are all in the top five in assists.

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4. Minnesota-Duluth

Record: 10-9-1
Head coach: Paul Kessler
Goals scored per game: 3.30
Goals allowed per game: 2.80

Preliminary round schedule:
March 7 vs. West Chester, 1:15 p.m.
March 8 vs. California, 11:00 a.m.
March 8 vs. Delaware, 5:45 p.m.

ACHA website team page:
http://achahockey.org/team_roster.php?team_id=14140&league_id=1066

Leading scorers (goals-assists-points):
Liz Smith (7-12-19 in 18 games)
Katherine Johnson (7-12-19 in 14 games)
Steph Hale (12-5-17 in 16 games)
Allison Jonas (9-7-16 in 16 games)
Mia Marturano (9-4-13 in 18 games)

Top goaltender:
Katie Gilderman (6-0-1 record, 2.00 GAA, 0.905 Sv%)

Despite an unimpressive-looking record (that is artificially deflated due to the aforementioned forfeits to Stout), UMD can boast decisive wins against North Dakota State - 9-2 and 6-1 on November 10th and 11th - have played competitively with both Alaska and D1 power Minnesota, and also carry a roster that runs 21 deep. Mia Marturano had two goals in each of the NDSU wins, but a balanced offensive effort saw eight different goal scorers in the first game, and five in the second.

Three Stars: November 12-18

While Heather Rossi (30) is out of eligibility and Allie Rothman (20) will join her by the time it happens (if it happens), it's possible that we haven't seen the last of the heated PSU-URI women's rivalry.

3. Zamboni driver Chuck VanDyke earns respect
(The Daily Collegian)

Hey, it's Chuck. No further explanation needed.

2. @Buccigross
(Twitter)

While John Buccigross and Tim Horton's are easily the two most overrated things in the hockey world, I'm a big fan of this tweet:

#cawlidgehawkey players come from 39 states. Top 7 Minnesota 182 Michigan – 131 Mass– 103 NY – 86 PA – 69 Illinois – 66 California – 59

Yep, the Big Three, New York (which I believe should apply for provisional membership in a Big Four for reasons beyond player counts), then Pennsylvania.

1. College Hockey: Atlantic Hockey Association expansion talks targeting pair of New England schools
(SB Nation Boston)

Arguably the biggest news in college hockey this week was the discovery that Atlantic Hockey has held at least preliminary discussions with four schools about joining. One, somewhat obviously, is NCAA Division I independent Alabama-Huntsville. The others are ACHA D1ers Rhode Island and Navy, and NCAA DIII's St. Anselm.

Other than the nostalgia involved with two former ESCHL rivals of the Icers potentially making the jump, there's actually a very significant Penn State tie-in, related to the presence of women's programs at a couple of the schools, and their likely conference destination should this all play out.

"We have met and the ball is in their court right now," said conference commissioner Bob DeGregorio [about St. Anselm]. "They would make a great addition to the league. They have a great facility and tradition. The women’s program would also be a great addition to [College Hockey America]."

URI, based in Kingston, has formed a committee to look at costs associated with moving both genders of hockey to the Division I level and is interested in the move, despite understanding the commitment that would be needed financially. The Rams currently run one of the finest American Collegiate Hockey Association club teams in the nation and would a very formidable contender.

Tip of the hat to Joshua Kummins, the only writer (of those I read) to pick up on the women's angle to the story. While his focus is New England (see the "Boston" part of "SB Nation Boston"), it should be noted that Navy could also elevate a women's program. UAH, on the other hand, already has its men's program in DI, is (I'm assuming) Title IX compliant, and can barely afford to keep things going as is. So...yeah, they probably won't be adding a women's program and joining the CHA.

Of course, then there's the whole Maryland/Rutgers thing...see you next week for that, if the rumors are in fact true.

Best of the Rest

11 Edina Seniors Ink College Letters of Intent
(Edina Patch)

Something pretty cool about this photo from an NLI signing event at Edina High School in Minnesota last Wednesday: not only is new women's hockey signee Sarah Nielsen included (far left), but so is Nittany Lions basketball recruit Graham Woodward (the other PSU shirt, obviously).

Hockey People are Just a Different Breed
(statecollege.com)

Joe Battista's column once again took a hockey angle and once again is a solid read. Also, Rob Freaking Shaner.

Alaska losing scholarship in ’13 and ’14 due to NCAA infractions
(USCHO)

Fairbanks self-reported and self-punished on a not-all-that-serious infraction that wasn't even specific to hockey. So...nothing to see here? Not so fast.

