Joey LaLeggia

Tonight on NBCSN: Doubleheader action featuring No. 1 Quinnipiac and No. 6 North Dakota

By Joe YerdonFeb 22, 2013, 6:45 AM EST

Tonight’s doubleheader features a great, yet not well known, ECAC rivalry and thriller of a match-up in the WCHA.

No. 1 Quinnipiac Bobcats (22-4-4) vs. No. 13 Yale Bulldogs (13-9-3) – 7:30 p.m. ET

Quinnipiac may have taken the college hockey world by storm this season but they head into tonight’s game looking to keep their steamship of a season rolling right along. They’re the top team in the country and they’ve already locked up the ECAC’s regular season title. Coach Rand Pecknold’s team is a beast that can score plenty and stymie you defensively. To add to their Connecticut rivalry, they’ve already whooped on Yale in their barn this season.

Yale, meanwhile, wants to make sure they don’t drift too far out of second place. After getting swept by Union and suddenly scorching hot Rensselaer last weekend, the Bulldogs are tied for fifth with Dartmouth in the league. Paying back the Bobcats for their defeat earlier this season would help get them back on track.

NHL prospects to watch

Quinnipiac: Matthew Peca (SO – F- Tampa Bay – pictured), Jordan Samuels-Thomas (SR – F – Winnipeg), Kellen Jones (JR – F – EDM). Undrafted stars: Jeremy Langlois (SR – F; team points leader with 26), Eric Hartzell (SR – G; 1.46 GAA .935 SV%)

Yale: Kenny Agostino (F – JR – Pittsburgh), Gus Young (D – JR – Colorado), Rob O’Gara (D – FR – Boston), Matthew Beattie (F – FR – Vancouver). Undrafted stars: Andrew Miller (SR – F; tied for team lead in goals with 12, 2^nd in points), Antoine Laganiere (SR – F; also tied with Miller and Agostino in goals, third on team in points), Jeff Malcolm (SR – G; 2.48 GAA .918 SV%)

No. 10 Denver Pioneers (15-9-5) vs. No. 6 University of North Dakota (16-8-6) – 10:05 p.m. ET

The race in the WCHA for the top spot is a tight one and both North Dakota and Denver are in striking distance. UND sits just three points back of St. Cloud State but they’re in fifth place. Meanwhile, DU is six points back in seventh place. It’s fitting that the final season of this iteration of the WCHA has turned into a wild one.

North Dakota heads into this game unbeaten in their last five games (3-0-2) and winners of three in a row. Denver, on the other hand, comes in grumpy after tying and losing to rival Colorado College last weekend and falling a bit further back in the conference race. With the season winding down and the boatload of talent on the ice between these teams, expect both to come out all guns blazing.

NHL prospects to watch

Denver: The Pioneers roll with seven NHL prospects highlighted by the team’s leading scorer, junior forward Nick Shore (Los Angeles). Sophomore defenseman Joey LaLeggia (Edmonton) is their top point-getter along the blue line. Others to watch: Zac Larraza (SO – F – Phoenix), Scott Mayfield (SO – D – NY Islanders), Paul Phillips (SR – D – Chicago), Josiah Didier (SO – D – Montreal), Sam Brittain (JR – G – Florida)

North Dakota: They have 14 NHL-drafted players here. The best of the bunch are their top-four scorers in seniors Corban Knight (Florida) Danny Kristo (Montreal -pictured), freshman Rocco Grimaldi (Florida) and sophomore Mark MacMillan (Montreal). Freshman goalie Zane Gothberg (Boston) has impressed of late.

(Photos: ECAC Hockey, North Dakota sports)

Tonight on NBCSN: Doubleheader action with Union-Princeton and Denver-UNO

By Joe YerdonJan 11, 2013, 10:53 AM EST

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Tonight’s doubleheader features a Team USA World Junior gold medalist playing at a legendary rink in the first game and a WCHA showdown in the second.

Princeton Tigers (5-7-4) vs. No. 17 Union College Dutchmen (9-6-4) – 7:30 p.m. ET

The Dutchmen haven’t had quite the follow-up to their Frozen Four season last year. Union has won just once in their last eight games going 1-4-3 in that stretch. Sophomore Team USA star Shayne Gostisbehere has been part of a steady attack for the team scoring five goals with eight assists this year. If Union is going to snap out of it and start making another run for the NCAA tournament, doing damage in conference against teams like Princeton is the way to do it.

Princeton, meanwhile, are winners of two in a row beating out Ivy League rivals Harvard and Dartmouth. Back on December 1 they earned a 4-4 tie with Union in Schenectady. Now that they’re on a mini-roll and on their home ice at Hobey Baker Rink, they’re hoping to keep the good times going.

NHL prospects to watch: Union has a pair of them in Gostisbehere (Philadelphia) and freshman defenseman Tim Boyle (Ottawa). They also have solid undrafted players like Kyle Bodie, Wayne Simpson, and senior defenseman Greg Coburn, brother of Flyers blue liner Braydon Coburn. Last year’s Hobey Baker finalist Troy Grosenick still leads the way in goal.