The issue, it's reported, is still open with the NCAA, so look for Mark Emmert to pin the whole thing on Guy Gadowsky, due to the coach's previous tenure at UAF. While Gadowsky left for Princeton in 2004, three years before the period in question, it takes 15 seconds to look that up on the internet and the NCAA doesn't conduct investigations anymore. The result: Penn State hockey will be hit with a postseason ban and a loss of scholarships.

Western Collegiate Hockey League To Begin Play In 2013-2014 With Six Teams
(achahockey.org)

Scheduling is always an issue for the ACHA teams based in the western United States, so it's nice to see the D1s out there band together now that there are enough of them to do so. Arizona, Arizona State, Oklahoma and Central Oklahoma will join newly-promoted Colorado and Colorado State in the WCHL next year.

I was going to drop in a #nofilter, but it looks like Mr. Insana used one.

rinsana11
(Instagram)

As the parade of people who aren't me continues through the PIA, I'll dial back the bitter and share what they share whenever it pops up.

Comment Corner: College hockey at the quarter pole
(Jamestown Sun)

A writer based in North Dakota said:

The fledgling Penn State men’s hockey program also deserves some credit. Playing this year as an independent and preparing to join the new Big 10 Hockey Conference next season, PSU has put together a 6-3 record while playing a decent schedule.

What's the news there? Re-read the first six words of the entry.

Stopping Predators - Its All of Our Responsibilities
(juniorhockey.com)

The name of Jerry Sandusky is all to familiar to the public following the trail and downfall of one of the most respected football programs in America. Sandusky's predatory behavior has forever changed the way we think about Penn State and Joe Paterno. Organizations like Penn State and their administration were so intent and embarrassed about what allegations of sexual inappropriate behavior would do to their programs that they either looked the other way or even shielded Sandusky. The program and reputations are tarnished.

Thoughts, Coach Serratore?

Two CHA Newcomers Meet This Weekend At Lindenwood Ice Arena
(lindenwoodlions.com)

For all of their scorekeeping and broadcast production issues over the weekend, I was a big fan of Lindenwood's game notes ahead of the series with the women's team.

Lindenwood and Penn State are meeting for the first time as NCAA members. The two teams met six times during their time in the ACHA, and Lindenwood won all six contests.

How did the Penn State side handle that information?

The Nittany Lions and Lindenwood meet for the first time in women's hockey

This would be hilarious, but for the fact that it really isn't.

The contrasts between PSU and Lindenwood are striking in that department, despite the similarities in the transitions of the two programs. LU's ACHA results are available on their official website. Their media guide has an all-time game-by-game for the ACHA years, ACHA record holders, ACHA All-Americans, team photos of their ACHA national champions and, for their current players who played in the ACHA, an appropriate level of biographical information for those seasons.

In Penn State's version, the "club team" - remember when we used to hate that label? - is grudgingly mentioned on the player pages of those who played for the Lady Icers (curiously, under the heading "Before Penn State," as if the ACHA doesn't even count as playing for Penn State). And really, it only appears at all because it's impossible to explain what Lindsay Reihl's been doing for the three years previous to the current season without including it. Once the Lady Icers have graduated, I wouldn't be surprised if they take every media guide mention with them.

Who's to blame? I wish I knew, so that I could yell at them directly. In the meantime, all I can do is keep complaining while hoping it resonates with someone who has the ability to do something about it.

Three Stars: January 23-29

3. On the Fly, Jan. 28: Down 4-0, UCF Edges ‘Bama 5-4
(hockeyyall.com)

It was tougher than expected, but the Ice Lions won a 17th game in a row and moved one step closer to an autobid to the ACHA national championship tournament with a win over Rowan Saturday night. The game was also notable for a milestone reached by the team's captain.

Chalk up another memorable moment for Penn State’s Jim Recupero. The Ice Lions senior recorded the 100th point of his career in Penn State’s 5-3 victory over Rowan in a DII Mid-Atlantic College Hockey game.

This milestone point, an assist on Penn State’s first goal, comes on the heels of Recupero’s outstanding performance for the ACHA DII Selects in a five-game European tour during the semester break. Recupero was the Selects’ leading scorer.

As for the game, “Real sloppy first two periods for us, but [we] came out hard in the third [period] as we spent the first 10 minutes of that period in their zone,” said Sylvain Theriault, Penn State assistant coach.

The victory was the Ice Lions’ 17th in a row and improved their season record to 22-2-0-0 and their MACH North Division record to 10-0-0-0. They’re ranked second in the ACHA DII Southeast Region.

2. Working on a Building
(Centre Daily Times)

This creatively-titled article is probably the most thorough response to the Board of Trustees' approval of Pegula Ice Arena. Just because they're related to common questions, a couple of clips are in order.

No official ground-breaking has been set. In addition to digging into the current parking lot to tap into utilities, the turf of the former Bigler Field — a new one has been erected across University Drive for the lacrosse teams — is being torn up. [Joe] Battista said everything is ahead of schedule, digging should begin sometime in February, and an official ceremony will be held in early spring. A steel framework should be in place by the time football season rolls around and the building is expected to open in September 2013.

Remember how the arena used to cost $75 million and now it costs $89 million?

Battista, however, did not stop with the Pegulas, having raised close to $105.5 million to fund the arena and the men’s and women’s programs.

Great, problem solved. Now if only Penn State had a Board of Trustees willing to ask questions or engage in any kind of debate whatsoever...and even if those questions were already asked and answered outside of the board's meeting January 20th, where is the transparency we were supposed to be getting?

1. Penn State Pegula Ice Arena to be LEED Certified
(Mass Media Musings)

Speaking of the arena...you probably already know about this post because you went to Lady Icer Abbey Dufoe's blog the last time I plugged it, loved it, and subscribed. If you didn't, I'll just assume that you weren't reading TYT three weeks ago. So for all who are new here, this post is her reaction upon learning that Pegula Ice Arena is to be LEED certified.

Now for my reaction: I realize that this isn't a popular opinion in Penn State hockey circles, but the money used to build the arena came from something that causes a whole host of environmental concerns, as one might expect when it involves pumping a bunch of things like benzene, lead, methanol and boric acid into the ground and hoping nothing bad comes of it (Terry Pegula is no exception). The least we can do is make said arena as environmentally friendly as possible, so here's hoping we find somewhere else to trim when the cost overruns start to pop up.

Best of the Rest

@TYTBlog
(Twitter)

Last week, IcersGuy from Black Shoe Diaries informed me that Curtiss Patrick, recently named to the Icers' Hall of Fame for this year, appears in NHL 09 as a free agent. So I pulled out my copy of the game and took a picture of his player bio. Crazy stuff. By the way, while his 66 overall rating doesn't sound like much, it does beat Guillaume Latendresse's brother Olivier.

Nanooks’ Karr working on organizing new WCHA
(Fairbanks Daily News-Miner)

Ready to mine some news from the News-Miner? Buried in this article is a disclosure that Penn State has committed to play in the 2014 Brice Alaska Goal Rush, hosted by Alaska (the good Alaska, Fairbanks). This would mark Guy Gadowsky's return to the school he coached from 1999-2004 and makes all kinds of sense for that reason alone. Well, there is one other reason: the NCAA game limit exemption (specifically, games in Alaska don't count against it).

The Goal Rush is a season-opening tournament (this season, it was won by the hosts on October 14th and 15th, 2011) so this wouldn't be next season or the season after, but the season after that. Feel free to forget all about this so you can get excited again when it's officially announced.

Rasmussen leads the way for Storm'N'Sabres
(sctimes.com)

Josh Brandwene is after Kendra Rasmussen, who is about to become the all-time leading goal scorer in the history of the Sartell/Sauk Rapids (MN) high school program. In 23 games this year, she leads the Storm'n Sabres in scoring with 26 goals, 14 assists and has her team on top of the Central Lakes league with a 10-1-0 conference record. Also in the running for Rasmussen are Quinnipiac and a handful of Division III schools.

Bierwirth helps Raiders right ship
(Hillsborough Beacon)

The Hillsborough High School senior defensemen is heading to Penn State University next year, where he’s unsure if he will be able to play for the Nittany Lions as they go into Division I hockey. Bierwirth is trying to extend his final scholastic season as long as he can, and that means pushing the Raiders toward the year-end state tournament.

Yeah, good luck with that.

Ohio Bobcats vs. Penn State Nittany Icers
(Taehoon Kim Photography)

An OU-centric (but still outstanding) collection of photos from Friday and Saturday.

Hockey aims to claim elusive D2 title
(eaglenews.org)

Meet D2 nationals hosts Florida Gulf Coast University, which also doubles as the team keeping the Ice Lions from the top spot in the southeast region.

Solution for sites in sight
(postcrescent.com)

It seems like there's a lot of momentum for revisiting the Big Ten tournament format, which presently calls for the teams seeded third through sixth to play a campus-site best-of-three first round, with the winners meeting the top two seeds at the No. 1 seed's rink for single-elimination semifinals and finals.

I like the neutral site idea. Unless it's played in St. Paul, MN every year. Then I hate it. I don't normally root for anything productive to happen in the NCHC, but I do hope that they swoop in and steal that particular venue. The Big Ten would then be forced to Chicago or somewhere that doesn't force the conference's easternmost team to travel to its westernmost outpost every year for the tournament. Yay. Also, a word of caution as we proceed through all of this: never believe anything out of Barry Alvarez's mouth.