Princeton rolls with Ottawa prospect, senior defenseman Michael Sdao. You’ll see their best offensive talent in forwards Andrew Calof, Tyler Maugeri, and Andrew Ammon. Senior goalie Mike Condon has been strong this season.

No. 9 Denver Pioneers (12-6-3) vs. No. 13 Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks (13-8-1) – 10:05 p.m. ET

The last time we saw Denver on NBCSN, I was busy throwing the hex on them as they tied Wisconsin 1-1. That came in the middle of a spell that saw them go winless in eight straight (0-5-3). Since then they’ve won three in a row with a win over Boston University and a sweep of Cornell at home last weekend that didn’t sit too well with Big Red coach Mike Schafer.

Now they’re back into the WCHA schedule facing a Nebraska-Omaha team riding high off their weekend sweep of Colorado College last week. The Mavericks had a bit of bad news this week as Flyers prospect goalie Anthony Stolarz departed for the OHL. On the upside, recently absent goalie Ryan Massa has come back thanks to his departure.

NHL prospects to watch: Denver rolls with Kings prospect Nick Shore as he leads the team in scoring. Oilers prospect defenseman Joey LaLeggia is another guy to keep your eye on. Zac Larraza (F-Phoenix), Scott Mayfield (D-NY Islanders), Josiah Didier (D-Montreal), and Sam Brittain (G-Florida) are other prospects the Pioneers are rolling with.

UNO has Penguins prospect forward Josh Archibald to keep your eyes on. Senior defenseman Bryce Aneloski (Ottawa) is another guy who will see big minutes. Nick Seeler (D-Minnesota), Brent Gwidt (F-Washington), Tanner Lane (F-Winnipeg), and Brian Cooper (D-Anaheim) are the others to keep an eye on. Undrafted forward Ryan Walters is their go-to guy.

Back to Class: Denver’s bad weekend was a curious one

By Joe YerdonNov 26, 2012, 8:00 AM EST

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We’re taking you “Back To Class” for our roundup of the weekend’s action in college hockey. Look for more college hockey on NBCSN with a doubleheader this Friday night with No. 1 Boston College at Boston University (7:30 p.m. ET) and Denver vs. Wisconsin (10:00 p.m. ET)

Things were going so well for Denver University this season until they invited a pair of teams from New England to town this past weekend. The Pioneers were 9-1-0 and the No. 2 team in the country heading into action against Yale and New Hampshire. But once things were over with on Saturday night, they’d lost 2-1 in overtime to the Bulldogs and blew a 4-1 second period lead to UNH before losing 6-4.

On their overtime loss to Yale, coach George Gwozdecky told Mike Chambers of The Denver Post, “Fortunately, we saw this coming. It was not a good week of practice. … Some of the plays we couldn’t make, whether it was the 5-on-3 power play or the other four power plays. It was awful. No other way to put it. If I had been sitting anywhere else, I would have been booing.”

And that was after their second loss of the season. If there’s a potential cure for Denver it comes in the form of this weekend’s visitors from the University of Wisconsin as the Badgers are just 1-7-2 to start the year and swept last weekend by Minnesota State.

While Denver will surely slip when polls come out later today, the question here for Gwozdecky’s team is if this is just a hiccup or a sign of problems on the way. With talent like Nick Shore (Los Angeles), Joey LaLeggia (Edmonton), Chris Knowlton, and David Makowski there’s plenty of balance in their attack.

***

Cornell dominates Frozen Apple: The Big Red took advantage of the big stage of Madison Square Garden handing a 5-1 beating to Michigan in front of a packed house. Without the Rangers to bring the roar to Broadway, Mike Schafer’s team helped keep hockey alive in NYC for at least one night. Here’s a great idea: How about a Frozen Four at MSG one of these years?

Best goalie you haven’t heard of: How about the play of Niagara junior Carsen Chubak? He’s 8-1-3 this season but tops in the country in goals against average (0.99) and save percentage (.970). That’s just 12 goals in 12 games played. Yes, he’s doing it against Atlantic Hockey competition but those numbers are astounding regardless, plus he’s doing it all coming off of knee surgery.

Hot freshman action: Staying in goal, how about Minnesota’s Adam Wilcox? Playing for the Golden Gophers is loaded with pressure as it is, but the first-year starter is pretending like it’s nothing by putting up numbers that make him the third best guy in the nation behind Chubak and Ohio State senior Brady Hjelle. If he keeps this up, they’ll build a statue for him by his junior year in the Twin Cities.

Scourge of Denver: The Pioneers’ loss to New Hampshire was almost single-handedly because of junior Kevin Goumas. While he assisted on the first two of teammate Grayson Downing’s three goals, he helped ice Denver scoring a natural hat trick of his own in the five point effort.

Reminder: There’s been plenty here about Denver, but Friday’s first game between No. 1 Boston College and No. 10 Boston University is about as good as it gets in the college ranks. Jerry York vs. Jack Parker. Johnny Gaudreau vs. Wade Megan. It’s must-see TV, even more so without the NHL to occupy our eyeballs.