MSUM athletic director says hockey is 'so close'
(inforum.com)

In case you were wondering, Minnesota State-Moorhead hasn't given up on trying to start a Division I hockey program. Oh right, you weren't wondering. Sorry about that.

For you, coach
(singledaysjourney.tumblr.com)

With good reason, numerous Icers and Lady Icers shared pictures of the backs of their buckets last week.

Three Stars: July 4-10

3. Gadowsky picks up transfer
(Lions 247)

With the 2011-2012 ACHA season counting as the NCAA-mandated sit-out year, it's leading to a flood of transfers. This one's on former St. Cloud State Husky Bryce Johnson.

2. Past, Present and Future
(View From The Booth)

Despite all that's gone on this week, it's still inexcusable if you haven't yet seen the 2011-2012 promo video. Credit Mr. Rodney Martin with some Guido-level work on this one (say what you will about favorite jersey day, the videos are still amazing).

1. Lions nab another transfer
(Lions 247)

I feel kind of bad about this one, because after Andrew Dzurita broke the news of Mercyhurst d-man Nate Jensen's transfer, it fell a little bit under my radar. First off, I may or may not have been off in Akron stuffing my pasta hole at the time. Second, dude did such a good job on his piece that I really didn't feel like I could add all that much to it. Here's one of Jensen's quotes:

“I wanted to go to a school that was bigger with more of a tradition in sports, more support for the athletic teams. I saw Penn State was starting up a team and figured that would be a cool place to play, because I've heard Penn State fans are pretty nuts.”

Worth noting: Jensen was a Tri-City Storm teammate of Kenny Brooks in 2009-2010. With Brooks' recent PSU pledge, it seems likely that a text or two between friends helped push Jensen over the edge. Or the other way around.

However, I still feel pretty bad, so allow me a bonus first-star.

Jensen hockey line comes to Mercyhurst
(The Mercaid)

While Lions 247 covered Jensen's career pretty well, this one goes back to childhood. As it turns out, father Dave played in the 1984 Winter Olympics and spent three seasons with the North Stars. Cool. Oh, you know who else was on the 1984 U.S. Winter Olympic team? Ed Olczyk. And Chris Chelios and Pat LaFontaine, but they don't have kids playing at Penn State. Here's Jensen on his father.

“My dad taught me to be a good hockey player, but also how to be a good person through hockey. It has taught me several life lessons: the value of teamwork, leadership, to be positive when there is adversity, but most of all, it taught me to have fun in whatever you are doing."

More, you say? Okay, how about an ACHA connection? Twin brother Beau plays for Iowa State. I may actually have to root for the Cyclones to make nationals now so we can see them.

Best of the Rest

wildfiremike
(yfrog)

Jonathan Milley was on the sports front of the Ottawa Sun back on April 20th. He's the one with the visible face.

Williamson the main man in Vernon now
(BCHL.ca)

Mark Ferner, the coach of Luke Juha's 2011-2012 team, has moved on to a position in the major junior Western Hockey League. Given the high success level of the Vipers club, promoting assistant Jason Williamson was a pretty obvious move.

Vipers Add D-Man & Forward
(Vipersdiehardfan Blog)

Here's a guy demonstrating a degree of skepticism concerning Juha (not him specifically, but all players moving from other Canadian Jr. A leagues to the BCHL).

Ivy Leaguer thrilled for chance to put on Oilers jersey
(Edmonton Journal)

Taylor Fedun played for Gadowsky at Princeton, where he also built a hovercraft. Now he gets to go to development camp with his hometown Oilers in hopes of landing a spot, most likely with their AHL club in Oklahoma City. However, I'm not impressed until he provides me with one of these.

Colgate Sports Discussion Board
(Voy.com)

Someone's scared of us already. It's just Colgate, but still. One poster even calls for a national championship in the first decade. Can we claim that now?

Fire causes $1 million-plus in damage to Engelstad Arena
(USCHO)

How do you say "karma" in German?

* Relax, nobody was hurt, it's fair game.

In, out all that matters with volatile landscape
(Omaha World-Herald)

For the most part, I'm done talking about League 2.0 until it crosses paths with Penn State, either in the form of a transfer from a left-behinder (thanks to Teddy Hume for pointing out that possibility to me) or something else, but I had to throw this one in because I think it's the best thing yet to come from a Superleaguer - by a lot.

Everyone has an opinion on this, but it seems like almost everyone's missed the boat. The more I think about it, the answer to "is it good or bad" simply depends on the school. More autobids? A chance to compete in a conference free of top programs? Congratulations Bowling Green and Michigan Tech, you just won the lottery. But what of St. Cloud State, who's been to the DI tournament eight times but only once on an autobid? I'm sure Western Michigan (the Broncos may still be invited, but only if Notre Dame accepts), who had recommitted to their program and was ready to compete within a major conference, is thrilled with the idea of never being taken completely seriously no matter how many upsets they pull off or how many mid-major league titles they win (see Boise State football).

There are plenty of valid reasons to support what's happening. It's progress. It's driving the sport into the 21st century, making some money, and in the long run, it's probably good for the growth of the game. I just wish people would start owning those reasons. It's disingenuous to act like this is great for everyone or like we're not taking the first few steps towards football and basketball. This is more stratification, not less. And someone's going to get squeezed into irrelevance along the way. Somewhere, an athletic director is going to say "our program always loses a ton of money, but at least before we were competing with Minnesota in a big-time conference..."

By the way, how much are you sweating if you're Alabama-Huntsville right now? The idea has crossed my mind that they may still be left out when this is all said and done.

WhyWestern.com
(Western Michigan University)

WMU's actively pitching themselves for Superleague via website, which is centered largely on their location in the bustling metropolis of Kalamazoo and on the fact that they have fans who cheer when WMU scores goals. Oh and Keith Jones went there. Congratulations and good luck.

First Carlson Center upgrade: Fix the hole that the bear put in the roof.

Alaska's Carlson Center to get $3.5 million overhaul
(USCHO)

This actually went though before the Superleague stuff, but regardless, it's nice to see some good news from the leftover crew. The Nanooks have always been one of my favorite programs because of their time zone, leading to my ability to watch hockey pretty late into the night.

The project includes the construction of new home and visiting locker rooms, a media room, training room, lounge, spin room, community locker rooms, equipment rooms and a multi purpose room for other event and facility needs.

Getting You Caught Up: Penn State Hockey
(Victory Bell Rings)

Yeah, I wrote this. No, I don't have any shame. Thanks again to Ben Jones for the chance to do it - I can't recommend him or VBR enough as a source for all things PSU sports.

Head Coach Candidate: Guy Gadowsky

Gadowski with former players Cam MacIntyre (center) and Zane Kalemba (right). Kalemba became just the second Hobey Baker Award nominee to come from Baker's school in 2009. Speaking of Baker, the rink named for him makes up the background.

Thirteenth in a series taking uninformed, uneducated guesses at the candidates to become the first head coach of Penn State's NCAA men's team. Previously: Icers coach Scott Balboni, Denver coach George Gwozdecky, Pittsburgh Penguins assistant Tony Granato, Robert Morris coach Derek Schooley, Wisconsin women's coach Mark Johnson, Nebraska-Omaha hockey czar and former coach Mike Kemp, Ottawa Senators assistant Greg Carvel, Minnesota coach Don Lucia, Miami assistant Brent Brekke, Notre Dame assistant Paul Pooley, Cornell assistant Casey Jones, Boston College assistant Mike Cavanaugh.

SPIN MOVE! Given what broke on Monday, you thought for sure it was going to be Scott Sandelin this week, didn't you? Well, it kind of is. Based on what I know, this series doesn't have much of a run left. Specifically, this whole thing could be over next week, or at the latest, the week of May 2nd, immediately following the American Hockey Coaches Association's annual convention, which runs from April 28th through May 1st.

With that in mind - not to mention my goal of actually hitting the guy who's ultimately hired without regard to the number of guesses I take at it - we'll cover Gadowsky today, Sandelin Friday, and probably two more next week. In the meantime, let's not forget that Sandelin isn't the only interview taking place, it's just the one that's leaked out so far.

For our purposes, the Edmonton native's story starts in Colorado Springs. He played 134 games in four years for the Colorado College Tigers, where he served as captain and wore my favorite number, 16 (bonus points already, and we've barely started). CC was generally awful in those years, but still, he managed to parlay that into five seasons of bouncing around the minor leagues, from the IHL to the ECHL to the AHL, and even to Germany. Let's stat it up:
                                     
Season   Team                   Lge    GP    G    A  Pts  PIM
-------------------------------------------------------------
1985-86  Colorado College       WCHA   38    5    7   12    6
1986-87  Colorado College       WCHA   40    9    7   16   32
1987-88  Colorado College       WCHA   25    3    8   11   10
1988-89  Colorado College       WCHA   31    3    4    7   16
1991-92  San Diego Gulls        IHL     9    1    4    5   13
1991-92  Richmond Renegades     ECHL   21   16   14   30   51
1992-93  St. John's Maple Leafs AHL     6    0    2    2    0  
1992-93  Richmond Renegades     ECHL   19   19   16   35    2
1993-94  Canadian National Team Intl    6    3    3    6    2
1993-94  Straubing EHC          GerOb   4    6    6   12    4
1994-95  PEI Senators           AHL    38    4    5    9   12 
1995-96  Fresno Falcons         WCHL   51   52   29   81   75 

Roller Hockey
   1994  San Jose Rhinos        RHI    13    8   10   18   19

Roller hockey? Freaking awesome. More bonus points.

What those stats don't say: Gadowsky had a pretty good idea where he wanted to end up in life, even while he was still making his living on the ice. He learned the ropes of the trade as an assistant playing coach both with Richmond in 1992-1993 and later with Fresno in 1995-1996.

That 1995-1996 season was pretty impressive for Gadowsky even beyond his stat line. He won the WCHL's MVP award as well and helped lead the Falcons to the finals in the inaugural season of the now-defunct league. So, at the very least, we know he can multi-task.

He decided to step aside as a player following that career year and get into coaching full time, this time as the Falcons' head coach, a position he held for three seasons, going 126-80-12. The team made the WCHL playoffs each season and Gadowsky won coach-of-the-year honors in 1996-1997 (a recurring theme, as you'll see).

It isn't often that I have a reason to talk about what coaches do in the offseason - recruiting, camps, etc. - but Gadowsky's a little bit of an exception, as he spent the summers of 1996-1999 coaching in Roller Hockey International - first with the Oklahoma Coyotes in 1996, then with his former team, the San Jose Rhinos, from 1997-1999. He collected an RHI coach-of-the-year award in 1997 as the Rhinos won the Western Conference title.

When I do these posts, I always like to see a diverse background with success in different types of settings. It's my belief that every coaching situation is unique (ours for obvious reasons), so the ability to adapt, to me, indicates a better chance of a guy turning out to be a quality hire. And a successful stint coaching RHI certainly qualifies as "diverse," particularly from a coaching standpoint.

From here it gets a little more conventional, in the form of a nice run coaching the Alaska Nanooks of the CCHA from 1999-2004. While the overall record of 68-87-22 doesn't sound too impressive, let's get some context on that mark. Alaska wasn't exactly happy to see him go.

Gadowsky is credited with taking a program that had endured five consecutive losing seasons before his arrival in 1999 and turning it into a team that earned home ice for the Central Collegiate Hockey Association playoffs in two of the last three seasons.

Gadowsky has an overall 68-87-22 record at UAF and was 53-45-11 in the last three seasons.

"He's obviously leaving a big void. He's not only taught us players to become better players, but he's also taught us to become better people," said Corbin Schmidt of Anchorage, who will be a senior for the Nanooks.

Average attendance at the Carlson Center jumped from 2,962 per game the season before Gadowsky arrived to 4,055 last season.

Basically, he took a bad program and made them respectable. And he one-upped that accomplishment at Princeton, where he's been since 2004.

Darroll Powe played for Gadowsky at Princeton. Also, the article I, uh, borrowed this picture from was written by Nick Seravalli's brother, so check that out.

The Tigers were simply pathetic immediately before Gadowsky's arrival, winning a combined eight games over two seasons. He matched that total in year one, then bettered it each year from years two through five. The culmination of this progression was 21-14-0 in 2007-2008 and 22-12-1 in 2008-2009. That 2007-2008 season earned Princeton its first NCAA tournament bid since 1998 (via winning the ECAC tournament), scored Gadowsky ECAC coach-of-the-year honors as well as national honors from some corners.

That next year brought Princeton's best record since some guy named Lloyd Neidlinger coached the team to a 15-4-0 mark, which happened during Franklin Delano Roosevelt's first term. Seriously. Another NCAA bid came from that, but the Tigers lost in the first round (coincidentally to Sandelin's Minnesota-Duluth) in pretty unbelievable fashion.

A predictable step back came in 2009-2010, but Gadowsky's crew was back on the winning side of the ledger this past season at 17-13-2, and with a fairly young team (16 freshmen and sophomores), they should be well-positioned to climb back towards the NCAA tournament in the next couple years.

While I've touched on academics in a lot of these pieces, Gadowski takes it to another level. Just from his Princeton bio, we get the following:

• He was a three-time WCHA All-Academic Team member.
• His degree was in economics, not exactly rocks for jocks.
• While at Alaska, the Nanooks set team grade point average records.

That last bullet point inspired me to pull up some grad rate data, so let's add the following:

• Took over an Alaska program that had a graduation rate of 47 percent just before he came to town and had it up to 66 percent in the 2000-2003 cohorts, which covers the bulk of his recruiting classes.  That change in culture, in addition to the team GPA records, helped lead to Alaska's first two hockey Academic All-Americans in 2009 and 2010.

Gadowsky will bash your skull in if you don't work hard in the classroom.

So he wins while emphasizing academics. Sounds like a Penn State kind of guy to me. Recently, there's been a decent amount of buzz around Gadowsky as it relates to the PSU opening. That's probably a good sign for him this far into the process, and I personally believe him to be one of the final-stage candidates. Here's a quote from the article I just linked:

Princeton coach Guy Gadowsky is a name that comes up a lot. He is on the Division I Men's Ice Hockey Committee, and so I saw him a lot at the Frozen Four. Without getting into specifics about himself, personally, which he wouldn't want to publicly divulge anyway, Gadowsky said that the Penn State opening is far more attractive to coaches than say Massachusetts-Lowell. This is no offense to Lowell, it's just that the prospect of starting your own program from scratch is appealing to coaches.

"I'm not saying I'm interested per se, but I could see why a lot of people are." Got it, coach. <winky face>

One theme that seems to be emerging during this process: the idea of the candidate list being divided into two groups, "Joe Battista guys" and "Terry Pegula guys." That's not at all to suggest that the two most important people in Penn State hockey are at odds with each other or that bad coaches are being involved in the process. It simply means that there are essentially two possible explanations for a guy having made it to this stage of the hiring process.

I'll get a little more into that distinction Friday with Sandelin (look at the assistant coaches he might bring with him, the NHL team(s) they played for and the amount of money it would take to pry Sandelin from a national championship program if you want a hint), but for now, suffice it to say that Gadowsky is a Battista guy. We've gone over the academics, always a big selling point with JoeBa. He's also worked Penn State hockey camps, not something that tends to happen if you don't get along with the people running a program.

Let's step out of this one with a Gadowsky endorsement from a guy whose opinion I respect, CBS Sports' Dave Starman:

HC gigs at PSU, Mich Tech, Providence and Lowell all were/are open....can someone tell me how Guy Gadowsky's name isn't #1/#2 on every list?

Head Coach Candidate: Don Lucia

Eighth in a series taking uninformed, uneducated guesses at the candidates to become the first head coach of Penn State's NCAA men's team. Previously: Icers coach Scott Balboni, Denver coach George Gwozdecky, Pittsburgh Penguins assistant Tony Granato, Robert Morris coach Derek Schooley, Wisconsin women's coach Mark Johnson, Nebraska-Omaha hockey czar and former coach Mike Kemp, Ottawa Senators assistant Greg Carvel.

In accordance with what I said two weeks ago, I was ready to move on from current NCAA head coaches for the most part and hit up assistants and the junior ranks. Then, out of nowhere, this dropped into my lap.

By the way, if Don Lucia isn't retained by the Gophers, upstart Penn State, which is expected to become part of a Big Ten hockey conference, would seem a likely suitor.

Have I ever needed more than that? Of course not. And let's start with a video, because it's quite good.



Great message. And if you were listening carefully, he touched on his background, how he runs a practice and he even flashed some humor. Maybe not Schooley-level stuff, but I did crack up at the "unless the milkman's been over" line.

As mentioned, he's a native of Grand Rapids - MN, not MI. I guess that was assumed knowledge to his audience there. A defenseman, he helped the local high school win two state championships and finish third in his other two years, which is obviously nothing to sneeze at in that particular state. He moved on to Notre Dame, playing 124 games over four seasons and graduating in 1981. Although he was drafted by the Flyers in 1978, the fact that it was in the 10th round probably helped encourage him to jump into coaching right out of college, as an assistant at Alaska-Fairbanks (now just "Alaska," which I'll use throughout for simplicity), then a Division II program, from 1981-1985.

I wouldn't normally play up a beginning-of-the-career assistant gig too much, but the Nanooks made a pretty impressive leap forward during his stay there under Ric Schafer, from a program that never really had direction and one that was 5-42-0 from 1980-1982, to one that had its first two 20-win seasons ever in Lucia's last two years there before jumping to archrival Alaska-Anchorage as an assistant, a sort of curious, seemingly lateral move.

I say "lateral" because Alaska jumped to Division I for the 1985-1986 season, joining relatively new DI member UAA and now-defunct programs Northern Arizona and US International in something called the Great West Hockey Conference. After two years of 31-29-3 and a conference championship (asterisk alert: it was a three-team conference at that point), Lucia bounced back to Fairbanks into the now-vacant head job, as Schafer had left for Notre Dame.

Because we're talking about Alaska, it's vital that I work this video in, even though it has absolutely nothing to do with Lucia. Best intro video ever.



So he blows up Earth, then flies through a black hole to get to...Alaska? Maybe that asteroid the rink is sitting on is a fragment of the exploded planet. But then, why fly through a black hole to get there? And should we hire this bear to create lightning-powered sticks from his paws and save money?

Back to the point. At Alaska, Lucia won a conference championship and a conference coach of the year in his first season (again, three-team conference, don't be too impressed). Then team no. 3 dropped hockey, forcing the GWHC to disband and remaining members Alaska and Alaska-Anchorage to go indy. I wish they had attempted a two-team conference just for comedy's sake. As Alabama-Huntsville can tell you, that's a pretty tough road to travel, so with Lucia at the helm, Alaska gained admission into the CCHA in 1992, although they didn't start playing in it as an affiliate member until 1994. The Nanooks were up and down during Lucia's six seasons - fittingly, they went 7-27-1 and 23-12-2 in his last two seasons there, before his departure for Colorado College.

Much like George Gwozdecky's stint at Miami might be my favorite part of his career (for our purposes), with Lucia, I think you have to place a lot of emphasis on his time at CC. If you're not familiar with that situation, when Lucia arrived in Colorado Springs in 1993, the program's very survival was far from certain. The Tigers, a dominant program in the early years of their program and of the NCAA hockey championship, had fallen on over three decades of hard times. Since joining the WCHA in 1959 and until Lucia's tenure, they had four winning seasons. They had never won a WCHA title. Legends like Bob Johnson (27-49-4 from 1963-1966) and Jeff Sauer (166-226-11 from 1971-1982) couldn't do anything about either of those facts.

So naturally, it surprised nobody when Lucia strolled into town and ripped off a 23-11-5 record (best since 1956-1957) and CC's first-ever MacNaughton Cup, which is awarded to the WCHA regular-season champion. Or when they improved on that record each of the two seasons after that, winning two more MacNaughton Cups and advancing to the 1996 national championship final. Or when that best-since-1957 record actually turned out to be Lucia's second-poorest in six seasons there.

Oh, and I didn't even mention what might be the worst part. In 1994 - right in the middle of the Tigers' run of WCHA titles - their home rink, the Broadmoor World Arena, was torn down. Once again, the future of the program was in doubt, until the neighboring Air Force Academy graciously offered use of their facility for the next four seasons, until a replacement facility was completed. Through it all? Not even a blip on the radar in terms of the on-ice product. In fact, CC was a Frozen Four team twice while playing home games at Cadet Ice Arena. And the foundation was lasting - they've continued as a perennial power to this day, now under coach Scott Owens.

Whatever you think of Penn State's chances for success in NCAA hockey, there's no way we're going to face that much adversity.

Do something like that, and people are rightly impressed. Even hockey royalty like Minnesota, which lured Lucia away from CC in 1999. So he goes to Minnesota, runs off eight NCAA appearances in a row, three Frozen Fours, the 2002 and 2003 national championships, and five WCHA regular season or tournament titles - all in his first nine seasons.  Among the notable Gophers during this time: Keith Ballard, Alex Goligoski, Erik Johnson, Phil Kessel, Jordan Leopold, Paul Martin, Kyle Okposo, Thomas Vanek and Blake Wheeler. You may have heard of a couple of these guys.

Just for my guy Matt Walfrand. John Pohl is the guy on the left ruining Jordan Leopold's picture with the 2002 NCAA trophy.

I know what you're thinking: all of this is well and good, but how in the hell do you expect to get this guy away from Minnesota for less than seven figures? Well, if you glossed over my lead-in, we might not need to lure him away, he might be unemployed. Canned. Fired.

Yep, it's true. Because really, after a banner 2006-2007 season, the winning big stuff basically stopped on a dime - 70-61-24 record since, and the distinct possibility of missing the NCAA tournament for the third season in a row. Acceptable at some places, but not Minnesota, especially not after the levels they achieved in the early part of his tenure. It should be noted that the Gophers have gotten hot at the right time this year with a 5-0-2 record since February 12th, and that they can still make the NCAA tournament or even win the Broadmoor Trophy (WCHA playoff championship). Any of these outcomes probably delays Lucia's firing, meaning I just wasted a lot of my (and your) time.

Like most of the people I've looked at, there are parts I like and parts I don't. Obviously the biggest plus, by a lot, is the job he did at CC, with bonus points for seeing Alaska through an unstable period. As much as we all want to believe everything will be perfect, there will be bumps in the road, and getting a guy who's been through worse bumps is not a horrible idea.

The problem is, the biggest minus comes after that. I mean, look, I'm the last guy to heap undue deference on a pile of banners, blue blood and some "we're in a hockey state, you're not" rhetoric, but Minnesota? Really? The last time they missed three NCAAs in a row, they got rid of Doug Woog to bring in Lucia. Time before that? The 1960s. It doesn't happen very often, and I'm not particularly keen on leftovers. I wouldn't be upset with the hire per se (I don't do these on guys I think suck, if you didn't notice), but I'll place him somewhere in the middle of the pack so far.